New is the new old
A week or so ago I mused about web sites and how horrible some were.
In passing I mentioned that I was messing around with this site on the sly [actually on my laptop but that’s beside the point] and some of you got a bit worried for some reason.
I was going to wait until Sunday to make any changes to the real site, but I woke early this morning and as usual there was no one reading the site so I thought I would have a bash at transferring all my hard work onto the server. A lot of you probably won’t even notice the difference – a lot depends on what you are using to view it.
I have left most of the old design in place but have done a lot of tidying up, removing extra bits and bobs that were more a nuisance than functional [a bit like politicians]. The biggest difference is the one thing I hope you never see – the software that drives the site. It’s supposed to be leaner and faster, but more important it is supposed to be future proof [for the next year or two anyway] so the site shouldn’t fall on its snot if someone trips over a loose wire. One thing it should do [which the other one didn’t] is to fit all screens even if you have wired your iPad into a Multiplex screen.
My only problem now is that I may have left something out without noticing. So if you see something that isn’t there, do let me know.
I’ll probably tweak it a bit more from time to time so don’t be surprised if it all blows up.
In the meantime, it’s the Grandaughter’s Second Birthday today.
I promised I would buy her her first pint of Guinness this afternoon.
Her Imperial Majesty the Princess Squidge of Wicklow
looking benevolently upon her subjects.
Hi GD,
Don’t know about two years old but until the age of four my family lived in a terraced house about three doors down from the pub on the corner (a pub on nearly every corner in those days!).This would have been 1948-52 .
My mother noticed that I went missing every day at about midday and decided to follow me to see where I was going.As you have probably guessed I made a beeline for the pub where an old-timer was regularly providing me with a half pint of Guinness.
Strangely since then I have tended to avoid beer and been more likely to imbibe brandy or wine .
A perfectly healthy tipple for a four year old, I would have thought. In more enlightened times they used to give Guinness to the women in maternity hospitals here – help boost iron levels in the blood.
Bugger! I have decided I don’t like the font. Hard to read…. 🙁
Font slightly more readable? Content isn’t though…..
When I was born (at home) the doctor who delivered me advised my mother to drink a bottle of Guinness every day, ‘for the iron’. He also recommended that she should administer a few teaspoons of said Guinness to her newborn son, ‘to help him sleep’, which she duly did.
No wonder I like the stuff so much!
Why don’t we have doctors like that anymore?
Oh, she’s a cutie, GD, and no mistake. Takes me back to when mine were that age. Sure, I could happily have throttled them sometimes when they were practicing being a woman, but mostly I just adored them.
I noticed the changes to your site immediately. Much cleaner and crisper. A good job well done. I tend to be an ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ type of person normally, because in my experience whenever the software boys release a ‘new, improved’ version of something, they invariably fuck it up and I have to spend hours trying to get it back to the way it was. But this looks very nice – an actual improvement, if I dare say so.
I’m still having problems getting to your current page via my bookmark. Sometimes it works, but mostly it doesn’t, and I land on a previous post, have to go to comments, and then if I’m lucky the new post shows at the top and I can navigate to it. If not, I have to go to DP’s blog, and click on the link in his sidebar blogroll. I know you think it’s my browser (Firefox 50.1.0), but this is the only site where I have this problem, bar none. It’s very odd.
She’s got a screech in her like a nail dragging down glass but she is a beauty – nearly always carries that quizzical, slightly superior look. It can be quite unnerving.
The main reason I changed the site was that the old theme was no longer being supported so I switched to the more up to date version. As the new one gives the facility for full-screen I thought I would try it. That meant changes to the top banner and a few other things. I did a fair bit of tidying but my main aim was to keep it as close to the original as possible.
There is another weirdness with this site – my little programme [which is on a different site] that reads through the link database and updates the blogroll accordingly works perfectly on all sites except this one which it occasionally misses. It was one of the little gremlins I was hoping would be snuffed with a change of software, but apparently not. Very very strange.
Precisely the same problem and solution for me, Nisak, although it seems to be sorting itself out.
The site seems easier to read than before on my little samsung tablet.
You appear to have fixed your keyboard as well?
It would be somewhat hypocritical [and counterproductive] to make the site harder to read! Another advantage of the changeover is that it is [supposed to be] easier to read on non-pc devices. You know how I love non-PC?!
I don’t know what happened with the keyboard. I shook it upside down a few times which made nearly all the keys jamb, and then it suddenly started working properly.
site is faster and cleaner on my end. nice job.
and she’s a cutie, must take after K8
I played down the hope that it would be faster [one of its selling points] but judging by the comments, it seems to have worked.
As for the Cutie, I am still a little worried that the only thing she ever says to me is “bye!”. She mustn’t like me?
“Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the difference.”
I like it, it sums up the ethos behind the antiquated curmudgeon, so could be far more prominent, maybe incorporated into the banner.
Perhaps you can explain why, if you go to Mr. Puddlecote’s blog roll and click on “Head Rambles” it still comes up with this:
http://headrambles.com/2016/10/11/bodies-and-undertakers/
Yet click on the current post & all’s fine.
When I use my computer I always click on your current post, however with my tablet it seems to be a trite fickle and all too frequently doesn’t get it right.
Looking at what visitors use to access my place, it’s about 85% using tablets and smart phones. I assume that sort of ratio applies to your place as well (company phones, free wifi on trains – helps pass the drudge).
So spare a thought to the wee screen peoples’!
“maybe incorporated into the banner” – Now that is strange. It was on the banner for God knows how long on the bottom right in small white lettering. It just goes to show how little attention is paid to detail! I was going to scrap it as I was finding it tricky to place it in its old position so I stuck it up on the top where I assumed no one would ever notice it. Just goes to show!
This lark of the old posts showing up just baffles me. I cannot think of any reason for it. Logic would suggest that it’s a local issue, otherwise everyone would experience it.
As I said above [to “The lie today is?”] I am increasingly conscious of small screens. I just checked and this month’s figures are Desktop – 47%, Tablet – 10% and Mobile Phone – 42%. I would be a fool to ignore over half my readers? I can only check my site on a Desktop or Mobile as I don’t have a Tablet [not the computery type anyway] so have to rely on mockups. You can rest assured though – my thoughts are indeed spared.
If you buy a pint for Squidge’s birthday be sure to get two straws from the barman – one for you and one for her. Discourage her highness from blowing bubbles during the celebration, as it will detract from the aesthetic appearance of the creamy head.
I gave her a straw for her pint, but mine went down the traditional way. She is now learning another new life’s experience – the hangover.
Ahhh dammit GD, I keep hoping you’ll return your image to it’s former (animated) glory, and still no! ~Sighs~ The bairn reminds me of my youngest, The Evil One. She has the same neutral “time to make the monkeys dance for my entertainment” look about her. Truly chilling…
Heh! That old yoke still haunting the memory? I could replace it, but it would drag the whole site down to a crawl. Surprising as it may seem, that thing required a lot of coding which all had to be downloaded before the page would display.
Herself has put the image up on her Farcebook as her “profile” image. I think it will scare even more people away from her page. I would describe that look as “callous”!
Toddlers really do rule families.
Hah! She might rule the daughter’s family, but not mine! 😈
I like the new look! Easier on the eye as the font looks clearer.
My! That portrait could have come straight from the easel of Vermeer!
https://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1CHFX_enGB530GB532&q=Girl+with+a+Pearl+Earring&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLQz9U3SCo3qlDiBLHS0gtK4rWUspOt9Msyi0sTc-ITi0qQmJnFJVbl-UXZxY8YI7kFXv64JywVMGnNyWuMXlxEaBJS4WJzzSvJLKkUkuLikYLbrcEgxcUF5_EAAGS3sfmXAAAA&npsic=0&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNqt64r6HRAhVjIsAKHc-OAc0Q-BYIHw
Hah! I said exactly the same thing when I saw the photo – The Girl with the Pearl Earring!
My ears are burning.
Why? Have you robbed Squidge’s hat already?
Nice tweaks (and new theme I see) Of course I had to get it myself since we both had the same old “long-in-tooth” so to speak. I haven’t bothered with the new one yet but I will soon enough so except my my old blog to vanish from site any time now. 😉