Anatomy of a Blog Move - Part IX

Posted on: October 30, 2006

More polish today; I don't have a need for the microformats SignpostMarv Martin pointed out to me in the comments , but I may in the future, so… keeping possibilities open.

Lots to learn, no doubt about it: the wonders of CSS helped me include a 1-pixel razorsharp border around every image on my blog, and exclude smilies from that rule too. I don't think I'll be worrying about styling them one-by-one again, as I did in the past. What a timewaster! Hey, can you believe my old blog used to use Verdana by default, and since I didn't know how to change the style by hand, with every entry, I did a Select All and changed the font to Georgia, just to be sure.

I sure have come a long way.

Interesting connection: I went to Torrid Midnight's new blog (also powered by WordPress), and it uses a modified version of Stacey Leung's Girl theme. What's especially cool is how Torrid modified the stylized, posing graphic design in the upper-right and seamlessly replaced it with a thematically-sound version of her own avatar. Nifty eh?

As for why this is a connection, Girl was actually among the early contenders for the blog theme I was gonna pick. I was wondering about a custom design job, involving, yes, an angled Torley Jr. in place of the cutout, and alas, haven't heard back from Stacey. I ended up coming upon Tiga and have been using it ever since.

I also like that WordPress posts will include links to them in the comments automatically (or should I say Automattically?). Slick.

Hrmmm… I think I'll have to customize my search results not found page too.

3 Responses to “Anatomy of a Blog Move - Part IX”

  1. SignpostMarv Martin Says:
    November 2nd, 2006 at 11:20 AM PST

    If you want to see the wonders of what CSS-only designs can do, take a peak over at the CSS Zen Garden.

    A few things from the special effects category to take note of:

    * Lemon Aid - only a few letters and graphics away from being Torleyised

    * Bonsai Sky - imagine it replaced with vistas from the likes Svarga and Lost Gardens of Apollo

    * Kinder Garden - replace the cartoony graphics with some art rages SL photos (your flying SL car instead of the plane perhaps ?

    And regarding the pingback/trackback stuff, there's a field in the post form to send trackbacks to typepad blogs such as New World Notes, but you may have to remind Hamlet to click the button to display the trackbacks :-D

  2. Torley Says:
    November 2nd, 2006 at 11:29 PM PST

    Marv, tasty examples — that's some fine, elegant handiwork there! I'm amazed at the background to Bonsai Sky. I reckon, I hope some SL bloggers present-or-future are reading this and are inspired by your ideas.

  3. SignpostMarv Martin Says:
    November 9th, 2006 at 4:33 AM PST

    Do note that every single design uses the same XHTML underneath it, so it's an example of the flexibility of a standardised XHTML skeleton- such as the one used in the Sandbox theme for WordPress :-D (wink wink nudge nudge cough experimentwithportingyourthemeovertosandbox cough)

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