Facelift
It was time for a change. I wanted greater creative autonomy and a more convenient program for maintaining my site, and chose to sacrifice looking good under someone else’s design. It may not look as pretty, but it’s a little more mine. I took a WordPress template, made a bunch of modifications, and after much tedious labor (Dogpoet, completely flummoxed by Photoshop for Dummies, throws the book across the room), designed a couple of defiantly amateurish images, too. Hope you’ll update your links and bookmarks, as I need constant validation in order to get out of bed in the morning.
The transition wasn’t exactly smooth. I bet the “Import-all-five-years-of-your-archives-from-Blogger” button is amazing, when it works.
Then again, my understanding of HTML and CSS and PHP is sort of like a roll of duct tape holding a house together. Feel free to let me know what’s not working (the sidebar wasn’t appearing last night on my Manly Fireplug’s PC) as I tinker around. I’ll do my best to care. Update: the sidebar still isn’t appearing correctly on PC’s; can someone tell me what to do?
Oh, and my dog is recovering very nicely. Thanks for the well-wishes.
And yay, party in the comments!
like the new look. clean, to the point.
how’s the pooch? your fans want to know!
October 19th, 2006 at 1:36 pmLouie’s great; inhaling food like never before. He tells me not to worry, that actually, he’s still a little hungry.
October 19th, 2006 at 1:58 pmNice to be able to comment.. and Just wanted to let ya know I am sending lots of love to Louie and to you..
Nice new digs…
October 19th, 2006 at 3:56 pmNice change.
I’ve been a fan for several months now. Your writing is honest, straight forward, and quite illuminating.
Now that I have a way to blogroll you, you’re there.
Keep on doing what you’ve been doing and the best of luck on your writing career…
Rider up!
October 19th, 2006 at 10:50 pmYour sidebar is there in IE (Internet Explorer), it’s just all the way at the bottom of the very long page. You need to get a real HTML geek to tell you why the alignment is different in IE (probably because IE doesn’t obey standards).
It looks just fine in Firefox on Windows, of course
(I can’t believe I actually ran IE just to check this…)
October 19th, 2006 at 11:19 pmGreat new look, DP. Have been enjoying your blog for years. Have the book; taking it on vacation so there’s time to read your essay. As someone who has spent unknown amounts on dog care over the years, understand your relief on Louie’s recovery.
October 20th, 2006 at 4:10 amThe site looks great in Safari, BTW… No problems at all.
October 20th, 2006 at 7:51 amIt looks great, Michael. Even better: Yay! Comments!!!
October 20th, 2006 at 9:31 amHow about we go toe-to-toe: I’ll update my site as much as you update yours. Pinky swear.
Also: I called you back. And then you disappeared. This Brooklyn bitch wants some dish, goddamit!
October 20th, 2006 at 10:54 amPretty. Are those your shoulders? Can we touch them?
October 20th, 2006 at 4:32 pmJeff- Yes, those are mine. You can *virtually* touch them if you sign up under the Gold Level subscriber plan.
Norman- Did you really manage to squeeze two disses into one little comment?!? Whatever, he moves to Brooklyn and now he has a bad attitude.
And what, aren’t there any HTML geeks out there that can tell me why Explorer is fucking up my nice clean layout?
October 20th, 2006 at 4:42 pmThe news about Louie is wonderful to hear. Oh, and I love the new look.
October 20th, 2006 at 5:09 pmlove the new look.
good luck with the php / css related stuff. if you need any help, drop me an email.
cheers,
October 20th, 2006 at 11:53 pmryan.
excellent revamp. so glad louie is doing well.
October 21st, 2006 at 6:58 amOK, since you’re using WordPress in its default configuration, which outputs XHTML, you have to use nothing but lower-case tags and attribute names, hence i, not I. That’ll take care of a dozen or more validation errors.
You know you now have a much more reliable RSS feed for those of us in the 21st century who read nearly everything that way, nu?
October 21st, 2006 at 4:19 pmAbout damn time too.
October 21st, 2006 at 8:51 pmBackhanded compliments make me hot.
October 21st, 2006 at 9:38 pmThe new look rocks, dude. And say hi to the patient for me- I’m glad he’s doing better.
October 22nd, 2006 at 11:22 amYour new blog design looks great.
good quote, by the way, in the latest Poets and Writers.
October 22nd, 2006 at 11:43 amLola loves dogpoet and new site look!
October 22nd, 2006 at 5:02 pmDID love your old red background-if you ever miss it you can find it on my other site-my yoga site http://www.lolabelly.com
xoLOLA
p.s. glad little louie is well, well!
You moved!! Looks good so far! (I’m using Netscape 7.deux)
Poor puppy! Glad to hear/read he’s on the mend!
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:05 amI’m glad your baby is doing alright.
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:17 amI still remember you talking about why you chose not to have comments for a while. I can’t believe that actual years have gone by since then! So much has evolved and progressed and shifted for you – yeah, I’m sayin’ it’s cool to see a little reflection of that in the blog.
Much love to Louie. He’ll be flash-dancing again in no time.
October 23rd, 2006 at 10:42 amHooray Michael Hooray! Comments!
What a treat to find your revamp.
October 23rd, 2006 at 10:46 ammichael has comments! ha ha ha.
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:01 pmJust to be clear, that wasn’t a diss. You can’t really diss a dude you miss and love.
October 25th, 2006 at 7:07 pmyay that Louie is doing better! continued (virtual) hugs and (actual) prayers.
November 23rd, 2006 at 8:38 pm(I had one of those soft e-collars for my late kitty after she had a nasty exploratory surgery…they ROCK, because they can lay down in them!)
he’s lucky to have such a good canine daddy to take good care of him.