Thingy 2.0
Well, this is it. What I figured would take me a weekend has taken me four weekends and several late weekday nights. I thought, eh, this'll be a quick job. OMFG what a pain in my ass. I hadn't take into account that:
- The Blogger system is limited. There are only so many things you can do with it, no matter how hard you try. Contemplating a switch to Movable Type, but I don't feel ready for another pain in my ass. Not just yet.
- If you want to do anything remotely cool with your CSS layout, you STILL have to hunt down hacks for at LEAST the four major browsers (IE/Win and Mac, Safari, and Mozilla). After all, you want to make sure that Mary Smithsonfrenson in Utah or Larry Rosenrosen in Pensacola doesn't see your site as a jigsaw puzzle in IE 5.5/Win ME or whatever. Thanks, Mary. Thanks Larry. You owe me twelve hours each.
- It has been a while since I've had my hands on code. It all came back quickly, but it's funny when you have to go up to the attic to find a book on CSS that you wrote so you can remember how
- I never, ever like the first few iterations of a design. It took a Thoreau reminder for me to finally simplify, simplify.
- Solving browser compatibility problems is a sure-fire way to experience missing time. While looking for the latest CSS2 and CSS3 selector hacks to nudge things around only in Opera 7 or only in Win IE 6 but not IE 5.5 or only in IE/Mac and Safari and Mozilla/Win but not Mozilla/Mac and certainly not Opera 6 and earlier but definitely in Opera 7...etc., It suddenly occurred to me that it was dawn, and I hadn't gone to bed yet. There goes half of Saturday. Hunting down rogue semicolons is not my idea of time well spent, either.
background-position coordinates are handled. ("Oooh yyyeeaaa, that's right...")
This might be of interest to nobody but me, but I think I stumbled on a solution to a well-known limitation/irksome problem in CSS float-based layouts. I'd describe it and create a figure, but I doubt you care. But write me if you do and I'll 'splain.
Anyway, this new thingy environment is going to continue to evolve, but in this general format. I added the style switchers to (hopefully) accommodate any color and reading preferences. I'll put up additional swatches and a text size switcher soon. The color scheme you choose will be persistent for later visits, on a per-browser basis.
Oh, and if your mug happens to land up there in the random image rotator, don't blame me. It's random.
5 Comments:
Your revamped blog looks nice. Maybe, since you're accomodating preferences and such, just maybe you can acommodat those of us who like that starry night picture. :) But I like the way it is now, too.
Your cat looks like my cat. My cat likes to sleep. My cat's breath smells like cat food.
Do you like Garrison Keillor?
11:23 PM
Don't forget to update your favicon. It doesn't match anymore. I like the afro picture. Is that you?
11:36 PM
anonymous, I like names. No, the "afro" pic is napoleon dynamite. there's a movie by that name. check it out.
and hey, the favicon still works with the standard color scheme.
8:38 AM
Hey, thanks for the tip. The movie looks great. I think I'll like Kip. The music's pretty swell, too. I might have to close the page though...the looping is getting a little old.
I don't have a movie recommendation, but here's a recipe for you:
Potato Cheese Soup for Good Friday
3 medium potatoes (~1 lbs.)
1 can 14.5 oz. ready to serve chicken broth
2 medium green onions with tops
1.5 cups milk
.25 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp dried thyme leaves
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1. Peel the potatoes, and cut into large pieces.
2. Heat the chicken broth and potatoes to boiling in the saucepan over high heat, stirring occasionally with a fork to make sure potatoes do not stick to the saucepan. Once mixture is boiling, reduce heat just enough so mixture bubbles gently. Cover and cook about 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
3.While the potatoes are cooking, peel and thinly slice the green onions.
4. When the potatoes are done, remove the saucepan from the heat, but do not drain. Break the potatoes into smaller pieces with the potato masher or large fork. The mixture should still be lumpy.
5. Stir the milk, salt, pepper, thyme and onions into the potato mixture. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until hot and steaming, but do not let the soup boil.
6. When soup is finished and very hot, gradually stir in 1.5 cups shredded cheese until it is melted.
My friends call me Nugatory.
5:30 PM
I like the new look. Cool to have rotating pics. One suggestion. I loved the way the Thingy guy (thinguy?) looked against the orange background. Could you keep him where he is, but put him in an orange box next to the rest of the title area, which would remain white? Perhaps?
Must have Emilia pics. Please share.
1:44 AM
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