Site Updates for 7/3/08
Exciting times. I've been hard at work finishing up some changes to the site that I've been meaning to get done for awhile. Much of this comes as a result of upgrading my Wordpress installation to 2.5.1 (the most recent release as of this writing). Starting at the top, you'll notice a new banner. It isn't as tall as previous versions, which is a good thing because the less room it takes up, the more room is available for site content. The next item of interest are the sidebars. There are two of them now, not just one. I was impressed by what I saw over at Penned Madness and decided to implement something similar on my own site, and voila! We're sporting our own little "feedroll" now. I couldn't actually find the word "feedroll" defined anyplace, but it seems like a sensible term to use, right? Blogroll has been in use for some time now, but PM's and mine aren't really "rolls of blogs", they're "rolls of feeds" of blogs. I digress.
Next up is the left-most sidebar. Subscription links have been introduced here, moved from their previous location in the top banner. The Features box has appeared off and on over the years in different incarnations (you may remember it being called Special Sections, or something else entirely). It's back, and likely here to stay, as I've been gradually authoring more and more pages lately, which differ from posts (in Wordpress-speak) in that they're not intrinsically part of the chronological browsing process. Categories have been entirely revamped. As Wordpress now has tag functionality built straight in, I've slimmed down the number of categories I use, substituting tags in place of many of the categories that just weren't getting much use. I've discontinued using category hierarchies as well, so no more "this category is a parent of that category" nonsense. It may simplify navigation on other blogs with swarms of varying content, but mine isn't one of those.
Finally, the addition of new content. I've started an Audio Files Index page to house a concise list of most of the audio files I'm hosting here. The Songdiary entries are not included on this list at the present time, but the Songdiary Index page still exists for anyone who wishes to view it all in one big, organized grid. Last, but not least, I've been working diligently on the Songdiary backlog, creating sound files and posting article entries for weekly editions from the past. A total of 22 weeks (which equates to 22 entries/editions) were retro-posted this afternoon, covering 2005 Week 46 (November 13, 2005) through 2006 Week 15 (April 9, 2006).
That's the news! To all of you who visit loyally, I say "thank you."
