Okay, stop giggling and pointing. I worked hard on this. I had to customize a lot of the html and CSS to get this to work and look the way I wanted. I now have a site that does a better job of complying to current standards and looks good at all levels of interaction. Plus, with a few plugins, I have slick galleries, mobile interfaces, and tweet updates. Can’t buy that for a dollar.

Now what I need to really work on is making and finding content for this bad boy. I wish I had a good idea where to find cool stuff to share with you. Only if somebody would come up with this huge system that connected a whole bunch of random information sources together and made it easy for people to find.

…I bet I could sell that idea to someone.

When I first started Strange-Hungers.net in 1998 (that’s right, the ’90s), the hyphen-less version wasn’t available. How I ached for the hyphen-less variation of my domain. Now that domains are dirt cheap, it came available again and no one told me! Color me green. I wish my domain dopleganger all the best. The content is fun and wholly appropriate to the name.

Let the dueling posts begin.

Here’s why the last site didn’t work. It had a stable frame (no web pun intended) – Three columns capped top and bottom by header and footer. Main navigation was built into the header. The far left column also had navigation. The difference between the header and left column was that the left column offered more granular results. I had also mashed in there a tag cloud, search field, and content usage. The far right column display any content I coded in. In this case it was link lists and a banner. This left the site’s content struggling for attention in the center column. Finally, all of this structure was buried under graphics. It was ugly and my friends were gracious.

The new design I am proud to say I stole. Well not wholly, but in spirit. I am a fan of John Gruber’s DaringFireball.net. This tech blog uses little in the way of site graphics or complicated structure. This keeps the content easily readable. I also took note of Gruber’s rare compliments to other sites. In the end, I decided that the simpler-is-better approach was best for my site. Superfluous graphics eliminated. Strike the right column. Get rid of the fine grained browsing options. Make the page about the content and make obvious what I think is important for readers to see.

I spent several days scouring DF’s code for the clues to Gruber’s very successful design (the over-flattery is just in case he reads this). Simple and clean are great starting points, but these usually disguise more complicated means to the end. And I was right. His links behave differently according to context. Gruber also used tags that I had neglected or forgotten. His style sheet accounted for a great deal of html formatting tags. By the end of the first code read-through, I decided that I had to gut my current template.

First things first. I took to heart a comment Gruber made in his own style sheet:

If you copy without permission, I will mock you.

Alright then, don’t be a schmuck and copy and paste his code. Got it. I hate plagiarism, too. However, reading code is like reading music. Without the scores we would never know how Bach structured his symphonies. (Insert good natured ribbing from musician friends here) No one learns purely by looking or listening to a master. We learn by copying them and spinning our variations from what we learn. Mocking will come, I’m sure, but those that have the knowledge will see the distinct differences. And my failings.

In the end, I’m quite satisfied with my layout. As much as this layout was inspired by (and at times, lifted from) Gruber’s DF, this site design is my baby. It’s littered with my graphics, font and color choices, and most importantly, my content. No one can take that from me.

I don’t have a name for it yet, but I did have fun with it. Dark tones are still dominate throughout the design. What is really satisfying for me is the grungy, weathered look of the graphics. As usual, there is still a bum in the banner. This time, I included my logo as well. It’s pretty much the only color in the elements.

A big change in the look of the site comes from the thumbnails. Instead using my usual scaled thumbnails or square crops, I decided to go with a banner. The image itself does not link to an actual full-size image. Actually, it doesn’t link to anything at all. What the banners do provide is a more interesting way to preview what to expect after clicking the full post link (the post title or the “Do you want to know more?” at the bottom).

The big challenge in this design was transcribing good ole fashion html into theme compatible with WordPress. The timing for this update could have been better. WordPress was just updated. Meaning that I was going to have tweak my last theme anyways. I decided this time out that this theme would be all mine.

Previous versions of my site designs were based on other people’s hard work. I just took functional designs and put my images on them. Like buying a sewing pattern and choosing your own fabric. The pattern is still someone else’s creation. This time, I made the pattern, too. What many might not understand is that choosing, cutting, and assembling the fabric is the easy part. Figuring out how the parts should be shaped and fitted to one another that’s hard. Like many would be site designers, I ripped apart a theme to see how it functioned. Then I worked from there. Seeing this theme function as I wanted (mostly) is the most satisfaction I have had in a long while.

Some new features to the site:

• Galleries (not made directly by me): I got tired of assembling my own galleries. Now I use next-gen gallery. I just have to put images into a folder and then use the gallery tools to generate the pages and thumbnails. So much work taken care of for me. Sweet.
• Tags & a Tag Cloud: Sometimes a category doesn’t adequately categorize a post. Tagging allows me to place arbitrary words on a post. The size of the words in the cloud reflect how frequently the tag is used. You might notice that ‘sexuality’ is pretty large. It’s also a great way to search related posts that may not be under the same categories.
• Reduced link clutter in the Desktops posts: I really got tired of writing the code for the many sizes of a images that I produce a desktop in. So now I bundle all of the sizes in ZIP file. One link, a bunch of sizes, and I cut my work down to about the tenth of the time needed. Whew! Now maybe, I’ll get more posted.

This project also marks some other successes for me. I learned some new automation and craft skills. Okay nothing that will keep Mom awake, but going forward crafting elements for the site will take far less time.

Well, tell me what you think. And try to use the comments field below. I get an email when you submit here so I’ll know when you have checked in.

Cheers!

As for the personal life… I was recently told that the division I am working for is going to be dissolved by the end of the month. Yippee! The company has plans for the future that could use someone of my skills but I cannot take the conditions anymore. This sad news is just what I needed to move on. What will I do for work? Hell if I know, but that doesn’t scare me. Strange.

The car thing will have to wait until after I secure a new job. I guess the Metro will have to survive for a few more months. Sigh. That little POS has been so reliable (if not a total rattle trap). Now that I am not looking for a new car and will most likely be looking for a new job, it will start giving me grief.

Well, that’s all that is fit to be printed for the time being.

• Hooter’s Honeys Having Trouble Handing Outhttp://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_3987528It’s a crying shame when charities will cow-tow to conservative grinches. What charity can afford to turn away money? The best argument for those that squawk about the illicit source of donations is “Here’s the bill for the money lost. Please, pay the cashier at the door.”
• Penis Pumps are Medically Practicalhttp://www.slate.com/id/2144778/?nav=tap3It’s nice to know that because of one Oklahoma judge word is getting out about the medical usefulness of ‘vacuum constriction devices”. It’s not my bag, Baby. Really.
• Playboy to Privatizehttp://online.barrons.com/public/article/SB115111012429889617-RtzzWWNEl0bbQQ5x1NGsjFtSbbw_20060724.html
• After twenty-five years on the stock market (ticker: PLA), it looks like Heff (he let’s me call him that) will be pulling the shares. Flagging profits from the last several years are cited as the reason for the change. I’m sure the boys on the floor will miss the traders in their Bunny suits and blonde hair. Sigh.Related article: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-26-2006/0004387020&EDATE=

Under the site’s hood is WordPress.org’s WordPress blogging engine. This engine seems more responsive, has a good support community, and is much easier to maintain than Moveable Type. WordPress has all the tools I need including a few that I have wanted for some time. Look forward to new pages – Model and email submission forms. Hell, I might even put in a store.With all this shuffling about, I even gave a few minutes to redisigning the look of the site. Whadaya think? C,mon, post a comment to the site. Let me know that you love me.