Main Philosophy
9rules
After a tortuous couple of months waiting for the results of the 9rules Round Two submissions, I finally got an e-mail from Paul Scrivens telling me that I was the newest member.
I’m ecstatic (and somewhat intimidated) to be in the company of some amazing designers and thinkers that I’ve been reading for longer than I can remember.
For those visitors who have never seen my site before – it sounds shocking, but I musn’t alienate anyone – this is my online journal. It is devoted mainly to philosophy (and the ensuing discussions) although my personal musings creep up in the middle column.
To the regulars, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting this site with your feedback and activity. Especially those (you know who you are) who were with me from the very beginning.
Joining 9rules has changed many things…for one, I’m already 40% more attractive to normal women and 60% more attractive to blogging women. Other than that and the goat (you don't want to know), nothing will be changing here.
So go ahead, mingle...we're all philosophers here!
Moving to FeedBurner
I’ve been testing out a new service recently called FeedBurner. The reason for my switch was because of some complaints I’ve received about the default Textpattern feeds which are less than reliable to say the least.
With FeedBurner’s SmartFeed technology, the feed is automagically converted into the requested type (ie. RSS, Atom, etc.)
Without further ado, here is the new feed. The old ones will remain active, but I highly recommend that you switch.
Textpattern 4.0
No, I haven’t upgraded to the new release of Textpattern. I have hacked too deeply into some of the comment and admin files to be able to guarantee a smooth transition, and I don’t have the time to smooth things over if I were to upgrade.
Instead, I have a few layout possibilities in store, and I hope to upgrade to the stable release with a new design later this year. I have signed up for the CSS Reboot and hope that I can have everything ready by then.
New designs
I have recently discovered a new hobby: web design. I was first sucked into the other half of the internet (the creators) while doing a charitable project that I felt would benefit from an online presence. I began with tabled layouts and Microsoft Frontpage, but have since graduated to cleaner XHTML and CSS.
I have been working on a few different designs for my site because I would like to better separate my personal posts from my main essays. I have posted one version here trying to capture the simple elegance of philosophy, and another version is in the works. Hopefully I’ll become comfortable enough with a layout to actually write some content.
Code Fixing
I just finished messing around with various Textpattern files ensuring that my website is valid XHTML 1.0 Strict. I know there are various discussions on the importance of valid code, but being a neat-freak, I see validation as just another way of cleaning up.
If you do come across a page that is not valid do NOT contact me…just pretend it never happened.
Featured on CSS Drive
My website has been featured on CSS Drive! It may not be quite as prestigious as some of the other galleries out there, but then again, neither is my design…
This is what the reviewer had to say about it:
Every once in a while it’s good to be reminded that there’s still beauty in simplicity. Such is the case here.
Why thank you.
Update: Also picked up by CSS Mania
Downtime...
I would like to apologize for the lengthy downtime, especially for those who were looking for templates. It seems that my host forgot to give the MySQL server a helmet and they have not yet responded to my e-mails. I suppose this is a case where I got what I paid for: nothing for nothing.
Luckily, a great post by Keegan about an amazing Dreamhost deal should solve these problems.
For the moment, I’ve thrown my database at another host, but at least you will be able to get to the templates themselves (even if the demos are down). Again, I apologize, but everything should be better than normal soon.
Update: Everything is back to its normal location, so speed shouldn’t be a problem anymore.
Logo and Title
Recent talk at a CSS Creator thread I began about my site has made me rethink my strategy of not titling my website. As a result, I have started designing a logo that I think will fit with the site’s theme and will also give the user an idea of what the site is about. Expect it to be ready within the week.
Design Complete...
I suppose that is more of a question than a statement because I am always hesitant to stamp a design as finished because there will always be a few small details that will never be perfect. Luckily, I’m happy enough with the current layout to actually write some content.
Seeing as how my XHTML/CSS skills are minimal, I decided that a minimal design would not only be beautiful, but essential. The main column will contain my essays while the second and third columns will hold a more personal side-blog and basic features respectively. Apparently, my old host enjoyed the website enough to feature it on their home page.
Untitled
I went so far as to implement the new header I had made, but something looked wrong. It wasn’t a visual flaw that bothered me; it was my discomfort at applying something so finite and permanent to something that I view as, both, unlimited and erratic: my mind.
As soon as the image appeared in the header, the entire page seemed to constrict, jamming the words into an incoherent bulge of letters. I immediately deleted the lines and returned the page to its earlier state. To some, it may look empty or unfinished; but to me, it looks boundless and vivacious.
