Entries in "Meta"

May Search-Keyword Roundups

Not too long ago, Nicole reminded me of the fun I have reviewing the search terms that turn up in my blog's stats. I'm just now getting around to May's, though... Kinda feels like it's the first opportunity I've had. Anyway, here they are.

Continue reading "May Search-Keyword Roundups"

Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

More Redesign

Okay, after the failure of last night's attempt, I've changed everything... again. [/Advertisement voice guy]

I've always admired the neutral gray-green look, so I finally sat down and worked out the colors that seem to go together for that, and I like this one a lot better. The only thing I'm really worried about now is that banner... Did I go too overboard with the bump-mapping? I'm not 100% sold on its colors, either, but I needed some contrast.

Oh well, if the banner's the only thing that's wrong... I can always change that later.

Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Redesign

So at this point I can say that the first redesign of the blog is at least marginally complete. There are things I don't like: I'd like the banner image to be more image-y and less text-y, and the text needs to be a different color to mix things up a little. I really don't like the navigation at the top -- the idea is fine, but the execution currently annoys me no end. At the very least I'd want to make those text links into buttons. However, this is all little stuff that I probably won't fix anytime in the near future.

In fact, this isn't at all what I set out to do when I started. I really wanted to end up abandoning, or at least modifying and building on, the standard-issue two-column deal that doles out entries in one column, and links and whatnot in the other. You can scatter stuff around a bit more and still make it work. Unfortunately, when I sat down with a piece of paper to sketch stuff out (which is how all my web design starts, since I can't go directly from my head to the code), this is kind of what I got. Oh well, I at least got to play some with the coloring -- once again, not really what I intended when I started, but what the heck -- and maybe I can fiddle with some off-kilter positioning later.

Also, I would like to state for the record my opinion that Internet Explorer is the stupidest browser in existence. CSS always works fine until I open IE and try to view something. Speaking of CSS and compatibility, I tested this in Firefox and IE on WinXP -- it looks fine in Firefox and passable in IE, but I haven't tried other browsers or platforms yet.

Edit: Okay, so some further goofing around with the text color is going to be required. This is less readable than I had thought.

Edit 2: It's past 3:30 in the morning and my eyes are a little tired. If anybody wanted to let me know just how unreadable the text is as things currently stand, I'd be much obliged. There doesn't seem to be a color that works nicely with the scheme, other than the link color. Kinda thinking I may have to enlarge the text. Or just totally change the color scheme again, which might be the smarter route.

Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Blog stuff!

I was debating putting an entry up here about some political stuff earlier today. However, while I think I could manage to write entertaining stuff about the latest fracas on Capitol Hill, that's really not what I want this blog to be for. Maybe eventually, if I think I can sneak in a little post here or there, but not just yet.

I also thought about putting up something about being approached to aid someone in cheating for a course here at Case for the first time yesterday. That was a bit of a disappointment. On the other hand, everyone knows that cheating happens occasionally, so I guess I shouldn't be too downbeat; I made it nearly three years without encountering any of it.

However, one thing that I've been considering is a search-keyphrase roundup. A lately-defunct blog that I used to read would do occasional lists of some of the more humorous or offbeat search phrases that had turned the site up on search engines, and I usually enjoyed reading about them, so here goes:

  • wilson mark kind am -- Similar to the wilson mark grand am, presumably? Into the "complete gibberish" category with you!
  • how to build biorobots -- My advice is to see a venture capitalist or look into research universities. You'll need mechanical engineers, biologists, electrical engineers, perhaps the odd computer scientist, and lots of money. Or you could raid the kitchen cabinet for toothpicks and Elmer's glue.
  • animating cockroach -- This makes sense from one angle but not from another. Who on earth is searching for "animating cockroach?" Is someone adapting Kafka for the big screen? I suppose the logical presumption is that it's somebody else doing what I'm doing, but there can't be that many of us.
  • purple line animation -- So, any chance you were looking for this? (Popup-prone peril on that link.) Or perhaps you wanted Musings on sacred geometry and/or alchemy? No? Oh well.
  • forward kinematics cockroach full -- Is your cockroach half full or half empty?
  • how to write a screensaver -- You'll be wanting some knowledge of a graphics API, a copy of Visual C++, and this.
  • mark wilson montana -- Nonononononono. Mark Wilson West Virginia.

In other metanews, I fixed the stylesheet so that text sizes the same way in IE and Firefox and added a link so you can e-mail me if you want to. Joy reigns supreme.

Edit: Okay, I haven't gotten the e-mail address. To avoid spam in my real e-mail account, I'm setting up another Gmail account... The problem is that "Wilson," as was pointed out by a friend, is the 8th most popular last name in the United States, and there seem to be a LOT of Wilsons out there naming their kids "Mark" and some middle name starting with "A." Still working out a combination that hasn't already been done here.

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (1) | Permalink