robglazebrook.com

As promised, I’ve got a few big announcements to make today. Here they go:

Big announcement #1: Changing webhosts.

I’ve been hosting with Linksky since some time in 2002, whenever it was that I finally got fed up with Iowa State’s stipped-down servers. However, that’s about to change. CollegeBuddy Quinn and I are going in together on a (mt) Media Temple account. I have no major gripes with Linksky… I just feel like I’ve outgrown them. I need more databases, and faster servers. I have ambitions, you know.

How this affects me: I’m going to have a lot of work to do.

How this affects you: hardly at all, really. Just thought I’d let you know.

Big announcement #2: Rootarcana go bye-bye.

As part of this change, I’ve come to the decision that it’s time to drop the Rootarcana name. Rootarcana rocked as a name when I came up with it, five or six years ago. Since then, it has grown progressively less cool with each passing year. For the last few years, I’ve had a crises of conscience every time it came up for renewal, and I always ended up renewing because I didn’t have time to get anything else together. This time, no excuses. I’m dropping rootarcana.

However, I’m not dropping the blogging thing. Not at all. Instead, my Blog Of The Future will be hosted on robglazebrook.com.

How this affects me: I’ll no longer have to explain what the hell my domain name means to every well-meaning techie out there.

How this affects you: If you have me bookmarked, you’ll have to update that. If you have me set as your home page, that’ll need to change. If you’re subscribed to my RSS feed… well, you get the idea. Changes will need to be made. I’ll let you know when that happens.

Big announcement #3: New design time.

A new webhost and a new domain means it’s time for a new design. This has been a stumbling block for me in the past: I don’t have a lot of time to invest in my personal website just now, which means no new design, which means no moving to a new host, et cetera. This time I’m planning on just sucking it up and using Someone Else’s Design for a couple of months until I have time to make my own. There are plenty of good designs out there for the taking… I’ll just have to silence that designer-side of me that will inevitably scream, “but… this isn’t exactly what I wanted!” I’ll live, I’m sure.

How this affects me: See above whining.

How this affects you: The site will look different for the first time in a couple of years. Of course, it’ll be a new site, so maybe it won’t bother you at all.

Big announcement #4: Amanda is pregnant!

Just kidding. You should’ve seen the look on your face, though.

How this affects me: I don’t need to find a new apartment in a new state just yet.

How this affects you: Think of all those calories you burned in that adrenaline rush!

Big announcement #5: Switching blogging software.

I’ve been using Movable Type for years now. However, I’ve become disenchanted with their software, and am looking to move away. I’ve decided to move to Wordpress instead. Why? Because I do a fair bit of Wordpress design at work, so it’s what I’m good with at the moment. Two years ago, I probably would have went with Drupal because I was doing so much ISUComm and Habitat for Humanity work. So it goes.

How this affects me: I have to figure out how to convert nearly five years of posts and comments from one platform to another. It won’t be easy. It would have been even tougher had I not lost all my posts from 2000 - 2002 or so, I guess.

How this affects you: Things in old posts will probably look hinky. These things happen.

That’s all for now! Questions and comments are appreciated (if you can get Movable Type’s damn comment thinger to work).

I’ve made a few minor changes to the site in the last few weeks, and I keep forgetting to mention them, so I thought I’d take this opportunity (procrastinating at work) to quickly list them off. The ones I remember after all this time, at least. :)

First up, I added a search bar to the top-right corner of the page. It’s nothing fancy, just using Google to search my site, but it might come in handy to someone some day.

I’ve also re-added my archives to my blog (bottom of the sidebar). I think it’d just slipped my mind the first time. Actually, upon using my search bar to peruse my archives (how’s that for a mid-paragraph segue?), it looks like I was having a problem with my archives at one point, and I probably didn’t want to call attention to them.

I’ve also also tweaked the fonts slightly in the last month, so if the page looks slightly different all over, that’d be why. I’m not done with fonts, either: I plan to change the headings to flash text after a while to make them smoother looking.

Also, I’ve also also updated my portfolio website a bit. I don’t yet have as many samples of my work up as I’d like, but it’s good enough for now. My portfolio also now includes an updated version of my résumé. I needed one to apply for a part-time job earlier in the week (possibly more on that later), so I figured I might as well upload it.

Last up, I’ve added a new subsection to the sidebar called “Del.icio.us Bookmarks.” Del.icio.us, for all of those not yet in the know, is a web-based bookmarking system that uses tags instead of folders for organization (meaning one bookmark can be “stored” under several tags, making it easier to find when the need arises). It also allows me to search other people’s bookmarks, which is pretty cool. That’s where I found a Photoshop tutorial that taught me how to make smooth shiny-looking shapes like the one featured above. The sidebar now lists my eight most recent bookmarks. At some point, the Del.icio.us bookmarks will probably replace my miniblog, as it’s a lot easier to maintain.

Let me know if you’ve any comments on any of the changes, though they’re minor enough I doubt anyone does. :p

I’m in the serious mood for change here, again, so don’t be surprised if the site looks different from visit to visit. I want this site to convey a more ‘professional’ feel than it currently does, and this is going to take some work. I’m looking around online for some examples of what I consider Good Blog Pages, and I’ll learn from their example.

If you haven’t already noticed one fun little change, I implore you to press the ‘refresh’ button. The header at the top has changed from my placeholder image to a more interesting breed of fish altogether. I’ve become line-art! Whee! :) It was fun to do, too, and didn’t take all that long. Which means I’ll probably redo it a couple of times until I get it just the way I want it.

The colors will be changing from minute to minute. The buttons at the top and side of the page will be getting facelifts. The ‘Blogs’ section has already moved down the list, and ‘News’ and ‘My Links’ are soon to take a long walk off a short pier and disappear entirely. I’ll also likely be giving up my illustrious and (albeit generally successful) pompous dream of having all my scripts self written. I want to move the site from its entirely Perl-driven base to a more PHP/MySQL base, and I haven’t the expertise to do it with my own code. I’ll be deciding on new blog software shortly.

I’ve no true method behind my madness, but I do have a motive. I’m considering starting to offer my services as a web-guy to professors on campus… doing what I love for money, in other words. It hit me, quite recently, that I have friends with less HTML experience making money writing wepbages. Why aren’t I? That’s the question I couldn’t answer, and the situation I’m going to try and resolve. The first step in all this, in my mind, is having a website I can truly be proud of. One that looks professional. One that people can look at and admire.

So bear with me, please, and offer any and all comments. :) Current look, possible future looks, out-there ideas… all are fair game. Otherwise, I’ll just continue on with my personal recode-and-pray method of renovation.

-Rob L. Glazebrook