Oh, This Will Take Some Time….

I mentioned last week that I would be back and, yes, I am here. But only for a few moments. I am up to my neck with deadlines this week and next, but I also have to tend to a few simmering fires involving one web site and one blog.

Work Aplenty

Don't cry; it will all work out.

The website issue has to wait because my efforts to move one blog from URL A to URL B is taking me days, not hours to complete. I have discovered that larger blogs with many posts, categories, photos, tags, and what not can be more difficult to move even if you manipulate the .htaccess or php.ini files to import a large WordPress xml file.

Yes, I turned off the plugins first but even then the shrunken file is still quirky. So what I did was to break 47 months of blogging into pieces, sending bits over here and there. Even then, I discovered that some of the coding contained in various posts was presenting a problem which served to remind me to “go light” on the scripting on the new site.

A few of you have wished me well in the transition with one remarking that this sort of move can “cause more problems than what it’s worth.”

I agree!

But sometimes there are good reasons to make a move including several that I am up against:

Old theme – WordPress offers thousands of free themes, but as you might guess many of these do not age particularly well over time unless the designer keeps up with them. Few do, but who can blame them?

I am considering buying my next bunch of themes and using them instead, especially if they are being supported. I do not mind paying for something that is being looked after; Open Source has its benefits but you cannot expect people to do everything for free.

Wacky plugins – Just like themes, plugins do not always make the transition from blog update to blog update. Even when a newer version is released, I have found that they do not always work as well as they once did.

I have had the occasional plugin mess up a blog, only being able to discover which one it was by deactivating all of them en masse and then activating them one by one.

Lousy URL – When I initially started blogging in 2004, I did not have nearly the understanding I have now regarding search engine optimization and related matters. The blog I am moving sits on a site it once shared with another blog. That other blog is the one you are reading now, itself moved here two years ago.

The other blog making the transition will have its own URL which has been around for some time and was pointing to the blog until I started to make the transition last week.

Such Madness!

Confused yet? Welcome to my delirium! At some point everything will work out. Once the blog has been moved, then I will refocus my attention on the website issue and then maybe, just maybe, I will replace a few blog themes elsewhere.

Back To The Trusty Theme

I’m loathe to switch themes these days, especially with WordPress 2.5′s release being imminent. Some of the themes associated with my many blogs are not likely to pass muster with the next update while others are tired-looking and could use a change.

However, If I were to make updates right now, I might have to quickly make another round of changes once WP 2.5 is online — I really don’t need that kind of extra work right now!

For long time readers of this blog, you’re familiar with the Aquarium theme now featured. I like this theme, but I have moved away from it a few times only to return.

My last theme exchange was necessary because a piece of code I inserted rendered the theme virtually unusable, but I fixed that problem and decided to ditch the most recent theme, Regulus, because one of my regular readers (who has a vision problem) had trouble with it.

When making changes to any theme, I must remember to take a look at how it looks with Internet Explorer as I use Firefox. In addition, I have computer screens with different resolutions and some themes look fine under all conditions, while others do not. I’ve had a rude awakening or two when I discovered a theme that didn’t look quite right with I.E., sometimes many days after installing it.

Usually, if there is a problem with a particular theme, I’ll get a “heads up” from a reader, but that isn’t always the case. Some day I hope to actually pay someone to develop a custom theme for this blog, but that’ll have to wait until after my first royalty check arrives.

Then again, I need to start writing a book!