Progress report

[randy_byers]

It isn't all drunken debauchery around here, you know. For the past couple of months I've been working on a travelogue/trip report about my travels in November 2010. I've written close to 13,000 words at this point, and I'm just to the point of leaving Britain. This is already the longest thing I've written since Travels with the Wild Child, which was just over 30,000 words. Of course there's no certainty yet that I'll finish this or that I'll publish it if I do. We'll see how it turns out, if it turns out.

I'm also continuing to work on setting up a blog to use as a repository for my film and early science fiction reviews. I've been reading a WordPress book that holyoutlaw let me borrow, and this weekend I've been trying to settle on a theme (as the visual scheme is called in WordPress). Any comments or suggestions would be welcome. There are some other WordPress features that I want to understand before I start posting. Still, it feels like I'm getting closer.

And now that I've bragged about how productive I've been, I think I'll goof off for the rest of the day. Work has been kind of stressful lately, since I've been delving into a piece of software that I don't understand very well, but last week I made headway on that front too. Progress!

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Looks good to me.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I've been trying to find a theme with a black background and white text, but I haven't liked the ones I've looked at. I could modify the colors on this one, but there are a lot of levels to the color scheme.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

White text on a black background tends to be hard to read at length. I like the look and feel of what you have.

I hope very much that your travelogue/trip report turns out to be something you want to share with readers. Inquiring minds, and All That Jazz, don'cha know?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Geri. The WordPress book I'm reading says that some people prefer white on black because it uses less screen energy, and they said this is becoming more important in the era of small mobile devices. But the white on black themes I looked at were, indeed, harder to read.

Regarding the trip report, I'm at the point where I'm about to fly to Boston, so you're about to enter the picture! But it's going to take me a while to finish this, if I finish it. It will need to go through two or three drafts, I'm thinking. It's one of those pieces where I want to cross the Is and dot the Ts, and this first draft is just getting all the parts into place. On the other hand, I might send you the first draft for comments, if you'd be up for that.

[wrdnrd]

Consider a WordPress plugin that will allow mobile viewers to select a mobile-optimized version of your site. I use WordPress Mobile Pack at wrdnrd.net, which makes it look like this. The plugin also does a decent job recognizing that an incoming browser is on a mobile device and then automatically presenting the mobile version. That way you don't have to worry so much about tweaking your entire theme around people viewing on their mobile device.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Thanks, wrdnrd! I'll definitely take a look at that. I haven't gotten to the section on plug-ins yet.

[reverendjim.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to seeing the trip report in some format or another.
Hm, I suppose I should write up the Belgian beers at some point.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yes, you should, you slacker!

I'll probably send you the first draft of the trip report, too, just so you can vet all the scurrilous stuff I've written about you. "Slow Train to Immorality," and all that. I may want to hit you up for photos too, depending on whether I decide to use some in the final product.

[reverendjim.livejournal.com]

Scurrilous stuff is fine by me. In fact I'm more likely to add some than object to any that's in there. I'm sure I'm too boring nowadays (like I ever wasn't) to warrant much.

If I do get around to doing a bit of a write-up I expect I'll be putting some photos on Flickr, in which case you're welcome to them. Hm, maybe something for the weekend.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'm heading to Mexico for a week on Saturday, so if you do something like that over the weekend, please e-mail me the link so that I don't miss it.