In case you’ve been to this site before, you may notice that the web address is different. I have moved the WordPress installation to the root of my web hosting space at HostGator. I haven’t had time to develop the Joomla installation as a portfolio site, and WordPress appears to have become flexible enough to allow me to keep everything in one application. The only downside is that the move broke some links to image files in my blog posts, and I have to fix them manually. On the upside, I’ll have a whole new category of material to add to the blog as I post some of projects from Drexel. By the way, if you ever need to move your own WordPress site, the Codex has a handy guide for you here.
Jun 062011
Aug 032010
I finally got around to upgrading my blog site to WordPress 3.0 tonight. It was actually a very easy upgrade. The most labor-intensive part of the process was backing up the database and files for the site prior to the actual upgrade. Thankfully, HostGator provides a nice hosting control panel that includes automated procedures for creating backup files for download. I didn’t even have to go into phpMyAdmin to download the database. This is not like the old days when I would spend a whole night ftp’ing files back and forth to update a website and then hacking the database to fix things that didn’t work with the new files. I did get a little adventurous with the theme update: WP warns you that your customizations will be lost if you use the automatic update, but I did it anyway. I did lose the customizations at first, but Sayontan, the theme designer, included some nice upgrade scripts that recovered the customizations. I’m still missing the ads, but I was planning to figure out another way to embed them anyway – now I have an excuse.
In my various roles as an internet enthusiast and small business IT manager, I have spent a decent amount of time dealing with the intricacies of obtaining, using, and keeping domain names. Just this week I have been helping my parents’ church look for a new domain name to go with a name for the congregation (I’m keeping the front runners secret for now to avoid poaching).
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches…
(Proverbs 22:1, New King James Version)
It reminded me that most people don’t have to deal with domain name ownership on any kind of regular basis, and that can put measure of fear or trepidation in the prospect of engaging this important part of having a presence on the internet. I have a lot I could say about the topic, but I thought would start with the process of finding your domain name since the tasks are fresh in my head.
Mar 102010
As I learn more about WordPress and its capabilities, I’m finding that I can get different functionality with different graphic themes. I could take the time to learn how to build my own theme, but right now I’m more focused on the functional aspects of the blog (i.e. content organization, syndication, etc.). Thankfully, there are a lot talented designers on the web who build WordPress themes and make them available under the GNU/GPL license in the WordPress theme directory. I have now installed a great new theme from the directory, and I have just barely started to play with all features it adds to my blog site. The only problem now is the temptation to play around with the site layout instead of finishing some of the posts I have sitting in my drafts folder. Hopefully I can find a balance between adjusting site design and creating site content. And if you’re reading this on the blog (as opposed to RSS), let me know if you have any trouble loading the graphics – I don’t really want to debate aesthetics, but I do want the site to load in your browser.
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