Sunday, September 19, 2010

Gates of Vienna Gets a Makeover

Update: The new template is in place. Complete archives again! What a luxury.

Natalie has done the hard work. Now I'll tinker with the edges of it to try to get the little nit-picky things the way I like them...


Natalie of Birdbrain has undertaken the daunting task of converting our blog’s template to the “new” version. The result will be a slight change of appearance, but also two important features which have become necessary ever since Blogger imposed absolute size limits on individual pages:

1. There will be links to “Previous Post” and “Next Post” on post pages, and to “Older Posts” on the main page, and
2. The archives will return, in the new expandable-tree format.

The switchover will take place shortly. During that time there may be temporary disruptions in the format of the blog. When Natalie is finished, the new form of the blog will be different, but still recognizable.

Stand by…

22 comments:

Reliapundit said...

great.

i need to do this too.

is it expensive?

can i get her email?

thanks!

and keep fighting the good fight!

Baron Bodissey said...

RP --

I'll pass the word onto her and see what she says. These young college students -- they always need money, so you may have a chance...

Jewel said...

My blog isn't big enough to worry about makeovers that cost money. I just use the templates available, but when you have a site this big, best to get the best! Can't wait to see it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for changing the format to include "previous page" and archives.

Now I can find articles that I read awhile ago and want to see again!

Anonymous said...

Pssst. For those of us who need a bit of help, could you please get her to make the links a bit more obvious? The only way I could find the full news post from the teaser was to run the mouse cursor over every word until it changed to a pointy finger.

Many thanks.

Henrik R Clausen said...

The arabic script in the background is gone! Good night and good riddance :)

Zenster said...

Congratulations on the makeover! Also, a major hat tip to Natalie for doing such a tremendous job.

Jewel said...

Looks clean and fresh, especially without the underlying Arabic script. Nicely done!

Baron Bodissey said...

OK, I figured out how to get the links underlined. That part was easy.

Now comes a harder one: how to get the links off the post titles.

And then an even more difficult one: how to widen the sidebar's working area (i.e. reduce the padding).

If anyone knows the XML tag & attribute for that one, please let me know.

Marianne said...

"The arabic script in the background is gone! Good night and good riddance"

Yes!!! I will second that!

And good riddance to the 50s pajamas background! :)

And Baron, please don't take the links off the post titles.
Great job Natalie! Going to take me out to dinner? :)

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Congratulations !

Thanks for getting rid of the Arabic background. I had seen enough of it. Frankly, I understand now why old people in Europe used to shudder when hearing people speak German post-1945, or when seeing Gothic print.

Furthermore, it made the text more difficult to read.

Van Grungy said...

This is much better. It used to be links first on my BB. What a hassle that was slogging through the seemingly endless links just to get to the story.

Thank you for updating. So much better.

Jewel said...

Also, great choice on the header font.

M said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Reliapundit said...

I EMAIL NAT AN INQUIRY.

HOPE I HEAR FROM HER!

Profitsbeard said...

Kuuuuuuudos NATALIE!

Much better page and links and layout.

One quibble... the comment page that opens has no maximize block... only - (minimize) and X (close)

HTML glitch ????

Baron Bodissey said...

Profitsbeard --

The post-comment window was not affected. That's a different function, and not under my control.

It's always been like that. If you want a maximize button (and the menus), right-click the link for it and choose "open in new window".

Profitsbeard said...

Baron B.,

Thanks.

Done.

1389 said...

I prefer the more subdued background. The old one was too busy, IMO.

1389 said...

I prefer the more subdued background. The old one was too busy, IMO.

On my own blog, I use a very minimalist format, because the content is what is important.

In Hoc Signo Vinces† said...

In hoc signo vinces

Great job!

Sites like GoV are documenting the real world political and social narrative are any academic institution archiving this site for future generations.