Flynn's Paws: My Thoughts, My Gripes

Tag: sidebars

  • 20091022-Old Theme

    Okay! I’m trying another free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Thirteen by Becca Wei

    A stylish fixed-width two-column theme in green adorned with interesting flora.

    Tags: two-columns, fixed-width, green, rtl-language-support, left-sidebar, widgets, sticky-post

    Personal PROs:

    • Colors are green, cream and orange.
    • Flowery designs.

    Personal CONs:

    • Nothing, so far.

    I’ve set the front page to display my `Contents` page. As a result, I’ve removed the `main menu` widget from the sidebar. This means that the most recent (latest) posts are under the `New posts` section.

  • 20091013-Tweaking Again

    I’ve been tweaking my weblog again!

    Here is a summary of the changes for the paid CSS stylesheet upgrade:

    • Background color of `title` element is black (#000000) and
    • Hover after `title h1` element reads: `Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is a nightmare` (Japanese proverb).

    Here is the new order for widgets in the left sidebar:

    • Text widget – about: Shorter tagline reads as `god`S GOLD for a SuNNY LiFe`;
    • Search form;
    • Page widget – main menu (showing one parent, three children and six grandchildren with great-grandchildren hidden);
    • Image widget – home alone: Dante’s Inferno Satan and words of encouragement;
    • RSS links widget for my posts and comments;
    • Image widget – recommended reading: Four books authored and signed by Don Bradley;
    • Flickr widget – orgone and orgonite (3 most recent images);
    • Image widget – want to help? (PayPal donation);
    • Akismet widget – spam blocked (currently 88,650 spam comments); and
    • Blog stats widget – (currently 37,304 visits).

    Here is a summary of the changes for pages:

    • Contents – the only parent page.
    • Pages (six children): about, blogger, contact, faq, orgone, and welcome.
    • Book (six children): service page of old, religious poems modeled after a Catholic mass and five web-book sections.
    • Archives (no children).

  • 20091011-Tweaking Again

    Getting friggin bored each and everyday for being unemployed, under utilized and mostly waiting for NOTHING! Been tweaking my weblog site to keep busy, besides the usual chores around the house and yard.

    Played around with widgets for sidebar in the new order of appearance:

    • Image widget – Howdy greeting and a tagline, which links to sitemap (or pages) since there is no top navigation bar with drop-down menu feature with this current `Dusk` theme.
    • Search form widget – For entering text queries.
    • Image widget – Home alone, featuring words of encouragement and an image of Dante’s Inferno Satan with link to `service` page (which is modeled after a Catholic mass, only it includes my old, religious poems).
    • RSS widget – Links of my feeds for posts and comments.
    • Image – A cleaner .jpg image combining four books authored and signed by Don Bradly and the link to get some.
    • Flickr widget – Showing three images from the Orgone and Orgonite pool via Flickr.com.
    • Image widget – For PayPal donation and its link.
    • Gravatar widget – For translate, blogroll links, subscribing to my Flickr.com photostream, a disclaimer and a `copyright`.

    I tried adding other widgets but my outdated cellphone kept showing an MIC ERROR #603.

    Four of my favorite books written and signed by Don Bradley.
    Visit the `Uwantsun! Orgone and Books` products page.

  • 20091009-Tweaking Again

    Out of sheer boredom with my sorry life due to being unemployed for over two friggin’ years and lacking any common sense to get myself out of this financial raping by TPTB, I’ve been tweaking my weblog site.

    1. Set my front page to display `[my] latest posts` with three (3) posts per page.

    2. Set widgets in the sidebar in the following order:

    • Text: Tagline greeting.
    • Pages: as main menu.
    • Search form.
    • Text: Another greeting.
    • RSS links to my blogs RSS feeds.
    • Archives.
    • Calendar.
    • Category Cloud.
    • Tag Cloud.
    • Image: Recommended Reading.
    • Flickr: Orgone and Orgonite.
    • Blog Stats.
    • Askimet: Spams Blocked.
    • Image: Donation.
    • Gravatar: Various Links.

    3. Organized the hierarchy of pages and set some pages to `private` mode. May delete later on.

    4. Edited my paid CSS stylesheet upgrade by removing the two-column codes and setting the left margin of the `#sidebar ul ul ul` to 10px.

    5. Reverted back to the `Dusk` theme.

    6. Removed div styles for two-columns and used tables instead. Much better.

  • 20090930-Old Theme

    I got sick of looking at the three-column theme of Sandbox 1.6.1: It was too busy! It had everything except the full view of post entries in archives mode. So (ONCE AGAIN) I reverted to a two-column theme for free here at WordPress.com: Dusk by Becca Wei.

    The appearance of this particular theme is cleaner and NARROW with a width of 760px, which I tested to fit well (by default) for screen resolutions of 800 by 600 pixels. The colors are `web-safe` in gray shades with font colors of cool blue.

    My previous blog entry mentioned the feel of this weblog as a holy Mosque, all white-washed and such.

    With the today’s new `Image Widget` by the HAPPY ENGINEERS, I’ve expanded the sidebar to include eight widgets:

    • Text widget – A greeting, a tagline, an image and words of encouragement.
    • RSS Link for posts and comments.
    • Text widget – A list of nine parent pages.
    • A search form.
    • Image widget – Recommended reading.
    • Flickr widget – Orgone and orgonite.
    • Image widget – PayPal button for donations.
    • Gravatar widget – Image and four useful links.

    I would have like to add more widgets but it will make scrolling up and down to much work for the lazy readers!

    Oh, look! I see a nice golden heart pendant made of orgone as a recent photo of the Flickr widget labeled `Orgone and orgonite`. I wished I had some money to buy this nice piece and a NANO SHIELD for my handbag, too!

  • 20090923-Tweaked Again

    Well, I’m back to the free theme here at WordPress.com: Dusk by Becca Wei. It’s new and improved. Check it out! I’m tired of changing themes and will [probably] stay with this one.

    For details, here is a list of the latest tweaks to my weblog:

    • Lightened background color to gray, a neutral shade.
    • Adjusted margins and paddings for both sidebar and content.
    • Used six widgets.
      • Text widget of table containing a tagline, an image with caption, a simple greeting and two links to the feeds for both the posts and comments.
      • Text widget of main menu containing nine parent pages, complete with brief descriptions in italic and in mouse over.
      • Search form widget for inquiries within my weblog.
      • Flickr widget of  current three images from maximum display of ten for `Orgone and Orgonite` administered by MessiahMews.
      • Text widget of table containing an image of four books authored by Don Bradley linking to a hosted site by MessiahMews.
      • Text widget of five links to donate, link, translate, disclaimer and copyright.

    Personal PROs:

    • Customer header of a cloud formation featuring an image of a sylph.
    • Wrapper width of 780px to accommodate screen resolutions of 800 by 600 pixels.
    • Two columns with the sidebar floating left and the content floating right.
    • Full visibility of posts in archives mode.
    • Ordered and listed elements perfect.
    • Automatic adjustments for browser zooms.
    • Time/date stamp and meta data underneath the post title.

    Personal CONs:

    • No tagline.
    • No top navigation bar of parent pages with drop-down menu features for sub-pages.

  • 20090920-Tweaked Blog

    I’ve tweaked my weblog:

    • A`Front` (or `Home`) page of four poems and renamed as `Blogger’s note`.
    • A customer header showing an etheric cloud formation (or a sylph, really)!
    • Cooler colors of blue and gray to match the customer header.
    • Reduced number of widgets to six.
      • Text widget: a tagline, an illustration by Dante and two links to my feed.
      • Search form for text queries.
      • Pages widget listing parent pages as the main menu.
      • Flickr widget of orgone and orgonite.
      • Text widget of `recommended readings`.
      • Gravatar widget of useful links.

  • 20090918-Old Theme

    I’m back with the free theme here at WordPress.com: `Dusk` because, once again, of its time/date stamp feature, followed by the categories and tags element. I  found a `color scheme generator` for my light, purple and gray color based on the default background color #556677 as per the `body element` found on my paid CSS stylesheet upgrade.

    The `before` and `after` content feature was added as a text for the #footer element and the #title element, both of which only appears for the FireFox browser and shows up blank for the Internet Explorer browser. I removed that feature from my CSS stylesheet.

    I’ve tried other themes:

    • `Unsleepable` for sub-pages on the main menu of the right sidebar.
    • `Blix`  for pages AND posts viewed without sidebars.
    • `Kubrick`, `Pool`, `Sapphire`, `Sunburn`, `Black Letterhead`, `Connections`, `Andreas09`, `Solipsus`, `Almost Spring`, `Fleur De Lys`, `ChaosTheory`, `Sandbox`, `Rounded`, `Contempt`, `Misty`, `Quentin`, `White As Milk`, `Redoable Lite`, `Garland`, `DayDream`, `P2`, `Silver Is The New Black`, `DePo Masthead`, `The Journalist v1.9`, `Hemingway` for time/date stamps primarily.

  • 20090915-Old Theme

    Haha! I changed my mind again from `Solipsus` to another free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Connections by Patricia Müller

    A super classy two-column theme with widgets and a customizable header.

    Tags: custom-header, green, two-columns, fixed-width, right-sidebar, widgets, sticky-post, light, rtl-language-support

    I’ve modeled the sidebar against one my favorite reading material used daily during morning mass. The sidebar sports the following widgets in the order in which they appear:

    • Text widget for welcoming the readers my weblog and its tagline.
    • Search form for submitting queries.
    • Page widget for the main menu of eight parent pages.
    • Flickr widget showing photos of orgone and orgonite.
    • Text widget of `recommended reading` of four books authored by DB.
    • Askimet widget showing the number of spams blocked.
    • Blog stats widget showing the total visits.
    • A gravatar widget of useful links.

    But this time, instead of the time/date stamp appearing underneath the post title or page title (for that matter) when viewed in `archive mode` or `front page mode`, the meta information appears as an `Archived Entry` when viewing ONE post entry at a time.

    This would be my compromise between the time/date stamp and a nice custom header sporting a cloud formation, which is really a sylph!

  • 20090915-Old Theme

    Okay, fine. I’m back with a free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Solipsus by Tiffany Nguyen (Rikkye)

    A black and brown two-column design with flowers, clouds and a sun.

    Tags: two-columns, fixed-width, dark, rtl-language-support, left-sidebar, widgets, sticky-post

    I’ve modeled the sidebar against one my favorite reading material used daily during morning mass. The sidebar sports the following widgets in the order in which they appear:

    • Text widget for welcoming the readers my weblog and its tagline.
    • Search form for submitting queries.
    • Page widget for the main menu of eight parent pages.
    • Flickr widget showing photos of orgone and orgonite.
    • Text widget of `recommended reading` of four books authored by DB.
    • Askimet widget showing the number of spams blocked.
    • Blog stats widget showing the total visits.
    • A gravatar widget of useful links.

  • 20090911-Old Theme

    I’m back on a free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Sandbox 0.6.1 by Andy Skelton & Scott Allan Wallick

    A theme with powerful, semantic CSS selectors and the ability to add new skins.

    Tags: white, left-sidebar, theme-options, widgets, two-columns, one-column, three-columns, right-sidebar, flexible-width, microformats, rtl-language-support

    The Current Skin is:

    Three-Column Minimalist 1.0 by Scott Allan Wallick

    Minimalist style with left and right-sidebars

    The left sidebar is for archives of my weblog. The right sidebar is for the orgone, such as the Flickr.com group pool, links to vendors and recommended readings. The length for both sidebars are almost even. I had to increase the gravatar image of a small white flower against its green leaves to 128 pixels. This compensates for the shortened gap of the left sidebar.

    The main colors to my paid CSS stylesheet upgrade are mostly gray and blue:

    • Body and block quote #eee;
    • Header #ddd;
    • Content #fff;
    • a: #006699; and
    • a: hover #3399CC.

    I had to remove the light blue to purplish background color to something more monotone like gray but lighter than dark. I didn’t want to present anymore weird symbolic weight to color coding for TPTB and thought that the gray tone would symbolize something more neutral, neither red nor purple.

    The `Front page displays` has be set from [My] latest posts to:

    • Front page: Home and
    • Posts page: Archives.

    I wanted to keep track of the many times people viewed that `front page` (aka `home page`) and if people would view the archives page of `Blog pages show at most`: 3 (three) posts instead of 15 (fifteen) posts, which I felt was too long to view at one page.

    I pray that this would be the VERY last time I’d tweak the overall appearance of my WordPress.com weblog.

  • 20090909-Tweaked Widget

    Finished editing ‘Recommended Reading’ widget to ‘Uwantsun! Orgone & Books’ prior to tonite’s speech. Found that products page is 404! Linked to mirror site,eg!