I'm still getting views in this blog although I haven't updated it in such a long time!
Surprise!
For the umpteenth time! I have failed to update this blog... and even this template that I was working on hasn't progressed since August.
I've really got only one excuse... I've been very, very, very busy! Really!
So I finally decided to upload the template.
It's still a little buggy and not quite complete yet. There's more work to be done.
I haven't been able to fully dedicate myself to developing the new template so there are still a lot of touching-up to do. The sidebars' backgrounds aren't set yet and I still need to fix the CSS codes for the widgets.
The background images also load with delay, so there's just text and black background at first before all the images load. I'll either have to optimize the images or find a better place to host the images.
Give me another month or so and I should be able to finish the temple... though, by then, I probably would have another design in mind...
Windmills of the Mind version 4.2 is almost finished... almost...
This is roughly how it should look like. Of course, it isn't complete without the text and all, but that's how the layout's gonna be.
I wanted something uncomplicated at first, seeing that version 4.0 was a little too grungy, dark and a little bit crowded. I ended up creating something a lot brighter, a little less grungy, but still quite complicated. Although it felt pretty okay so I decided to go on with this version.
I'm doing the design section by section and widget by widget, simultaneously editing the images while coding the CSS template then testing it in seven - yes, seven - different browsers (IE6, IE7, IE8, Opera 9, Google Chrome, FF2.5 and FF3). I'm still not sure how it would work out once I upload the template to blogger, though.
I've decided to, once again, change the whole theme of the blog. I've already created the header but I have yet to complete the other design elements that I'll use.
This is going to be Windmilles Version 4.
I know the design might be a little passe, the grungy victorian look is already a couple months old, but I've been seeing a lot of these themes lately and I thought it looked quite nice.
I know there's a lot to blog about lately. With all the many things going on around the world, one'd think I'd have tons to write about. So why the hell have I not been updating this blog of late?
Why? I don't really know. A lot of things have been keeping me quite busy; work, friends family, etc. While I've been able to keep my online self alive through social networking sites, forums, instant messenging, blah... blah... blah... I haven't been able to keep this blog alive! My last post's over a month ago and that wasn't even a full blog entry but just something I posted at random.
Why haven't I been updating this blog despite the fact that there's been a lot going on?
Alright, let me muster some excuses... err... answers...
In no particular order:
Notice the period in the last excuse? That's because I feel that that's the real reason for all this nonsense... I'm not inspired...
I know I'm supposed to have redesigned this blog for Chinese New Year, but that has passed and I still haven't finished my design. At least I've already come up with a preliminary design but I really haven't thought of any particular color scheme to use.
Here's a preview of what I've finished so far.
I haven't any idea of how to place the blog title and what sort of "effect" I'll be using on the text. Like I said, I haven't even thought of a color scheme to use.
I'm open to suggestions, though.
Since it's a new year, I was thinking of changing the page design of the blog. I though about doing something nostalgic and thought-provoking with a grunge and old world crossover design, but couldn't get the "feel" that I was looking for.
So I played around a little and decided why not try something whimsical instead... and I came up with this:
I liked the way it turned out, but then I thought it didn't have enough emotion for the blog so I just used it as my desktop wallpaper:
And so after a few more attempts to come up with a design that would satisfy me, I realized I probably would be the worst client a graphics designer could have and decided, I'll postpone the re-design for the Chinese New Year...
I finally found out how to remove the blogger navbar - and the good thing about it is that it's not against Blogger's Terms of Service. So this is absolutely legal.
So what's this navbar again?
It's that annoying bar at the top of every blogger page. Sure, blogger let's you choose from several different color presets, but you can only choose from four color schemes. No offense meant to Google or Blogger in particular but this navbar is an eyesore. It so clashes with the whole look of the blog.
While blogger gives you the chance to edit what color scheme the navbar will take, it doesn't give you any easy way to get rid of it. So how do we take care of that problem? The simple solution is to modify the stylesheet.
Before making any changes to the template, I would suggest backing it up - especially if you don't understand half of what the template code is - so just in case you make a mistake, you can easily restore it. To backup the template follow these steps.
After backing up the template you can now begin to mess around with the code. First, look for the line that says ]]></b:skin>. Insert the following code just above that line:
#navbar-iframe {height:0px;visibility:hidden;display:none}
So once that's done it should look like this:
#navbar-iframe {height:0px;visibility:hidden;display:none}
]]></b:skin>
Save your template and preview you blog and, voila! The navbar should be gone after that. If in case you'd want the navbar back, you simply remove that line we just added and it should return.
I'm still playing around with different effects; don't have a definite plan on how the page's supposed to look like as yet.
