MISTY LOOK

Today I’m exploring Misty Look. It has an attractive header, but I’m not sure about how it works. So far I’ve discovered that the SEARCH is automatic, so adding the Search Widget duplicates things. Also since whatever Pages I add get listed across the top, if I have too many of them, they run into the built-in SEARCH BOX. These are just unexpected inconveniences, and I think I can work around them, but I’m not sure.

MORE THEMES FOR MY BLOGS

When I was clicking through my various blogs this morning I got to thinking I need more themes for my blogs so they don’t all look alike, but I want them all to have the full text search, which limits me. So far I know of several old ones that do: K-2 LITE, RUBRIC, REGULUS, WORD PRESS CLASSIC,  plus CONNECTIONS and CONTEMPT (but both of these have that irritating pop-up that says “check the links below” associated with their search). I guess I need to run another check on some of the other themes.

THE JOURNALIST v1.3 is black and white and very legible. It also has a full search. The v1.6.1 version also has the full text search, but it’s less attractive to my eye than v1.3. SILVER IS THE NEW BLACK has the full text search, but the font they use is so small I can hardly read it. FLEUR DE LYS has the full text search. Maybe I should try it? POOL has the full text search and can accommodate a custom header. ICEBURGG and INOVE and SIMPLA have the full text search, but I don’t like the way they look.

SANDBOX 1.1, 0.6.1, and 1.6.1 offer only the first few lines for searches. Version 0.6.1 has huge bold text and is very easy to read, which is a virtue even if it doesn’t offer the full-text search.

VIGILANCE THEME

In addition to being too wide for my screen, the search tool on the Vigilance theme offers only the title of the post.

TEXT WIDGET

Both Silver is the new Black and Rubric support the Text Widget. I wonder why the Rubric theme I’m using for my Homework for a Vision Blog won’t do the Text Widget I created?

NEW THEME

I got tired of the light blue, so I’m going to try silver for a while. I also want to explore the features of SILVER IS THE NEW BLACK. So far, so good. this theme offers a full-text search, and I can edit posts from the blog itself. The only thing I don’t like is that the type seems very small….

BACKDATING

It occurred to me that I might want to include some information in one or another of my blogs from dates earlier than 1970 — like maybe the 194os, 50s or 60s. I tried a lot of different experiments trying to backdate to different dates, and I give up. Backdating beyond January 1, 1970 would involve dating any of the earlier entries January 1, 1970, and using the time of day to try to organize them chronologically. Too complicated. I yearn for the good old days of Pyra Labs, when I could backdate as far as I wanted to….

BLOGS VS. WEB SITES

I’ve decided (I think) that I want to convert all my Web sites to blogs and retire the Web sites — or maybe just use their addresses to forward people to my blogs. I wonder how much work that might be? I guess the issue is that as long as my Web sites are Web sites, I’ll have to keep renewing the domain names and Web hosts. That means when I die they will eventually cease to exist. If I manage to get all the contents posted to my blogs, the contents will remain available as long at the blogosphere exists, which is forever enough for me. So now I’ve got to think through what I want to do and in what order. Plus I’ll have to work with my Web sweetheart to get my graphics transferred, and I’ll have to figure out how to link my book reviews to Amazon from my Naturalist’s Bookstore blog. Lots of work…. BUT the advantage is the end products would be permanent, infinitely tweakable by me, and all interconnected any way I want them to be.

BLUE THEMES AND THEIR SEARCH TOOLS

I got tired of the black and white of the JOURNALIST theme, so I tried some of the blue ones. SAPPHIRE is handsome, but it offers only a five-line search, and I want a full-text search for this blog. CONTEMPT offers a full-text search, but it also has that confusing pop-up that says “If you are unable to find anything in these search results, you can try one of these links.” What links? So Next I tried K-2, which offers the full text search. Maybe I need to make a list of which themes offer full searches so I’ll be able to cut to the chase. I’m just remembering that good old KUBRICK has the most minimal search of them all. It offers just the date — no text at all — which actually makes it perfect for my Birdathon blog that serves as a searchable archive of all the species I’ve reported seeing on my Birdathon blog. Just to make my review of the blue themes complete, I revisited POOL and discovered that it has a full-text search, so maybe I’ll experiment with it for a while.

VIGILANCE

I just tried the new theme Vigilance to see if it had any potential for any of my blogs. It was too wide for my screen, which means it’s not an option. Oh well…. I like the Journalist theme enough to stick with it for a while.

THE JOURNALIST TEMPLATE

I’m now exploring the theme called THE JOURNALIST to see if it has everything I want. Its search is full text, and it offers the option of some explanatory text in the sidebar. The posts are wide and legible, and the sidebar is narrow. I guess the only thing I’m having trouble getting used to is the absence of color. I wonder if I can add a custom header? No, I can’t, but that’s OK because all I have to deal with now is the absence of color. We’ll see.