I’ve certainly been busy the last few weeks, preparing for a move, hanging with friends, the whole “holiday season” thing.. it’s a lot of work. And it certainly feels like I’ve lost interest in being on the computer. I’m predicting that when I’m moved into the new place, I’m going to bust out a brand new design and setup for JezzJournal.
Here’s what I’ve got in store, a sort of “to do” list.
- New Layout - I do like how the current site lays out, but I am looking for a centered design with a clean, well done layout. I have never really been happy with the designs I’ve come up with, and I really want to have a customized layout. I find a lot of inspiration in Michael’s site in terms of how he organizes the information on the sidebar, and how it dynamically changes when you are in a post, or on the main page.
- Categories & Archives - I would like to change the category names, as they are bleak and unorganized in my view. As well, I would like to have a much more useful Archives page, that would perhaps include a live search feed, similar to some popular WordPress sites out there.
- Sidebar Organization - Regardless of which side I choose to include the sidebar on, I’m going to have dynamically changing information included within it. For example, instead of having all my links there I plan on having the last 10 updated. I also plan on having the Brian’s Latest Comments installed, as I think it is one of the best WordPress plugins out there. I will also be using del.icio.us for a sidebar feed, for good links that I find. Sort of like Patrick’s Aggregator.
- Diverse Topics - I’ve found that overtime, I tried to ‘define’ what JezzJournal was about, but really, I shouldn’t need to. I should be able to write about whatever I want, when I want. So if I want to talk about World Of Warcraft, I will. Or if I want to talk XHTML, I will. I must not allow myself to try to ‘define’ this site, because this site should just be me.
- Flickr Integration - I have been so impressed with the services that flickr provides, that I’m planning on extending my Pro account into the new year. (I was given 3 months Pro at no cost.) I would like to integrate flickr into my site, perhaps using a RSS feed of sorts. Regardless, I’m no longer going to be using my own server side photo gallery.
- Back-end Cleanup - I’m also planning on wiping my server folders, so that only the images and such is left, and reinstalling WordPress fresh. I’ll keep the database the same, so I don’t lose any posts, but I always like the feeling of a “fresh” install. It’s like after you format your PC, it always seems to work better. I also plan to install the new Spam Karma plugin, which does an amazing job of keeping those stupid comment spam bots off your WordPress install.
So these are my plans. Is there anything you, as a reader, (all three of you) would want included in any changes with JezzJournal? I would really appreciate any thoughts you may have.