After announcing my intention to redesignPerishable Press, I received some great feedback addressing everything from site architecture and navigation to appearance and usability. As the conversations continue, I want to spend some time thinking about usability, navigation, columns and sidebars. The current minimalist design features a single column layout with no sidebars. Content is located prominently front and center, with all navigational links appearing in either the oversized “footer” area or at the end of each individual post. As severalpeoplehavepointed out, such navigational strategy (or lack thereof) discourages visitors from digging deeper into the site. Apparently, the pile of links at the bottom of each page — the menu, as I like to call it — requires far too much effort to decipher. I mean, really, just because it all makes perfect sense to me, doesn’t mean that everyone else will “get it” too.
I want to redesign Perishable Press. The current design was released around a year ago, and has received numerous compliments and criticisms. Compliments tend to focus on the theme’s minimalist sensibilities, while criticism is generally directed at the design’s poor usability. Personally, I find the “grey-on-black” color scheme to be very inspiring. Others, however, have difficulties reading the content, and that’s not good.
It’s been awhile since my last personal news post, and I figure that enough has been happening to warrant yet another exciting news update. Yay! ;)
So let’s see, first on my mind is the recent launch of the new design for Monzilla Media, the official site for my personal website and graphic design business. The first two versions of the site were single-page brochure sites, but this new version is fully loaded, featuring tons of portfolio content, business news, and service information. If you’ve got a minute, I would love to hear your feedback!
After much deliberation, I have decided to take a short vacation away from the computer. I have been working like a dog recently, and feel that a change of pace would help recharge the ‘ol brain cells. I haven’t decided exactly when it will be, but I am thinking that some time off in August (my favorite month) would be swell. Maybe go to the coast, do some traveling, take a long nap, or whatever. Technically, I haven’t taken a break from blogging here at Perishable Press in almost three years! So it’s definitely time..
Generally, I like to post three or four times a week, depending on my schedule. As most of you know, I like to post quality articles on just about anything related to Web development, graphic design, blogging, social media, SEO, site security, and just about anything related to technology, creativity, and design. Given a two-week hiatus, I am asking for help with around seven or eight guest posts, preferably from a few different authors.
Ever since writing that last review article, I have been feeling the need to cut loose, relax, and blog about something a little more “down-to-earth,” like recent things that have been happening around here. If you are new to Perishable Press, rest assured that I try to keep these “site/personal news” update posts down to a minimum. Whenever possible, I save up a bunch of interesting off-topic things that I want to talk about, and then cram them all together into a multipurpose article like this one. I have found that consolidating and summarizing multiple news items into one post helps keep noise to a minimum while providing a more complete “snapshot” of current events. That said, let’s see what’s been happening ‘round here lately..
Toggle High Contrast Style
Due topopulardemand, I have implemented an alternate “high-contrast” CSS stylesheet for the current theme. If you find the content difficult to read due to the low-contrast, “grey-text-on-black-background,” click on the small sun icon located in the lower-right corner of the browser window to brighten things up a bit. Conversely, to restore the original (dark) appearance, click on the moon icon in the same location. This “toggle-contrast” functionality has been around for awhile, but I have not found the opportunity to mention it until now.
Just a note to announce a site upgrade to WordPress 2.3.3. The upgrade went well, but overall server performance continues to suffer. I am aware that some people are experiencing difficulties leaving comments and even accessing the site in general. Rest assured, I am working with my hosting company, A Small Orange, to get everything back on track and running smooth. In the meantime, I appreciate your patience as we work to resolve the issues, restore full functionality, and return to reliable performance.
Please share any helpful observations regarding the site here. — Thanks!
One of the year-end maintenance rituals that I have decided to adopt involves sharing a few annual site statistics for Perishable Press. Over the course of the previous year, Perishable Press has gone through many changes, including switchingserversmultipletimes, eliminating nofollow attributes from comments, and even a complete site overhaul and restructuring. Despite the chaos surrounding such events, traffic levels have continued to increase, bounce rates have steadily decreased, and the number of feed subscribers continues to grow. Overall, I extremely pleased with how the site is doing, especially considering my disdain for formal advertising and social marketing nonsense. Fortunately, with virtually zero promotional effort, Perishable Press has grown from a simple hobby site into an actual destination for web design and development information. Sure, in the endless ocean of the Internet, I am but a blip on the screen, however, looking at the statistics for 2007, I am optimistic and even excited about what the future may hold for this site.
2007 Stats
In order to save everyone time, I present the following statistics with minimal commentary. As my readers are well aware, I could spend hours and hours discussing every bleepin’ detail of every bleepin’ aspect of every bleepin’ statistic. See, you know what I’m sayin’. Instead, I will let the stats speak for themselves and then, if necessary, field any questions or concerns that you may have. Alright, enough bull droppinz — let’s get on with it..
Just when I thought I had finally solved my web-hosting woes by transferring to a virtual private server, I am slapped in the face by the cold realities of server memory limitations. Apparently, WordPress-powered sites are extremely resource-intensive, requiring insane amounts of random access memory (RAM), something which does not concern those of us working from shared hosting accounts.
On a shared server, system resources are shared among the various accounts that reside on a particular server. When one of these sites takes a hit and requires extra bandwidth, it “borrows” it from the total amount of bandwidth available for the other shared sites, leaving them with limited memory and other server resources. This is one of the reasons that shared hosting can suck so badly at times. If you happen to be located on a server that hosts a few resource-intensive or unstable sites, chances are high that your site will not perform as well as it might if its neighbors weren’t such stinking pigs.
With shared servers, it is this sharing of server memory that enables WordPress-powered sites to enjoy their resource-hogging plugins without too many issues. Sure, sharing memory can sometimes be a drain when you are fighting with hundreds of other sites for that extra megabyte of precious memory, but at least your site doesn’t shut down if you happen to exceed the predefined memory limits. This is exactly what happened after I setup Perishable Press on my new virtual private server at WiredTree. To be honest, since this was my first move away from shared hosting, I really had no idea how much memory my site was using. Turns out that just this one site — with its reduced number of plugins and optimized content — was enough to gobble up every drop of the 256 MB of allocated RAM without even blinking. It was like, okay, site now online — oops, not any more — you just exceeded your memory limits and crashed Apache. Again. Ugh.
Hello! If you are seeing this page via the default WordPress theme (i.e., blue header, based on Kubrick), welcome to the new server! I recently upgraded my hosting to a virtual private server, and finally reassigned the domain name servers to resolve to the new address. So, if you are here and everything seems to be working, then everything went according to plan and I will be able to complete the transfer on Saturday (Lord willing). If, on the other hand, something is busted, throwing an error, or otherwise causing problems, then Saturday may involve more troubleshooting and fixing things.. Either way, if you are reading this, welcome! There are great things in store here at our new home ;)
As many of you already know, the popular WordPress anti-spam plugin, Bad Behavior, caused some problems yesterday, and as a result many bloggers and users were locked out of their favorite sites, including this one. As for now, the problem seems to be fixed, however, the experience of being locked out of my own site has left a rather unpleasant taste in my mouth.
Needless to say, I will be reconsidering the continued use of Bad Behavior as a part of my long-term anti-spam strategy. In the meantime, everything is up and running fine again (with Bad Behavior disabled) — comments are working, and I can even log in to admin to write new posts :)
In other news, Perishable Press is moving to a new server! I just switched the DNS to my new VPS nameservers, so hopefully everything will propagate and transfer without a hitch. Nonetheless, if something does happen to go wrong, Perishable Press may be offline for a spell, but rest assured, I am all over it..
So — here goes nothing — I am pulling the plug on the old server — see you on the other side ;)
Today I am happy to announce that Perishable Press has been deemed worthy of citizenship on Planet WordPress! Planet WordPress is an incredible WordPress resource, bringing together some of the Web’s finest WordPress contributors, plugin developers, and theme designers. The Planet WordPress feed currently features nearly 50 hand-selected WordPress bloggers and aggregates their syndicated content every two hours. As proclaimed at the site, Planet WordPress is “The Epicenter of Everything WordPress” — definitely a great way to stay current with the wonderful world of WordPress.
Needless to say, I am most grateful to Ozh for hooking me up with this excellent opportunity. Cheers! ;)
Alrighty then! Looks like recent changes to site structure have really dropped a bomb on quite a few regular visitors out there. After switching over to the new default theme last night, I had setup an email notification system to alert me of all errors encountered at this domain (i.e., the main site and all test sites). Of course, I knew that at least a few errors would be inevitable, but I had no idea that I would receive nearly 300 of them!
After examining the nature of these errors, it appears that the bulk of them are the result of either Google showing confusion over the new image directory structure, or people visiting the site with a browser cache full of old theme files. Apparently, a few visitors were actually using some of the alternate themes that I had provided via the previous default theme. So, now that the alternate themes have been removed (temporarily, for a few months), visitors are experiencing errors when they visit the site. Uhh, not so good, especially for them.
Just a note to let everyone know that I am switching the site’s default theme this evening. The new theme is similar, yet different (drop by to see what I mean), and will be switched over as soon as everything is ready behind the scenes (plugins, etc.). Also, until I am able to update the mobile CSS styles, the site may appear a little bonkers when viewed via mobile device. In the meantime, as the new theme goes live, many functional aspects of the site will also be changing (such as the WordPress 2.3 upgrade). So, as things unfold, please be patient with me, as I continue to work diligently to get everything working smoothly again. And, if you happen to notice any serious errors or discrepancies, please hoot and/or holla at me. That would be just swell. Thank you ;)
The amount of time I spend surfing the Web from a mobile device has steadily increased since the acquisition of my new favorite mobile device. Unfortunately, many sites have yet to implement (or even consider) support for mobile devices. Without proper formatting, such sites are virtually useless, requiring unnecessary download times, displaying unreadable pages, and serving unusable content. Given the inevitable ubiquity of mobile access to the World Wide Web, providing reasonable support for handheld browsers is becoming increasingly important. Without it, your site is left looking incomplete and unprofessional when viewed from mobile devices.
So, with that said, today I am happy to announce new mobile CSS styles for Perishable Press. Before today, browsing Perishable Press via mobile device was a royal pain, as the default CSS screen styles would transform the content into an unusable expanse of scrolling text and links. Staying current with site maintenance, comments, and updates was very difficult and time-consuming thanks to the improperly implemented screen styles. If your site is loading screen styles instead of an optimized set of styles for handheld devices, chances are high that your mobile visitors are few and disappointed.
Ladies and gentlemen, things have become a little too comfortable around here. Themes are displaying with nary a hitch, files are being downloaded as expected, URLs are served like butter, and the site is experiencing fewer errors (PHP, 404, etc.) than ever before. After two years of perpetual updating, posting, fixing, and tweaking, Perishable Press is finally performing exactly as desired (all things considered, of course). Yes sir, things are running quite smooth indeed..
A little too smooth. Sure, given the comfortable equilibrium that I am currently enjoying, it would be very easy to kick back, get lazy, and just coast on autopilot for the next two or three years. Maybe drop a new theme every six or seven months and call it good. After all, I have finally developed a comfortable writing and posting schedule as well. So what’s the problem, then? Why change things now? Why deliberately create more work, hassle, and stress for myself? Surely, there is a good reason.
Many changes around here lately — new styles, new software, new hardware, and a whole lot more. I will be covering several of these items in greater depth in future posts, but for now, here is an overview of some of the recent happenings unfolding here in Perishable land..
New Mobile Styles
I finally took the time to throw down some tuff mobile CSS styles for Perishable Press. Before, the site was virtually impossible to use via mobile devices because of the comprehensively applied screen styles, which completely overwhelm the screen real-estate and system resources of the average mobile device. The new styles are clean, lightweight and minimalistic. If you have mobile access, please drop by and share your experience with us. Even better, if you are able to capture screenshots, send ‘em along with your system stats and I will include them in an upcoming article focusing on the new styles.
Bad Behavior Upgrade
After streamlining the mobile CSS styles for Perishable Press, I discovered that mobile users were not able to leave comments on the site. After investigating the mysterious “Precondition failed” error associated with each mobile comment attempt, I traced the issue to an older version of Bad Behavior. After upgrading from version 1.2.4 to the currently fresh version 2.0.10, the “Precondition failed” error was resolved and mobile commenting was enabled. Next time you are in the mobile neighborhood, drop a shout and check it out ;)
When I first began Perishable Press, I intended the site to focus primarily on the creative side of web and graphic design. However, I also wanted to share equally my ideas and experiences involving music, video, and other multimedia avenues of creative expression. Further, because I enjoy writing, and find myself frequently focusing on art, inspiration, and artistic expression, the initial plan encompassed a perpetual exploration and presentation of these topics here at Perishable Press.
Two years later, the original vision continues to change. Perishable Press has evolved into a site that focuses almost exclusively on technical aspects of web design. Although readers may occasionally experience a few digressions into graphic design, photography, and creative expression, these topics no longer represent the primary purpose of the site. Currently, visitors to the site will notice a plethora of content aimed at helping designers, developers, and bloggers excel on the Internet. Over the course of fifteen redesigns, the look and feel of Perishable Press has managed almost completely to evolve synchronously with the content. Almost..
Central Washington — The Columbia Basin Herald continues to describe Quincy as “stampeded by gang members, teeming with teenage pregnancies, constant shootings, stabbings, drugs and excessive consumption of booze.”
They printed the story — believe it or not — on the front page.
“Quincy is also known as ‘Q-town,’” the Columbia Basin Herald, a regional newspaper, claims. “It is overpopulated by gang members and individuals of hispanic decent who often believe they are of african background. Smoking marijuana is very popular and is often practiced by all age groups in the area.”
Dead Letter Art (DLa) is an esoteric underground art collective. The collective consists of eight core members that have known each other since high school, and have been creating and sharing their art for well over fifteen years. Sharing many common interests and influences, the DLa collective explores diverse artistic media, both individually and collectively. Their vast media expertise includes everything from drawing and painting to website development and multimedia production. Further, the group also embraces the fine art of desktop publishing, employing their periodically printed zine, Dead Letter Art, with their recently redesigned website, deadletterart.com, as their vehicle of choice for sharing, discussing, and exploring their highly creative, collective universe.
As promised, the fine folks at WordPress have released WordPress 2.1, which has been named "Ella" after jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. The new version features several key improvements, including lossless XML import/export, spell checking, post Autosave, and even a new search-engine privacy option. All that, and much more. Reading through the vast list of changes and developer features, we are quite excited to dive in and explore the new and improved, "state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform."
Chilled-out Web Design As promised, the official website for Monzilla Media is released January 2nd, 2007. Several weeks went into the development of the site, which is designed to provide a concise overview of current events and projects. The online presence of Monzilla Media opens up a new realm of possibilities, with business now marketed worldwide via the internet. Monzilla Media specializes in providing highly customized web design with a sharp focus on standards, usability, and accessibility.
Perishable Press is now running WordPress 2.0.5. Everything went very well as we upgraded directly from version 2.0.2. Please report any errors or unusual/unexpected behavior (concerning this site). Your help is much appreciated.
One of our most popular posts, Stupid htaccess Tricks, has been completely rewritten and now includes almost twice as many stupid htaccess tricks. Plus, we have added a library of regex character definitions, more information for many of the directives, and several handy references. But wait, there’s more — we even threw in a “quick-jump” Table of Contents and a complete set of “up” [ ^ ] links for easy navigation. Utterly amazing!
A new Dead Letter Art website is in the works and coming soon. The new site enhances previous content with dynamic features and improved organization. The new site has also been updated to include more archived content, including ancient issues and special projects. Additionally, some keen Ajax functionality kicks the “fun” up a notch. Anticipated release date: September 1, 2006. Check out the old, sickly green website here (update 9/2011: green site has been removed).
Update: [ 02/01/07 ] — The new Dead Letter Art website is now in full effect! Check it out at deadletterart.com. Browse the infamous DLa Archives, chat live with the crew in the DLa Forum, or even leave a comment in the Guestbook. — You’ll be glad you did..
After a few weeks of utter silence here at Perishable Press, it is time to post some fresh material. We have a few interesting — perhaps useful — articles coming up, including Website Attack Recovery, Lightbox/Tooltips Bug Fix, Even More Server Drama, and even a few posts covering recent events, tips, and other general nonsense. Things quiet down around here while we are working on new websites, but new content is always anticipated in between projects. We enjoy sharing insights and other news with readers whenever possible, and always enjoy hearing from visitors and guests. So, as the intense summer heat slowly boils us alive here in the Desert Oasis, we look forward to the imminent arrival of Fall, and all that that implies..
![[ Photo: Perishable ]](http://perishablepress.com/press/wp-content/images/2008/misc-chunks/perishable-profile.gif "Hard at work..")
Ever since writing that ![[ Screenshot: Planet WordPress Banner ]](http://perishablepress.com/press/wp-content/images/2007/misc-chunks/planet-wordpress.gif "Planet WordPress - The Epicenter of Everything WordPress")
Today I am happy to announce that ![[ Image: Humorously cropped portion of the front-page article: 'Columbia Basin Era Sewer' ]](http://perishablepress.com/press/wp-content/images/2007/small-town/tarnished-town_.jpg)
Central Washington — The Columbia Basin Herald continues to describe Quincy as “stampeded by gang members, teeming with teenage pregnancies, constant shootings, stabbings, drugs and excessive consumption of booze.”
