Busy with computing-related work. Got to get the Elfin Diary for next year finished pronto, which means spending days keyboarding in stuff. I really wish now I was better at programming – a bit of (relatively) simple VB or C++ magic would probably get the whole job done in hours instead of weeks.
And I’m changing the look of this blog. The success of the new design for my main site has made me go looking for a similar ‘responsive’ WordPress theme for this blog, so that it can be viewed in a variety of devices. I’ve found two free themes so far – Whiteboard and Responsive TwentyTen.
I spent the whole of yesterday afternoon customising the Whiteboard child theme, only to find it had a bug (the sidebar was forced below the main content on a normal-width screen) which would have required more hours work to correct. Sorry guys, but I haven’t the time for that. So now I’m going with the other theme.*
Finding a good design is hard for me – just cannot seem to do it from scratch. My usual method is to find a design that I like and bugger it around until it resembles something that I like. That means looking through design galleries for inspiration, which often makes me feel inadequate – I keep having to remind myself that I have all the skills for it and that if I had all day to spend on a computer that was equipped with the latest hardware and software, I too could produce something as striking. One web designer that I follow on Twitter has boasted about how he sometimes works straight through for 15 or more hours at a time. If I had that amount of spare time, I’d get the whole Elfin Diary finished in a fortnight!
But, as it is, there is shopping and housework to do (here, a drive to the supermarket means a 30-mile round trip), there are decent TV shows to watch, books to read etc etc. plus I need to spend time with t’other half, or he gets all complainy!
So I’d best stop meandering here and get on with some wurk!
* Well, the Responsive TwentyTen theme works as advertised – if you haven’t got a smartphone, iPad, blackberry etc to view this on, try narrowing your browser!