Couple of Site Updates
Sat, 15 September, 2007 – 11:56 pm
I've had a bit of a clean up on this blog this evening. After spending the earlier evening going through the bedroom, drawers and boxes of various 'rubbish' to hopefully make a bit of cash on, selling at a car boot sale (more on that at make money from rubbish), I decided to finally do a few updates on this site that I'd been meaning to do for a while.
First up was to alter my comments.php theme file to set my own comments to stand out a little. Michael's post on how to style author comments differently prompted me to do this. In the past I've used the Author Highlight plugin, but after Michael's comment of how much extra work this is, and after reviewing the plugin page I realised he was right (I'm sure I didn't do that much work last time to add it!). So instead I used a little of the code on his post, but altered it to simply check if the user ID of the commentator was 1, which is my user ID as admin of the blog. This means if I decide to update my email address in the future I don't have to think about the fact that things will stop working or use excess code to cover each email address 
So now my comments are highlighted with a dark red background and white text for my name and posting time. I figured it's enough to make me stand out.
I've also cleaned up my sidebar and moved my external links into their own Links page. I've also finally got the list updated with all the sites I've recently added to my feedreader and highly recommend. The latest few being Pro Blog Design, Random Jabber, It's an Online World, and also a relatively new blogging forum, The Blog Experiment, run by Sara, this blog's current top commentator
So I hope you find something of interest on the links. For sites mainly geared towards money making, these can be found at my AIS Links page.
Finally I've updated my Contact form to actually be a contact form and not just a page with the comments set to on! I'll post up the two page templates I've used for this later in the week when I have time. It's gone midnight here now so it's time for bed
Using the user ID is a good idea. It's definitely nice that you don't need to worry about email addresses anymore.
I just use the email address method because I don't always comment from my home computer, so I wouldn't always be logged in as the first user.
And thanks for adding PBD to your links page! I'm really glad you're enjoying it.
(And I expect some sort of a reply to this comment, just so I can see the new effects.
)
By Michael from Pro Blog Design on Sun, 16 September, 2007
Thanks for the mention and I'm glad you are enjoying TBE. I definitely and happy to have you there! I really need to make changes re: my author comment on all of my blogs. So much to do…so little time!
By sara on Sun, 16 September, 2007
Michael, to be honest at first I thought that I had to switch it to the User ID as I don't have my webaddress linked to my name. Clearly it was a bit late (and hot) and I wasn't thinking straight considering your method uses the email!! Not sure where I was coming from with my logic!
I don't tend to comment away from my own machine though so it's not such a problem. And I have swapped email addresses (and domains, hence why I removed all the links on my comments!). No worries on the link, am really liking your blog
Sara, TBE is great. It's certainly enjoyable chatting about blogging and getting to know more people.
Anyway, here is the blog owner's comment 'look'. It's nothing major, I'm not a designer afterall
By Sarah on Sun, 16 September, 2007
Oops my contact form link was wrong. Thanks to 'David' (Mr Mysterious and not my other half!) for pointing this out.
By Sarah on Sun, 16 September, 2007
Ahh, changing domains is always a nightmare. The less hassle the better I suppose!
By Michael from Pro Blog Design on Sun, 16 September, 2007
It wasn't so bad. My old domain 301s perfectly well, especially as there are a lot of links in my older posts and comments using my old domain. I'm still cleaning the database up, although I've found a bit of SQL that could do it all in one go for me.
The downside to changing the domain is that I have no PR on the new one, hopefully the old PR 4 or even my previous 5 will come back to me soon! I've also lost all authority/links on Technorati, and the 301 seems to have no effect there. Technorati still sees the old site as well as the new one.
However, the domain change was vital in the blog growth I believe, and hopefully my creditability will follow suit soon!
By Sarah on Sun, 16 September, 2007
Hey Sarah, thanks a lot for the link love!
By Deron Sizemore on Mon, 17 September, 2007
No problem Deron
By Sarah on Mon, 17 September, 2007
Are you planning to add a FAVICON any time soon?
I think it'll make your site look more complete.
That flower on the blackboard looks nice.
Here, I've made one for you.
http://www.goldfries.com/stuffbysarah.ico
Have a look. I don't know if it suits your liking.
It's just a 16×16 ICO file of that flower.
By goldfries on Tue, 18 September, 2007
Hey goldfries, thanks very much! I did have a favicon with the last design but never got around (or asking my boyfriend) to do me a new one. I've added yours and have to say, it's nice
Thanks a lot.
By Sarah on Tue, 18 September, 2007