Friday, January 29, 2010

Dang Blogger Template

"Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain."
~ J.K. Rowling
I like to think that I'm somewhat tech savvy; after all I worked at a computer distribution company for 3 years, I've been blogging for 6 yrs, & have been using computers before the internet existed.... ahhhh, the days of BBS'ing.

I realize that being a member of the X-Generation isn't what it used to be in terms of technology. We might of set the initial pace of technology, but over the years we've begun to slow down & now most of the younger generation are trampling us by the age of 5 (Maybe 4, by the time you read this).

Such is the way of things. I completely acknowledge & accept my designation, but you can't blame an old dog (compared to the tech savvy 5yr old) for trying out a few new tricks.... which brings me to my dilemma.

I'm still using the "Classic" Blogger Template. When it first came out, I didn't like it because I thought it was a dumbed down version of the classic template. I had already figured out how to add widgets, gadgets, buttons, and the such, without it's help; so I kept my blog the way it was.

Unfortunately, the longer I kept using the classic template the harder things became to keep up with the status quo. I struggled to incorporate new content & applications into my blog because they're not designed to work with the older classic template. Even my recent changes to my blogs appearance put up a fight that took hours to sort out; where as with the upgraded template I might of been able to incorporate them in minutes.

My real dilemma however is actually upgrading to the new template. I've dug myself in so deep with the classic template that it's a tremendous amount of work to get my blog to look the same in the newer format. The other day I started to create a BornSquishy blogger test site, but I became frustrated and packed it in.

The idea of upgrading my template really appeals to me, as I'm really excited about adding some new content to my blog..... but the process & the time involved in making that transition has me dug in. I'm doing a bit of homework to see if there's a better way, or something I've overlooked to help me through the process.

So... if the next time you visit my blog it looks messed up, you know what I'm up to!

FYI: If you're the type of person that dreads change, you owe it to yourself to read a book called "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson. I highly recommend this book... as well as the other books in the "One Minute Manager" series. I read it many years ago (I should probably read it again) and passed the book onto my staff.

In fact after I read it, I'll add it to my list of books for this blog since the concept of change has an awful lot to do with my goals in terms of living healthy.

UPDATE (Jan. 30th): Well after a couple hours of playing around with code and some extra time looking at other peoples blogs & the new layout it seems that my biggest problem was my ability to CHANGE. I dreaded upgrading my blog so much that I made things out to be tougher than I thought. Now that I realize that it's not going to be as hard as I anticipated I should be able to make the transition at the beginning of next week.

UPDATE (Feb. 3rd): After 2 days of tinkering with the upgraded template I reverted back to the classic template. I'm proud that I made the change, and figured out how to use the new format, but as it turns out, my template actually looks better in the older format. Sooner or later I'm going to get my own domain up and running... which will give me the freedom to code how ever I want.

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