It's long overdue, but over the next week or so, we will be migrating the blog into the new Google template infrastructure (well, it was new a few years ago). This change will bring several positives including additional features on the sidebar, easier administration and a return to the Google commenting system (which should make it easier for many of you to make comments). There will be downsides as well; perhaps, most significantly, it is likely that we will lose the existing comment history of the blog. While this is regrettable, a bit of research on my part has determined that transferring the historical comments to Google isn't feasible (unless you happen to be a Google engineer) and maintaining our existing commenting system would cost the foundation at least $120/year.
Also, the days of maintaining comprehensive listings of chess blogs are over. Over the past several years the 'sphere has grown so large that this wasn't really possible anyway. So, going forward, we will attempt to maintain lists of blogs that link to Boylston Chess Club Weblog, and perhaps a few others like GM blogs, but that's it. There are plenty of good tools out there like Technorati and Google Blog Search for finding the rest.
This transformation will be a process and it will take awhile to rebuild all the sidebar features and add new ones. So don't be surprised if the blog looks different and even incomplete for awhile. In fact, there is no guarentee that it will look the same at all - I just might decide to experiment with a whole new look and feel (in fact, I probably will).
As always, your feedback is welcome (assuming we have a working commenting system).
11 comments:
Exciting! A holiday treat!
Thanks for your work, Dave!
I feel the white text on black background is more comfortable on the eyes, and the new club graphic is nice.
-Ken Ho
Hi Dave
Great to have you back tinkering. A face-lift is welcome for the new year. For my 2 cents, I like the dark text on light background, which I find more readable. I really like using a different masthead image. Can we rotate scenes from the club?
I also like the commenting system better.
Can't make everybody happy...
Check out this template - based on your previous comments, I presume that Bob will like it better and Ken will prefer the previous one. Let me know.
Hi Dave and ken-
Your presumption is correct. I do like the light background for readability and a more open feel, but I won't be unhappy with other choices. Readers, please weigh in.
A little focus group action is needed. vbob
Black text on a light background (as it currently is) please! It really is the standard at this point.
I don't feel terribly strongly about it, so don't count me as unhappy. Either is totally fine. I use black letters on white background myself. I was just noticing that with less bright white on the screen, the appearance seemed a little less in one's face.
I think the new template is good. I prefer black on white. White on black is good for dark images in a presentation and for Myspace pages.
Ahhhh..... And commenting is so much better already!
Dave,
Can you add the date to go along with the times of comments? It seems a little odd to have only the clock time.
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