Started to roll out the new blog …

My goal with the next batch of changes is to cut the number of lines of codes to a minimal and use the WordPress and PHP APIs to a greatest extent possible, so I can adopt new features without modifying my existing code. More code means more bugs and more issues to work out.

I mentioned last week that the Twitter Round-up pages will be disappearing. These pages were very data intensive and required a lot of code and processing to work correctly. They originally were created before Twitter let you download your tweets, mostly so I would have a personal copy of all the tweets I’ve done over the years. The Twitter API changes a lot, and it’s a lot of work to keep my own archive working. That’s why they are “disappearing”.

Photo albums are also “disappearing”. That does not mean photos are disappearing. In contrast, photos will be promoted to the front page, rather than the 10-photo albums. This will reduce the amount of clicking required, and because I am doing fewer photos — preventing it from clogging up the home page. It also will work better with social media sites. This feature will roll out over time.

Weather is disappearing. Well sort of. I am going to eliminate the automatic weather updates that appear on Twitter and Facebook. But instead, I will be sharing more weather graphics and customized efforts. You’ll like it. It will be less annoying, I promise you. Automated weather updates suck on many fronts.

The appearance will be freshened up. Not right away, but that’s coming soon.

Don’t fear the changes. Just because some things are disappearing temporarily or changing around, doesn’t mean it’s all bad. And this is a slow roll out — new features will appear in the next month, at a slower rate then old ones disappeared.

I expect to be fully up to steam by mid-April on the new, improved blog. You’ll like it, I promise !