Tag-Archive for » WordPress «

It’s Time For A Gallery Update

Some of you may have noticed some changes to our gallery page.  I’ve recently started using the NextGEN Gallery plugin for Wordpress.  I like it much better than Coppermine which is what I was using before. When combined with the WP lightbox 2 plugin, it makes a very nice gallery.

At Holly’s request, I’ve also re-enabled the password protection on the page.  It’s not 100% secure since I currently have a random preview image showing in the sidebar, but it should help keep unwanted visitors from lingering a bit too long.

To go along with this new gallery format, I’ve added pictures from Halloween and Nick and Chelsea’s wedding.  I’ve also added a pic of me feeding a mouse to an owl and some random images of the kids.  If you would like to check them out, and don’t remember the page password, please feel free to use the contact page to let us know that you want to see things.  Or, you can just give us a call and we can tell you.  Whatever is easier for you.

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Things Should Be Fixed

I have gone through and fixed the website. At least it should be fixed. I’m not seeing any problems on my end but if you are, let me know.

I had to take down all of my widgets and re-write all of the code that you see manifested in the sidebars. If anybody knows a lot about WordPress programming and wants to help me figure out why my widgets don’t work in Internet Explorer, your help would be very welcome and appreciated.

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Website Upgrade

A few months back, WordPress released a new version that added some pretty cool features.  I held off on upgrading our site because I wanted to give the developers of the plug-ins that I use ample time to ensure that they would be compatible.  Well, time’s up.

Yesterday morning, I upgraded to WordPress 2.3.2.  You may or may not have noticed the subtle changes that were visible.  Almost everything appeared to be OK after the upgrade but then I realized that it wasn’t.  I think that I have fixed the major breaks in the website but there are still a few minor things that I’m working on.  If you come across anything that’s not working how it should, or if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

I also changed the look of the website a bit.  Pretty much everything is where it should be but if I missed something, or if something looks wrong, let me know.

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Enter The Gravatar

What’s a Gravatar you ask? Basically it’s an avatar, or picture, that follows a user from site to site. When a comment is posted, their avatar shows up allowing others to see more than a person’s name. They have been used in forums for years. Now, they are bursting onto the scene in blogs.

A while back I tried enabling Gravatars on the site but could never get them to work properly. Today I had some time at work and decided to give it another try. I installed a couple of WordPress plug-ins but they weren’t making me happy. I was able to get a default avatar to show up but it took a lot of modification of the site’s code. I knew that there had to be an easier way. That’s when I found the Easy Gravatars plug-in.

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Another New Domain?

You may have noticed when you visited the website that you were redirected here. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been having problems with the site on the old domain. I didn’t have full functionality of WordPress which is basically what my site uses. That’s not a good thing. I also had problems with the site crashing my browser about 90% of the time. That’s also not a good thing.

After doing tons of research, I discovered that my-php.net had begun placing forced banner ads on my site. One of the reasons that I used them for my host was that they didn’t place banner ads. Them doing so was causing all sorts of problems. The thing that tipped me off that this was the issue was that my porn filter was going crazy each time I visited my site. This was due to the ads. Not sure what they contained but I’m guessing it was bad since my firewall was also going crazy blocking spy sites. I think that they contained a combination of porn and spyware but since they never came up for me, I can’t be 100% sure. Maybe somebody else noticed something?

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Category: Website  Tags: ,  Leave a Comment
Good News, Bad News

First the good news. Holly got a new job. She still works for IHC but will now be working in labor and delivery as a CNA. As I understand it, she’ll be cleaning up after babies are born as well as helping clean the babies themselves up, weighing them, etc. She is very excited.

I also have a new job prospect. Funny since I’m not really looking. I was called this morning by a company in New York representing Goldman Sachs, a full-service global investment banking and securities firm. They want my computer skills. They seemed interested in me and appear willing to pay me a lot more than I’m currently making but they can only guarantee that the job will last for six months. They did say that they have a guy on the job who’s been there for a year and a half that was only guaranteed six months though. It could work out. We’ll see.

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Website Downtime

My website decided to take a nap for a few days. Some of you may have noticed, most of you probably did not. Of course sometimes I think that I’m the only one who reads this but that’s ok; I don’t need readers to feel special.

Basically what happened is that I was upgrading my version of WordPress and something on my server got buggered. Fortunately, I made a backup right before so I was able to get everything back up and running.

You may notice that there is a lack of pages in the sidebar. There’s a reason for that. I discovered that I wasn’t getting any mail from my contact form due to that particular feature being disabled on my server. I need to stop being a tight-wad and just pay for a premium membership. I think it’ll eventually happen because I really dislike this theme compared to others but I can’t make the good ones work right on a free webhosting account. I need to just open my wallet already.

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Category: Website  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment
A New Look

I’ve been wanting more interactivity with the website. I’ve decided to use WordPress so now you can post responses to our various blog entries. You can also click on one of the RSS links on the left to add this blog to your favorite RSS readers. That way, you’ll know when we update without having to check the site daily.

I’ve sacrificed a few things, most notably the gallery, for now but I hope to have it back up soon. Plus, I can edit this from anywhere so hopefully I’ll be able to find the time to post more frequently.

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