Blog theme

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Announcement
Just learned the hard way that we can’t go back to the “Cityscape London” view without coughing up cash. Let me know what you think of this choice – the typeface seems as clear as the old one and the layout is now as it was.

Now trying “Cityscape Sydney” for a while – I wonder whether the set of free ones changes? – I’ll keep an eye on this.

20 comments on “Blog theme”

  2. It’s a bit dull and loses the reminder that this is UK-based journal but otherwise it does the job. What else was on offer?
  4. There’s a vast choice visible at http://www.livejournal.com/customize/ – but many of the free ones use the same typeface as the seasonal one that some folk found hard to read.

    The cash is something like $25 a year for the paid account that you need to choose the cityscape theme – I let this lapse in the past. I might get away with the $5 for a one-month sub if we then stick to the same scheme for good. There are some “cityscape” ones for free but appearing to be in Kiev or Pittsburgh seems a bit odd.

    The objects at the top are supposed to be books, which seemed fairly appropriate. There are more colourful versions of the theme – I’ve just tried an instant switch from “blue” to “turqquoise”.

  5. I thought they were blocks of chocolate! Have to say I preferred the old version, but I don’t suppose it’s worth losing any sleep over…
  6. I see travel to Sydney is free. Perhaps you should grab that one while it lasts, to alleviate the winter doldrums. Blue skies and sandy beaches! We can have a whip round in the mean time so we can afford to come back to London in time for Wimbledon, having spent April in Paris. Is it not time to spread our wings?
  7. I was going to comment, when I saw the previous theme, that you might consider shifting Calendar etc. (that were then on the left) to right, if possible.

    The present theme has all of them on right.

    This is convenient because when the page opens, we can take in the entire lines of text without having to move the horizontal bar.

    Unless the text area can be narrowed down so that both text and index appear in such a way that we can see them without moving the horizontal bar.

    1. It turns out that the layout is independent of the theme – I could have kept the old arrangement with the Christmas theme, but failed to notice this.

      I’m wondering whether to take the bigger plunge and switch to the WordPress system used by fifteensquared and Big Dave’s Telegraph blog. This has various advantages including window resizing which should avoid any horizontal scrolling, and the option for bloggers of weekly puzzles to stash their reports away in advance rather than have to post on a particular day. The disadvantage (apart from leaving our old stuff on a dead blog, unless transfer offerings are really good) is that readers who want to comment with names have to set up new accounts if they don’t use one of the other two blogs. Any strong views either way gratefully received – this isn’t a decision I’m going to rush.

      Edited at 2010-01-04 04:05 pm (UTC)

      1. I’m anti the big change. Babies and bath water come to mind. The picture at the top of the blog is really of very little consequence.
      2. We now seem to be confusing two different things.

        The choice of banner is a relatively minor matter and I’m certainly happy with anything you choose.

        The wholesale uprooting is far more fundamental and surely deserves a blog in its own right under an appropriate heading and with a suitable lead in giving due weight to all the pros and cons.

        1. Jimbo, rest assured that if I get serious about a big move, there will be more discussion than this sideline.
  8. Crikey, those skies are blue! I don’t remember Sydney having skies that colour. Just right for Perth though.
  9. The big leap may perhaps be advantageous in other ways as well.

    For example, does Livejournal allow facility to get all the posts of a particular blogger by clicking on the name?

    Also, a search facility for all the posts. (Remember my enquiring you about this sometime ago?)

    WordPress, as I see on Big Dave’s DT, has these.

    1. Alas, Livejournal doesn’t have a template for a city in India. Most of the available ones are in the US. There is a “world travel” one, which has some generic mountains in the design which could be the Himalayas at a stretch of the imagination, but is otherwise extremely crass.
  11. There would want to be a very good reason IMHO to opt for a paid option if a free one is available – not just here but in every walk of life…

    As a blogger on a WordPress site, the facility to schedule blogs in advance on that is a major plus.

  12. Not particularly in favour of a move to a different site, and somewhat sorry to lose the London skyline.. if it only costs $5 it might be worth retrieving it. We could consider it a donation, in view of all that Livejournal has provided over the years.

    However your views count most Peter, since it’s your time (and money, though I’m sure you can more than get it back in beer at Cheltenham 🙂 and I’m sure we shall cope with whatever changes ensue

  13. This layout if fine by me Peter, and I was one of the oldies having a bit of trouble with the Xmas version.
  14. Really nice and clear. And … watching the Test from Sydney today, the sky colour isn’t that far wrong.
    But, on reflection, maybe it’s time to switch to a reliable free blog server, such as Blogger or WordPress? The latter seems quite easy to modify from the administrator’s end in terms of themes and fonts, etc.

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