Consolation Prize

I’ve finally managed to track down the issue with Internet Explorer 7 which was cropping the first image on the site. It’s a known issue when using italic text when next to a floating image which thus explains why it appeared to be an intermittent problem. I’m not sure why my Google searches didn’t point me in the right direction sooner but nevermind, all is well in the end, at least with Firefox and IE7!

The solution: I’ve added in “position:relative” to my CSS image class.

Also, I’ve been using Twitter for a little while now and it’s a handy little micro-blogging service which I think will be beneficial to Consolation Prize, so the sidebar now contains my latest three “Tweets”. If you’re a Twitter user then look me up, follow my updates, and I’ll of course reciprocate your kindness.

QuizzicalDemon on Twitter

Just a quick note to mention that it had been brought to my attention that some image hot links may not have been working correctly, especially in relation to feed readers and probably resulted in the image not showing and a “404 Error” when clicked.

I think this was mainly due to my server hot link protection and “.htaccess” file configuration. I’ve hopefully now enabled access to the majority of web based readers that are currently subscribed and images should now start displaying correctly for future posts.

Anyway, no doubt some gremlins may still be lurking around so if there are any problems feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment and I’ll look into it. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Just a quick note to mention another aesthetic change. The standard Wordpress category listing has been replaced by a “Tag Cloud” which I think gives a more immediate visual representation of categories and the weighting of posts withing each category. I will also start introducing tags to posts to further help navigation.

I’m pretty happy with the changes that have been implemented over the last couple of days and I now feel I can take a break from the “site maintenance” and refocus my efforts on gaming once more!

I’m not sure where the time has gone this week but I’ve not really had the chance to sit down and play games. I have however managed to add a couple of new plugins to Consolation Prize.

Gravatars have been added to the post comments section. I will probably mess around with the layout a bit more, moving and resizing the Gravatar when time permits.

In addition the single post page now has the additional section Similar Articles at the bottom of the post, which should hopefully list up-to five similar posts.

Well, I’ve spent most of the weekend setting up Consolation Prize to a point where I’m reasonably happy with the results. I’ve settled on (and tinkered) with a theme, installed some interesting plugins and set-up information pages (contact, archive, about).  Ironically enough after all that effort I’ve noticed that version 2.5 is now available. Doh! Oh-well, I’ll upgrade when I’ve checked compatibility.

Feel free to let me know what you think of the new layout, personally I think it’s a step in the right direction. There will be more site updates to come as I become more familiar with WordPress, but for now I can’t think of anything urgent which leaves me free to get on with some gaming at last!

In case you’ve not noticed (or missed the dull default template) I’ve implemented the first phase of moving Consolation Prize to a new host using WordPress instead of blogger. I’m sure there’s going to be some teething problems and there’s a lot of work to be done design and style wise, but at least the existing content is up and running.

First impressions of WordPress are great. It seems much easier to use and using my own host will give me more control over the site. However, at the moment it’s a bit daunting swapping the familiar, but limited blogger, for the unknown path I’m now treading.

However, there’s only so many hours in the day so I offer my apologies while I get everything back up and running.

Just a quick note to say that Consolation Prize has now moved onto its own domain address rather than using a “blogspot” address. I’m still using Blogger for hosting at present but I’ll hope to move away from that in the future.

The transition was painless enough to complete but I apologise if I’ve caused any problems while implementing the changeover. I’m also hoping to move onto a new layout in the next few weeks and so apologies in advance for any problems caused.

The voting polls are open for service! I’ve started the ball rolling with a poser about Sony and how they can improve the PS3’s fortunes. I’m open to suggestions if there’s any burning questions you’d like to pose!