So many problems for such a little blog…

First, I stripped the CSS, then I rebuilt the template, then I changed some PHP, then I fought with IE… I added additional sidebars, my super dooper template allows for four different wigetized sidebars.  I haven’t written my own WordPress plugin yet, but I did hack this Amazon book lookup plugin to do my bidding.

I did this all on my test server

And then when I was ready to move it into production… my production server crashed.  Seems like I didn’t get all of the auto-update features turned off (and no… not windows).

Yes, that’s right.  Not the test, the production server.

Bummer huh.  All ready to add new changes to production, and I bring up Skillful Means, and get what they call in the WordPress world…  the blank screen of death.  So now my super dooper beta template is still alpha.  My customized widget is alpha also…

And my production server data has got some problems…

We had the bad idea of upgrading to the shiny new version of WordPress (2.8 which came out a week or so ago), and that was not a good idea.  I had all kinds of issues with the new “drag and drop” plugin features for WordPress 2.8 and decided to restore my old installation of 2.7.1.  I can only deal with so many broken things at once.

I’m gonna need to see if I can get this back into working order.   It has been a little stressful, but wow, talk about learning a lot all at once.  I have had some help, which is nice.

Changes to Come

So for the next few days I will be tinkering.  You may see some changes before I call them official.  Please feel free to leave me a comment or two.  This is all new to me, and between database issues and IE6 quirks I may need something in moral support.

Wish me luck!

After I get the first set of changes complete, I think I’m gonna take a wee break from the WordPress template and plugin development for a couple weeks.  It has been a lot to take in.

I’ll keep ya posted.