Sunday, June 6, 2010

Blog Changes.

I've added a few widgets and other little tweaks to make it easier for readers to stay updated as well as helping the readers communicate with me and the rest of the visitors.

The most obvious is the status bar that's always visible at the bottom of the page. This will allow a more public way to follow the blog as well as making discussions more visible. My hope is that it'll be an easy way for readers to ask me questions, share their thoughts, and tell me what they'd like to see happen on the blog. I'd like it to evolve into a way for readers and visitors to easily discuss with each other as well.

At the very bottom of the blog (below the last visible post and above the footer image) is an option to subscribe to a newsletter that will be sent to your email detailing new content on the blog as soon as it's updated. It'll provide more information than the standard Blogspot subscription notice and will be specifically written by me.

The sidebar on the right of the page has also gotten a couple of neat widgets. The first is my Twitter feed that shows my most recent tweets as well as providing a link to follow me directly. Below that is the stylistically obtuse "Share" widget that will allow you to share the site on Twitter or Facebook. I'm hoping to figure out a way to make that particular widget blend with the site's design better but, until then, it will have to stick out like a pecker at a strip bar (gotta love Southern metaphors). Maybe that contrast will draw the eye and promote some word-of-mouth to get going!

That's all the tweaks for now. If there's something you'd like to see or something that you don't like that I've added, let me know in the status bar at the bottom of the page or in the comments of this post. I'll see what I can do as far as adding site elements goes but removing these additions will be pretty easy. They're entirely opt-in though, so don't feel as if I'm forcing you to give up information that you'd rather not share with my limited readership.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Looking for a new apartment?

If you're in the market for a change in your abode, might I recommend Apartment Ninjas? If you're here in ATX they've got the tools to find great deals on Austin apartments like the ones at 21 and Rio or any of the other West Campus apartments. Need more incentive? Use the Ninjas to locate a place and then list them as your referrer on your lease and get a $150 rebate to sweeten the deal.