Hi everybody!!
I’m so excited to welcome you to the new home for Project Whitespace. I am now self-hosted, which gives me more room to move around and make up my own rules! For this post, I would like to give you an idea of how things have changed. I picked a different theme that looks a lot like my old theme, but the internal workings are what makes it great. Not only that, there have been some other tweaks.
Easier to Read
In the old theme, I hated, hated, hated how small the font was. I had some complaints about the small font and it was one of the first things I changed once I got this new theme. I made sure it was big enough for those of you who have had to squint to read my text. I also made sure to put more linespace in-between each line. Ok, ok, these sound like boring things, but I’m quite pumped about them, because I know it makes my blog easier to read!!
Like my other theme, this theme also keeps my content as the main focus. I had originally tinkered around with a cool background, but in the end, I realized that that is not what Whitespace is all about. So, enjoy the whitespace on my background.
Shareable and Community-Centric
When it comes to sharing and community, this theme is the bomb!! You will notice in my menu up top that I have all the fancy social media icons up there. Those aren’t there for looks; if you click on them, you will be directed to all of my social media sites, where you can view, like, comment and join in the conversation. I sure hope you do!
Here’s my favorite thing: if you click on the title of each blog post, you will be in the individual page for that blog post. Lo and behold, you will see a social sharing slider bar to the left of the post. You can tweet, facebook and share to your hearts content.
The cool thing about the social media icons, and the social sharing bar, is that they are part of the Standard theme. These are not plug-ins, guys; they are built directly into the theme. That means they won’t slow down my site!! Woop woop!!
Newly Defined Categories
I slimmed down the amount of categories I have, as they were getting out of control. I also re-named some of them to give them a little more character. Here’s what you will find (these categories are listed up top on the menu bar).
- The Gym: Obviously, this category will be anything health and fitness related.
- Wanderings: A new category for me, and this will include anything to do with travelling or sight seeing or anything of the sort. If I go out on a picture-taking tour, you might find something like that in wanderings.
- The Den: This category will be a little more personal. It will have anything to do with house and home, as well as family. You will also find doggy goodness in that category. Because you can find a pup in a den. Get it? LOL!
- The Study: This is a shortened version of my writing and blogging category.
- Inspiration: Because we all know I can’t help but to write inspiring and encouraging posts. This will never go away. However, I was wondering about a different title for it to go along with my other categories. I thought “the church” but I didn’t think that quite fit. What about “the temple?” Or, I used to call this section “Spirit.” Do you think I should just go back to that and call it “the spirit?” Let me know what you think.
I am also thinking about adding either a page or a category called “the cinema” and in it, I would place all my YouTube videos. What do you guys think about that one?
Now here’s the coolest thing ever. If you click into one of my categories from the menu bar, and look inside the body of the blog at the top, you will find the acronym, “RSS.” Yep. You can get a feed to just the category you want. For instance, if you are all about the fitness, but could care less about the inspirational posts, well then, subscribe to my Gym category.
Other Things You Might See in the Future
Part of the reason I wanted to go self-hosted is because on WordPress.com, you are not allowed to put up your own ads. I want to try to make a little money with this little site, and I realize that will be a long haul, but I at least want the ability to put up some ads if I so desire.
I am going to try to become a fit fluential ambassador, and there is a fitness product I use that I am thinking about becoming an affiliate for. Don’t worry, I won’t inundate you with these, and I won’t allow crap on my site. But, you will probably see some kind of ads on my thing like that on my blog one day. More on this later.
Also, I want to do more videos. But I also don’t want to inundate you all with videos if you don’t like them. So, I was thinking about adding a page where I simply place the new videos and you can come to “the cinema” if you want to (or you can subscribe to my youtube channel). I will still keep doing my once per week video (or at least try).
Finally, I don’t have an email subscriber just yet. But that will be coming soon. You can still subscribe via RSS, or just hold out for the email. Someday, I’d like to have a newsletter too. But, we’ll see about that.
Thanks Goes To . . .
Many thanks goes to my best friend, Caroline, who also happens to be a graphic designer. While I had my logo made by someone else, she created the fancy schmancy header and had to use her CSS skills to get it in there the right way. Also, you might be noticing some small tweaks over the next weeks, as Caroline might be doing a little more on this site. Thanks Caroline!!
Feel free to click around, but, I really, really hope you give me some answers to my video questions! And let me know what you think of the new site!
**Eyeglasses photo from rkleine on Flickr via Creative Commons License.
Bethany, it looks awesome! I love it! Just so you know, the comments section is a little glitchy (on my iPhone). All fixable. Looking forward to reading you here!
ok, thanks for letting me know about the comments section. I will look into it. Glad you like it!!
LOVE it!!! I love the icons up on top, too.. and your page is just so simple. Which is the point, right? It’s great, and clean.
The only issue I see, which I had on mine, is on commenting.. some people seem to not be able to find the comment button :\ Might be something to get your CSS friend involved in looking it. If you go right to the post, it’s at the bottom, but on the main page, the comment link is at the top. I don’t know why it’s designed this way!
But anyway, love the site. Looking forward to more of the fancy goodies!!
AND.. You should also check out Sweat Pink Ambassador.. I got accepted today!!!!
Ok, I will look into this.
I will also look into Sweat Pink Ambassador. I have never heard of that. Thanks!!
WOO! HOO! looks amazing. You are on your way. You should be so proud. One question, where is the email subscribe button.
I’m going to be working on that tonight. It looks like it didn’t have it in the original theme, so I either need to look harder or go set one up.
Come on now… I NEED that email subscribe. I feel like I am the last one to the party now. I knew you were getting a new site, but until now I did not know it was up and running. Love it!
Now get me that email subscribe so I don’t miss anything!
Haha! I meant to work on that email thing sooner than this. But I hope to find time later today to do it. Especially now that I know you and Susan are both counting on that. I’m cleaning house now though…
I love it. So much.
I’m proud of you for taking the plunge into self hosting – everything looks amazing, and I’m looking forward to the growth of your blog!!!
Thanks Martha! It was hard to get over the mental hurdle of doing it myself, but then, once I did it, it was sooooo easy and I wondered why I stalled.
My arms are shaking right now because I exhausted my biceps during my lunch. Woohoo!!
I can’t wait to start writing about lifting too. I’m totally crediting you first, and Jennifer second on that. Over the months of reading your blog, I think the sickness got to me.
Get your curl on… I call my biceps part of my peacock muscles – the ones you just show off because you can
love that!!
Congratulations on the new site Bethany! It looks great so far and I can’t wait to see what is in store for the future.
Thank you Christen! I’m excited about my blogging future too.
(P.S. I got my nails painted purple yesterday!!)
Like it! Nice, clean, fresh and very functional! I found the comments section easily so I am guessing you fixed that. I did not find the email subscribe one, which was my preferred option on your old site. I suppose we have to resubscribe to this? I also like the categories, but some of your posts could fit into more than one, couldn’t they?
Marina!! Good to see you here after your vacation!
Yes,I will get my email subscription up this weekend hopefully. And yes, some of my posts could fit into more than one. Like, I write inspirational posts about marathon training. You can find that in “the gym” or in “inspiration.” I guess I will just have to double categorize them. Very observational of you.
Bethany,
Congratulations on the new digs!
Tom
Thanks Tom!!
The new site looks great! I also love how you so clearly laid out the evolution of your blog. It really appeals to the organizer in me and helps reinforce that good blogs are not born, they are made!
Thanks Jeri! Oh yeah, this blog was not born–it is continually a work in progress. I know you know all about that, because I’ve watched as your blog has evolved over time too. I’ve been impressed with what you’ve done on your blog the last couple of months.
WOW!! I LOVE IT!!!
Great new design Bethany- you’ve been very busy. I love the logo by Caroline too. I’m actually thinking about either having a spring clean of my blog, or starting a second one.
Sorry I’ve been away so long-I have a lot of catching up to do I see!
I’ve been spending a lot of time working on spiritual development. I do a class on Fridays and have been finding I’m getting more intense psychic experiences. I’m pretty much preparing to get myself out there doing psychic readings. I’ve got some volunteers lined up for reading practice. Hopefully by the new year I’ll be getting paid!
One of the things I want is either to rehall by Bipolar blog or start a new one entirely that will tie in with the psychic work. Think a new site will be best, but my web developer boyfriend advises it’s best to use what I have. I think it’s gonna be too different to mould it from My Bipolar Life. I’ll definitely carry on with that too though.
I’m really looking forward to having a nosey at your new posts. I think the larger font and all the whitespace (ha ha!) are really great.
Thanks Rachel–and I’m glad to have you over again!!
Yes, you have been busy, I noticed that on your facebook page.
It seems with all the work you’ve done on your blog and all the backlinks you’ve gotten, that it would be smart to just stick to your original blog and figure out a way to make it seguay (did I spell that right?) into your new thing. On the other hand, you are doing a good thing in the mental health community with a lot of encouragement for other people struggling with mental illness and there’s the idea if you blend in the new stuff, it could water down your message of encouragement and awareness about mental health issues. Just some thoughts.
Anyway, glad to have you stop by!
Yeah I think it would be good to keep the mental health stuff in too. I’ll have a good think and plan!