John D Schultz

Today, I undertook some cosmetic updates around here.

1. I removed the Meta area as it was duplicating the RSS feeds already available in the header area.  There’s no reason for duplicate content.
2. I removed the archives area and added the archives page.  This is much cleaner and provides an easier method to navigate the archives.
3. I removed the recommended links area and added the links page.  With this I am able to add short descriptions of each site.  This way, you’re not blindly clicking on sites with which you’re not familiar.
4. I updated the about area on the sidebar to include the total number of words contained in my posts.  This has no real purpose other than it’s interesting to me.
5. I added the recent comments section.  Now, the three most recently commented posts will appear in this area.  In addition to the post title, you’ll also note the name of the most recent commenters.  The darker the name, the more recent the comment.
6. I increased the number of random musings in the sidebar.  Instead of three there are now six.  I did this to fill some of the white space on the sidebar.
7. I removed the categories area from the sidebar and each post [EDIT: They are still on each individual page, just not on the home page].  This was done in an attempt to cleanup the site.  People rarely click on the categories, and since my site is more random, it’s even less useful as I don’t have particular set topics.  I will still continue to categorize each post, so I may bring this back in the future.  But, for now, it’s gone.
8. Lastly, I killed the search box as it’s rarely used – zero times in the past two months.

Most of these changes, are minor and will not impact readability of the site.  In fact, I’m hoping the recent comments section increases the readability and involvement on posts with comments.