Hello friends!

I hope you had a good a productive weekend. This message will be brief (sorry!). As you can see, perhaps the biggest news for TealArt is the new design. The template is completely home grown, and I'm quite pleased with the result. I have to imagine that a good percentage of our readership is via RSS, so in a sense it doesn't matter much, but I do think that the old design was, ahem difficult to read and squished. I hope this addresses that problem. One person pointed out that our look is very "web 1.0" and I think that's completely true and I embrace that. We're just a text based weblog and there's not a lot between you and the text. As there should be.

My other concern, and Chris' predictable comment, is that the font is atypical and hard to read. This monospaced font ("monaco," or courier if you don't have it). Is the font that I live in, and so maybe I'm used to it. In any case we're talking about how to make it a little more livable for you all, and if you have any recommendations, I'm going to be making a few tweaks over the next week or so. On my list already is:

  • A template for static pages (ie. our profiles, that our outside of the loop) like our profiles.
  • Narrow the comment entry field so that it doesn't spill over.
  • Make an adjustment to the category pages so that they display a complete, rather than a partial list of entries in a given category.

Anything else to add to this list is of course welcome. And if you have an idea about how to use a cool font that isn't Verdana, Times, or Georgia, I'd love to hear it.

In terms of TealArt content for the rest of the week:

There's going to be another two-part Station Keeping story. This is the penultimate installment, and it's a little bit different: it's a script. I've always been intrigued by scripts and I quite like writing them, but I have until now, not had a very good way of getting a script into any sort of format, particularly one readable on a website. But there's an amazing screen writing bundle for TextMate, which is the ideal writing environment for me at the moment. I had a great deal of fun with this installment, and I'll talk a little bit more about it in the intro tomorrow, but I'd really like to know what you all think: I'm considering doing large portions (all) of Season 3 as a script, and would really like to know how it plays.

I also have an essay on writing and productivity for you on wednesday, and there'll be something fun on Friday.

In terms of me, I'm adjusting to life back here. Classes start next week, and while it's good to have classes to go to, they weren't the classes that I had hoped for, and at least some part of me is saying "but I just graduated!" All of these things are true, but these classes are pretty exciting, and on the whole I think a good thing. I have scores of things to do between now and then, but I'm pretty excited about a lot of the stuff that I've been up to.

One of those things (and I promise that this is the last thing), is this new novella that I'm working on. Being more of a longer-form guy, I haven't really had a chance to spend a lot of time with a fiction project in years (save station keeping, and the project from whence it grew), and it's great to be working on something. I'd probably be pretty pleased no matter how it was turning out, fiction writing is one of those things that I just need to do, but having said that, it's turning out really well. I feel pretty good about my process and the product. I'm done with the first chapter, for now, and I'm starting to mull over the second chapter which I hope to have a serious dent in by this time next week. It's not TealArt, per se, but its exciting, so that's good enough for me.

Anyway, I've rambled for long enough, I think it's time to get ready for the day in earnest. Have a good week, and I'll see you tomorrow for a new Station Keeping.

Cheers, tycho