Nate Knows Nada

So I’ve been thinking of making some changes here of late.

Primarily, the Harvard Blogs server is switching over, on a voluntary basis, from Manila to WordPress. Overall, I think that this is a good move, since the server we all have been using has been slow and problematic.

My hesitancy about making the shift is based upon the look of my site. i happen to really like the way it looks now. Professional, simple, and easy to navigate. At least I think so.

Wordpress, especially in the Multiple User version we’re looking at, is somewhat less customizable, especially in regard to style sheets and such. I’ve done some research already, and making up a site them in WP to replicate the look here now is going to require me to learn a new set of syntax and such to get it going. But it will depend upon someday gaining some sort of shell access to the new server, which isn’t in the works right now.

I’ve thought about getting my own server space somewhere and going to Movable Type, which has a similar style/theme system to Manila. I’ve use it in other places, and I think that it might be easier to get a new site with the same look up and going on MT.

All of this depends upon converting the current site over to some sort of interchange format. That’s the hard part. i think there’s tools out there, but they’re really meant for system operators of some sort. Which I am not.

So–for the next few days, at least–I am sticking with Manila for my primary blog CMS.

Anybody got any thoughts or ideas?

Some of us from the bike shop went over to Independent Fabrications, a custom bike-frame manufacturer, for a tour this morning. We’re lucky to have one of the country’s high-end, highest-quality custom frame builders right here in the Boston area.Totally awesome.They showed us all the stages of building custom titanium, steel, carbon, and mixed frames. Design, tube cutting, tacking, welding, brazing, painting, and finishing. These are beautiful bicycles they’ve got going there.

Now, if I only had $2000 to spare.