Jan 17, 2011  •  In Baby, Blogging, Geek, Personal, Web

New Year, New Look, New Platform

Raising my daughter without the help of my in-laws has (surprisingly) been a lot easier than I thought.

And while there are times when I am missing them sorely because I am dying for a nap or want to go run a quick errand without doing all the time-consuming things that involve going out with an infant, I have found that most of the time, taking care of the baby on my own is actually easier than having others help out…probably because I am such a controlling, obsessive-compulsive creature.

I will write more about my progress as a mother in the future. But in the meantime —

— because I didn’t have enough to do already — [sarcasm]

— because I didn’t have enough stress-inducers in my life already — [sarcasm, again]

— and because it’s a new year and I needed a change, and a means to tackle a difficult project, conquer it, and feel accomplished at obtaining some semblance of control in my life… [that was serious]

I have re-done my blog.

I have been contemplating a move from Squarespace to WordPress for some time now. While Squarespace is wonderful, I need more control and flexibility over my blog. In addition, I also couldn’t get over the fact that Squarespace does not offer threaded comments — and while I can always use a third-party app like Disqus or IntenseDebate to do so, I didn’t like how (1)there is no way to import my existing Squarespace comments to these services, and (2)all the new comments will be hosted on the application’s servers.

So I decided to take the plunge.

(I am continuing to keep my Squarespace account active because I still believe it to be a far more superior blogging platform than WordPress in many regards. And I may just switch back in the future!)

I will be completely honest here — it was a complete PITA to make the transfer from Squarespace to WordPress. I had to perform numerous “find and replace” functions, create 301 redirects, experiment with various URL structures and plugins, and scour countless message boards.

And while I am familiar with WordPress and have worked with it many times in the past, I was a bit rusty and PHP is not my strong suit. Finding a theme I liked and customizing it took a lot longer than expected.

But I’ve done it. Well, almost. There are still some posts whose URLs produce 404 errors. (Please be patient — I have over 1,100 posts! I am bound to miss a few… ) My LinkWithin links at the bottom of each post still point to the old URL structure (and while most of them are successfully redirecting to the new URLs, I am hoping to hear back from their support team soon). Large images need to be resized. And some elements will continue to look a bit off while I work out the kinks.

That said, take a look:

What do you think? Head on over and share your thoughts!

Additionally, please let me know if you:

  • find anything that needs to be fixed
  • would like to be included in my “Links” section
  • have any other suggestions

Lastly, I have decided to start using FeedBurner. Since I have directed my old feeds to my new one, you are not obligated to do anything. However, if you would like, you can update your news/RSS reader with the following feed address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/geekinheels/blog. You may also choose to subscribe via email at that link.

Thank you for your patience, and thanks in advance if you decide help me along in this transition. Here’s to a great new year and a newer and improved Geek in Heels!

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23 Responses to “New Year, New Look, New Platform”

  1. I knew something was different!! I love it.

    I like the calming purple colour

  2. TwentyFiveFifty says:

    Love it!

  3. Charmi says:

    Love the new look!

  4. Ashley says:

    Very nice, Jenny! Looks good!

  5. Pam says:

    i agree with you that somehow it does seem easier to take care of the baby when the in-laws aren’t there. i mean, yes they are helpful and you can get a break, but at the same time i feel like i am under observation and need to make sure i don’t do something “wrong” as MIL will be sure to say something, and my daughter seems to be more excited when they are around and is hard to put down for a nap, as if it wasn’t tough as it is.

    it did seem easier too though, when my daughter was 3 months, to take care of her, as she was sleeping overnight longer, taking longer naps, both mom and baby had a better idea of the things we do, and there was definitely a good routine settling in.

    welcome back! 🙂 layout and site looks great!

    • I will be writing a post detailing this in the near future, but I couldn’t have said it better myself!

      As for being an “easier” baby starting at 3 months, it’s certainly great to be able to interact with her more…but as we’re now nearing 4 months (later this week, in fact), it seems like Claire has been going through the dreaded 4-month sleep regression for the past week. For example, I’ve gotten 3, 5, and 3 hours of sleep (respectively) in the last three nights. I can’t wait until she starts sleeping better again!

  6. Sarah says:

    Wow it looks lovely!

  7. Nani says:

    First and foremost welcome back! Secondly I love the new look of your blog and I am so happy everything is going well with you on the home front.

  8. CARLENE says:

    Lovey!

    Hope all is well with you and baby! 🙂

    C

  9. kalen says:

    I *love* this new design, it looks fabulous! It’s easy to read and feels fresh. Nice work! Also happy to hear the transition is going well for you. 🙂

  10. Amy I. says:

    Congrats Jenny, it looks great! All of your hard work om the switch has definitely paid off.

  11. Janie says:

    Welcome back, Jenny! The new layout looks wonderful. Is it just me, or does it remind anyone else of an LV purse washed in a soft pink color?

  12. Love the new look!

    For some reason I can’t subscribe via my google reader…?

  13. Stephanie says:

    I think it looks great and I am totally looking forward to reading your blogs again! 🙂 But only if you have the time. 🙂

  14. annie says:

    jenny it looks great!!! purple is my fav color 🙂

  15. LatteLove says:

    Wow–what a big change! So far looks really good to me!

  16. Kelly C. says:

    I really love the new blog! Although, I have to admit I miss the illustration at the top. Whenever I thought of your blog, I thought of that illustration. 🙂

  17. Interesting! I have been contemplating switching to WP for awhile now and of course, have no idea how to do that 🙂 I may email you later! I just don’t like Squarespace…I am continually losing blog posts while editing because I click off of the screen somewhere. It is very, very frustrating.

    • I would be glad to help you make the transition if you decide to switch to WordPress. I’m actually thinking about writing a post about it because it was such a tedious process and I’m sure that it’ll be a big help to others in the same boat.

      That being said, I would contact Squarespace support if you’re still losing posts, because Squarespace recently rolled out an autosave feature that would prevent that from happening. In addition, one of the things I miss the most about Squarespace is its post editor — the WordPress one sucks and doesn’t even compare! I am definitely switching back to Squarespace if they implement a threaded comments feature and an Android app.

      • I’d love to read a post about the switch! I was googling around about it a couple of weeks ago, but would love to read about it from someone I know and trust!

        Good to know about the autosave! I’ve ALWAYS wondered why they didn’t do that! I’ll email them and check on it.

        Already though, I have to admit that getting that email alert that my comment had a response was mighty nice! Wish SS did that!

  18. shortie says:

    I’m on squarespace, too, and still love it. I just wish I could figure out how to do a drop shadow like a lot of wordpress blogs have!

    +
    I love the new design too, but I think the old one went well with your gaming/techie kind of posts. The new one is GORGEOUS, and really complements the new mom side, so I can’t decide which one I like best!

  19. Jen says:

    Love the new site design, it’s great! And welcome back, I missed the updates, and I’m glad you’re back posting and sharing awesome geeky links with us again.

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