February 22, 2007 [LINK / comment]

RSS, Web page reformatting

Having been W3C validated (), the RSS / XML feed for all categories is now operational. This is now officially a "grown-up" blog. I have added a baseball-only RSS / XML feed (beta version) as well, and once that is validated, I will add feeds for some of the other categories as well. There is some inconsistency in the way dates are handled, so I'll have to keep my eye on that for a while.

Also, I have finished reformatting all of the blog pages, as the first step toward a comprehensive reformatting of all pages on this Web site. The pages are now designed to be viewed on a monitor with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, but certain accommodations have been made for the sake of those with 800 x 600 monitors. In particular, there is now a standard three-column layout in the main body, with various links (on-site and off-site) pertinent to the category in the left-hand column, and various kinds of handy information in the right hand column, with the blog text in the middle. The right hand column extends beyond the range of an older 800 x 600 monitor. As my brother Dan, a professional Web site designer says, it's "the horizontal scroll bar of doom!" Well, you have to make compromises. Netscape Navigator 4.x is no longer supported by this Web site; from what I've read, less than one percent of Web surfers still use that browser software. If you are among that one percent, and don't want to be "left behind," please let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

One convenient new feature is the scrolling navigation menu below the home plate icon on each blog page. That way you can skip from Baseball to Politics to Latin America, or whatever, without having to go through the main blog page. As I've said before, I do appreciate it when baseball fans and other visitors bring glitches or errors to my attention. Contact me!