ikenai taiyou

New layout!

Every now and then, I go through a phase where I just want something dead simple. It usually comes after a layout which was very graphic-heavy and complicated, and goodness knows the previous one was. I was hoping not to use a single graphic in this layout actually but eventually succumbed to placing a teeny pattern background in the header to save the whole thing from becoming overly dull.

But the big thing about this layout, really, is that it is fully liquid (i.e. columns dynamically resize with your browser size and it should be cross-broswer compatible, give it a go); which is not such a great deal if you are a better coder than I am with CSS, but is a great deal to me because the 3-column liquid layout has been an elusive goal that I have aspired to for a long time now, and I never had the patience (till now, while dissertation-procrastinating) to carefully, slowly pick apart some sample CSS and try to figure out how it’s done.

I also have catchy new music to go with the new layout, available for download on the etc. page and for live preview here!

This is “Ikenai Taiyou” by ORANGE RANGE (theme song from the jdrama Hana Kimi), my song of the moment and one of the most incredibly catchy things I have ever heard. It is also my current jogging song. I have it pretty much on perpetual loop on my iPod when I run.

And this is “Exodus” by Maksim Mrvica (probably better known as just Maksim, of The Piano Player album fame). If you’ve been obsessively watching the women’s gymnastics Olympic events, as I have, you might recognise this as Anna Pavlova’s floor music. It’s by far the most amazing of all the floor routine background music and sent me on a mad hunt for the track when I first heard it. (Anna’s floor routine is also amazing, by the way.)

a little housekeeping

It is truly shocking how much time I can bring myself to waste tricking out my site when I have something new and shiny to play with. Wordpress 2.5.x is such a big step up from WP 2.2 and earlier (which I stubbornly stuck with for the longest time ever because I was too lazy to upgrade) that it’s like stumbling into your favourite toystore and discovering they’ve added another floor of fascinating gadgets - built-in comment avatar support, smiley customisation, improved metadata handling - And I’m still at that stage of new layout love where I can stare at it all day and egotistically admire my handiwork. Not good for the dissertation…

Anyway, I have a couple of fantastic songs up in the etc. section now, so check it out! And I should get back to work.