Blog Updates

Before I get ready for the big sleepover party that my friend, Tiffany, is hosting, I have edited many aspects of the blog template that needed improvement or had to get the boot. Just for the record and to put emphasis on some edits, here is a list:

• Changed 'The Foote Live' to 'Buddy Foote Live'
• Deleted the text under the live web cam
• Added a header to point out the blog authors
• Removed the 'Extras' heading from the left sidebar
  
• Removed 'Subscribe to Us!' and the fields that applied
• Removed the 'Blogger's Choice Awards' button under 'Vote for Us!'
• Made 'Vote for Us!' a bigger header
• Changed 'Link Back?' to 'BFBv.2 Banners'
• Added 'Month of the Month' under 'Archives'
• Removed the affiliate 'Reflections of Time' under 'Affiliates' -- failed to add us
• Added '/Extras\' to the top of the page
• Removed '/Poll\' from underneath '/Extras\'
• Changed the '/Featured Post of the Week\' a bit
• Put up a new '/Featured Post of the Week\'
• Edited some spacing and font sizes

And there you have it.

My friend, Corey, is supposed to go through the many months of blog entries that are available and see if any videos/pictures may be offensive. Offensive meaning if it's a video/picture of somebody else and they wouldn't approve of it being hosted on the internet. Why are these up in the first place? Back in the day, I used to upload any picture that I took, so when I took a picture of somebody even if it was to just to snap a shot to improve my photography skills, it was uploaded. Some people after finding out that a picture of them wound up on my site felt a bit uneasy, so I'm having Corey do this search (hopefully he actually does it) and anybody else who may be bored and wants to look for the hidden treasures that this blog contains. I ask that any blog authors, including myself, also look through some of these past entries. And then maybe compose a list and paste it here as a comment or e-mail it to me.

Caitlin, the best graphic artist that has contributed to BFBv.2 in numerous ways in the work of layouts, buttons, etc., is requested to please make the following buttons if she has any spare time. I just want to put this here because it'll give you an idea of what I'll be doing when removing many 'offensive' items from entries of the past.

Buttons needed:

• 'Missing Images' -- a small, yet recognizable banner that will be placed in entries where broken Imageshack thumbnails are, or in entries where 'offensive' pictures have been removed. Maybe make different variations as many of these will be placed. Only do so if you have the time.
  
• 'Video Removed' -- a small, yet recognizable banner that takes the place of a video that has been removed from the blog.
• 'Blog Authors' -- go crazy with this banner. In place of that ugly, white text that says 'Blog Authors' above the authors' profiles, we should put a better looking item, such as a banner. Maybe make the banner as long as the limitations of the text that currently is placed there.
• 'Author of the Month' -- a small, yet recognizable banner that is placed under an author's picture in their profile on the blog. The author receives such a nomination depending on the quantity and quality of their posts that they have written in the past month. I ask that a little bit of room be left at the bottom so that I may manually add in MSPaint the month that the author won the award for. Also, please make the length long enough so I may add the name of the longest month, a space, and the year without any problems. Or if that's not possible, I can easily add something like 'Oct '07' just fine.
  

Thank you very much.

I'm hoping that someday we have a good amount of blog affiliates so that we may have an 'Affiliate of the Month' award, but sadly we currently only have two affiliates. The award, as of today, would go to StarryBliss. Also, if Caitlin does not mind, I may add her 'business' MySpace as an affiliate.

I wish for the 'Author of the Month' awards to begin July 1st, meaning that us blog authors better start getting some good content up for this month to win. I'm still debating if a poll will be used to vote for the author, or a vote among the blog authors, such as in Survivor but we're not kicking anybody out of the tribe. Good luck to you all.

I hope the edits, as well as the future edits, will please you, the reader, as well as the other blog authors. My current to-do list that I hope to achieve by next Tuesday is the following:

• Clean up broken Imageshack thumbnails
• Remove picked videos/pictures that Corey/others pointed out
• Get a new crossword up
• Work on editing other areas of the template (hidden surprises)

Hopefully I won't die from not sleeping at this party and I'll be able to achieve everything that I listed this weekend.

Have a good one.