I was feeling pretty happy with myself after updating the site to a personalized blog, which was based on bits and pieces I liked about other free themes out there. Unfortunately, since I’m still learning this thing called WordPress, the code didn’t come out so well and there were all sorts of problems.

As more and more problems kept popping up (and the upcoming wedding prevented me from having the time to really sit down and go through all of them), I started to get the ol’ bloggin’ blues. Plus, I began to realize that the green I had used predominantly for the blog - while fresh at the start - got a little irritating as time went by.

Restart Time (Again)…But Wait!

So, it was back to the drawing board once more. As I was surfing the web for something else totally unrelated, I stumbled across a new theme that mimicked some of the things I liked about my old Macintosh back in the day. Unsurprisingly, this one was named iTheme.

Without a second’s hesitation, I had downloaded it and started tweaking it to put in all the add-ons that I had previously installed on the site. A short time later (a weekend), it was up and running. As of this writing, it’s still up and running - and I still like it.

One fun thing - with some browsers (not IE7), you can sort the sidebar the way you (the visitor) want to, with just clicking and dragging. Sure, it’s pointless, but it’s still fun! Just remember - green means go. If you see the green light on the sidebar, drag to your heart’s content!

Again, however, there are a few bugs I’m trying to sort through (most likely from my own coding “tweaks”) - but they are mostly very minor. Plus, I’m working on improving the rather simplistic comment section (I have a thing for those thought-bubble styled comments I’ve seen around the web). Oh well - this site always seems to be a work in progress.

Is this the last new theme you’ll see on PezXPress The Mind’s Chew Toy? Probably not. The more I work on WordPress, the more I discover what I need for the site - and what I don’t. Already, I’m thinking about getting rid of the top banner to install a 250×250 banner on the side, plus font-size adjustment buttons….but those will wait at least until I get back from the wedding.

One More Thing…

One thing I’ve noticed - no matter what theme I’m using - is how slow the site runs. Here are some possible causes I’ve come up with:

  • “It’s My Computer” - Working on a Dell 5100 Inspiron (that isn’t sold anymore due to an over-heating issue) has dropped my opinion of Dell into the pits of Hades - and that’s after my last Dell died oh so conveniently a month after the warranty expired. This so-called “computer” I’m on now is the slowest piece of equipment (and that includes my afore-mentioned Mac Plus) that I’ve ever had the misfortune to use - so the site slow down could be only for me. This is the reason I’m hoping for - and so that’s probably not the reason.
  • “Plugins Are Slowing Down The Site” - With 39 WordPress Plugins being used (and counting) on this site, chances are I’m forcing each page to run too many database queries. Every few weeks or so, I go back and re-evaluate the plugins I’m using - and if I really need them. I see a few I might be able to ditch - but the problem is most of the ones I may get rid of only affect one or two pages (Compact Monthly Archive and SRG Clean Archives, for example, only affect the Archive page I’m still not happy about, so they’ll probably go, but won’t affect any other pages anyway). I’m still looking into this.
  • “It’s GoDaddy” - The webhost I’m using is probably the most likely cause of the slow down. With the database not even a part of GoDaddy.com (they keep them on a different server), that’s bound to cause tons of slowdown. Unfortunately, due to my previous experience with other cheap hosts (6star.net and others), I’m a little gun shy about stepping into another webhost. Anyone who’s found a good host for WordPress (other than WordPress.com - I want to keep this on my pezxpress.com themindschewtoy.com domain) that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, leave a comment and let me know!
Since I still am having the same problems with WP-Cache, it isn’t sounding like the site will speed up anytime soon (unless it’s reason #1, as I should be bringing my old realiable e-Machine back from up north after the wedding).

I’ll be sure to update this post as I work on the problem, so check back if the same problems are plaguing your site.

 
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