2.0: simplicity revisisted

So, if you didn't notice -- I pity you if it isn't obvious to you already -- I've put up a new layout for the blog. I was getting annoyed by the lack of flexibility in the original layout (partially my fault, for it was the result of my attempts to put together a website in a single day). Thus, I've taken more time (ie. a grueling 21 hours of coding) to fix up something that would be easier to edit and a little easier on the eyes. And of course, in the spirit of an overachiever, I feel it displays my abilities a little better than that last layout.

Just a few things to note about this new layout. Click to expand for details, which is also a new feature!

Tags: I've gone through the trouble to add tags on all of the posts that have been on this website so far (of course, I appreciate those who have added tags to their posts already!). I don't have the time to do this for each new post, but I think it would be something good to keep up. Below the Compose window when you are writing your entry, there should be a box that allows you to enter "labels" for the post. On the far right, all these labels that are assigned to your posts are compiled into a master list, making it easier to sift through past posts based on keywords. So the next time someone wants to read all the past things about 台灣, you can just click the "台灣" link on the sidebar. Simple enough, right?

Search bar: I don't think we'll use it much, but I thought it would be neat to include for future use.

RSS Feed: This is a relatively new thing these days. I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with it, but the RSS Feed (featured on the most right bar, at the bottom) allows you to pull up the latest news announcements for whichever site that you would like. I have just used MSNBC.com since they provide the most "interesting" news. I originally put up the RSS Feed for my favorite science research magazine, Nature, but I quickly realized that the general population probably don't really care about the β-adrenergic signaling in heart failure patients. But I could be wrong.

Links: The links section is a monstrous mess. What I originally intended them to be was a collection of links that we use everyday (news websites, radio stations, school stuff, etc). I left my mother to handle that section so I don't really know what's going on with it anymore. I'll attempt to clean it out these next few days, but if anyone has any requests for links that they would like to be put up, please feel free to send me a message.

Dysfunctional header tab thingys: I am still working on trying to get those to work. I'll fix them later, when I'm not feeling lazy and eating ice cream. I swear I thought they'd be cool to add in ... but now I don't really know how to make them functional. The fact that I had to code this all in XML for maximum Blogger compatibility leaves no space for full-fledged customization.

Enjoy! I'll be back later with a real post. Maybe.

PS. The show/hide function is a bit of Javascript and HTML involved. Feel free to ask me if you'd like to learn how to use it. As of now, I'll just throw it in posts that I feel might have extraneous material that can be reduced, and expanded for further interest.