Today is only Yesterday’s Tomorrow!

Anybody miss my muse? Attempting to build a website the last few days reminded me of one of my programming classes in college. Maybe you can relate dealing with the tenured faculty member who only gives you 15 minutes of his time and manages to disappear until the last few minutes of class. Your only hope is the student sitting next to you is willing to assist you with questions.

Those situations always made me wonder why I was paying for class and the instructor was getting paid. It seems it should have been the other way-around. Oh well!

No, it wasn’t that bad until I forgot how to access the help forums due to forgetting where to find my email box for the application. After registering again, I still haven’t received the email message with my new password. So, I turned to my best friend- Google and eventually found a solution to the problem.

It turns out the drop-down menu option wasn’t part of the theme I purchased. I found a plug-in to download that should avoid learning how to change the code in the template. It worked for awhile, then; it suddenly stopped working. I didn’t know what the actual problem was so for hours and hours, I deleted pages and rebuilt the menus. I changed relationship fields hoping something would work.

I thought perhaps I changed some setting without understanding the relationship to the database.  

Over and over, I tried to no avail. Searching the forums for hours, I read where it was advised to deactivate all the plug-ins one by one to rule out a plug-in or a theme being updated could cause the failure. Once that didn’t work, I deleted the plug-in for dropdown menus and re-installed it. Bingo- it was fixed.

I recalled all the times at college when you become frustrated and the solution is apparent but you become so fixated on resolving the issue, we become blind. Unable to see the forest through the trees!

After the menus and drop-down menus were built I attempted to test a post on one of my dropdown pages. A (big) problem became apparent when the posts didn’t appear under the sub-page! This was easier to resolve by deleting all the beautiful drop-down pages and rebuilding the pages as categories under the main menu. Walla- works like a charm!

I learned quite a bit and hopefully won’t make the same mistakes again. After working all night and yesterday on the issues I was really frustrated. I give my wife credit for bearing with me. My frustration level was at a peak. Lack of proper sleep didn’t help my cause.

Technology is fun when things go smooth. Letting issues get the best of you certainly doesn’t have to happen. Walk away, relax and take a deep breath. Some sleep always helps too.

After all- Today is only yesterday’s tomorrow!

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

Moving from Blogger to WordPress?

Photo courtesy: Search Engine People Blog.

The last couple of days, I've spent considerable time researching WordPress using Genesis Framework's custom themes. Since I am currently using Blogger, the move to WordPress is somewhat intimidating involving the transferring of my old blogs to WordPress platform.

The new web hosting service had me change the name server addresses to theirs and unfortunately the wait time is 2 to 48 hours to propagate. So I am in holding status and can't continue until my domain name appears at HostGator.

I spent the last day or so, researching the web on moving from Blogger to WordPress. During that time, I've considered canning the process entirely- a half-dozen times. Too many questions and it seems I keep coming up with more questions, once each previous question is resolved.

Blogger and WP doesn't cross communicate easily due to different formats so this becomes a large problem. Copying and pasting my blogs from Blogger to WordPress isn't an option I choose. There are many tutorials through YouTube and articles, however; a majority are outdated or assume the end-user is familiar with knowing where to perform the steps.

 Backing up your code from Blogger is imperative before you begin the process and not having anyone to  rely on for help if something fails doesn't make me breathe easier. It appears you must retain your old Blogger site or risk losing the old blog photos. Another option is to manually reload your old photos into WordPress, but that is too time consuming with nearly 100 old blogs.

Loss of Google page rankings has my concern as well.

It would be far easier to outsource the conversion, but it appears to be expensive and I haven't found many sources.

Then while writing this blog, I stumbled across this link. Problem solved? Pretty cool-eh?

 I realized "the lizard brain" (fear) had invaded my thinking. It's easier to stay on Blogger. It's less challenging to learn how to navigate a new software format.We are not accustomed to having to  wait for results. We want it done now.

 I must look at each step as a slow process. Rome wasn't built in a day and anything worth doing correct- takes time. WordPress, StudioPress and Genesis have some really cool plugins and themes, so it's just a matter of  learning some new techniques and navigational tools.

So for me this will be a side-project. No reason to stop the world until it happens or obsess. Just go with the flow and make the transition smooth.  Do the necessary researching, finding sources to answer questions as needed, forget the fear factor and pull the trigger when the time is right.

Anything less is not an option!

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.

 

Change is Coming!



Photo credit: Joel Washing.

 

In less than Sixty years we have witnessed an unbelievable amount of change.

Just to name a few technological advances:

·        78 RPM (monograph) records to MP3's.

·        Mono record players to- iPods.

·        Antennas receiving 3 television channels to digital cable with hundreds of stations to view.

·        Picture tube television sets to HD TV.

·        Television stations to Internet TV.

·        Rotary phone (one neighborhood shares one phone line) to cell phones.

·        Radio station programs to Podcasts.

·        Transistor radios to satellite radio.

·        Dark room photography developing to instant digital photos.

·        Drive-in theaters to home theaters.
Encyclopedias to Wikipedia.

·        Personal movies to YouTube.

·        Joining organizations to social networking via Twitter and Facebook.

·        Shopping centers to online shopping.

·        Books to eBooks.

·        Hand delivered mail to email.

·        Typewriters to keyboards with a brain.

·        Researching information at libraries to searching instantly using Google.

I could go on..............

Can you imagine today's society sharing one phone line? Luckily, technology has advanced with a method to communicate, not just a means of accomplishing the feat. Would you wait in a line to use one computer at your business or school? The technology would have died.

The advancement in communications enables us to perform tasks at any particular moment quickly, and practically for free, 24 hours a day. All it takes is an account, a connection, and time.

Look at the amount of change in the way marketing and business operate. Being employed as an encyclopedia salesman, owning a typewriter store or working within a record company wouldn't have been a wise career choice. Many people employed in those markets never saw change coming. Like it or not, change is constant, undeniable, and certain.

Is your business doing things the same old way? Are you operating as if it's business as usual?

 Is your vision directed down the road ahead of you or in the rear-view mirror?
If so lookout- change is coming!

Until We Meet Again,
 Jim Carver

Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School “Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com

http://jimcarver.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer- Books and links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my work. Thank you.