After much development, and overcoming some all-new learning curves, I’m pleased to launch ExcelWithMonarch.com version 2.0!
I’d always had some challenges with the old look and feel, but it was the best that I could do to get the site going. I’ve been working on this change for some time now.
This necessitated a pretty major upgrade to the WordPress platform, which honestly made me exceedingly apprehensive. The last thing that I wanted to do was corrupt the site and possibly lose content. The biggest worry was that something would go wrong with the required structure changes to the new WordPress database. My worry was for nothing though as I carefully went through the upgrade checklist and thankfully everything went pretty smoothly.
Also new to me was the implementation of the Thesis theme for WordPress, which allows folks who aren’t experts in web design (like yours truly), to gain full control of the design of a site and enable customization of the layout and presentation reasonably easily.
I’ve tested the changes pretty thoroughly, but if you find that something isn’t working, please take a moment and let me know.
I hope that you find the site easier to use and read. I find that the text much cleaner and easier to read, the overall feel is lighter, and the new inclusion of images should make for a much more engaging experience.
I’d not included many images in the previous posts because the old layout just didn’t really accommodate much more than small pictures, which reduced the effectiveness. This new presentation should allow for some terrific new content (he says hopefully).
To make my own life a little easier, the site now uses Captcha when supplying new comments. I hoe that you don’t find this to be a burden, as it was really quite necessary. It should reduce required management of the spam load; it’s driving me crazy. Don’t these guys have something useful to do with their talents? Honestly…
A big new feature on the site is a sitemap, which lists every post available by category. This should benefit new and current readers alike.
Another improvement over the last version of the site is the custom Google search. This should provide much better search results when looking for content that exists on the site.
Welcome to the Future!
The new platform will enable me to tweak the design and add new aspects to the site much more easily than before. This should make for a better site for both you and me, and ought to provide a richer experience as we continue to excel with Monarch.
