somefoolwitha.com ...since 2002

My bloody PowerBook still isnt here!
Damn you Apple is it hitchhiking its way here?

Some of the commotion the announced possible use of some elements of of Michael Heilemann's Kubrick theme in Wordpress 1.3 on the forums really surprises me.

From the short time ive looked into it, nothings confirmed and it would only be elements.

The elements Id like to see are the elements which I like about Michael's site and Kubrick - mainly the fact that from a blog readers point of view (more important sure than a blog writers viewpint) its so damn simple the home page has minimal sidebar elements and the actual post has no sidebar.

Im sorry, but sidebars are the devils work and basically the length of your sidebar is IMHO proportional to the length of the writers ego (and yes I have some sidebars, but Ive minimised it as much as my current ego will allow but im determined to reduce them further over time but yes we all love to add as many bells and widgets as we can). Yes its loverly to have a calendar and your mates sites and what you last read and your favourite DVD and your current iTunes track and how many words are on your site(!). Surely though, the reader certainly couldnt care less about this, they/I just want to read your posts and not be confused by elements surrounding it which may appear stronger than the actual post.

Ive read alot of stuff about content over design, but surely 100s of years of writing/printing has taught us that both are really pretty much equal. Yes the content is important, but if you cant read it or you find it hard to navigate the site then whats the point of the content.

Theres also the argument of all the WordPress sites looking the same, well Id much rather see them all being perfectly legible Kubrick style sites than the current confusing and just plain ugly IMO default WordPress site .. come on, lets try to raise the bar.

Yet another argument is that the complexity of Kubrick's php/css will prevent variety and originality. Well, Id say there are 2 WordPress users - those that will alter the code and those that wont. Those that wont will be much better served by an easy to use (from the readers point of view) default layout than the current simple but visually jarring (again IMO) style - and the default comment list is very confusing.

Those that will alter the code will find much inspiration from the current Kubrick release (I know I have) and it it allows for heavy customisation even if you ignore some of the neat php/css tricks in there.

One more argument is the Photoshop file which you have to alter to customise the frame in Kubrick - well yes, you do need Photoshop (or something that will open its files like Gimp) but you can just alter some CSS to remove the images. And lets not forget that this is Michaels release of Kubrick not the WordPress release so he is under no obligation to change this.

Again, for those not listening at the beginning, we dont know what/if any elements of Kubrick will/will not make it into WordPress 1.3 so lets just keep the discussion amicable and try to suggest ways of improving the default style rather than just bitching that so and so's style is chosen over theirs when no such thing has yet happened.

Note this was a sort of stream of concious post so I may come back and re-read/alter/add things, but the essense will remain Im sure.

Via metafilter, Bad Gas presents the Lynndie. LOL

Useful compilation of decent looking blogs

Does what it says on the tin - when I get my new PowerBook Ill have to give some a go.

Presented by that bloke from Dirty Sanchez, this Radio 1 thing is pretty funny.