Finally took a bit of time to finalize the site design for the Volume of Interactions (VOI). Quite happy with it now; always did like the minimalist approach - just white and black, and a splash of red to give it character. Simple, straightforward (boring??), and logical.
The area that has required the most work is the navigation of the site. In its default config, Movabletype (MT) is pretty poor in terms of ease-of-navigation. But hopefully, i've improved that.
All the entries in the VOI are categorized into 5 different categories: Living Thoughts, Letters & Chats, Memories, Publications, and Reviews. The most recent entries into each category are automatically pumped into the right hand bar, sorted by categories. This makes it easy for the reference of visitors to know what to expect from each posting.
Also, added something new i discovered about MT - the ability to syndicate via XML the content of another XML-capable site. This has allowed me to create the "Blog of the Month" section at the very bottom of the right hand bar. The cool thing about an XML-feed is that each time the other blog is updated, it will automatically update this section, without any manual intervention from me whatsoever.
Anyone who wants to syndicate the content of my site is welcome to do so; get the XML link from the bottom of the main page of VOI, integrate it into your site and drop me a line telling you've done this.
Lastly, added the VOI to the Wander-Lust network. Its really a clearing house for links related to personal blogs. Their tag line is "It's really like plumbing for the Internet. We're the valve." So each time my blog is updated, a notification will be sent to them and a link to my site will appear on their main website. Also, if you ever felt like visiting a random blog, just click on the icon at the bottom of the VOI home page and you will be transported to a random blog somewhere out there in the cyberspace universe.
The last change that i'll be making to the site in the near future will be to the way it handles and displays the archives. Currently, archives are displayed by month and all the entries in that month will be loaded onto a a single page. This doesn't make much sense and will make it hard to read as each page will be super-long, depending on how diligent i've during each month. Saw an archiving system on Brad Choate's website that i found extremely practical and will be experimenting soon with ways to replicate that system.
Anyway. That's it.
