What do you think of the new look?
I talk about how my brain turned into Swiss cheese. Lately, I spend most of my time in the holes. So if you are waiting for the second PTSD post -- keep checking back. The good news about cycling is that it comes back round again. (That's also the bad news, depending on what part of the cycle you are talking about.)
Anyway, as an alternative to thinking, and to celebrate
my first year online, I decided to renovate the site. So, what do you think?
Okay, I stayed with the dark blue motif, this being a blog about depression. I rejected many new options that blogspot.com, my host, now offers. Just think, I could have spread the page with barbed wire -- really! I gave it a lot of thought, but in the end, I am just not that Goth. I could have used rain as a backdrop -- no, too cliche. Another option was this flock of birds flying over head. I live by a pond, so I know -- way too messy!
So, same color, a little texture in the banner. I was at the therapist's this morning, and noticed how nice it is that her carpet has some vague design to it. I can look here, and then for a change, I can look there. That's the idea.
It has long been my desire to do three columns. But I didn't know how to pull it off. The new template made it possible. And now the tour:
To the
left is the resource column, a work in progress. I started with great ambitions to become a port of entry to mental health resources. Those ambitions languished for a while. But this is a new year. So I need a little help from my friends!
Resources on Mental Illness and
Resources on Medications: Where do you find the most useful information and tools on mental illness and medications? Add a comment below, or send a message to the email address at the top of the blog.
About the Brain and
About the Mind: At first I was putting research reports that intrigued me under these headings. They became a slush pile for posts I wanted to write some day. Then I figured out I don't need to leave my pile of unfinished homework out in public -- I can store them offstage in a draft pile. So now you find here comprehensive works, reviews of literature, big swipes at their topics -- generally educational, that sort of thing. Some bent stuff might sneak into the list, too, just to keep you on your toes. Again, I am delighted to receive suggestions for content.
Books I Like: Here you find links to previous posts that review book titles. The unfinished homework is preserved in this section, when I want to recommend a book, but haven't gotten around to writing the review. When you move your curser over the title and it turns dark red -- ding, ding, ding! There is a review. Click it and read more. If the title remains black -- buzz! I'll get to it...
All of the stuff that relates to the blog itself is on the
right, the description, the labels, the archives, etc. I might update the blog description and
About Me one of these days, give you my latest diagnoses, that sort of thing...
Labels: It took me a while to figure out tag clouds (labels) on other blogs I read. I thought they were Word Art. Well, yes, but created automatically and with a function. When I write each post, I "tag" it with a few key topics, like
antidepressants,
hope, OMG... If you click on one of those words in the tag cloud, all the posts that have been tagged by that word will come up. The more posts that I tag with a certain word, the bigger that word appears in the cloud.
Archives: for the historical record of
Prozac Monologues. You can go back to April 5, 2009, should you be so inclined.
Search: You can search my entire blog for a specific word that may not be a label or tag, like Zoloft or Conroy. This feature will even find words that are in the comments. The search engine at the top of the blog does the same thing, search my blog. Redundant or convenient -- you make the call.
I like these blogs: may or may not bear any relationship to the matter at hand.
Followers: Would some follower tell me what happens when you become a follower? Do you get a message when I put something new up or what? I have always wondered...
Ads: The contract says I am not supposed to click on them myself. So when I am interested in one of them myself, I have to copy and paste the address. So if it's objectionable , I won't know about it unless you tell me. I can block an advertiser, and did block Scientology. It's always fun to go to one particular post from the archive list, and find out what ads will pop up. Okay, Goodfellow, get a life...
Oh, yes -- the
center. One of these days I will pay attention to topics again.
I like to put lots of links to other sites in my posts. The regular text is black. Links appear in a dark blue or may purple, depending on your browser. Do they show up? When you move your curser over them, they turn deep red, more visible. Click, and you find my source or my inspiration. If you find a dead link, let me know.
Coming later: Videos?
Anyway, time to go clean my paintbrushes and pour a drink.
