Posted on

Harmonious Belly Housekeeping

Hello everyone! I thought I’d write a little about some changes to the site – a little housekeeping – that I’ve made over the past month or so.

First, though, I want to thank everyone who has visited to read posts, commented, and shared content with others. It really warms my heart and makes me happy to know that what I provide here is of interest and help to your own life. I originally started this site to keep me on track with my eating habits and practices, as well as documenting my foray into traditional/NT style eating; I’m glad it has blossomed beyond that and positively affected other people.

As for the changes to the site, I’ve updated both the look and functionality here. Here’s what’s been going on:

Visual

  • There’s a new header up there! I thought it was time for a change. The image comes from a photo I took a few weeks ago at the Socrates Green Market. The font is Zapfino.
  • I’ve eliminated the background color that wrapped around the content area of the page, in order to give more of a feel of spaciousness.
  • I’ve implemented new menu and navigation fonts. I’ve used a more decorative web-safe font via the Google Fonts plugin for WordPress. The font is IM Fell English.

Functionality

  • You can arrange to have posts sent to you via email. Check the sidebar for the signup form.
  • I’ll be launching a monthly newsletter very soon. There are a couple of links to the subscription form on the site (in the navigation menu at the top of the page, and in the sidebar), but you can also subscribe to the newsletter here. I’d love for you to sign up!
  • At the top of the sidebar, I’ve added a link to my personal Google+ profile, where I share content from time to time. Links to other relevant social media sites are there, too. Please consider following and becoming a fan of Harmonious Belly!
  • You can now share on Tumblr! Thanks to the reader that suggested it.
  • There’s a new Link Within widget at the the bottom of each post.
  • I’ve created a Privacy Policy, too.

Additionally, I’m an affiliate for The Thesis Theme for WordPress! I love this theme, and happily recommend it to others. Click on the previous link or the image in the sidebar for more information.

I’m always interested in hearing from readers of Harmonious Belly. Please feel free to contact me with questions, tips, and anything else that’s on your mind.

Thanks again for reading!

Meg, Founder and Editor
Harmonious Belly

Posted on

Friends, and the Importance of Backing Up Your Files

kitteh sez relaks

This brief post has nothing to do with nourishing, healthy food, but everything to do with the operation of this site. It was down for a little while (last night until this morning) because I tried to add something to a Thesis file when I barely knew what I was doing, and that hosed my site. When my site was down, I was so disappointed in my inability to fix the immediate problem.  But hey, I’m no php programmer… though now I know a little more than I did.

Thank goodness for backing up files! I was smart enough to think ahead and copy and paste into Notepad the original contents of the file before I did anything; I also viewed the file in a separate tab.  Thank goodness for that, else I would have been further up a creek in the troubleshooting process.

And I had good friends to help keep my mind off of the my world is going to end! attitude last night, with great company, conversation and food.  By the time dinner was over, I was much more relaxed about it all, and not so panicked.

I also called a good friend who is a real WordPress maven, Charlene Jaszewski. She helped me with her calm approach and willingness to listen, and held my hand over the phone while I – correctly, thank goodness! – manipulated this pesky file.  She even figured out how to do what I was trying to do!  Thank you Charlene!  If anyone reading this needs WordPress consulting or an excellent content strategist, please contact her.

So, I learned a lot this weekend, both about the value of backups and good friends.  I am fortunate to have them.  Both!

And if you’ve ever done anything like what I did, please feel free to share in the comments!  🙂