It’s The Little Things

I’m always looking for new ways to improve my blog. Panels of Awesome has been on the net for over a year now and I’ve gone through countless layouts, ideas, plugins and other things trying to make it better and better. That being said, I’ve run into a bunch of issues that I have with my current layout and design that need serious changes. This goes beyond the aesthetic look of the site. It could start affecting the actual readability of the site itself as well as the loading of pages and such. Here’s some of the problems that I have right now:

• Too much flash

There are a number of flash and javascript portions of the site that are really bogging down the overall load time of pages. That needs to change.

• Too much work for each post

I find myself posting less lately because I’ve been somewhat shaken up from some of the recent events in my life but also because, the way that the design is set up, it takes me far too long to insert images, thumbnails and templates for various articles.

There’s more, I just can’t remember it all right now. So, what can I do to fix these issues and get my mind back on track? Break it all down and start from scratch. Build it all back up but keep things simple. I think that I’ve been trying to turn the site into something that it’s not. I’ve been trying to inflate the site and, in the process, have been making the workload much to hard on myself.

Need to rewind and get things back in control.

More soon.

Rest In Peace

It’s been a rough couple of weeks. My dad passed away on the 29th of June and I’m still in shock from the entire thing. He was a healthy guy, aside from enjoying the occasional 4L tub of ice cream and having a cigarette every now and then. I don’t know if it’s really hit me yet that he’s actually gone but I’m sure that the first time since his death that I go visit his cottage in Ontario, arguably his favorite place to be and the place that was home to many of my favorite memories of him, it’ll hit me in the face like a half-ton truck.

Needless to say, it’ll probably be a pretty painful experience that will be a repeat of the couple days before, during and after his passing.

~ R.I.P. Dave Haynes ~

Things Are Picking Up

The last round of the Awesome Arena is on Monday. It’s been a fun ride but I’m really looking forward to what the future has to offer in terms of upcoming tournaments. I’ve been working out the details for the next one including, but not limited to, new rules, better prizes and more interaction between the voters.

New Rules:
While I can’t really go over many of the new rules yet, since I want it to be a surprise, they’re essentially the same as many old rules just fine-tuned.

New Prizes:
I’ve been in talks with a couple of websites that are going to be contributing some pretty serious merch for the next tournament possibly including a Batman bust and a copy of the Starman Omnibus.

More Interaction:
I’ve brought back the message board in a much more limited capacity. I’m kicking around a couple ideas right now that will include that into the next tournament so that people can really speak their minds in an open environment without confusing them too much by making them go from one site to another to another.

It all still needs some work but if things work out like I’m thinking they will, this could be one of the best things to happen to POA since it’s creation. The question is, how will I top that?

Thanks for listening. I needed to vent.