Hey, Apt. 11D has a new design. So, all you people who just read through an RSS feed come here and check it out.
I put the Apt. back in the title, because even though I dropped it five years ago, people still google "apt. 11d." It's easier for people to remember, and I'm slowly getting used to having more of a public face in the blogosphere.
I'm in the process of rejiggering my archives and simplifying the tags. I had separated the personal posts from the political posts, but that distinction never worked well for me. There is too much overlap. At some point, I will finish that task and explain everything in the "About Me" page.
I'm using more photographs and breaking up the text into separate posts, because it works best on the Internet. A hundred words and a picture is the formula that brings in the most readers. Sad, but true.
I needed a new banner. Being too cheap to invest hundreds of dollars in PhotoShop, I tried teaching myself to use banner freeware, but it was a pain. Instead, I found that Typepad has some new templates that sort of achieved the look I was going for. I can easily rotate photographs. Learning CSS is not the best use of my time, so a Typepad template will have to suffice.
So, here we are. I finally have both of my children in school, and I'm looking forward to getting caught up again on the blog and other work on my desk. Before I sort out the papers on my desk, I'm going to punch out a series of posts on the new campaign against obesity.
Apt. 11d 
Is there a way to search your posts that I am missing? Maybe a Search box? Education policy is also a high interest of mine and it would be easier to plow through your archives with that option.
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Wow–snazzy new look! It’ll take some getting used to, but on first glance, I like it.
A hundred words and a picture is the formula that brings in the most readers.
Can’t disagree there. I’m trying to use more photos and such on my blog, with some success, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop myself from writing massive treatise-posts. Nor, at this point, do I care enough to chance my banner…though who knows what the summer may bring?
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Mike, I was going to merge the education policy stuff into all the public policy posts. I renamed the tags for public policy to “ideas,” because “public policy” scares off people. I’ll keep the education tag though, if people find it useful. I’ll make it prominent somewhere on the blog. Maybe in the “about me” page.
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Laura:
I think there’s a way to set up a toolbar that allows people to search. I found one once in the widget section, I think. It doesn’t work on my personal blog (because it’s password protected).
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Love it! Congrats on the redesign.
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I miss LG&M’s snarky tags, and that’s one of two things on my want list for my own blog’s next iteration. I don’t know if that would work for you, but I do wish someone would pick up where LG&M left off. Obviously not all the tags would have a link from the banner area.
Nothing wrong with 100 words and a pic. I only managed one sentence on Obama’s inauguration, for example. (Though it was a good one, if I say so myself.) After 100 words or so, I put it behind a “more” tag anyway.
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I stopped using a “more” tag, because people don’t click on it. I decided to not bother writing stuff that is hidden away. If I have that much to say, I’ll make it into two or three posts instead.
Snarky tags are good, but if you want a big audience, then the tags have to make sense beyond our small group of wacky political blog types.
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I click on more tags — I had thought you used them on personal posts where you thought not every reader would want to follow the stories of your children.
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This is about average length for one of my co-bloggers, who’s also written the largest number of posts. The “more” tag is my friend. Just by way of illustrating varying mileage.
LG&M: Yuck the Fankees; Utter Wankers; I See Dead People; Our Broken Institutions; The Kind of Affirmative Action for Unqualified White Guys; Dire Incompetence; Billionaire Welfare Bums; Things that Make Me Want to Drink. Those aren’t the more obscure ones, but judicious use of tags could also propel your catch phrases into much wider usage. “And a pony!”
(I’ve also just remembered that Balloon Juice has fun with tags. One of the authors there tags everything with “Good News for Conservatives” on the theory that it always is.)
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Yeah, I used to do that on personal posts about the kids. I’ll probably keep writing about the kids, but those posts will be shorter and reveal less info.
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“I stopped using a “more” tag, because people don’t click on it. I decided to not bother writing stuff that is hidden away.”
I approve. A lot of the glossier blogs have posts with a picture and just a sentence or two on the main page, and it just doesn’t give me enough information to figure out if it’s worthwhile to commit to clicking through. It’s supposed to give the blog space to showcase more posts, but the effect is sterile and uninviting.
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I like the new design!
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Laura, I really like the new look.
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The new look is lovely and very readable.
The problem for me with splitting big thoughts into two shorter posts is that it makes the comments conversation more difficult to follow. We currently have great threads going in both the Beverage Tax post and the more general Politics of Public Health post.
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Thanks all.
Madeleine. Yes, pros and cons. It does break up some good conversation, but the separate posts with different angles might bring in new commenters. One person might like to talk about general philosophy and public health policy. Another person might like talking about soda. Also, the people seem to like it when I stay on a week-long jag on one topic.
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