Posts Tagged ‘Remodeling’

Yes, Gate 21 is “Moving on Up“…

Found at bee mp3 search engine

Gate 21 Version 2.0

It was a chore, it took far longer than it should have, and—in terms of substance—it amounts little more than putting lipstick on the pig, but here it is.  After weeks of gnashing my teeth at CSS and html which refused to do what I wanted it to do, I am pleased to announce the debut of the new and improved Gate 21.  For those of you have been around these parts before, you can see that things look a bit different.

After nearly two years of the same basic layout, I decided it was time to do a little remodeling here at the Gate.  One thing led to another and “a little remodeling” turned into me completely redesigning the Gate from the top to the bottom.  Yes, though it was a faithful servant, I have sacked the old iLeather theme that was the mainstay here are the Gate for so long.  In its place is the new completely custom look which took me far longer to pull together and design than I ever dreamed was possible.

Everything is new again (that doesn’t mean, however, that it is actually any better though … sigh.).

There are still some kinks to be worked out here and there and there are a few new content areas I hope to roll out in the coming days, but—for the most part—the project that has eaten up nearly every second of my time over the past few weeks is finally done.  Hopefully, both of you out there that regularly visit will like it.  If not, well, that’s what the comments box is for—I welcome any and all criticism.

At any rate, just to give everyone the 50-cent tour.  The main changes are … well … everything.  The highlights, however, include:

• New page and category bars at the top which feature fancy-schmancy drop-down menus.  Hopefully, that will make it easier for everyone to find what they are looking for.
• Gus, our trusty mascot here at the Gate, underwent some major plastic surgery and—all things considered—looks a bit better as a result.
• No, the rather massive blogroll that has been a staple here at the Gate did not disappear, it simply moved down to the footer to help make things a little cleaner and less cluttered.  Everything is organized by subject and the whole list (at least in theory) will now expand and collapse at a click.
• The typography is new as well, hopefully improving readability.
• I added a little more “visual direction” to the header so that people who have never been to Neyland Stadium might actually be able to figure out that the name “Gate 21” actually refers to the Real Gate 21 and have some idea of what it looks like
• Oh yeah, and following the lead of the Blackjack General (a/k/a “Lane Kiffin”), I decided to adopt a darker overall look with more black—especially in the background.

At any rate, I hope that these changes improve the experience here at the Gate.  I hope these changes make it look a little nicer.  I hope the whole site doesn’t crash and burn as I finish up converting all of the old content around here over to make it play nice with the new design.  Either way, please feel free to let me know if you like it, hate it, or could care less.  If there is something that isn’t working properly, is hard to read, or simply annoying, feel free to let me know that too.  Though Gate 21 version 2.0 is now here for the entire world to see, it is still a work in progress, so any feedback is appreciated.

At any rate, here it is in all of its radiant glory—the new Gate 21.

I do sincerely hope you like it…

– So it goes…

I can’t prove it, but I really think this guy may be Tennessee Volunteers Assistant Football Coach Ed Orgeron’s long lost butt-kickin’ brother.

Video: Vinnie Jones: Ed Orgeron’s Long Lost Brother?

• HT to / via: Funny or Die!

I mean, they are at least cousins or something…

More to come this week as my little off-season remodeling project finally nears its end.

Just in case you were wondering, I have not abandoned the Gate this week.  In fact, I have been working harder on this joint this week than I have in months.  Unfortunately, all of that work has been behind the scenes…

…for the moment.

Let’s just say that I am taking advantage of the current off-season lull to make a few changes around here and to do a bit of remodeling.  Let’s just call it “Gate 21 — 2.0.”  Hopefully, all of this work will not be for naught.  Hopefully, I’ll be done with this marathon soon.  Hopefully, there will still be more than three people around to read once I bring the changes live.  Who knew this whole “blogging thing” would be so much work?

In the meantime, I’ll just leave you with this little visual representation of where this ship is headed.  Trust me, this is but one very small part of what I have in store for everyone in the near future:

The Changing Face of the Gate…

November 2007	February 2008	?? July 2009 ?? (I sure hope so)

Hopefully, I will actually get a little chance to write a few things here this weekend which I have had to put off a bit.  Yeah, yeah … excuses, excuses.  At any rate, please bear with us—there are exciting things to come in the near future.

In the meantime, just try to remember that Gate 21 does exist, and check back with us soon…

– So it goes…

In case you haven’t noticed by the temporary header…

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I am in the midst of remodeling here at Gate 21 in preparation for football season.  Bearing that in mind, I am currently adjusting the color scheme here at the Gate, changing from the brownish “off-dirt” family of hues to more of a “light-black” (as if there were such an oxymoronicly named color — oh yeah, there is: “gray”) direction.  I’ve also added a few minor touches: such as the “shinier” checkerboard pattern, and the little “21” logos down the page a bit.  On the whole, my goal is to make things a bit darker near the top to improve visibility and make it more likely that some one might read my drivel.  If things look exactly the same, just hit refresh in your browser to see my coloring project.

Once again I have my coloring book out…

A Coloring Book for Lawyers ( PDF)

Anyway, let me know any thoughts either of you two folks out there who read this rag might have about this — including any complaints about how brown is your favorite color, how you hate my mascot “Gus,” how you can’t understand why I insist on having that infernal checkerboard across the middle of the screen, and how  you liked it better before I started screwing with it.

Seriously, if you hate it, just tell me…

– Go Figure …

Coloring Book Courtesy of: Office Spam

Just a quick update on my efforts to remodel here at Gate 21 as football season approaches…

After a hiatus of about a month or so, my “Headlines, Links & Lies … LIVE!” widget is back in the sidebar here at Gate 21.  For the moment it lives in the right sidebar (for those of you who are directionally challenged, that’s right over there ).

Thanks to the wonderful functionality of Yahoo Pipes, this new version of the widget will now self update with current stories from all of my favorite blogs across the Blogosphere.

In other site news, in case you haven’t noticed, I am in the process of updating and revamping my blogroll and links as well.  I have tried to organize all my many links by category, and to give a little extra visibility to those links which are at the very top of my list (my absolute favorites are noted with the icon). At present, all of my blogroll links are in the left sidebar, but I will probably be splitting them up soon, if only to balance things out a bit.

I encourage both of my readers to give both the new “Headlines, Links & Lies … LIVE!” widget and the updated blogroll a look periodically.  There is some really good stuff out there worth giving a look, and hopefully these additions will help you find it a bit easier.

At any rate, let me know any thoughts you may have on the remodeling around the joint — whether good or bad.

After all, as I have always said, if you can’t be good, be good at it…

– Go Figure …