Posted in Behind the Scenes, Site Change Notifications

Weekly Site Changes: March 13th-19th, 2021

Aside• Posted on by Lily

Oh, the pitfalls of depending on common sense being common.  Once upon a time a free WP migration to self host was easy peasy to do via file transfers.  Things have since changed, and this move was fraught with hiccups and annoyances that are still eating up precious spare time I’d rather be spending on other site changes.  Still, it’s gotta get done.

The migration hiccup left me with 400-ish posts containing 300-ish images and I have no desire to count how many in-site text links that need fixing.  This was on top of everything I had been working on before (found below leftover from previous changes I was making over time), and of course I got the brilliant idea to try to make this site more accessible after the move as well.  (That’s another post for another time, but I will say for now that this is long overdue.)  I was fixing some things not too long after the site move, then life got busy, and I cannot for the life me recall where I left off…so back into the “drafts” folder I go first, then try to get back into the recording my updates groove I didn’t quite carry through in 2020 either (No, it wasn’t the pandemic specifically–but that didn’t help either.) 

I’m actually laughing a bit at what’s in my post drafts folder–some are literally just a title for something I really do want to write about, but did not have or make the time to do so.  Others are this weird stream of consciousness I’m not sure what the heck to do with those.  Off the streamy posts, there’s a few that were part of my failed effort at keeping a regular garden journal, so any with useful info I may just post as is with a note at the beginning that they’re more for my own record keeping than anything. 

So let’s get this ball rolling in the right direction, starting with my most recent efforts:

Recent Changes:

Since 2021 To Do:

  • I just realized I forgot to note when we took our rain barrel in last fall.  I know I have it written down somewhere, so this weekend I’ll be hunting that down to add that post backdated.
  • I am in the process of trying out one of the accessibility widgets, but I fear the aged theme I adore and use is conflicting with it.  I had to shut the widget off because images I had written lengthy alt text/descriptions for were not visible on the finished posts, though the clickable tag graphic was showing, and worked properly when clicked and would open up the longer description in a separate window.  I’m worried no matter which widget I use, the lack of updates to this theme will break them.  Then I’ll need to either get ahold of the original maker, or update the theme myself so the new stuff will function properly (WHICH I TOTALLY DO NOT HAVE TIME TO DO). I do want to state that I miss being able to put little side jokes in my alt texts for any who hover over and look for such, but I haven’t yet figured out a way to use it both for that and still use it to trigger whatever needs triggering so the longer alt description will work for folks using text readers.  Much research to do!  If anyone has suggestions, I would really truly appreciate you doing so below or through my contact page, whatever your preference.
  • Every year, the plan to plant widget starts off ok, then gets too long. Would it be better to change that to what we’re planting tomorrow sort of thing?  Or swap it out for something else?
  • Speaking of widgets…either in a side widget, or set up similar to the Plantings pages or sub page from Data since that mentions our bins, and start a list of what we’ve put into the compost in any given year. 
  • RE: the landscape fabric rant post–don’t forget to take a picture in that same spot as the last time for a near future post follow up on the topic–but do it before more snow falls!
  • And speaking of polls…does anyone really care about the recent OWV, especially if the same images are still on the Home page? Would it be better to instead post other year variants of the most recent one for quick comparison for those that don’t click on the posts?
  • Pick a deadline for what to do about the Friends? page.
  • Pick a time duration for that notion of recording the environmental noise in the yard and nothing else posts. 
  • Figure out why the cookie consent widget isn’t WAI

Migration Hiccups Needing Fixing (will add the last post date worked on to not lose track):

  • Quite a few posts lost some of their categories, though fortunately only four posts lost all of them. The remaining that I have to fix were formerly in Conservation, Monarch Guardianship (sub of Conservation) & Plants, Seeds (sub of Plants).
  • I also have some in-site links to fix, because they still point to growingingardner.wordpress.com.
  • I also need to do a last gallery comparison check to make sure all the images made it here in one piece and are linked properly in the posts to which they belong.

Accessibility Related to Do:

  • Started adding image alt text/description as from February 10, 2021–Office Window View post and on to present.
  • Currently have done none from the first post onwards. [Change this once started to help keep track.]
  • Try out a different accessibility widget and see if it breaks like the current one does.
  • Read up on the latest accessibility changes on WP to get a better understanding of how alternate options are presented on the blog, and related—accept the fact that either Future Me is going to have to track down the Theme creator if that’s the issue since it hasn’t been updated in so long OR accept the face that Future Me is going to have to redo the Theme so all the Accessibility functions work properly.
  • Don’t forget about how best to handle near-future-but-not-just-yet podcast posts for hearing impaired visitors.
  • Don’t forget letter about adding closed captions for visually impaired visitors to those way-later-in-the-future videos.

Pre-migration Still to Do and Rollover (with notes and changes):

  • Do the darn Planting Page icon drawings already!
  • Office Window Views (OWV)
    • Keep adding:
      • at least one 2019 unposted OWV–you left off on June 22, 2019.
      • and one 2020 unposted OWV and update the slideshow –you left off on May 23, 2020.
    • Go through media files, make sure all OWV labels and names are consistent.
    • Make sure earliest views are tagged as such, before we came up with the “tag”.
  • Continue to double check all posts’ Cats and Tags. (When you finally get around to this, note where you leave off for sanity’s sake.)
    • Continue Tag cleanup (typos, dumb ideas, excessive growing in gardner).
    • GiG tag removal progress: still only the first few I did immediately
    • Create either a widget or something under the Our Plants page that has all the new Tags listed for posts that used to be under sub cats of Plants or newly make Project Progress.
  • Do the changeover for “Friends?” Page and explain why that’s changing.
  • Decide what to do for a rotating header.
  • Finalize format for 2Hr Garden series for consistency.
    • Finish current draft for first 2HG series this year.
  • Add at least one new plant a month to “our plants”.
  • Add at least one new critter a month to “Critters”.
  • What is “food animals” and “food insects” supposed to represent on the data page?  I’m so confused because it doesn’t seem to be what my brain wants it to be.
  • Consider a Cloud tag/placement.
  • Keep working on the garden plot plan.
  • Keep weeding through all draft posts, polish when possible, update when needed, ditch when not worth spending further time.
  • Start story boarding the garden comic, with the intent to have a buffer for when it does finally make the light of day.
  • Decide on a schedule for second story window view images.

[REMINDER TO FUTURE ME: If you shut off the scheduled post option to add something before you go to bed, don’t forget to turn it back on after you’re done so it actually posts when it’s supposed to, you silly!]

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