Gothic's New Blog on Server Administration and a cool console-y wordpress theme

[mouser]

Everyone here knows John S. (aka Gothi[c]) who does such an amazing job admistering the donationcoder servers (both the main server and the newly upgraded member server).

Well he's finally been convinced to start a blog (sorry! i meant "web log") talking about server administration issues.  It's pretty hairy stuff but makes for great reading.  Since he's a bit reluctant to toot his own horn I'm here to let you all know about it.

Of course those of us who know John know that he's never content to just use something as he finds it.  Naturally then he decided to create a unique wordpress theme that bears an uncanny resemblance to an old fashioned green text terminal.  It's a very cool effect, and one of the more unique Wordpress themes i've seen.  And of course knowing John you already know that he made the theme available for download under the GPL on the blog, so you can go get it there.

http://ramblings.linkerror.com/

[Gothi[c]]

Well he's finally been convinced

More like, pushed nagged, prodded, poked and shoved into compliance by mouser He gives me too much credit.

The theme has had some minor changes since the tarball I uploaded there. I'll just create a section for it on linkerror.com where updates can be grabbed from.
It's a very minimal theme though. I got rid of many if not most wordpress features because they would be too crowding or not needed.

[nudone]

very clever idea for a theme. top marks there.

(i shall have proper read through the web log later.)

[Josh]

Cool! Almost as clever as the website design I just had developed for my wife! Good job Goth!

[40hz]

Love the look.    Reminds me a bit of the theme used at this website:

http://retro.kerrywebster.com/

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[Veign]

I really wish I could read it but that color makes it almost impossible for me.  I can only make it a few words before needing to look away.

[40hz]

I really wish I could read it but that color makes it almost impossible for me.  I can only make it a few words before needing to look away.

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[Gothi[c]]

I really wish I could read it but that color makes it almost impossible for me.  I can only make it a few words before needing to look away.

if green on black doesn't make you warm and fuzzy, then the posts probably won't be for you to begin with.

That said, you can view it in a text-browser and use any colors in your terminal you want. That's why I made it text-browser friendly

Here it is in lynx, with a lower contrast, just by editing the terminal colors:



Honestly, I really dislike browsing the internet. I can't stand looking at white backgrounds, they make my head hurt, and that's what popular on the net for some reason.
In my point of view, web DESIGN is the worst thing that ever happened to the net. Web pages have become similar in design to paper magazines, from typography, images, to even the white paper.
Javascript, flash, web2.0 mirror backgrounds, big banner images, all the commercialism. It all just makes the http:// very unpleasant for me. I know that the rest of the world probably feels the opposite, but oh well... That's why I am not a web designer. I couldn't stand it. I'd rather die than bowing to my client's wishes.
I can hear them coming already: "I WANT A BLINKING THINGY WITH MUSIC!"...

Now we have to worry about css hacks, browser compatibility, and apparently even colors... I really think we'd be better off with plain text, and let any one use any colors they want in their browser. One size does not fit all. Never-ever.

And that's what web-design has done to us. Forcing a particular design upon us. If I change my browser background to black, for example, half the sites on the internet become unreadable because some sites force black text, and you can't read black on black.

If I force both foreground and background colors in my browser, then things look ugly as all hell, because of websites using images with bright colors in their design, which would directly clash with my settings.
I imagine people with accessibility issues face the same thing every day.

The web should be about content. Leave design to the realm of physical paper magazines. Let users use whatever setting they want in their browser.

Many, if not most things I do are done from my terminal window, making all applications look uniform, with the same colors etc... Every time I fire up a web browser, my choice, my preferences, my settings, they all go out the window because of some bloke that thought it'd be fun to give content a 'design'.

Nothing personal, Veign! You're still a great person Rant was against state of the www, not an attack on your profession

All of it is just personal opinion which is subject to error and change, and so out of sync with the world that it's not even funny. Often I think these things and don't rant about them, because ranting about them seems so pointless. All I'm doing is telling people I'm a weirdo See first post on the linkerror ramblings site for disclaimer

[tinjaw]

I just got to work and haven't even had my first sip of coffee yet, but I had to take a moment to say that I agree with you Gothi[c] about web design for the most part.

I often grab RSS feeds instead of going to a website so that I can control how the information is viewed.

However, I do understand why a fashion website or a music website would want to be fancy, because that is their audience and the information that most of their audience wants is colorful photos and fancy design.

But, for generic news or reference information, yeah, I wish we could greatly simplify things.

And I have always be against white background. I can't understand why people want to stare into a bright light.

[Veign]

link=topic=17924.msg160165#msg160165 date=1239924750]
Nothing personal, Veign! You're still a great person Rant was against state of the www, not an attack on your profession

Nothing personal taken.  I think the thing most people forget is not everyone sees things the way you do - I'm colorblind and that color combination is about as comfortable as ramming shards of glass in my eyes.

Also, I completely disagree with you about the web is better off as text or removing the design element.  I find it difficult to believe than anyone truly believes that whats available (websites) through the internet nowadays would be better off by removing the design part.  Agree to disagree.

FYI: I have the utmost respect for Gothi[c] and recommend him to my clients for anything server related.

[mouser]

i agree with veign mostly (and almost always).

as much as i have a love-hate relationship with css and html, i wouldn't want to go back to a text-only internet.

i also simultaneously think gothic's wordpress theme is super cool *and* hard on the eyes.

ideally it might be nice to offer a switch so user could view it in a more human-friendly format 

[Veign]

Create a Sell-Out switch where it makes the blog look like every other designed blog.  Then he could put a big warning before people like me switch it 

[Gothi[c]]

Well, I'm fully aware that my preferences are not most people's preferences, I hope I made that clear. That's why I stressed that 'one size fits all' never works.

[Gothi[c]]

.. Of course, the opposite is true as well:
Why should I make a switch button when 99% of the internet that makes MY eyes hurt doesn't have one.

[steeladept]

Personally, the colors don't really bother me much.  Maybe that comes from looking at a D#$! mainframe terminal 8+ hours a day.  Don't mind the terminal, it is easy to read and see all relevant information (not to mention prioritization with the 7 color format we use) - it is the Z/OS I hate dealing with!

[40hz]

link=topic=17924.msg160376#msg160376 date=1240028491]
.. Of course, the opposite is true as well:
Why should I make a switch button when 99% of the internet that makes MY eyes hurt doesn't have one.

wow! kinda harsh...

[Gothi[c]]

wow! kinda harsh...

I don't know My initial idea was making it black-on-black so nobody can read it! (without selecting the text or viewing it in a text browser)

Maybe I should do a browser detection. If javascript is enabled:
" Error. Javascript is enabled. Please use a browser without javascript support. "

(Like the reverse of what some sites do)

[cranioscopical]

link=topic=17924.msg160803#msg160803 date=1240298623]
My initial idea was making it black-on-black so nobody can read it!

Less a theme than a black whole.