I've been tweeking Blog a bit over the last month, trying to add various features as well as fiddling with the layout. My goal is to have something easy to read that has the tools you need to find things but that isn't cluttered.
There are two search boxes on Blog. The upper left hand corner search box looks for things on Blog (and nowhere else) that I've written. I'm aware that once blog entries are pushed off the front page to earlier pages that many folks can't find things. That's where this box comes in. Each blog entry I write is carefully keyworded with the name of the project, the designer, if it's about shop news or newsletters, about a stitching exhibit or the TNNA trade shows, whether it covers beads or is about a new thread from a certain manufacturer or a new stitch I'm trying. Search on these things and see what comes up when you can't find what you want or if you are interested in seeing what I've written (if anything) on that topic. Treat this search box as a treasure hunt and see what you can find!
The other search box is in the left hand column about halfway down the page. This is a new search tool Google (which owns Blogspot) offers. It is called a "custom search" and I had to enter common keywords in setting it up. I think it is supposed to weed out topics not related to NP in any Internet searches you do. I am not sure how well it works since the site gets a fraction of a cent any time it is used and I consider it unethical for me to test it but you might want to give it a try. I've noticed that searches on "needlepoint" using Google are less and less useful these days. I get a lot of eBay sales and a lot of results from sites that are just lists of keywords and ads which try to get you to their location where they hope you'll click on an ad and bring them revenue. I hope this special custom search box will avoid some of those problems! I'd appreciate feedback on how well this works if you test it yourself.
Microsoft has a new search engine called Bing which I've had fun using. Got to www.bing.com and enter various terms and see what you find. I like to choose Images to get pictures as my search result and then to add designer names to find stitched examples of someone's work. This morning I used "needlepoint Leigh Designs" to find all sorts of wonderful Leigh needlepoint canvases, stitched and unstitched, along with articles about folks who stitch her things.
I need to go through the blog listing again and remove blogs that don't post often and add those that do. The list is automatic and is generated from the list of blogs I follow but the system has problems. Not every blog I watch is shown (I removed the non-NP blogs manually) when it updates. Some blogs don't have RSS feeds enabled so they can't be followed on blog readers and via automated blog lists. If you have a blog about NP and post often but it doesn't show up on my list, email me at chillyhollow athot maildotcom and I'll try to add it. No guarantees, though. Blog occasionally flat refuses to do what I want it to. Hummm..... Sounds like the dogs, my husband, my boss and many other things in my life. LOL
In the Other News catagory, Amy Bunger's July e-newsletter is up and it is fabulous! Amy's written a fascinating article about how to choose the right color of thread when you are stitching with beads and there is a full report (with pictures!) of the Amy Bunger shop's visit to the Columbus trade show in June. Amy's also stitched two wonderful pieces, one a Halloween Boo! sign that you have to see and the other a fabulous donkey for the Kelly Clark Nativity set that is part of her shop's monthly club for this year.
http://www.amybunger.com/current_enewsletters.html
Have fun reading the newsletter. All of the Amy Bunger monthly newsletters are great but the beading tips in this one and the report on what the TNNA trade shows are like is a must-read. And there are pictures of some of our favorite designers! If you ever wondered what the real Maggie behind the Maggie Designs line looks like....
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
