Improvements to Website, plus “Great Oratory” Feature

Mahogany Finish now used the Cowbot 0.0 theme, created by myself but (heavily) based on the excellent Thematic 0.5 framework by Ian Stewart at ThemeShaper. Most templates used in this child theme were coded entirely by Mr. Stewart, but I either slightly modified his or created my own for the following areas of the blog:

• Header
• Single Post
• Single Page (including Archives and Links)
• Main Index

The rest of the theme changes were to the CSS stylesheet. Besides improvements to the look and feel of the blog, I went through and did some search engine optimization (SEO) so that Mahogany Finish shows up in searches for things other than wood varnish and polygonal breast enhancement. I mean, come on Adam, couldn’t you have named the blog something like “Adam’s MMORPG Night Elf Breast Blog”? If not that, at least something relevant. I guarantee you we would be getting more page views now.

Oh well.

The point is that, overall, you the reader should be looking at a little more attractive, a little more streamlined blog than you were a week or two ago.

Blogroll additions! Added a section for podcasts I listen to, removed the section for webcomics that everyone reads anyway, and added the following websites to the list:

• Wotlankor — Who needs text when you’ve got Trinity II graphics?
• Elder Game — Well-written, insightful blog by people who actually make games.
• Eating Bees — A community manager’s thoughts under Lum’s domain name.
• 38 Watch — All about 38 Studios.
• Nuyan’s Hangout — The author comments on Mahogany Finish; as if that wasn’t enough, he has a flash-frozen corpse as his header image!
• Drawing Aggro — Mostly EVE.
• Life Is a Mind Bending Puzzle — People still use Blogger? Anyway, recent posts are mainly on EVE, but his archives are worth a good perusal for people interested in other gaming-related topics.

Next on the agenda is getting on the VirginWorlds “promoted” list so relevant updates to Mahogany Finish show up on the front page. I emailed Brent a few weeks ago on the subject, but that may have been poor form. Any ideas on how to accomplish this?

In other news, I added a running feature to the sidebar of the blog called Great Moments in MMORPG Oratory until I can come up with a more succinct title. Once a week, or approximately whenever I feel like it, it will be updated with a new quote from the greatest orators in the history of online gaming.

“If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity, if you seek liberalization: Come here to these sliding glass doors! Mr. Garbazzahb, open this gate! Mr. Garbazzahb, tear down this mall!”

– Rahnargh Raagan [translated from Zamgrh]

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