Northern Passages v2

Oh, too bad you’ve lost your blog ??
I remember it, and I have to tell you I liked the most the pre-Kubrick phase of it – it was more personal, more unique. (Have to confess it’s boring to see n+1 kubrick-clones without any personal touch…)
For now I can say only what I have to repeat ad nauseam: 99.99% of the left aligned Kubricks are screwed on single post view in IE 5.5 – the text doesn’t stay in the nicely designed “frame”, it gets glued on the left margin of the screen. So does yours.

I must disagree with you Moshu. I was quite impressed by Chaplin’s blog, especially by the choice of colours and the header image. Nice work, Chaplin!
As for Moshu’s comments…
First of all, all the Kubrick clones. I think WordPress customisation is not yet simple enough to enable everyone to create their own templates and themes. Michael Heilemann did all WP users a huge favour by creating a theme that is easily customised and implemented. I must admit I took a look at Moshu’s blog and I was expecting something unique. I was heavily disappointed. I think you should create something extraordinary before you can tell someone else “Your creation is unoriginal!”
Second, the fact that the single post page looks screwed up in IE 5.5.. It’s a constant struggle of compatibility. But right now, no one should give a damn about IE 5.5 since newer browsers exist and it’s the lack of standards in IE that makes the page look messed up. So, get over it!

Re: IE 5.5
I did NOT say this is a good browser or a safe browser; nor did I say anybody should use it ?? What I am saying that according to different stats its share among internet users is approx. between 5-18%. Considering that the number of internet users in Nov. 2004 was around 360,983,512 (source) even 5% would mean 1,804,917 IE 5.5 users.
It is out there. Since the original poster asked for a feedback – I’ve provided one. (Sometimes people even thank for that…)
Re: ready-made templates
I’d be happier to see in the downloaded WP package several basic layouts (not templates or “themes”!) which are easy to personalize. I think it would make the WP world less uniform. NB.: if Kubrick is so easy to “customize and implement” why these fora are so full with help requests? Nonetheless, it’s a nice piece of work.
Re: who is entitled to criticize?
In my previous life I used to make a living by being a professional literary and theatre critic (not in English, of course!). Does it mean I am a better writer, actor or director? No way! Despite the wide spread misconception a critic doesn’t have to be a better author (artist, etc.). His role is different, and the profession requires other skills. So, yes, even not having a blog or a website one can have an opinion or. What I said or say about any website/design has nothing to do with the look of my blog!

Thank you both for your input, positive and negative it’s all good with me. I’m interested in making it better, and that takes some negative criticism. It’s always nice to hear about the good stuff too. I’m going to have a look at the 1.3 Kubrick and try to add some of the fixes from Kubrick 1.2.6 – I beleive Michael has fixed the compatability issues. (He just released a new design of his blog, and although he’s posted the fixes between 1.2.5 and 1.2.6 – I was having trouble reading the code in the new design.)
Again, thanks and keep it coming!

Hardly recognize this site from before, you stripped out about 90percent of the code/accessories but made it effective at the same time. ??

1. It’s fine even in IE 5.5!
2. No, I can’t tell ??
3. easy is a very subjective thing… For me it’s easy to put all the HTML tags manually in a post, for others it’s easy by using the quicktags, yet there is a considerable proportion of the WP population that need wysiwyg editor (see all the posts, requests around here). I could also mention how easy seems to be for some people in this fora to write a few line of PHP code for users in desperate need of help, while for me it would be an unthinkable task – I guess I’d die if my life depended on the ability to write a simple “if” statement ??
You seem to have an excellent taste (and eye!) for colours, nuances and their harmony with the content. So for you it’s easy. BTW, despite what was implied in some posts above, I’ve never said this is not a nice and elegant version. Especially after taking a closer look at its content, I’ve realized this one has a totally different “topic”, and the design just fits nicely. As it was the case with the “northern blog” – the cold colours and the whole design was in perfect harmony with the content.
And now back to work ??