sloshed

The weather, yen exchange rate, etc is not for visual stimulation or just to add ‘things’ the the website. For instance the clock would be for the viewers in the U.S. to know what time it was in Japan where I am. The weather would tell them the weather where I was working currently and give them a bit more immersion into the site knowing what it was like where I was. And finally the yen exchange rate would be there since I would write most every price for things I bought in Japan in yen, and seeing the yen exchange rate they could do the math easily enough to find out how much that is in USD. I intend for these to be very quiet and simple parts of the site that don’t drag the eye away from the content.

The thing is I want to have my own theme not borrow someone elses. I want the site to have a personalized feel to it that says Japan.

I have a rough time figuring out how to write a theme so thinking it might be best to find a basic theme and modify it from there. I did a site similar to what I am talking about in my xml class utilizing xhtml and xml along with some javascript but that was without using wordpress.

Its not so much that I am not a coding person its just been awile since I put any real feeling into any coding that I’ve done (all been in classes lately). Also wordpress is fairly unfamiliar to me as far as actually working with it. I tend to be a it of a tactile learner, I do best working with my hands in it. Thats one reason I am looking to do it myself rather than get someone else to do it, hence why guidance is so appreciated.

Widgets and plugins tend to confuse me a bit for wordpress, no matter how many times I read through the tutorials.

The design first would likely be the best place to begin. A firm layout as you said. Graphic design has to be one of my weak points so that is a big hurdle there. I like the idea of a 3-column page. With a title up top as well as a horizontal navication bar either just below the title bar or worked into it. That would be used to access various main areas of the site such as the blog, an about page, etc.

The left bar I was considering to use for navigation within the area. Such as archives in the blog area. Also thinking that for archives I would want earlist post listed first while on the ‘main’ blog page I would have most recent listed first. That way they could look at the archives and read top to bottom if going chronoligically and when just visiting the page they could see the most recent post right away.

The right bar might have a bunch of the tools such as the weather, yen conversion, location, etc.

Graphical design I want it to be clearly about Japan. Yet also professional but still interesting. Not flat or boring. But I also don’t want any graphics that would completely overshadow the material and the blog itself.

Still working on learning Japanese. Can understand what you said, but still working on the basics of the language. The writing system first, then grammar, then word meanings & kanji. Lot of fun there. At the moment I am in the US in Michigan. On the ‘Alternate’ list for the ‘JET Programme’. JET standing for Japanese Exchange & Teaching. Basically if called for it I go to Japan as an assistant english teacher for 1-3 years. Had a horrible interview but still made it as an alternate… meaning if someone drops or they need more then I am one of the people they might call up. The consulate in my area says I have a 50/50 chance of getting in since only a couple more need to drop. In any case I intend to apply again if I don’t get in this round, and if I fail then I will take a less prestigeous program or go over on my own steam. In any case would like a website to chronicle the experiences.

As far as whats done. Mostly just been writing around in a notebook trying to figure out design issues. Got a host service and url for the site and wordpress is configured with basic settings but thats about it.