This post is just for Wordpress users who have found this blog by following a link from a more, shall we say, technically themed blog, and have been surprised (and even dismayed) to find a WP hack in amongst a discussion about stuff like hand-knit socks and yarn. This is a knitting blog. That’s what I talk about, more or less. But sometimes other things creep in. Wordpress, for example. You can get the link to the hack here, without having to search through knitting stuff.

Although there is much to like about WP 2.5, the write panels suck. A great deal of scrolling up and down is required, disrupting the once smooth workflow. The width of the write area is limited, even on wide-screen monitors. The notification of pending posts and drafts has been removed. Usability is way, way down.

So I took matters into my own hands and fixed what I thought were the most egregious faults.

You can see a picture of the new panel here. If you are a self-hosted WP 2.5 user and would like to incorporate these changes, you can download them here. The files all go in /wp-admin/, except for global.css, which goes in /wp-admin/css/. Back up your files first. Use at your own risk. No implied warranty. Etc.

A ticket was opened in Trac requesting that this be made an enhancement in a future WP release. The ticket has been closed by TPTB as not being valid.

An idea has been posted in the WP Ideas Forum. Please go over and vote for it. This is the only way that we will get the developers to fix the write panel workflow. You will have to register in order to vote, but it’s easy and painless and you need not give away any personal information. Your email is used only to send your password.

Sorry, I can’t help you directly if you are on Wordpress.com. But you can still go over and vote for the idea. Whatever changes are in the next release will impact you as much as me.

Yes, I know that’s bad grammar, but we seem to be stuck with it culturally. Don’t you ever wonder who the person is who recorded that little sound bite for AOL, and why they couldn’t say you have mail? But I digress.

Sometimes (usually) I’ve got mail, and sometimes I don’t.

Last Friday my mail was moved from one server to another. Although I’ve been promised that no mail would ever, ever, ever be lost… well… I don’t have a lot of confidence since the last time such a move occurred mail was lost.

So, if you sent me any email last Friday or after and have not heard back from me, please resend. I would hate to think that anyone would feel ignored.

I also pulled the plug on something that I think was causing the blog to load slowly. Hopefully it will be peppier now.

The 20,000th visit to PI occurred this morning. Someone from right here in Portland popped in for an early-morning look-see.

I know… I’m easily amused.

It’s always amusing to see what googlizing brings visitors to PI. Usually they’re looking for vaguely fiberish writing combined with whatever, and hopefully they find it here. But sometimes I have no clue what they’re looking for.

Jack Bog and I share the top 10 on this search, for example.

I don’t think that either of us have exactly what this person was seeking. It’s hard to tell, though.

I’m the #1 Google hit for “Botox and constipation.”

I’m so proud!