Freedom Countdown

T-Minus 317 Days

I had planned to start this blog with an elegant countdown date of 365.  But I was bumfuzzled by all of the choices in blogging software coupled with some preconceived notions about how I wanted the blog to look.  As usual, I knew enough to get me in trouble.  If I had been happy with a quick and dirty solution I could have had a blog up and running on Blogger or WordPress in a few minutes.

After buying a domain name and doing some research I decided to go with WordPress for no other reason than it appeared to have more 3 column templates and my web host made Word Press easy to work with.

I’ve intended to learn HTML for some time and have even started a few tutorials.  I know it’s relatively easy, I’m just not interested.   So in my browsing, I ran across a little $49.99 software package called Artisteer that allows you to easily create your own WordPress templates.  As you are designing your template, the changes are reflected immediately on your screen.  It has an interesting feature where you can opt for Artisteer to suggest an idea for whatever component that you are working on… colors/header/footer, etc.

The tool can also be used to create a simple company website.  That will come in handy if I ever get around to updating the store’s website.  One drawback will be having to pay another $25.00 or so for an upgrade in a year if I want whatever new functionality they come up with.

After I created my template, I had to re-remember how to upload files to my web host and how to login to my WordPress account.  But thank goodness, I had written all of that down in a binder where I keep all of the arcane instructions required to run the online portion of the business.