The Optimized CAP

The Optimized CAP

I’ve been plotting on THE CAPRANICA. I have a host of ideas and issues I would like to blog about, but have wanted to give the blog a bit of a lift before wading into them. So, last weekend and this I’ve been tweaking (prolly will keep the tweaking up for a few more weekends). The two new items are a new comment thread plugin and a plugin that optimizes THE CAP for the iPhone (or iPod Touch). Intense Debate is the commenting plugin that will allow you to respond to an individual’s comment in a thread rather than merely posting it at the end of the list. Now, the lists of comments are rarely ever very long at THE CAPRANICA, but, we hope to spark some discussion in the days to come, and Intense Debate will prove a good addition (I loved hearing and seeing it over at Michael Hyatt’s blog). Anyhoo, this will allow you the option to feed the comments through various services, and even Tweet (through Twitter) your comments. Looks fun. Also, I installed a plugin, WPtouch, that will optimize THE CAPRANICA for the iPhone. Yes, I have yet to blog about it, but I did switch to the iPhone from the Blackberry this past summer. No comparison (that’s another blog post). Anyhoo, if you do navigate to THE CAP through your iPhone but want to view it in its original format (which the iPhone does superbly), it allows that option also. All of this in anticipation of ramping up the activity around here. I’m looking forward to...
Transformed

Transformed

Well, no sooner had I made a post about sticking with the same ‘ole theme (which I still really like), I just happened across one that really caught my eye. Yes, perhaps a waste of some time, but, I’ve neglected the blog for some time and have really wanted a major change. This one is major ““ and is another major reason why I really love WordPress. THE CAPRANICA is transformed ““ not merely tweaked. It allows me to mark a number of articles as “features” and highlight them in a big way at the top. I love the format and have more options than ever to tweak it. There are three different layouts I could choose from ““ I picked one that gives more of a web-site feel than merely a blog look. Now, as for that new and improved content. . . . It should well be on its...
Tweaking

Tweaking

As Kelly and Brie were under the weather yesterday, I took some time (more than a human should) to scour the World Wide Web for a new blog design. There are tons out there, but to be honest, I really didn’t find any that were free, easily customizable, and better-looking (IMHO) than the one I have. I was a bit disappointed. While the guys at Glued Ideas no longer seem to do much for the Subtle theme, It is still one of my favorites. It’s free, simple, professional, clean, easily customizable and personable. Above all that, my wife likes it best and has threatened me if I changed it much. How intimate that all sounds ““ especially for a blog that is really rarely updated, especially with much meaningful content. So, I’ve decided to stick with Subtle. I did change from the “Subvert” (darkish) feel to the default, brighter feel ““ just for a change of pace. But really, now, who cares? In the next few days, I’ll be updating my blogroll as well as a few other overdue updates. I did add a new feature: “GReader-Cap.” Ever since I happily converted to Google Reader as my feed reader, and since I use the beautiful iPhone web-app for Google Reader, I find myself sharing a number of articles from my reading via Google Reader. It is actually easier to share an article from GReader than to go in and put up a “Short Cap” post of it. So, watch the GReader section to see the articles across the web I’m following and think are interested, but don’t really want...

RSS and An Ordinary Pastor?

Abraham Piper, over at the Desiring God blog, recently put up a post for those who are unfamiliar with the beauty and grandeur of RSS. I’ve been an RSS fanatic for a few years now. But what is RSS, how could it be helpful (or harmful) and more fundamentally, should a truly ordinary pastor bother with blogs or the technology associated with RSS? If you follow more than 2 blogs and are not using an RSS reader, you are wasting more time than you should as you waste time reading blogs. While I do have a Google-Reader account, I rarely use it. Instead, I’ve been a FeedReader user almost since I began reading blogs. If you don’t know what RSS is or how to get it set up, check out Abraham Piper’s step-by-step approach to Google Reader (link at the end of the post). Also see Tim Ferriss’ interview with Robert Scoble and see how he keeps up with over 600 RSS feeds a day. Google Reader seems to be an exceptionally popular means for feeding RSS. It is very simple and once you’ve eaten the Google fruit you tend to want to immerse yourself in all things Google. Here are a few benefits: It Won’t Slow You Down. The up-side of Google Reader is that it is not an additional software application running on your computer, so it won’t slow your system down regardless of how many feeds you follow. Go Mobile. Where I do use Google Reader is in connection with my Blackberry. I imported my OPML file into Google reader and using Viigo on my phone,...