A Peace Sign

...works better for me than an asterisk.

My blog's template is based upon 565, which I liked better than all the other freebies offered by Blogger. However, the number "565" was strewn all over the template. To everyone except the designer, "565" has no meaning, symbolic or otherwise, except as the number that arrives after 564 and before 566. Also, in the upper left corner, there was an equally random asterisk.

I spent my Sunday afternoon eliminating those annoyances and redesigning the template to be in accord with my design values. "565" is history. The asterisk was replaced by a peace sign. I also reorganized the topics with the goal of simplicity and conciseness. Some topics have been folded into broader topics. "Computers," for instance, encompasses internet browsers, windows, and troubleshooting computer hardware. I also reworded the blog description, which used to be a mouthful: "Everything you ever wanted to know about life, technology and the world around you (but were afraid to ask)," which was borrowed from the 1969 book, "Everything you ever wanted to know about Sex (but were afraid to ask)." "Everything..." was meant as a joke. My new description, "A little bit of this, that and the other," is more concise and better reflects the blog's nature, although it could fit most blogs. For this blog, a description is unnecessary, because the topic list serves as an adequate description all by itself. I may get rid of the description altogether next time I do housecleaning.

Modifying templates is not for the faint of heart. I feel comfortable with HTML, but was unacquainted with Blogger's template language. XML? I have no idea. Trial-and-error was my teacher. Once I got immersed, things became easier, particularly with the assistance of Color Cop and ACDSee. I've tested the blog on the Chrome and Firefox browser, but don't have IE, so I won't bother with that for the time being.