Just an update that I’m back to work, so I will be slowly replying to all of your e-mails this week. Please be patient. Thank you!

Aloha! I’m on vacation until Labor Day, so I won’t be working on any blogs for a while. Thank you for understanding!

Just wanted to put these dates out there, in case anyone is looking for me.

August 1 thru 4:  accessible by e-mail, limited internet

August 20-27: accessible by e-mail, no internet (woohoo Hawaii!)

Feel free to e-mail me, I just don’t know how fast I’ll get back to you because I’ll be having too much fun. ;)  But wait, how can I get e-mail, but have no internet?  I have an iPhone now, which has both e-mail and internet, but there’s no way I’m going to work on designing blogs on it.

I know, I know, Wordpress 2.6 has been out for a couple weeks and you’re probably wondering if it’s worth it.  Well, if you’re like some people who have had their blog hacked into recently, then upgrading to this latest version is definitely a must.  Apparently the security patches are pretty extensive, as the developers are constantly trying to update the source code to deal with new hacking techniques.  I haven’t had a chance to test the new version fully yet, but so far so good.  I have still had to modify the source code in the wp-includes/media.php file to properly insert images at sizes larger than 500 pixels, but it’s a pretty easy fix.  If you’d like to read more on the features of the new version, you can read it here.

Along with the new version comes updated services.  If you turn to the Pricing and Sign-Up page, you’ll notice a few changes.  I’ve added the “Ground-Up” custom blog package to the list, which includes 3 months free support and customizations, as well as having added the Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plugin and a Statistics plugin to the basic installation package.  All packages will have these plugins included with your new blog now!  If you have a current blog and would like these plugins installed, they will be charged at the basic customizations price.

As the list of completed blogs grows (100+!!), I’ve needed to find help from an assistant, which I have in the way of Pam Biasotti.  Not only is she a very good friend, she’s got mad skills in the customer service department from her networking days.  If/when you sign up for one of the installed packages, she will be the first person to respond to your request.  Because of this additional help, I have changed my payment policy to include a $45 up front payment for her technical services in installing your blog.  The remainder will still be charged to you after customizations are complete.

All in all, I’m really excited about the changes and have really come to enjoy my “second” job since its fruition in the beginning of this year.  Stay tuned for some awesome featured custom blogs that I’ve been working on!

I just wanted to mention a few things that were on my mind before I forget. First of all, the waiting list for blogs at the moment is 7-10 business days, so if you are wanting something done right away, please be aware that I will not be able to provide a product for you that fast. I am a “one woman show” so to speak, and with the photography season in full swing, I’m getting busier and busier with proofing, etc… I’m working on getting an assistant and have made efforts to make my blog design workflow more efficient, with the implementation of the design-questionnaire. It puts all your design requirements all in one place so I don’t have to go fishing around in your e-mails for everything that you want me to do. Hopefully it helps!

Secondly, if any of you are having trouble inserting images into your post using Firefox, make sure to have your admin panel open in its own separate window, rather than a tab with other tabs open. So far I haven’t found a fix for this bug, but this work-around is nearly painless. I’ve only had one client complain of this issue happening in IE, and unfortunately I’ve had to recommend using the separate-window-in-Firefox method to her. I’ll keep you posted if I found out anything new.

Thirdly, someone has informed me of a plugin to automatically upgrade Wordpress (thanks Mohammad!) and if you’re interested in doing it yourself, just go here to download the plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-automatic-upgrade/
I have not tested this plugin yet, so do so at your own risk and please contact the developer if you have any problems. One issue that you may need me to resolve once you upgrade it yourself is the maximum image size issue. You can go ahead and fix it yourself as well by reading the documentation I mentioned in that post, but it would be a pretty quick fix for me to do it if you contact me.

LOL…I know…I just realized I title this “couple updates” but it’s actually 3.

So I decided to move my Blogs for Photogs service page from my photography business site to this new-and-improved site/blog!  My goals for this site is to update my offerings, including any important alerts from the Wordpress blogging world that will improve/fix your blog.  So please bare with me!