A message from the cartoonist: don’t take anything you might have seen here today very seriously. Or the next few days, for that matter. Think of me as a student driver. I’m just learning to push buttons and stay on the road in preparation for the day I can actually go somewhere worthwhile without doing any serious damage.
After a shaky beginning to the Web-site update, it’s been a good 48 hours around here. For one thing, the primary objective has been achieved. This site was being assembled using a very old version of WordPress, and I was told by the good folks at Earthlink that I’d have to upgrade my WordPress software by the end of the year or risk having the site crash. That’s been done. However, the old site’s code didn’t work at all after the update, so I’ve had to adapt another WP “theme” and re-educate myself in its customization and operation. That’s the phase I am in now, and I’ve made some progress. You will notice, though, the new site is looking much like the old. That won’t last much longer. While the iron is hot, I’m going to forge ahead and introduce an entirely revamped Web site. That’s the next phase and the hardest, because it will require me to actually be creative, i.e. draw and write. I won’t go into that further, because I really don’t yet know what the result will be myself. (This is a good time for your suggestions!) I do think it is certain the red sports car logo will be history. All good things must come to an end.
31 responses to “So far, so good…”
It seems to bet more stable but he strips are quite a bit smaller now. Oops. I see. They’re the original size, just “shrunk” on the WP page. Never mind.
Thanks for your comment, John. I will be looking at things of this nature, bur for now it is all very much a work in progress. Don’t panic. I do enough of that for both of us.
I always thought the red sports car image was good art, but just didn’t represent the “real” Arlo and Janis. Just my HO.
True, but what is “real”? It was like a facebook profile image that presents the person(s) we see ourselves to be, or wish ourselves to be, or maybe even have been at wide-spaced intervals or never-repeated moments, rather than the couch potatoes we “really” are!
“And the the award for ‘The First Avatar’ goes to…”
I leave orbit for sixteen months and return to an entire new look. With a little spit polish this site will sparkle.????
Still no emoji support. 🙁
If you mean personal ‘avatars’ to customize comments, I understand they can only be uploaded to WP from something called ‘Gravatar.’ I will look into it when I have a chance, but if someone knows about this already or wants to do the leg work right NOW, it would be appreciated.
A little looking around finds their website, https://en.gravatar.com/. It’s nice, because once you’ve uploaded an avatar, it’s available everywhere that uses it. I did it several years ago, for various tech support forums and comic sites, and now, it’s available here. Great!
Knowing you are a former journalist who is good at visual arts, and this being a work in progress, I don’t imagine you leave the dead, gray space of the alleys. Along with that, the font, the spacing, the comic all just seem to small as in older eyes need bigger font. Thanks for you efforts.
If you are using Chrome, click on the three dots at the far right. You’ll get an option that lets you enlarge the whole page. I am very nearsighted and use that feature all the time to read sites that have small fonts.
yay Jimmy!!!!
As long as you can communicate with us and we can communicate with each other rather easily, I am good. I have enjoyed your “Outside the comic strip box” comments as A&J has captured my real life so well. I have considered you a friend just from A&J, but reading your comments on the blog it kind of improves the friendship.
Looking spiffy, Symply cruisin’ into the Fargone future….can’t wait for new artwork!
There was, briefly, this morning a really nice home page display that had recent posts and recent comments on the left of the page, with a calendar and archives list on the right. I blundered into it by clicking on the highest number of the 1,2,3… [number] that were shown below the day’s comic (also briefly). All it needed was your art on the top rather than the stock image (a vase of something?) .
Yes, that was a promising theme. I liked it, too, but it seemed to be very buggy. I couldn’t get it to do anything I wanted. I may give it another look later.
Today this site does not remember who I am.
Yesterday it did.
On the other hand it did not need my e-mail address
Still no edit though 🙂
I’m amazed at what you’re accomplishing so far, JJ. As Alan Jackson sings:
You get tired and disgusted with me
When I can’t be just what you want me to be
I still love you and I try real hard
I swear one day you’ll have a brand new car
I even asked the Lord to try to help me
He looked down from Heaven
And said to tell you, “Please, just be patient
I’m a work in progress.”
Don’t hold your breath on the car, Trucker.
Like Ghost, I also have the t-shirt.
My only concerns are:
1. The grouping of texts into conversations which make it harder for those of us who prefer the strictly chronological approach so we don’t miss anything.
2. The continued lack of an EDIT button. I keep hoping for one.
I’m of 2 minds about Anonymous’s #1. It’s less confusing to see it grouped by posts and replies, and I don’t have to scroll up and down so much. But frequently I come back to a discussion and like to find where I last read to continue reading the posts. Some discussions are so interesting or just so much fun that I don’t want to miss anything! I suppose it’s asking too much to have a toggle button to choose whichever we want at the time? Figured as much, so I guess I prefer the chronological listing.
No more red sports car on the blog? That’s OK…”Got the t-shirt”.
I’ve always thought of A & J as a couple of parrotheads living in the suburbs. I always laugh at Arlo’s flights of fancy as he’s on a boat somewhere tropical until Janis says something to snap him out of it. Odd that Ludwig never seems to appear in his imaginary scenes. I guess he’s not much of a boat cat though.
They never took him to the beach, either. But wait, what could go wrong with a cat on acres of sand?
The random comic at the top of the “home” page is an interesting surprise feature…
I remember “Y2K”…and nothing happened.
Yes! Exactly. Nothing happened because we made such a fuss about it and spent the time and money needed to fix everything in advance, instead of getting caught by surprise.
Today’s new comic revisits one of the classic A&J moments. I really like the new spin on “Christmas stockings”!
Testing… to see if I’m still Anonymous.