A Spring Clean for this Blog

Those paying attention may notice a few changes to Herbary… there are, and they are quite big. Let me explain what’s been going on, and what it means!

I started Herbary 3 years or so ago now when I was finishing my degree and wanted to just dump a stream of consciousness somewhere. A bit like journalling, but with the added advantage of letting others see what I was on about and maybe giving them some context for their own journies. Since then, blogging has become two additional things to me: a way of logging where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing, and a sort of addiction.

When I first put the site online, I used a CMS (content management system) called getsimple. As the name implied, it was very simple and basic. I unzipped it somewhere in a corner of my webserver and started spouting. But getsimple became too limited when I wanted to do more with the blog – as a CMS, it was ideal, and so light on resources. But things like nicely-formed RSS feeds, and a reasonable comment system (I had been using facebook’s comment plugin and Disqus – but having two comment boxes was confusing) meant that I pretty soon outgrew getsimple. I did freshen up the site about Christmas time, making it ‘responsive’ and thus suitable for reading on moblies. But it still wasn’t enough.

So, I have migrated over to wordpress. This means that managing the site is a lot easier, it has a nice RSS feed for those who like to use feed readers to stay up to date with my blogging. You can also subscriber to recieve email notifications when I post (top of the menu on the right). And if you have something to say, you can comment on my posts a lot more easily – either posting as a guest, or logging into the site with your Facebook or WordPress account.

I can also post to the blog from my mobile, so you may see me posting when I’m ‘on the road’ and out and about at events.

Hopefully the re-jig of Herbary will set it in a good stead for many years to come! If you have any comments or suggestions, drop ’em in the box below.