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So I have a new blog theme

If you have been visiting The Digital Reader over the past week you may have noticed that this blog has been offline a lot. 

I have been suffering from a still unidentified bug in either my WordPress install or the server it runs on, or possibly somewhere the two intersect. After trying the basic first steps (turning off all the plugins to trouble shoot), and the more advanced diagnostic steps (stripping out as much content loaded from offsite as possible), I still don’t know what is causing the issue. Media Temple’s tech support is similarly baffled.

With all possible causes eliminated, I am going back through them again, only this time I am also replacing my blog theme.  And so I have switched out the theme I have been using for the past several years with a basic free theme from WP, and I’m currently using it with as few plugins as possible. If the problem continues then I know for sure that the problem is the hosting company, and not me.

P.S. On the plus side, one side effect of this debacle is that my site will be about twice as fast as it was a couple weeks ago, and each page will be about a third of the size. That’s how much detritus I have cleaned out from the blog.

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Comments


Syn July 7, 2014 um 8:51 am

I like the new look. Looks cleaner.

Nate Hoffelder July 7, 2014 um 8:56 am

It is cleaner, yes, and I think it nicely balances the personal vs professional nature of this blog.

Given how much work I put into the Last one I am rather attached to it, but now that I have forced myself to switch i don’t think I will be going back.


Paul July 7, 2014 um 10:39 am

You haven’t installed any new plugins recently? As that might be the cause.

And you’ve probably already checked everything listed here.
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-internal-server-error-in-wordpress/

Nate Hoffelder July 7, 2014 um 10:45 am

I’m now down to Yoast and Akismet. I have no other plug ins. And yes, I did most of what is mentioned there in the past couple months.


Juli Monroe July 7, 2014 um 11:19 am

I like the new look, although I almost didn’t recognize it as yours when I clicked through from a Tweet this morning.

Nate Hoffelder July 7, 2014 um 11:36 am

It is different, yes.


Glinda Harrison July 7, 2014 um 11:40 am

A very nice look! Love the new header! 🙂


ucfgrad93 July 7, 2014 um 11:42 am

I also like the new look. I’m glad you’re back up and running.


Name (required) July 7, 2014 um 12:45 pm

The problem persists. This very page failed to load on the first try. Obviously, it managed to load eventualy.

The theme is OK. I would prefer it to have a bit smaller fonts for thread headers. If I zoom the page to the level I can comfortably read the base text, the headings are a lit too large. But it is no big deal. I will not curse, moan and gripe like I did for Slashdot Beta or the recent BoingBoing drastic redesign 😉

Nate Hoffelder July 7, 2014 um 12:48 pm

The beta Slahsdot was defeated, wasn’t it? I hated it.

Name (required) July 7, 2014 um 2:25 pm

I do not know how the /. beta ended. I seem to have checked some option in my profile that gives me good 'ole /.

By the way, when I came to this article again, the server gave me the 503 message:
———————————-
Service Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.
Apache Server at the-digital-reader.com Port 80
———————————-
It took several reloads to get the page


Rebecca Allen July 7, 2014 um 3:17 pm

I had to reload once for this to load. I, too, like the stripped down look.


fjtorres July 7, 2014 um 3:42 pm

The look is clean but thread tracking is harder.
Needs bigger indents.

Nate Hoffelder July 7, 2014 um 8:54 pm

Fixed it.

fjtorres July 8, 2014 um 6:17 am

Yup.
Better now.


Elaine July 8, 2014 um 7:22 am

Wow ! Love the new theme 🙂


Walter Giulietti July 9, 2014 um 2:11 am

Much more clear than the old one.
I’m really enjoying the new look and feel.
Nice change!


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