Well, today a new version of Rapidweaver was released. For those of you that don’t know, RapidWeaver is what I use to build my websites. It is the program that really got me to think long and hard about moving back to Macintosh. RapidWeaver makes creating a website, stupid easy. So does Apple’s iWeb, but the difference between them is that you can grow with RapidWeaver.

Anyway, today version 4.0 was released. While they haven’t added any major new features, they have rebuilt the entire interface and it’s gorgeous. It also seems easier to use. I really can’t pass final judgement as the Gold released was only today, but I was using the beta for the past few weeks.

In the past with each new version of RapidWeaver I have made some big to major changes on my website. The current version of the webside debuted a few weeks after 3.6; the last major upgrade. I believe that this current version of the site would be KellysWorld V3, or as software developers have begun to do --- KellysWorld ’06.

So, does this mean it is time for a KellysWorld ’08. Not sure. I have to say that when I do a new version I have a tendancy to update the site more for awhile; but eventually that comes to a hault. I’ve stopped storing photos on my website and have started using different sites in the past several months. Most recently posting my photos to my .Mac gallery. It’s the photos folks come to see anyway.

I don’t know. The fun is in the designing of the site, the graphics, layout and any new tools I can throw at the site. Of course after a month or two I go back to a minimilst approach as you see with KellysWorld in its current state.

Well, I’m sure wild horses couldn’t keep me from making at least some changes; and heck, why not. Change doesn’t always have to serve a high and powerful service, sometimes change can just be about trying on a new outfit; or a new layout.

Tags: KellysWorld, Rapidweaver, Mac OS

Putting photos on my site is not exactly the easiest thing in the world and since I want to store my favorites on-line anyway I might as well use existing tools. I've tried this in various forms over the past few years and I feel the best way to achieve this is to go back to using SmugMug again. The trick of using SmugMug with my website is getting it to "brand" the same or at least similar to my current website. Because of the tools I use to build my website branding SmugMug the same way has turned out to be a serious challenge.

I have gotten the menu on SmugMug to mimic the functionality of the menu on KellysWorld and maybe in time I will be able to get SmugMug to the point that the only difference between KellysWorld and SmugMug will be the URL. That could be a very large MAYBE.

Tags: KellysWorld

Looks like I have failed again in updating my blog. I'm not sure why it's so hard to load a program, write a few sentences and then upload a page or two; but it seems to be bloody difficult. I'm not making excuses. I'm not saying I'm going to stop blog posting all together. I'm just saying I'm pretty lousy at regular updates. I'm not the only one out there, but then there are many who are much better than myself as well.

It's not like I'm the quiet one either or that I am without opinions. I'm sure anyone that knows me would say, "Kelly, I'm sure you can think of something annoying to say about something; you always do when I'm around." I'm sure they would say it in the most loving of ways too. Right?

Well, I again will make a promise to try harder, work longer, think broader and lots of other "ers," to make this a better blog and website. The whole site needs regular updates to be honest. I've got to find a way to get photos on-line easier too so that grandmas and grandpas as well as far flung family can more easily see the events that make up the lives of the Wylie Spores.

Again, I PROMISE!

Tags: KellysWorld

You might have noticed on the Kellysworld.net home page there is now a small grey box that has some personal message from me. That message is provided by Twitter, an interesting mixture of instant messaging, blogging and SMS. As other's can explain this cool service better than I, please see below for the Twitter description as provided by one of my favorite web sites, Wikipedia:

"Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific. Twitter was founded in March 2006 by San Francisco start-up company Obvious Corp.

Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application. For SMS, currently three gateway numbers are available: short codes for the USA and Canada and a UK number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.

Due to Twitter's success, a large number of sites imitating its concept have sprung up around the world, offering country-specific services (e.g. frazr) or combining the micro-blogging facilities with other ideas, such as filesharing(e.g. Pownce). In May, 2007, one source counted as many as 111 such "Twitter-lookalikes" internationally." SEE THE REST OF THE TWITTER STORY...

Check Out My Twitter Page

Tags: Twitter, KellysWorld

If you happen to visit EternalMagic.net you might notice that the contact page and the gallery are missing. That's for two separate reasons.

The contact page was removed because I have begun getting a great deal of junk e-mail from that page. Apparently EternalMagic has been struck by the bane of the internet, web crawlers that use forms like my contact page to sell the wares and ideas of some moron hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. May they swim in the swill they create.

The other problem is an outgrowth of that problem, combined with the simple fact that I will have to resource the photos in my web authoring software. My software ties directly into iPhoto, but I don't use iPhoto anymore; a change that took place only in the past few months. On KellysWorld I've been working on moving my photos into a more archival friendly and web friendly format.

While the contact form probably won't return, the galleries will. I have no plan to remove the website anytime soon; although I don't see any updates to it of any major degree. It's a part of our wedding, a part of our history.

Tags: Wedding, KellysWorld

Okay,

I have heard through the grapevine that some of our regular visitors (we have regular visitors????) have complained that the photos Tracy and I keep telling people are on KellysWorld are not easily accessible. For all of you, please know that I have learned the error of my ways. I have made finding the photos of 427 Da Vinci Lane so easy, Gracy (that's my dog) could do it.

Wait, you wonder how easy is it? What have I changed? Well, if you are reading this article shortly after publication then all you need to do is look directly to the left of this text (and a little up) and you should see a simple link that will take you directly to the photos.

But wait, there's more! For those that need it really, really easy, I MEAN REALLY EASY.

CLICK HERE
(If you are currently looking for the "HERE" button, please turn off your computer and throw it away.)

Here at KellysWorld we strive to offer our visitors the very best in customer service and satisfaction. After all, you, our readers pay the bills.

Wait, no you don't..... Okay, so why am I making this easy?!?

Oh yeah, my wife threatened to raise my voice two octaves if I didn't. See honey, I do as you ask me.

Tags: KellysWorld, Photos

If you check out the Gallery you will find that I have added a new video. I created this video last weekend for Carlos Jr. first birthday party. The video is a three part photo montage of Carlo's first year of life. It wasn't too difficult to create, especially using the tools on my Mac; in fact it was a lot of fun. I started working on it the night before and had the DVD burned before we left 12:30 the next day. It really is way to easy to do this, all you need is an idea and the willingness to put in a little time.

So, check out my lastest video masterpiece and let me know what you think. As a side note, when you click on the video it may not start right away; the video downloads first. After a little waiting click on the video and it should start. If not, wait a little longer. You can also right click on the link and download the video to your computer.

I've also included an actual video I did last year on the video page, and will include some other videos I've created over the past year or so. All but one are actually photo slideshows set to various types of music.

Go HERE to find the videos.

Tags: Video, KellysWorld

If you check out the About section of the website, you will see that on the 3rd change I added an update to reflect a few of the changes that have taken place over the past few days. Nothing major, but worth noting.

Tags: KellysWorld

Recently the software I used for KellysWorld was updated, bringing new features and abilities. The changes are really on the back-end, but they do allow for eaiser customization and building of the site. One of the downsides of the updated software is that my previous set-up wasn't working as well as I would have liked. Even after getting most everything working, I still wasn't thrilled with the results. The final option was to do a slight redesign of the site, making use of some of the new back-end features. That change precipitated a change in header graphic, the one I had originally used I couldn't find; at least not the original photoshop document.

You won't see anything incredibly different as you tour the site, just a change in color scheme and the blog has some changes. You will notice that not only are their categories, but also tags. Basically, two different ways for me to index the blog, and allow the reader to find what they might be looking to see.

So while we have a new look, it is still the old look. Tell me what you think.

Tags: KellysWorld

You have undoubtedly noticed that KellysWorld has an unfamiliar look. You haven't landed at the wrong site, I've just been working on several issues related to a recent upgrade I made to my web authoring software. The theme that I have used for well over a year doesn't seem to play all too friendly with the updates software. So in the mean time I am using this theme which does seem to work, well, mostly work anyway. Click Here to Read More...

Tags: KellysWorld

If you visit the Photo Gallery you might notice a slight organizational change. Nothing big, but trying to create a structure that might be more scalable than what I was using before. I've also increased the size of the photos in the flash slideshow. No need for all that white empty space right!?!

Tags: KellysWorld, Photos

If you check out the section "File Share" on KellysWorld you will find some interesting, maybe in useful documents. The list is currently short, but I will add to it in time as I find documents that I think others may find useful or simply interesting. I've started the collection with a spreadsheet I created for helping in my search for a new home back in 2002, along with some government and political documents. Included with these are the United States Constitution as well as the Declaration of Independence. With both documents the US Archives have made the original documents available for download as either PDFs or JPEGs. These digital versions were made from high resolutions scans taken of the documents. I've included readable transcripts as well the scanned versions. You will notice that the scanned versions are showing serious signs of age; but then how well will you look in 200+ years? The document to the right is a digital scan of the Declaration of Independence.

If you know of a document that I should add to the site, please let me know. You can check out "File Share" HERE.

Tags: KellysWorld

Some of you may have noticed that last year i added a link to the family DVD collection (a feature that existed early on in KellysWorld history but that was removed in 2005), as well as books and video games. I hadn't updated the list in some time and now I don't think the video game collection is relevant with so many of them counting their age in years. The book collection isn't very up-to-date either, just haven't added them into the database we use. So the new list includes a complete list of all 277 of our DVD's, but does not at this time include video games or books. I have yet to determine if I will add them at a later date or not.
Click Here to Read More...

Tags: KellysWorld, DVD

The other day I posted that finally CoffeeTalk, Tracy's personal blog, had returned. Tracy has started making some entries, so you should check it out. In her latest entries she talks about the dinner party that Courtney had last weekend as well as her return to the world of blogging. I have no doubt that these are just the first of many entries to come.

Welcome back Tracy!



I've made it real easy to get there. Just look to the right and you will see CoffeeTalk in the main menu; or just click on the image above!

Tags: KellysWorld, Tracy

If you have been reading this site for a long time, you might remember that Tracy had her own blog for a while. When I made the move to my Mac I switched to a client side based web authoring program and lost the ability to easily control where her blog (or journal) appeared. Recently an add-on to RapidWeaver was released into Beta and this add-on gives me the ability to sync her Blogger Blog to my website. What does this mean? Well it means she can independatly update her blog using Blogger and then just tell me she has done so and i can quickly sync it over to my main site. Her Blog is now tied into KellysWorld keeping the same look and feel as the rest of the site.

You can check it out now by clicking on CoffeeTalk to the right of this entry in the main menu, or simply go to her page directly at http://www.kellysworld.net/coffeetalk.

Tags: KellysWorld, Tracy

Yes, it probably looks like I've been gone forever; but I haven't. I've just been absent. Since returning from our honeymoon I've been busy with the life of being married. Not that a lot hasn't happened; there has been Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Year's. All of which were fun filled and interesting. This Christmas I enjoyed doing the "family rounds" as I call them. First down to Houston to spend the days before Christmas with Javier, then over to The Colony to spend Christmas Eve with Tracy's parents. Christmas morning we headed off to the traditional Christmas morning with Jim, Sharon and clan. Finally, we had Jim, Sharon and Tim over to our house for Christmas dinner. So, yes, very active. Just not writing much. But then, that is an ongoing problem.

I pledge to try and do better. I really do... No Really, I DO!

Tags: KellysWorld, Wedding

I've added more photos under the Family Archives section of the site. For now I am just pulling all photos of Mom, Dad and Brion; my eventual plan is to limit these photos to the more distant past. I'm still going through and dating photographs and creating various albums in iPhoto. I will add more photos hopefully over the next several days. Trying to get a bit more work done on this site and EternalMagic. You should be able to view the photos just fine regardless of the system you are using. The photos will show-up in a Flash slide show that should play in most browers, including Dad's.

Tags: KellysWorld, Photos

I've added a new feature to the site, it is a beta test for the site and I don't know if I will keep it or not. It adds a calendar that ties directly into iCal on my Mac. Basically, it makes my personal calendar available for view by family and friends. It's limited in the fact that it doesn't combine the various calendars of iCal together, you have to publish each one separately. That is by design of iCal. A different concept, but one that typically works very well. One very cool feature is that it does allow for someone to subscribe to the calendar if they have access to either iCal or a calendar program that works with iCal. Can't say if I will keep it or not, but will try it out.

Tags: KellysWorld

Tonight I finished my first video in a long, long time Baby Carlos. It isn't a long one, less than 4 minutes, but I believe I have done a fair job. I made use of iMovie and Garageband to make the video. While it was relatively easy, it still took an awfully long time to put it all together. I hope to do many more of these family videos in the coming weeks and months; and do plan on creating a video of the my upcoming wedding. Not sure how well that will work out as we are short on someone to take the video and editing whatever video we do get; will take a very long time. Click Here to Read More...

Tags: Grandkids, Video, Carlos Jr., Baby, Photos, KellysWorld

I would suggest not bookmarking any of the photo pages on my site, at least not for the time being. The file structure is not what I prefer at the moment, so it the coming days I will change it. I wanted to get the site up and live, but the photos were added at the last minute. While they all work fine, the file structure needs work. Nothing major, but I wanted to warn those that might be inclined to bookmark individual albums. In any event, it is best to just go to the main page and then work your way to the album of your choice. I seldom keep things very stable and love to move things around. I get that from my mother.

Tags: KellysWorld, Photos

Today was a huge day for myself and my family. Today my grandson (well, as soon as I say "I do") was born. Yes, yes, I am a grandfather. Hard to believe isn't it? It's such a big day, that I thought it was the perfect opportunity to launch the latest version of my website. You will find that it has again gone through a major overhaul and this time around is a little more ambitious and I think much better looking.
Click Here to Read More...

Tags: KellysWorld, Rapidweaver

Check out the Eternal Magic Journal, it has actually been updated. Okay, so it is just one post, but one post is better than none... right? The entry is all about our wedding rings and some of the current plans for the wedding, now less than 11 months away.

ETERNAL MAGIC JOURNAL

Tags: KellysWorld, Wedding, Re-Design

If you look at the Family Archive section you will now find several sections based on individuals to make finding the photos you are wanting to see easier. I have many, many, many more photos to scan and upload so we haven't even begun to see what there is to offer. I still have a whole box of photos to actual look at and sort through and more than half a box of photos I have already sorted through but haven't yet scanned. This is by no means a small project, but it is a really fascinating one.

If you have any old family photos you think should be added to the collection, please forward to me of if you can scan them please do. Contact me and I can instruct you as to the resolution and size.

Tags: KellysWorld, Photos

With the new year I have given KellysWorld a new look. Some of you had said the old look was too dark. I personally like that black look, but decided I would give some different looks a try. Not hard to make those changes, so why not!

Check out KellysWorld.net and let me know what you think. I think in the next few weeks I will put up screen shots or test pages with different looks to see what everyone likes.

Tags: KellysWorld, Re-Design

I now have video working on the site, not that I have any content to show. The two videos I have are just samples to prove to myself that it would work. In the next few weeks I hope to add a few short videos of my own, possibly from Christmas. Maybe a few photo slideshows with music. Keeping coming back, who knows what will happen next.

Oh, I added a new entry to my personal blog over at KellysWorld Times. No rest for me.

Tags: KellysWorld, Video, Photos

If you haven't visited KellysWorld.net recently, you may not have noticed that it has a whole new look and feel. I call is KellysWorld 3.0; as this is the 3rd major revision to the site. What you are reading now, KellysWorld Times, is a sub-domain of KellysWorld and not actually the primary site. The actual domain of KellysWorld was pretty much stagnate for much of 2005. It was just unwieldy to work on and not much fun. I had more fun working on KellysWorld times and wrapping my brain around CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) in Blogger, the tool I use to make edits and changes to KellysWorld Times. I enjoyed working in it so much I created a few other "blogs" for the family plus one for our upcoming marriage. Those sites though aren't KellysWorld and as someone who enjoys doing a little web editing and playing with new features and tools, I really need to have a fully functional website.

You won't find any fancy features and while the look is new and much improved over the old site, it isn't anything super special. I won't lie to you, it is a template. You may actually see other sites on the web sporting a similar look. Who knows, they may make better use of it.

You will find in KellysWorld the standard fair. There are links to the various family blogs, there is a gallery of photos, a place to send me a quick e-mail, a place to store useful files and even upload some you feel are useful and even a page dedicated to just telling you what's new with the site itself. The gallery is especially cool making use of Flash technology so that all you have to do is sit back and watch the slide show. Having videos on the site should be great in the near future once I have produced a few.

All-in-all it should be a much better site and I hope updated more often than before. For the most updates you can continue to come here, so feel free to bookmark KellysWorld Times; but to say you have actually been to KellysWorld, you will have to go to http://www.kellysworld.net. It's really not that hard... go ahead... you know you want to!

Tags: KellysWorld, Photos, Re-Design

I'm finally done with the basics of rebuilding KellysWorld. I finished adding back what was missing, the Christmas lists and added in some more photos. I still have some more albums to add and spruce up the text some, but the basics are complete. Not really saying much it is a pretty small site. Of course the next step is the recreation of Eternal Magic, if I indeed decide to recreate that site. A lot of work went into it, but since I am using a different HTML editor, not sure how I will proceed. I can continue to use the HTML editor I did to originally create it, but that would be a bit of a serious pain since I will have to keep updating it from time to time for a full year. I will have to think on that.

Tags: KellysWorld, Photos, Re-Design

Okay, I have made some more minor changes to the site. I discovered that the photo slide show was too big for Internet Explorer on Windows and therefore made the images smaller. That seems to have done the trick and it now appears as it should on IE. I also played around with many various color and style variations and like the black one, I believe the theme or "skin" is called Magnesium. So far, So good. All seems to be looking up.

Still need to add the actual Christmas lists as well as a few more galleries. COMING SOON...

Tags: KellysWorld, Re-Design

Today I debuted the New And Improved KellysWorld. It is my hope that this new site will be easier to use, nicer to look at and simpler for me to keep up-to-date while allowing me to include the kind of features expected in a website these days. That isn't to say this site is a marvel of HTML coding, far from it. Simply put, as are the skills, so go the site. I will play around with the look and feel of the site, but I do believe I will finally be able to make occasional updates without going nuts.

A few items may have been lost with the debut of this new site, but I will identify those items and add them. The only thing I can think of that I had in my 2.0 site that I don't have now were the Christmas lists for 2005. I just need to add those back in. I also have noticed that some images that were on some of the blogs are now missing and I will need to fix those problems. All-in-all it should be easy to fix.

Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think. I will be looking at what other features I can offer and possibly expand what I am doing here. The meat of the site will most likely remain the "blogs" or the personal journals of Tracy, Courtney and myself; but the site proper will include photo galleries and other less transitory items.

Enjoy the new and improved site... KellysWorld 3.0.

Tags: KellysWorld, Re-Design