Cobber 2.0
Posted by Michael Blaha, April 1st , 2006.
Major Web site Overhaul
I’ve been working behind the scenes to create a new I Love Cob! web site. There are quite a few changes around here! I’ve created a new “Cobber” theme; added the URI I Love Adobe! ( iloveadobe.com ); new link management via del.icio.us; new vlog or podcast feed, which might evolve - we’ll see; new feed management via feedburner; a new video hosting account on archive.org and more…
Cobber 2 Design
I’ve been wanting to create a new design for I love cob for a while. As a web designer I have a propensity for tweaking the look and feel of the site perpetually. I decided shortly after implementing cobber 1.0 theme that I would like to redesign the entire site from the ground up. One that would promote minor tweaks as time goes by. So that’s what I have done with the new Cobber 2 design. I hope the framework will be flexible enough to satisfy the design fiddler in me as well as make the information here more accessible.
WordPress
Without WordPress (WP) I would not be able to focus on content. WP is a ‘personal publishing platform’, blogging software and might even be called a CMS ( Content Management System ). WP takes all the pain out of organizing, maintaining, and contributing to the site. The content it-self is removed from the design / theme making it really easy to change the look without a lengthy rebuilding processes. Cheer’s to the open-source web development teams at WP! Thanks so much!!
Podcast?
Over time I’ve been collecting a small library of videos related to natural building and cob. I believe it is important to share this information. I have learned so much from natural builders on the web. I would like to continue to promote natural building, renewable energy and green resources. I would also like to invite anyone with video files to contact me if they would like to contribute to the I Love Cob! Podcast.
Media hosting provided by Our Media & The Internet Archive. 
The new podcast will likely create a fare amount of bandwidth traffic. This can be expensive if you are paying extra for bandwidth. I did a little research into free media hosting and found a new movement called Our Media. They have teamed up with The Internet Archive to provide ‘free hosting - forever’. I plan to host or at least mirror the large media files on archive.org.
Feeds
I recently started using Feedburner to manage my feeds. It offers an easier way for feed newbies to subscribe. It’s usefull for me too. I can monitor subscriptions. There are two new feeds; one for I Love Cob! and one for the Podcast.
Links & Bookmarks
Del.icio.us is a web-based social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily post sites you like to your collection, organize and categorize those sites with keywords ( tags ), and share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others too. Within del.icio.us you can see who has linked to similar topics and find more resources. This method of bookmarking is flexible and can even be fun. I am aggregating the del.icio.us/ilovecob feed into this site.
Photo Gallery
I can’t forget Gallery. I’ve upgraded it from Gallery 1.5 to Gallery 2.1 ( Black Jack ). This is a very stable version of the free open-source software. Gallery has been around for a while. It is one of the best options if you would like ‘your photos on your website’.
Misc…
I am also trying out the TagCloud service…
