Google, in their infinite statistically derived wisdom, shut down an obscure feature on Blogger called “FTP publishing”. For the past 5+ years, this is how I’ve been putting words up on Lostgarden.com.
It turns out that a pipsqueak 0.5%, a mere Seattle-sized city worth of users, were insisting on hosting their own files on disreputable non-Google servers. It was a grand deviant run, but compared to the scalable majority, we were tagged as a tad too exceptional.
That’s okay. Out with the old, in with the new. After a week of me half-heartedly poking the fiddly bits of my DNS entries, my brilliant and amazing friend Chard gently took over. In a few hours he expertly managed to get Lostgarden.com working on one of Google’s custom domains. Huzzah!
All the old posts are still around. All the old links should redirect transparently. If your RSS feed is broken, you may need to reset it by going to this link: Burn the Lostgarden Feed.
What’s new
As the rather emotional conversion process unfolded, I decided to make the plunge and swap out my template. It is primarily a visual change, but there are a few nice things that come along.
- Back and Previous links. In the old template, there was a big hairy drop down for browsing backwards in time. Now we are somewhat modern and can simply click to the previous page.
- What I’m reading: My shared items from Google Reader now appear in the left side bar. These are updated on a far more regular basis than the main blog and many of them contain overly long, snarky comments. Immense entertainment.
- My sexy mug: Yep. That’s what I look like. Surprised?
A small personal note
Sun has returned to Seattle, at least for few short blossoming months. After years of soul grinding illness, my wife has started feeling a little better. A small break in the clouds, if you will. As I stare out the window at a thousand shades of effervescent green, I am once again struck by the thought: This remains one of the most singularly amazing times to be creating games.
All the best,
Danc.
LOSTGARDEN 
Sexy mug looks fine to me! 🙂
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You have a red beard. :O You'd look sexier with a Viking hat!
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nice but sidebar irritates. luckily I use a feed reader anyway.one word: http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/
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A little change is good for us all. :)The new site looks excellent, Danc. Hope it treats you well!
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New site is fancy Mr. You look a bit more sexy then I figured but that's what makes us designers 😉
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Feed updated !
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Ug. I'm the same boat with my blog. Thanks google. :PIf I ever start actively blogging again, I'll probably switch over to Drupal or WordPress or something.
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I'm used to right hand side bars, but given that I read about 95% via rss it's not really a problem for me
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Very cool, I like the new look.
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Love the new look, much clearer! Awesome.
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My heart stopped at the \”goodbye lostgarden.com\” point. Don't do that to us, Danc, our hearts are weak.I adore the new design. 🙂
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I had the same issue so I am using WordPress now. I am looking forward to more Lost Garden updates.
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Cool design! 🙂 It's strange seeing the sidebar on the left side, but I'll get used to it.I like the way the tag gradient cloud thing looks there on the side. It's like the ocean. 🙂
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My heart stopped at the \”goodbye lostgarden.com\” point. Don't do that to us, Danc, our hearts are weak. THIS! THIS! THIS!I almost thought lost garden is shutting down or something ! D:
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we need a gameplay video of triple town.
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