Blog Update
I have finished updating the format of The Curt Jester
It had been over three years since I last updated the version of Movable Type which is the publishing system I use to maintain this blog. In the meantime since my last update Movable Type has gone open source and through many changes and real improvements.
I started fresh with the blog templates and did a lot of modifications to give me both a feel for my old layout and updating the style of it at the same time. I don't know how non-geeks update blog templates because it can be challenging for someone such as myself who makes his living coding. Though I certainly appreciate the power of Movable Types layout and I have really separated parts of the blog into separate widgets to make it much easier to maintain, such as my blogroll for example.
Since I had been using Movable Type for over five years there were aspects of it that were rather dated. For example the main feed use to be in the older RDF format. I know have Atom and RSS feeds that show the whole post, those with the older one will need to subscribe to the new ones. Another change is that the blog is now published dynamically instead of creating static web pages. After close to six years of blogging I was eating a lot of server space with various archives. My blog host was kind enough to up the limit each time I ran out of room, but it is better just to serve web pages dynamically. The links to blog posts have changed also. Before they were just a number like 9687.html. Now they use the post title in the url. So old links to individual posts no longer work. Annoying, but an needed change I should have done a long time ago.
One thing that is really annoying is those of you reading my blog through just a blog aggregator. I spent countless hours in the dungeons of CSS code programming only for you to view my blog in an aggregator with no formatting. But then again I read blogs through just an aggregator so hardly see the efforts of people when they have redesigned their blog, unless I go to their site to comment. In fact I have become an RSS bigot. If some internet blog or news site doesn't have a feed I pretty much never visit it again.
Anyway I hope you like the new format and if you are reading this via an aggregator, never mind.
Known as 
I read from an aggregator, but I always click through for the best posts (to read the comments) and I do like the new look. Very readable. Of course, I liked the old look too. :-)
I too read in an aggregator but clicked through to check out the redesign.
Nice job!
If a site has both an RSS feed and an Atom feed, which should I choose? Is there much difference?
The new layout looks good. Just a couple of nitpicks:
1) The Curt Jester icon at the top should link back to the home page. There's no obvious way to get from a post page back to home.
2) You should warn that email address is required. I lost my last post because I didn't type in an email. It just gave me a failure message and sent me back to the comment screen.
I share your "RSS bigotry," so at least you're not alone. The new format looks great, but I'll miss the infinite loop that existed in the old one, where the links would shrink when you mouse-over them, causing them to no longer be moused-over, so they'd get bigger again, causing them to be moused-over, so they'd shrink again... what can I say, I'm easily amused.
I subscribe on RSS but don't read through RSS exclusively. I will click to read more of a particularly interesting story in order to see comments or to pass the URL on to somebody. So take heart--we RSS readers are appreciating your nice new layout!
One thing that is really annoying is those of you reading my blog through just a blog aggregator.
Sorry. But I do usually click through at least once a day. Nice new look.
I read most feeds in an aggregator. Actually, in two aggregators: Liferea and Akregator, both of which are Linux feed aggregators.
Neither Curt Jester's Atom nor RSS feeds validate, which prevents Liferea grabbing the posts. Akregator seems to be more 'flexible' or less strict, since it does grab posts, despite the feeds not validating.
(For the feeds not validating, put them in Feed Validator's or in W3C's feed validator.)
Update: Liferea does grab the articles.
Love the new look. I have just recently started reading through an aggregater, Flock, but like a previous commenter I usually click through to see comments, and you usually have interesting images that don't come through on the aggregater so clicking through is a must. :)
I like the new layout; much easier to distinguish between the sidebars and the content!
"I'll miss the infinite loop that existed in the old one, where the links would shrink when you mouse-over them, causing them to no longer be moused-over, so they'd get bigger again, causing them to be moused-over, so they'd shrink again... what can I say, I'm easily amused."
I know exactly what you are talking about, and I personally will NOT miss that. That always annoyed me to no end! :)
I really do like the new format, and I am very glad to see the waving Pope Benedict again.
I like the new format.
I like it! It has a fresh new feel to it!
How to do nongeeks such as myself change our templates? One WYSIWYG at a time!!LOL
I'm so happy about the full RSS feed. Yours was the only blog in my reader without one. I bet this will bring more people to your site since all your posts are comment worthy.
Yay! .. Another aggregator reader here. I like the update as well. I'll admit I have followed your blog less since I was not reading entire posts but with this, I suspect I will be around more.
Pax,
William
Hooray! Full posts in RSS feeds. I read your blog through Google Reader and it's great not to have to click through to read your great posts.