Hey everybody, it’s Justin. This weekend I’ve been working to improve the website (I think they’re improvements, anyway). I’d been meaning to do this for awhile, but I had a few extra hours yesterday and today, so I sat down and got to work. If I had more skill with WordPress I’m sure it would look even better, but my coding skills are as far from l33t as you can get and still know what a keyboard and mouse are for. Anyway, let me tell you what I’ve done.
First, on the top bar I’ve added links labeled “The Dead Robots’ Book Store” and “Dead Robot Swag.” The book store is an Amazon site where we’ve listed all of the books, games, and DVDs that people we’ve interviewed have available. If you like someone we’ve talked to, like Tracy Hickman or Tobias Buckell, why not support them by purchasing one of their books? And, while you’re doing that, you’re also supporting us since we get a few pennies from the purchase. I’ve also put up some books and other items that I love and think you might like as well, so have a look. The swag store is where you can DRS t-shirts, mugs, buttons, and that sort of thing. I have a couple of shirts myself, and I think they look darn nice.
Now, off to the right you might notice a new “Donate” button. This is a PayPal button that you can use to donate to the show if you have a spare dollar or two floating around (or, tens and twenties, we don’t discriminate). I love this podcast, and it has allowed me to meet an extraordinary number of interesting people, but sadly it is NOT a paying venture. Just the opposite, in fact. So, not to sound too NPR here, if you listen to the show and think you get some value from it, we’d sure love it if you sent a buck or two our way to help pay for it. I doubt the show will ever become self-sufficient, but there’s always hope.
Below that you might notice that the number of shows listed in the RSS feed widget is shorter. I shrunk it to five to keep things easier. It was previously set to ten, and that just made it too long and unwieldy. Below that I’ve changed the Blogroll. It used to be a hodgepodge of links to various places, but now I’ve made it a “Friends Of The Show” list, which means that it’s strictly there to show links to people who have been on the show and/or helped us along the way. If you pay them a visit, please let them know we sent ya.
There is also an Amazon link at the bottom of the page, but I think I’ll be replacing it with a Google AdSense banner in the coming days since I think we’re in danger of Amazon overkill. I don’t want to load the site down with ads, but I have to do something in an effort to defray some of the cost of the podcast. Times are hard for everyone, especially struggling writers who host a free podcast.
Anyway, that’s it. If I knew more about WordPress, like I said, I’d do more, and perhaps in time I will, but for now this should help make the site more usable. I hope that some of you likes what I’ve done with it, and I hope a few of you are able to help out, either by buying a great book or by donation. Either way, and even if you can’t, thanks for coming, and I hope you continue to listen and enjoy.
Have a great day.
