Sunday 12 September 2010

Tweaking BNOTP! Welcome to the 87th Metamorphosis Monday!


Please Read: I have a poll running on the sidebar asking how long it takes for this blog to load on your computer. Please vote regardless of whether it loads quickly or slowly.

I am going to be removing the music from the bottom of the blog to help speed the loading process for those who may not have a really fast connection. It doesn't play automatically...it's just there for folks who have wanted to play it.

If you have enjoyed the music, please go to Playlist.com and you'll be able to create your own playlist there. I'll leave the playlist in place for a couple of more days so you can jot down any titles you want to remember to create your own playlist at Playlist.com.

Results of the Voting So Far:
So far, the stats show that BNOTP loads in less than 30 seconds for 68% of the folks who visit and less than 45 seconds for 76% of the folks who visit. (On my 3 year old laptop with Vista, it loads in about 4-5 seconds. On my new desktop with Windows 7, it loads instantaneously...as in 1 second. I do have a high speed internet connection.)

The results so far in the voting make sense when I compare them to the stats via Google Analytics. Have you heard of Google Analytics? If you aren't familiar with Google Analytics, just Google it and you can read all about it.

By inserting a little bit of code into the template of your blog, you can obtain detailed statistics about how many people visit your blog and what posts they enjoy reading. Of course, it doesn't show anything personal...that would be illegal. It just gives general stats that are helpful for the blogger.

If you are a blogger and wish to add Google Analytics to your blog, go to the post you'll find on my sidebar (look for Max) about "helpful blogging tips." That post contains a link to a site with directions on adding Analytics is listed there. I don't remember now how I added it...been too long ago. So, just follow the directions you'll find at the site I've linked to in the helpful tips post.

About the visitors of BNOTP: Google analytics shows:
50.13% have a high speed internet Cable connection
And...
25.50% have DSL.

Add those together and approximately 76% of the folks who visit BNOTP are cooking with gas!

13.17% have an unknown connection
8.44 % have T1 connections (pretty slow)
2.28% are using dial-up (very, very, very slow)


Some things you can do to speed up your computer:

1. If your computer is several years old, there may not be a lot you can do. You can a buy new, fast as lightning computer these days for $400-$500...sometimes less. The prices have come way, way down in the last few years. Christmas is coming..."Dear Santa, please bring me a new computer down the chimney. I love reading blogs and blogging and I've been a very, very good girl/boy." Signed_your name here___. :)

2. Consider upgrading to DSL or High Speed Internet...once you have it you will wonder how you ever lived without it. I'm serious!

3. Clear your cache every few days. How do you do that? Go to Tools, Internet Options and you should find it there. It should be under the General tab. Clear out those temporary internet files and history. You can delete "cookies" too...although you want to make sure you have your passwords written down for sites you visit since that will frequently clear those out, too.

4. When was the last time you ran Scan Disk and Degragmented your hard drive? Those are "maintenance" things that really help to keep your computer running at its best.

5. If you already clear your cache and maintain your computer and have a fast DSL or Cable Internet connection, but are still experiencing slow loading of blogs, you may want to have the phone company or cable company out to check your connection. Things can go awry and slow you down. It happened to me once and the Cable guys made some adjustment and I was zipping along again in no time.


Metamorphosis Monday:

The metamorphosis I'm sharing today is something I've been working on over the past week. I've wanted to make past posts more easily accessible for you. :) So, I'm adding thumbnail links broken down into categories to a page you'll find right up there at the top of this blog under the heading, Posts by Topic. Check it out and see what you think. I'll continue adding to it over the next few weeks.



If it's tablescapes you seek, you'll find those under the heading, Tablescape Inspiration.

Looking forward to seeing your Metamorphosis for this Met Monday!

Metamorphosis Monday:
If you are participating in Metamorphosis Monday: Please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on your post name, then just copy and paste the address that shows up in the address bar at the top, into the "url" box for the picture linky. You'll also need to put your e-mail address in, but don't worry, it will not be visible to anyone.

I'd love it if you would include the MM button in your post, to make it easy for others to find you MM post. To do that, just copy and paste the Met Monday button to your computer or grab the html code from underneath the MM logo on my sidebar.

Please include a link in your MM post back to the host blog, Between Naps on the Porch. Why is this important? When you include a link back to BNOTP, it ensures your regular readers/visitors will find the other awesome "Before and Afters" linked for this Metamorphosis Monday. If everyone links back, this maximizes the visits for all participants.

Please do not add your link below, until your MM post is actually published to your blog. Please DO NOT type in all caps...it spreads the links waaaay out. Thanks! :-)

Let's try something fun today! Please visit the person who linked before you and after you...that way everyone will get some visits. Hope you'll visit more, of course. :-)

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