Yesterday, I spent some time viewing, installing and experimenting with different themes for the site. I know that some will support this design, and others will not. I must say, that it is very difficult to find something premade that fits perfectly for what I am wanting to do. There are many things that I like and dislike about this theme… but that was the same for every other theme I tried as well. With a lot of thought and a little cleaning up wysiwyg and its the best I could find.

What I do like about the theme is the 4 columns. There is a lot of information that is being displayed and to me, a 4 column theme is the best way to display it all. This month, finally, I will be investing time into learning how to create Wordpress themes. As I design them, I will make the fully available to anyone that wants to use them. Most of the themes I will be creating will be very customized and specific for what I need on BTI. But again, with that said, if any of the themes I create do interest you, you will be more than welcome to use them. Most of the themes I will be created will be 4 column widget ready themes.

BTI’s Reference Guide
I want to break things down and explain how to navigate, find information, and explain the different features of BTI. This site is very useful for people that watch to catch up on news related to blogging, computers, Internet, software, and technology. Additionally, BTI has its own staff of volunteer editors, including myself who publish information on these topics as well. From left to right here is how the home page columns breakdown:

Far Left Column: This is the navigational column. It features all the tools needed to find information and publications writing within the site. We have a calendar where click the days and view posts written on any particular day. We have a search bar where you can type in keywords or word groups to find what you need. Additionally, you will find our page links, archives, recent posts and comments, categories, the control panel, and links to all our site supporters (people that have our link on their site).

Middle Left Column: This column displays the BTI publications. You will always see between 6 to 10 publications from the home page. At the moment there are 8, but this will be adjusted from time to time to keep the home page balanced. To view the entire article, simply click the title or click the (more) link to open up the full page.

Middle Right Column: This column mainly displays RSS Feeds from different blog sites published by my blogger friends and partners. Staggered between each feed list is BTI’s PPC advertising (Yahoo Publisher Network). A lot of people use Google Adsense, however, YPN is in beta stage and it has been a blast to use and watch grow. Don’t be scared to click a link that catches your eye or interests you. The content YPN provides is very useful and or entertaining.

Far Right Column: This column features the RSS feeds of the different sites that BTI uses as an aid in creating our own publications. BTI is a site that talks about blogging, computers, Internet, software, and technology and our RSS column usually provides the source to what is being talked about here. From time to time, the feeds in this column may change as BTI finds better sources. In fact, if you would like to make suggestions, we are all ears!

So there it is… the updated and complete BTI (well for now!) I really hope that BTI provides you with the best viewing experience, I want to personally invite you to subscribe to BTI’s feed and have all the publications sent right to you! Also if you should have any comments, questions, or suggestions… please feel free to comment below or contact me directly.

What Is Next For BTI: Well, as always… publishing content. But also as mentioned above working on designing a custom theme is one thing that I will be working on. Editing a lot of previous publications from last year is another. Working with my current business partner in order to successfully grow and build this site is also a priority. In the next day or so, I will be releasing the traffic stats for the month of Sept. 2006. Again… an excellent month! The site is growing and growing… I am very happy to see that! Thanks to everyone who visits and has an interest!

10/02/06 4:25P

Instead of create other posts, I think I will keep this one updated at I make a few more changes. Just a few minutes ago, I made a revision to the categories. Vex, you were one to point out a few months ago, there there were way too many, and I agree. BTI has 5 main categories and 1 for BTI’s older publications that need to be reviewed, edited, or deleted, giving BTI a total of 6 categories. Here are the categories listed below:

BTI Blog Categories

• Blogging: This category talks about everything related to blogging. New or updated blog software such as Wordpress and blogger; tips and tricks for blog publishers and designers… are just to mention a few things featured in this category.
• Computers: This category talks about anything and everything related to computers and computing. Tips on maintaining, updating, and even building computers fall into this category. Hardware installation, removal and even repair will fall into this category. Look into this category to find many useful articles related to computers.
• Internet: This category will harbor all the articles related to Internet. This includes tips on surfing safely, Internet browsers, different sites of interest, web designing tips and tricks. Count on reading articles like this and anything else that related to the Internet here.
• Software: I see this category growing very rapidly. This category has many articles relating to software. In this category you will find many different product reviews, advise, tips and support for many different software releases. Look to this category to find any information related to software.
• Technology: This category holds all the articles related to general technology. Information about anything related to technology will be here. Apple Ipods to Zenith Televisions… its all in this category.
• Unreviewed: This category contains all the past BTI publications prior to this update. These posts will need to be reviewed by an editor/admin/author and either updated and published into the new category system, revised to make relevant, or simply removed.

10/3/2006 3:19a
I got quite a bit done here this evening and late during the night. I have added my own custom navigation menu box and have cleaned up quite a few other things. I have started a new RSS Feed Directory. This directory will contain a list of high quality rss feeds that I find out there in never never world wide web land. I plan on adding to this list daily, so once I go live with the directory it would be good to save, add to favorites, or book mark the page.

- Garry