Blog Improvements and Updated Posts

I thought I should tell you about some blog improvements and updates I am working on, since many of the updates are buried in older posts. I've been posting them on Twitter and Facebook, but for regular readers or new blog readers just visiting the home page, you may not have heard about these yet.

I wrote my very first post for this blog on February 16, 2006, so I have been blogging for more than 11 years now...and other than writing new posts each week, I have done almost nothing to improve or update my blog. The result is that it is looking quite dated, and some of the older posts need updating. Believe it or not, after 11 years of blogging, I am still a novice! I know a lot about writing (I work as a freelance writer), but blog design and all the rest of it is still mostly a mystery to me. I have been trying to rectify this by learning more about blog design and other blog-ish topics I don't understand, and I have started to make some changes here.

Most importantly, I am working my way - slowly - through updating my most popular and informative posts. I am revising where new information or research is available, writing more on our own experiences since whenever the post was first written, and adding in recommendations for specific supplements or other products, where applicable, since I get asked about that a lot.

So, far, I have revised and updated these blog posts:

• The Methylation Cycle: Central to ME/CFS (and Fibro, EDS, and Lyme, too)
• Orthostatic Intolerance and ME/CFS - something that affects everyone with ME/CFS, 75% of those with Fibro, and many with Lyme and EDS - and treating OI often brings dramatic improvements in all symptoms!
• Heart Rate and Post-Exertional Crashes in ME/CFS - closely related to the OI post, all about how (and why) tracking your heart rate can help you to minimize crashes

Unfortunately, each update takes me a long time, so the process is slow, but I hope to get to many more important posts in this updating process. I spent hours yesterday on the methylation post, just trying to get the text to stop switching to "xx-small" every time I published it! I finally figured that out but couldn't stop the font from changing type several times. I'm learning, but it's a slow process!

On the design front, I plan to:

• Change the design itself (I know some people have trouble reading with the polka-dot background).
• Update the sidebar, including other blogs to visit and other resources linked to.
• Add an About Me/Us page (only about 11 years late on that one!)
• Add a Where Do I Start? page to help new patients and/or those who are new to the blog to find the most important posts that can help them the most.

Whew, so that's a LOT of work coming up for me, but I will also be sure to keep adding new posts & information to the blog.

Please let me know YOUR needs and ideas - is there anything that you would like to see here?  Anything that would help you as a patient or you as a blog reader to get the most of this blog? Please leave comments to let me know how I can better help you.

And thanks for your patience as I struggle with finally learning about blogging 11 years after the fact!