Changes + New Features at Burning Rubber

Those of you who visit the blog regularly will have noticed some changes over the last week or so. The most obvious changes are to the sidesbars… I moved things around a bit, and generally simplified them. I hope you like the less cluttered layout. I also added some new features to the blog which should make life better for all of us, I hope. Here's a list of what's new:

SiteFlare: In the footer of each post, there's a new feature called SiteFlare. It looks like this:

Email this • Subscribe to this feed • Add to del.icio.us • Add to Technorati Favorites!

Adding SiteFlare was one of the main reasons for the redesign (it requires switching to advanced templates and I wanted everything else in order before I did that).

Please use it to help spread the word if you find a post you like! You can:

• Add to Technorati Favorites: Technorati has a new feature that lets you select your favorite blogs. Please click this one once! I'd love to get more presence in the favorites list!
• Subscribe to this feed: If you're not a subscriber to the blog already, you can click the subscribe to this feed link at the bottom of any post and it will take you to a page that explains how to subscribe and helps you choose the method you'd like to use.
• Email this: email posts to friends (opens a new message with the link in your own email program. I do not see either your email address or theirs. It's quite safe, just easier than pasting the link into the message yourself).
• Add to del.icio.us: Click this link to add an entry to del.icio.us.

Sidebar Changes: I changed things around a lot in the sidebars.

• I got rid of the tip jar and the Kanoodle ad strip because they just weren't doing anything… really they were never intended as anything more than placeholders until I could find a better option. I have: it's called Blogads, and it allows me to choose who does or does not have their ads in the sidebar. I won't be accepting ads from anyone unless I really believe they have a good product that would be of interest to my readers. If you're interested in taking out an ad, just click the link that says "advertise here" in the blogad section of the sidebar.
• The archives have moved to their own page. Just click the link under Elena's Spanking gallery at top left. I felt like they were taking up too much room in the sidebar.
• The link to Burning Rubber's privacy policy has moved to the subscription blurb.
• I've added a new RSS feed for subscribers who want to read the blog on mobile phones. The feed is text only for now, but is optimized to work well with most phones. More on this soon.
• The As Seen On blurb has been scaled back, but you can now click the Technorati link at the top of the blurb to find all the blogs that link in to Burning rubber. I've added a links page in the archive that will be periodically updated with link-backs to everyone who has ever linked to the blog… it was getting too heavy in the sidebar, and some of the blogs have disappeared, so this seemed like a better way to manage it.
• Got rid of the calendar. You know, they're pretty, but they don't really do much.
• I moved a number of items in the sidebars to new positions, but otherwise I think that's about it.
• I may also redesign the header in the near future… people confuse the name of the paddles with the name of the blog and I'd like to make that clearer. We'll see.

Overall, I think the new design is much simpler and easier to work with. I hope you like it. In fact, I'd love to know what you think either way, so why not leave your thoughts in the comments?