Overdue Housekeeping (New Look, Facebook & More)

Loyal FHQ readers (and perhaps some passersby) have certainly noticed that output on the blog has been way down this year. In addition to completing my dissertation on, you guessed it, frontloading during the spring semester, I've had some other things going on and I'm currently in yet another summer of transition after my temporary tenure at Wake Forest ended in June. That said, there has been no shortage of things to talk about and I want to apologize for not being around to provide commentary and fill the void. [Well, there has not been any void in chatter concerning politics, but FHQ has been relatively quiet.]

If you have continued stopping by you have noticed several changes. First of all, when Blogger rolled out its custom design feature in June, I jumped at the chance to update the simple and, I think stagnant, FHQ look. That was the biggest visual change since we added the left-hand sidebar during 2008. The new look is obviously still simple, but it is a little sleeker and adds the background image behind the large white slate that dominates the page.

In the last month, FHQ has also become a presence on Facebook. Personally, I don't have that large a presence on the social networking site, but far be it from me to deprive FHQ readers who do use Facebook frequently from using that tool as a means of getting their FHQ fix.

There is a button (see above) underneath the Twitter section on the right side that you can click on to access the FHQ Facebook page. Once there, click "Like" next to Frontloading HQ at the top to add the page to your News Feed. All blog posts are automatically added to the site and most tweets -- those not retweeted from my phone -- appear there as well. It ends up being a nice storehouse of FHQ material and is quiet handy if you are already on Facebook (and a lot of people are...a lot).

Finally, I've also made it easier to share FHQ content on other sites. At the conclusion of every post you will see a host of tiny buttons you can click on to share content at other sites (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Digg, Google Buzz, etc.). All you have to do is click on one of those to do so. And hey, there's even a Facebook Like button down there as well.

I'll probably bug people about Facebook (and Twitter for that matter) by reminding you of the addition at the conclusion of each post for the next couple of weeks. You've been warned. [Oh, it will stop soon enough.] Yeah, I think I've sold out a bit to be quite honest with you.

Back to politics...