Website Improvements ~ Luthiery Laboratories

December 1, 2019

Website Improvements

December 1, 2019

... consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds ...

I re-worked the default WordPress TwentySixteen theme into something far better. Not only is the display much more streamlined and compact, but the code behind it as well. The people who design these things overkill them into an unmanageable mess. Most of what I did was simply deleting miles and miles of repetitive unnecessary css spaghetti code and replacing it with just a few new lines. Most developers seem to think that more code is better. That is so wrong.

This post needed some color. I think the new layout looks and works great on everything from my hi-rez laptop to my tablet to my phone. While I was at it, I bulked-up the menu system and then deleted it, as well as the header image. That way you get right to the meat of things, without having to scroll every page past a lot of useless eye-candy. I also started a links page. Finally, I folded my custom navigation plugin into the theme, so that it can't be accidentally disabled.

I also did some work on these. I think everything looks great !!!

Web Stuff, 12/1/19

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RetroBrite

"RetroBrite" is a name for a process that restores old yellowed plastics to new. Many plastics yellow or darken over time. RetroBriting can reverse this aging, but with a number of caveats that, in my opinion, make it pretty useless. While the process actually does work - it reverses the discoloration - the effect is temporary. After a few months, the plastic will return to its yellowed state. When this happens, you can repeat the treatment, but at some point the chemicals involved are going to start to degrade the plastic.

My first experiment was whitening some yellowed tuner knobs, and it did work. With nothing more than sunshine and hydrogen peroxide, the knobs lightened considerably. That was several years ago, and today the knobs are as yellow as ever.

What causes this yellowing? It is variously attributed to sunlight, oxygen, bromine content, and other causes. While all of these things can contribute to it, none of them are necessary. Some plastics simply turn yellow with age, and nothing will stop it. In my experience, the real culprit is simply bad plastic, and the only real solution is replacement.

More: RetroBrite ...