I'm annoyed by my blog. Really annoyed.

I spent some time today editing photos from our trip last weekend to Greenville, California, and was excited to post about them.

I included in the post a little plug for this WordPress plug-in called Shashin that allows me to insert Picasa web albums in posts I write.  I’ve used it in a blog post here or there to quickly add a bunch of photos.

The software that you run on your computer that goes with Picasa web albums (also called Picasa) allows you to easily look through and edit the photos on your computer.  My favorite part is how it allows me to upload my photos to the web in one click. You can set an album of photos to be viewable by invitation, everyone or no one.

I mentioned in the post I wrote earlier today about how maybe I should make one of my New Years’ resolutions to share more of my photos.  After all, I snap them continually throughout my day-to-day existence.

Anyway, I got as far as writing the post, editing the photos, uploading them to the web, and then inserting them into my post via the Shashin plug-in, and there it is.  A glaring bright red error.

All of a sudden a feeling of dread settled in the pit of my stomach.  I checked the past posts I have used Shashin in.  Error.  I hate the idea of someone stumbling on one of my posts and finding a bunch of errors instead of photos.

Long story short, I spent three agonizing hours trying to fix this error or find another solution.  I didn’t do all those things on my list that I’ve been trying to get to despite the frantic and over-booked nature of my holiday season.  No, I combed through documentation and tried any idea for fixing it I could think of.

I still haven’t found a solution.  There are posts up here at www.jenniferheller.com with glaring errors.  The plug-in author has cut off personal support, so he isn’t an option.  Though the plug-in is working correctly on his site.

Julia asked me if perhaps it might work tomorrow.  I’m going to bet on that for now.  But this is the unfortunate reality of open-source web development.  Everyone produces all these awesome extensions for a system, but if you rely on one too heavily…you never know when it will give up.  And it’s never convenient, easy to fix or expected when they do

Even a completely built-to-order website isn’t foolproof.  At any point the web host the site lives on could upgrade some part of it’s system and render some part of it inoperable.  Websites just plain break.  And mine broke today though thankfully barely.  Thankfully I have support: me.

And, it must be noted, I can be the support (or source) for your website too. I’m responsive and good to work with.