Steps I used to move my blog from old host to the new one:

1. From the old host:

• Make a full backup for your blog (including mysql database) in compressed format (*.zip,*.gzip,*.gz) and download to your local harddrive.
• It’s better to extract the data for easy access.

2. From the new host:

• After registration on the new host, you will get a temporary address for the new blog.
• Login to your Control Panel and setup a fresh Wordpress engine.
• Open your phpmyAdmin, select your new wp database and go to Import menu.
• Upload your old mysql dump file (*.sql) of the old host from step 1 and click Go.
• When finished, you already have your blog database moved.
• Now upload your old blog files (themes, plugins, image upload, etc) under directory wp-content to the new host using FTP or File Manager to the corresponding folder on your new blog directory (eg. all file under wp-content/themes should go to wp-content/themes too).

3. From the old host:

• If you used email hosting also, don’t forget to download your mail right now.
• Go to your domain manager and change the DNS to point to your new DNS as your provider gave you.
• Maybe your blog will not accessible for a while since it will take sometime to propagate your new DNS to the world wide web.

4. From the new host:

• When your blog has been accessible from your domain name, go to your blog Admin area and configure the blog to your old setting (theme used, plugins installed, etc).
• If you used email, go to your CPanel and set up some usernames used for email activity, so you won’t lost contact from the world.
• Your blog has moved to the new host!

5. Done.

Original code:
<?php the_time('d') ?>

Modified to :
<?php the_time('d') ?> for the date part and <?php the_time('M') ?> for the month portion.

Second problem I found is show post count feature on Categories and Archive widget on the sidebar. Here’s the detail.

categories widget

When you use this option, the number of post count display under categories, not besides them. This one make me bother since it distract the layout. I think it’s CSS problem and I am not good at CSS. So, I post a question on the creator website but until now, no one answer or post any comment about this. (what do you expect from free service ? no full support available but it’s oke then.)

css problem

Following this, I try to learn some CSS things and read some documentation on the net with my Firefox. I also remember that I have installed some ‘must-have’ add ons of Firefox for web developer. So, I try to analyze the wrong code using Web Developer and FireBug after reading some manual documentation. And bingo ! I found the problem.

Original code:

#sidebars ul li a {color:#602600; padding:2px 0px 2px 15px; display:block; background: url(images/sb-marker.gif) 3px 7px no-repeat;}

Modified code:

#sidebars ul li a {color:#602600; padding:2px 0px 2px 15px; display:inline-block;background: url(images/sb-marker.gif) 3px 7px no-repeat;}

And the problem solved !

Using Google, I found some themes to choose from just like I want. Some of them are Retro Book, Burned, Papyrus, Duffy, and Aspire. I deployed Wordpress on my localhost and install all themes above to see them in action. After comparing the layout, design and feature, I must say that the winner goes to … Aspire !

InfoCreek team has made good work on this theme and many other bloggers have used it for their blog. Aspire comes in 2 version, Wordpress version and Blogspot version. You can choose either that suits your weblog platform. OK, that’s it for now. I will explore more about this theme and any modification needed to match my imagination theme.

Have fun !