Rodent Regatta

OK…my pride is bruised, but my need remains!
By the time I posted here again, I expected to have a completely different weblog. It’s clear that I’m not going to get this done without some help from somewhere. During my absence (abstinence) from posting, I’ve been through 900(est.) combinations & permutations (backing up and restoring every step of the way). No results worth sharing with anyone.
I hate to be guilty of majoring on form over substance, but being a control freak, I feel like this ought to have the attributes I list below.
How do I do this?

1. I’ve got a domain name registered & a host identified. I need to get an agreement in place with the host and get the domain moved over there.


2. I need to set up somewhere in Radio to tell it to upstream to the new domain/server(?).


3. Some sort of RSS feed has to be redirected so that I remain a part of the Radio community. Where and how?


4. Are my comments enabled? I’ll check the next time I publish.


5. Do I have a comments counter? I’ll check that as well.


6. I want to change the permalink icon. I may want to move it to the beginning of each post I make.


7. I want to create a link to a page of articles I’ve written. I’ve also got other things I want as separate pages. How/where?


8. I want to create logical groupings of links together on one side of my weblog.


9. I need that little email envelope icon so people can email me about this weblog. Where and how?


10. Apparently, I need some sort of XML coffee mug icon that allows people to quickly subscribe to this weblog. (In case I ever get to say anything other than HELP!) How?


11. I want to use CATEGORIES for my posts and have a list of my categories on the public weblog so that posts by category can be viewed.


12. I want to change the name & subtitle of this weblog. I’ll check that when I publish this.


13. I want to remove the gap that exists between the end of my posts and the time.


14. I want a completely different look/design/theme for this weblog. So far all of the tips I’ve gotten basically boil down to, ”go over to your home page template and edit the HTML to look like you want it to.” (Right after my DIY brain surgery!)


15. I’d like for the daily heading for each day’s posts to be styled differently, possibly with a different icon.


16. I need to add the feature that permits linking via a new window.

I must have visited several hundred sites looking at templates, themes, CSS designs, other weblogs, etc. I know this stuff can be done, but I can’t figure out where and how these people are doing it. I’ve attempted to copy information out of templates into Dreamweaver so that I could WYSIWYG this stuff. However, nothing I’ve copied renders correctly when I ”preview” it. This has something to do with macros that are behind the scenes of Radio (I think).