All New Design Launches
It’s always weird launching something new for me. First, there’s writing the title. You can’t be too clever, or RSS readers will scan over it and never see it. In the end I always end up with the obvious…
As you work on things, you become somewhat desensitized to the visual aspect of things. That inevitably causes insecurities and unsurities (I totally made that word up) that in the end you have to just remember that lovin’ feeling from the original creative beginnings.
So, after a while of telling you it would arrive, it now has.
What I Want From You
What I ask of you, the viewer of this design and reader of this article is simple. Just talk to me. Tell me how you like it. Tell me what you would change, what you would add, subtract, divide or multiply.
If you’re thinking some harsh stuff, have at me, if you’re thinking praise, then shower me. Unlike most internet users, I can actually take criticism without crying or killing myself. If I disagree, Ill try to show you where I’m coming from so we can all understand the whole situation in it’s entirety.
Big Feature List?
This is not a big OS release in the way that every thing is new and you’ve never seen it before. I’ll spare you the changelog, mainly because there isn’t one, but hopefully you get the drift. Pages are being rewritten (much needed) and the archives page is in the works. Other than that it’s just content, no frills. I added some Twitter integration, but that’s one of the few brand new things.
Go Sign up for Gravatar
I hadn’t even considered signing up for such a useless service as Gravatar until I read Automattic acquried them. I decided to give it a chance, and it’s a very easy and cool service. I’ve added small gravatars (16px) in the comments, and maybe if the regular commenters here pick the service up I’ll make them more visible.
Two minute signup, and I just uploaded a PSD of my logo, cropped and done! I was very pleased and surprised.
Anyways, have at me. I want all comments and emails and all that stuff regarding the design to help make this place better for everyone. And for the record: I’m open for change, but I’m not going back.
Leave a comment
Marky
October 31st, 2007 at 11:20 PM
Holy nice design. Found one problem with it. I clicked a link on the navbar and it changed. You maybe need to add an a:visited or something.
Mike
October 31st, 2007 at 11:22 PM
Wow it looks great In FF but not so good in IE there is some sort of glitch in the recent posts spot. After I started up firefox I was like wow this is great. I really like the layout.
It seems hard to see the feed count for some reason I think it should stand out a little bit more.
It looks very web 2.0 I love it.
Good job!
Adam M
November 1st, 2007 at 12:36 AM
Wow looks amazing. One issue I found is after you click on the nav links “Home…About…etc” They become regular links and lose their formatting. I dunno if this is what you want me to see or if its an error.
Henry
November 1st, 2007 at 5:54 AM
I’m going to be honest here, i hate it. I prefered the last design so much more. I am not a huge fan of green on white, i like simple colours not ones that physically are making me feel sick (they are). I had already signed up to your blog before this design, so i guess there’s no difference (gravatar). Many of the pages aren’t done and it’s well not my cup of tea.
I’m sorry Connor but i really don’t like it.
Connor Wilson
November 1st, 2007 at 7:17 AM
The search bar thing: is this in FF/Win? I’ll be getting over to windows today to fix all the cross OS and browser problems.
@henry: Green? Maybe the reason you don’t like it is because you’re colour blind
Not a spec of green from my point of view (or any colour pallet).
darknesfallz
November 1st, 2007 at 7:51 AM
Hey Connor, the template looks amazing on Firefox. It’s fairly easy on the eyes and looks well organized.
David
November 1st, 2007 at 9:50 AM
Nice design. Clean, bright, easy to read.
Great job Connor.
David
Henry
November 1st, 2007 at 9:55 AM
Umm, i am in no way colour blind. It’s a greeny blue (turquoise) colour. I don’t like it at all :(, it’s disappointing. My friends don’t even like it.
Also soo many bugs,
Michael from Pro Blog Design
November 1st, 2007 at 10:52 AM
Looks good Connor. I really like the structured sidebar, and the link effects.
Just a few little things:
- Links don’t have :visited styles (In the main nav, or in the sidebar)
- Are the 5 “Subscribe Today” links needed at the top of the sidebar? You could cut those out I think.
- Users without a gravatar are using the same icon as you in the comments. You’re disappearing.
Good work!
Josh Buckley
November 1st, 2007 at 12:48 PM
It’s definitely a nice design connor. I think the sidebar is real nice, looks very neat. However, I do think the header could do with more work. especially that logo.
It’s a big change, and i’m still adjusting it. However, unlike Henry’s comment - i really like that colours that were used.
Adam M
November 1st, 2007 at 12:50 PM
@Henry
I think it’s a problem with your browser / screen. It’s definitely blue.
Ryan
November 1st, 2007 at 4:37 PM
I really like the new design. Its actually a lot along the lines of what I was picturing oddly enough.
Its a little bit like Problogger’s design but not in a rippy kind of way.
I would like the gravatar thing better if you used one of the plugins that shows either a Gavatar or MyBlogLog image.
Mike
November 1st, 2007 at 7:31 PM
Yeah you have to fix the ie7 issues the only thing I notice in firefox on windows is like mentioned above the links lose there style after you click on them.
I too do not see any green Henry and I actually love the colours that were used
Acopic Web Design
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:16 AM
Have to be honest - much preferred the last design. Also - the ‘Also recently’ section on the homepage is completely messed up in IE7 (running on Vista). Works OK in FF.
darknesfallz
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:58 AM
@Adam M
The layout isn’t blue on my screen either. Its #213A43 i believe and yeah its a bit greenish blue like Henry said
Michael from Pro Blog Design
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:57 AM
Hey Connor - Did my comment get caught in a spam filter?
Brad Purchase
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:51 PM
I like it, but I think you need to re-style the comment form!
Connor Wilson
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:01 PM
Hopefully today I can get some time to Boot Camp over to Windows and fix the problems that exist there. And Michael- it did. I have no reason why, either. Thanks for the tips.
Mike
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:02 PM
I just wanted to suggest maybe you should price your ads by demand, for example start off cheaper like $15 a month and if there is big demand raise the prices the next month etc etc
Connor Wilson
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:11 PM
I’m totally open to negotiation on the prices of the ads, for the record.
Nathan
November 3rd, 2007 at 4:33 PM
Nice work man. Congratulations! :]
As for the colour, I just love the blue/green (whatever it is) .. I’ve had it on personal pages before
Congrats mate.
David Hopkins
November 4th, 2007 at 2:07 PM
Nice design and even better tag line
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