Saturday evening:
Thanks to everyone who has given me input so far - your input is important to me. More additions and tweaks were made today, but I am not done yet! More work needs to be done on the sidebar and I have a few more features/pages to add in. It is not too late to give me your input. What do you think?
Friday evening:
Things are starting to come together as I am putting the pieces together and tweaking. What do you think so far? Any suggestions? If so, speak up now and your suggestion just might get incorporated.
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16 Comments»
Randa
21. April 2007 | 00:54 hI love it! The colors at the top are nice, and I like the footer too. I assume you’re still tweaking, so I won’t say much except that I can’t read your page titles in the black navbar- would have to be a lighter color. Also, on this comment form website is spelled “Webseite”. Oh… also, it seems like the colors of the bullets and arrows in your lists to the right should be chosen from the four colors in the header, so the color of the site is unified. I guess I’d say the same about the text over there too - maybe use the dark aqua instead of the navy blue. (did I say I wouldn’t say much…? Oh well.)
Char
21. April 2007 | 01:15 hRanda - you are absolutely right - I am still tweaking - specifically all the items you mentioned.
The template is German so I need to go through and do some translations in spots.
Stay tuned! And your input is always welcomed.
Webomatica
21. April 2007 | 02:59 hHmmmm, nice! I do hope you return the graphics of the cartoony Char alter-ego… I liked that!
Font is a bit big on the Name, E-mail, and “Webseite”
And I think the spacing between the bulleted list on the right is a bit tight.
Otherwise, looks neat!
Kevin
21. April 2007 | 06:52 hI like the blocks of color in the header. It does feel a little like the 4 equally wide blocks are laid out on a different grid than the rest of the page (with it’s 3 column layout).
What if you varied the width of those header blocks a bit so they fall into line with your side columns? Maybe like this?
Just a suggestion. Space looks a little tight in the 2 side columns, and aligning the 2 rightmost color blocks over those columns might help define and separate them.
Char
21. April 2007 | 11:35 hWebomatica - what do you mean by the cartooning graphics - do you mean my avatar girl?
Kevin - you rock! That is a great idea. Do you mind if I implement it? I have plenty of cosmetic tweaking left to do - the big goal was getting the new template in place and working.
Stay tuned…
Doris
21. April 2007 | 13:42 hHey Char.. I like those funky polka dots on the side and the colour scheme on the header looks really nice. I thought the title looks alittle ’serious’ or bland in that type and in black… or maybe I prefer a minimalist or modern sans-serif type
But I do like the 2 column side bars on the right - very clean..
Char
21. April 2007 | 13:50 hDoris - thanks for the food for thought. I am trying to pull my main portfolio site (www.keystrokes.net) together with my blog - thus the type. However, I do agree with you a bit and may play around with it some more.
Yvonne Russell
21. April 2007 | 14:51 hHi Char
This is interesting watching the process unfold, and seeing the great suggestions from readers. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
Is a web design ever really finished if you are a designer?I imagine there must be an ongoing temptation to “tweak”. LOL
Yvonne
Jason Alba
21. April 2007 | 17:15 hFirst impression: I like it A LOT! The other design was too dark… this is much more inviting.
Jason Alba
CEO - JibberJobber.com
Kevin
21. April 2007 | 17:27 hGlad to help, Char. It’s always fun to watch a new design come together like this; thanks letting us watch
Randa
21. April 2007 | 18:43 hIt’s looking great!! The change in the header was a genius idea and really made a nice difference.
Ingo
21. April 2007 | 19:02 hWell done. It has a very professional look and goes along with your main portfolio. And it is 100% Char if you check the color/dots on the sides…
David Airey :: Creative Design ::
21. April 2007 | 19:42 hNice work Char!
I really like your customisation so far.
A couple of suggestions:
Add a most popular posts section so your older posts don’t get buried in your archives. Incorporate the ‘technorati favourites’ button somewhere above the fold.
Keep up the great work!!
David
Char
21. April 2007 | 20:52 hYvonne - it is very hard as a designer to leave one’s own stuff alone. There always seems to be something else to do.
David - The popularity plugin has been installed, and I do plan on adding the most popular posts to the sidebar. Actually I have about 8 more things to add to the sidebar/footer and a handful of static pages.
Everyone - thanks for the suggestions, kind words, and just for stopping in! Even though I can see the faces from MBL again, I love comments even more.
Aaron Weiche
23. April 2007 | 19:27 hChar- Kudos to you for the new look. I popped in today and was like … “wow!”. Good first impression to create. I really like the sidebar improvement with more great info and links arranged well. Nice and clean.
I wouldn’t mind … and also consider first time visitors … seeing a one or two sentence intro on the home above the main post. Give a snapshot of what you offer here. Yo have it in the page title, but don’t depend on the user to read up there.
Great job Char.
Char
23. April 2007 | 20:38 hAaron - Thanks for the compliment! I think I have just the right place for the intro you are suggesting. I will add it to my list of things to add shortly.