I am initiating a site template redesign. This iteration is TEMPORARY and designed to re-establish the lost RSS feeds. That said I still want to make it so it works. Comments welcome.
From Perkel: The reason for the change is that this blog is an old blog and the old look was created by modifying the index.php file instead of using themes. But the last upgrade broke the RSS feed so it’s time to use themes and do it right. I’m not a theme guy but I grabbed one that was functionally close and I’m trying to get the functionality working. So the “look” stuff will be done later when we find the right look person. So that’s what is happening today. Comments from Wordpress experts appreciated.
I like it, can you make the borders a little darker and a few pix thicker though?
First reaction was yuck, but i think if you centered it and gave it a different color bkgd it would work nicely
The big gynormous quotes are really ugly.
I like it. It is much cleaner and easier on the eyes. Very Web 2.0.
I was stunned by it when I first visited earlier today. Please bring back the poll, I enjoyed that. Also, the old look was much easier on the eyes. Centering would be a good idea.
Just needs to be centered
I personally think this is horrible. It looks like those ugly sites that people use to hold domains.
Center it and redo the quoted material. Oh and I agree with Riker, bring back the polls.
Theres a “The webpage cannot be found” warning at the top of the page under the “Subscribes to this post comment rss or trackback url” and above the Username entry area.
Darker border around the center column.
I’d like to see the numbers back. They make it easier to reference the comments of others. Alternately, a threaded view would be nice.
Centered would definitely be better. I’d also go for a wider center column of text so we don’t need to scroll down so far. I don’t know about anyone else, but the faint right line is about 2/3s of the way across my screen, causing lots of wasted space.
I actually also like it. Well, once you center it correctly, that is.
Contrary to some others I like the big quotes. The only thing I really don’t like are the “folder icons” at the left and right lists. Too many of them…and they look cheap.
Otherwise, way to go! Good to see a site refresh coming.
..mike
the comments boxes, while cute, seem to be huuuuge to me. Also, can the comments be numbered again?
I was just reading the links at the bottom of the page. Have you outsourced Dvorak Uncensored to India? If so, they seem to really like a ‘busy’ web page in India.
Red drives me mad, centering it will make it better, the side panels are to long better if they were goup and if i want to look at the whole thing we could click on it
I think you need to ask for a different design
here is what i don’t like:
-The colors
-the big quotes
-the folder icons
The thing I liked best about the original “Look” was that it was as Matter-of-fact, simple looking, tabloid rag, no frills paper with some good tech behind it -none of that filly I been to Apple Art school crap.
Secretly, I think with all the Red John is still stupified by that dress on the Battlestar Galactica Babe. 🙂
I find it much harder to find and read info with the new scheme. New is not always better… Simple and clean is preferable.
Looks fine to me. I would prefer a little more subdued background as white is tiring for the eyes after awhile. Otherwise, still very usable and I do prefer having RSS feeds over any particular template.
The folder icons are a little corny. Ditto everybody on the centring. Otherwise pretty good.
How about rounded corners instead of 90 degree angles on the red boxes just like the Submit button used to leave replies?
It seems a bit cluttered. Perhaps a little more Web 2.0 inspiration with just a little more open white space.
Would blue appear better than red?
I’d like to see the comment link at the bottom of the post, rather than at the top. That way I can read the article, and then click on the comments if I’m interested, rather than having to scroll back up.
OK, the page layout is working OK now.
I like the new design.
However comment numbers would be nice.
I hate it.
In 3 months, I’ll forget I hated and I’ll like it.
So keep it and add numbers to the comments and do whatever usability tweaks seem logical. I’ve survived far more drastic changes than this, and I’ll survive this as well. 🙂
still having trouble viewing articles after clicking on RSS link in google reader. only title and placeholder visible … no content. Have to (re-)click on title to actually see article. 🙁 very annoying.
Great: (1) overall cleaner look of the fonts, and (2) the fact that the last bit of the last post on the page is no longer truncated… Lord, but that drove me nuts.
Minor gripes: (1) loss of the time portion of the “Published In” date stamp… sometimes it’s just nice to know, and (2) the new look could use just the slightest variation in background color to help delineate between the side columns and the posts.
The little icons for all the sidebar items look cheap, though.
Looks good. The old site was a little dated. Change is good.
Maybe you can take this opportunity to get rid off all the crap hanging off the sides of the page. Simplify, simplify, simplify. A real designer would be a big help … if he didn’t have a coronary upon first inspection.
Seriously, I’m sure you make enough money off all the ads on the page. Hire a serious designer. PLEASE!
I can understand not having the comments show when you enter the site but why have the story not show up?
This was the same with the old version.