Out with the Old, In with the New
We’re sporting the new look… and as you can see it’s drastically slimmed down. Some things of note for this new 2009 rev:
- Big content areas. The main content area is 710 pixels wide.
- A focus on simplicity. I want this year to be more about content and less about the “cool” gadgets, widgets, and gizmos that lump up the page.
- Typography. Period. Make it pretty. Check.
- 1 sidebar. I now have a rigorous checklist for items that are going to make it on that puppy…
- Advertising. I no longer swing the big Fortune 50 executive gig. My servers cost a butt load. My fault, I know. I’m not going more than a 125×125 piece. And the unobtrusive nature of the sidebar will make those 125′s stand out but not get in the way.
- Plugins have decreased by 50%. I had nearly 20 of them running. I now have less than 10.
- Page size has decreased, page load has quickened, and caching has been double checked. I bet @lightvox could make it even faster. Jerk.
- Pagination. If you have more than 50 posts, you should highly consider pagination of your posts. The “next post” / “previous post” is ghetto and ineffective. When was the last time you actually browsed that way?
- A deep review of content focus and areas of blogging. This has a lot to do with where I’m headed in the blogosphere and what I want to do with my life.
Deepest thanks and support for everyone who’s graced this blog… you guys are my rock and encourage me to to simply be “better”.
John,
Looking good, looking good! (except if Pacman tries to eat the Apple, he'll get his butt whipped)
hehe. oh, he will….!
I don't like it. You should strongly consider a rebrand.
ok. you win. you like parade raining.
They new site is looking very nice! Well done!
thanks!
Awesome work! Macing it out dude!
trying bro. trying.
dude. sweet look. best part.. THE LARGE CONTENT AREA! Love it man. A wise man might even say it's EPIC
i agree. what a wise man…
very very nice!
Love the simplicity of the design/layout.
Wide content area is always good. One thing to remember though is if you start posting images and videos to fit exactly within this wider content area you'll have a problem going backwards to a smaller area in the future (unless you're up for manual post edits or some serious sql find/replace action.) Only speaking from experience.
custom-fields baby… custom fields.
magic.
How do you use them in that scenario? You don't embed any images in the content but rather in custom fields (and reference the cust field in the post?)
yes. custom fields. it's epic.
Maybe a blog post on how you personally make use of custom fields is in order? [nudge nudge]
http://www.wpdesigner.com/2007/06/24/using-custom...
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Custom_Fields
this is where i started…. but i'll consider writing one.
Cool… Thanks for the links! I'll take a look.
sure. i'm thinking of a post. i'll let you know, of course.
oh, and excerpts.
Dude… Dude! — now I am thinking – i may need a redbull iv tonight…
… let's rock it. i'll help. seriously. you da man.
Already working on it – Thesis makes some basic changes easy…but will do more as I go tonight, lol.
HAHAHAHA. i knew you would.
MASSIVE!!!! FTW!!!
rinse, repeat. jaysten ftw.
Love the guts to make the bold change. I'm figuring that it will inspire others to follow your "simplification" ways. Also, things like sidebar blogrolls are best put onto its own page for SEO purposes rather than on every page in your sidebar. Great job.
blogrolls… wazzat?
Sweet! I love the wide, comfy content area. It's like a luxury blog now. Human3rror.com. The ultimate blogging machine.
Very nice, bro.
thanks dude… we'll see how long it lasts…
Nice work! Good points and thoughts…
Do you ever sleep?
BTW I don't think you follow me on twitter…can't send replies…
twitter.com/laurencetom
no, i do not sleep. @tonysteward's fault.
Heh. I wonder if an upcoming ChurchCrunch post will have tips about speeding up WordPress? BTW Did I ever tell you it was done?
yeah. i got it. it's epic. it'll go live tomorrow.
Oh yeah and also wanted to tell you. Dude, The new layout rocks.
thanks bro. i'd give you more points, but you only can get one.
There you go, I hooked you up and gave him another one.
sweet. more for ou too. i want to break 100.
Well then, I am sure I can help. Here are a couple more votes. Here is to breaking 100 for ya.
let's be jerks and rise the count for each other. +1 for you.
Nice! No clutter. Makes me want to rethink my old blog.
Hey, I would if I actually knew what I was doing. Every time I add or take something off my blog, I hold my breath that I do not gum it up beyond repair. As I have mentioned in my blog, I am the Social Mediot and really do not know what I am doing from the technically end of things.
hehe. everyone starts there… but you're gaining ground fast..!
Nice look! Did the pages and pages of feedback on Carlos' updated site ragamuffinsoul.com affect your style choices? Or just scare you to death?
hehe. nope. this redesign has been planned for a long time… but… it was fun reading themm.!
Loving the simplicity of the new design…and it’s hard to go wrong with a light rays for the background–epic
Here’s some help for the Typography area—sorry this is going to be yelled—SINGLE SPACES AFTER SENTENCES, DO NOT DOUBLE SPACE. Here’s more help with Typography sins.
I am interested in learning more about pagination. Helpful hints maybe.
Loving the simplicity of the new design…and it’s hard to go wrong with light rays for the background–epic
Here’s some help for the Typography area—sorry this is going to be yelled—SINGLE SPACES AFTER SENTENCES, DO NOT DOUBLE SPACE. Here’s more help with Typography sins.
I am interested in learning more about pagination. Helpful hints maybe.
that's not typography. that's grammatical.
tell that to my typography teacher…his head might explode
i like exploding heads.
I like the simple. Nice. I was working on my first wordpress install today on a server. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts.
sweet!
yup i definitely like it. especially the wide main content area! overall it's simpler, cleaner, and easier to navigate – all great things! *fist bump*
hahahahaha
*FIST BUMP* back at yah. now let's create some controversy!!!!!!!!!!!
oh man don't give away our super-stealth-korean-american-gang-terrorist-sign-code-gesture! or, maybe we are just silly and light-hearted. or just extremely cool and in-the-know. oh it's all too confusing! controversy~!
the peace sign is the universal gang sign of the korean. it means g's up ____________________ down….
puaha.
Late to post but I'm digging the new look. Great work dude.
thanks dude!
Rocking the Slim Fast ™ –> I like!
I'm currently contemplating the purchase of a new domain, possibly switching software (WordPress?!) and re-doing the whole thing. We'll see how motivated I feel the rest of the week…
move toward WP. best thing you'll ever do.
Love the focus on the content. So many sites now have so much going on it simply overshadows the content…which is what drew people to the site in the first place.
Kudos.
that's where i'm headed… thanks for noticing!
Sweet redesign. I like the reduced sidebar and focus on the content and typography.
yeah. trying.
Nice Job John! But how come my browser crashes when I go to this site????
b/c it can't handle the "pure awesomeness"…
otherwise, i dunno…?
Really looks good.
thanks adam… got any suggestions ?
Not really. I am a lousy designer. I tend to only templates and all the stuff you probably would complain about. What I like about this is what most other people have said. It is cleaner looking than your last one. I have a 13 in monitor on my m1330, a 22 in attached monitor and the mini9 and it looks good on all three. Virtually no sides on the mini9. But that is not a standard window size. I also like Chrome and I haven't seen any problems viewing it in Chrome.
very good. i have a mini 9… so i'm always thinking about that too…