Opened my Big Fat Mouth
I opened my big fat mouth and asked someone to review my blog for style. In his acerbic but accurate way, he suggested things to do.
They included removing stuff from the sidebar and footer thingy like the calendar and the tag cloud, didn’t like centered sidebar with bullet points (neither did I). He made fun of my template likening it to something produced in Microsoft Works and the color scheme didn’t agree with him either (said the green was like the chlorine cloud above Bophal when the Union Carbide plant blew up) , but I rather LIKE this template and the color scheme is pleasing to me, so I doubt I’ll change those anytime soon (of course that all depends on if I find a template that really rocks my socks). He made fun of my header saying it looked like vomit from Puff the Magic Dragon (close! It was a starfish actually — that’s probably as close to Puff vomit as anyone could possibly find!). He also pointed out that the header didn’t say anything about my site.
So, it looks a little different around here. I’m not sure I’m in love with my new header, but it is more relevant. I like the eye and the url reflected in it, but not sure I like the background color I chose. I’ll probably keep tinkering with that. I kept the template and colors — I like the real estate this one provides for content and it provides simple enough tweaking of sidebar items and footer items to be idiot proof — since I know next to nothing about PHP, that’s a good thing.
I guess it was messing with the header that got the creative juices flowing and since Sam was generous and unstinting to me with the review, I wanted to be generous to some other person (pass it forward?) by sharing one of my small talents which got the EC card or blog header offer going below.
So, what do YOU think of the changes? Agree with them? Disagree with them? What else should I do to encourage readership and make it easier for you to navigate around? Here I go again — opening my big fat mouth! Will I never learn???
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Tags: changes, color scheme, footers, graphics, headers, revised site, tag cloud, WordPress template
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February 26th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I like the header.
I just wish the background was lighter or something else was done to make the text more legible.
I also agree with you about the color of the sidebar. I like it. However, you might not want to take that as too strong as a recommendation. Back when I was programming, they never let me choose the colors of the UI (something about seizures….).
Jeff Miller’s last blog post..FREE Internet Marketing Seminar For Real Estate Professionals
February 26th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I don’t remember what it looked like before, but I do like your header - how it reflects in the eye and the font (and background in the font) chosen.. sidebar color is nice, imo… I prefer reading text on light background (yours is)… layout is nice.. navigation is easy. The only thing that seems off to me is the green at the top and the rest of the site is in blues.. this only seems off to me because my eye seems to be trained to ignore the topbar on some sites (like blogger).. since the color is different, I didn’t really notice the top. It doesn’t look bad, it just melts away, sort of. Maybe you could incorporate both the blue and the green somehow in the background where the blue is… maybe add a light design to the blue, or do stripes.. or, if do nothing at all, because honestly it does not look bad at all.
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February 26th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
The header Jeff is referring to was a plum colored background with navy letters — matched the darker colors of the old template.
The one Judi is referring to is one I made after Jeff’s comment about lightening it up. I made a header out of the navy and lighter green ported into a gradient (again from the old template) and added a texture to it. Kept the eye, but changed the font face and color of the text.
What you see now is a brand new template that I found this evening. It still gives lots of room for content, but has the widget ready sidebar that holds all the things I need in it. I’ve left it pretty clean and am thinking of removing the Joe Tech slots. Those were fun for awhile, but it’s old news now and I never won more than one or two credits. I’m thinking someone might want to actually pay me something to be featured there since it’s just barely below the fold.
Thanks for all the feedback, guys! You’re the greatest!
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February 27th, 2008 at 6:14 am
I also don’t exactly remember your previous template but I know it wasn’t that bad. Really. This one is cool too. Keep up the good work.
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February 27th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I have to do this on authority of asking for a critique.. been looking for some assistance, but it’s not happening thus far! I love your entrecard widget it is great!
Susie’s last blog post..Mama, I’m coming home
February 27th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Your last layout didn’t offend me, but I like the new header, and the current style you have is nice and clear and legible.
Blogs have a way of evolving anyway, there is no rush to make any more changes I think.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I cannot say that I like the header. the image is overpowering. The sidebar could have been made wider - this would have allowed for better arrangement of ads.
Also, what is Meta doing at the bottom left of the blog? I am using Firefox
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February 28th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I think it looks very nice now. You have to do what “you” like.
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February 28th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
I liked your previous header actually. I guess I like vomit then. O.O
Really it’s great to get help, but there was no need for him to be quite so snarky about it.
I like the new look you’ve got going right now, the header is cute and fits your blog’s name.
One thing, your Top Commenters irks me. It’s a bulleted header on the sidebar, but none of the other headers are in that style so it looks odd. Other than that, it looks good.
Joana’s last blog post..BTT: Heroine
February 29th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I wouldn’t have used the starfish if I hadn’t thought it was pretty, but there you have it, pretty isn’t RELEVANT!
As for top commenters being bulleted differently — that’s the plug in. I need someone who knows how to alter those things to help me out with that — I hadn’t noticed it until you said something about it
ICK! Now I have something icky on my blog — wahhhhhh!
February 29th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I think your template looks fine. Templates are very much a matter of personal taste. I think as long as its not some abomination of puke inducing colours, and/or hugely cluttered (usually caused by overdoing the ads), and you’re happy with it, its a good template.
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