1 November 2005
I was going to hold off til 12 to launch the reboot, but a stomach bug has felled me and I'm going home to bed, so rather than be late, I'm going to be early (for a change).
A few notes about the reboot:
1) I'm not entirely done with it (see above) - the home page and individual entries are (mostly) done. Archives, other static pages and gallery pages will be brought into line shortly.
2) Although it might not look, at first glance, to be much different from the previous design, it actually is. Before it was fixed width for 800x600. Now it's elastic/zoom/whatever it's being called this week. Basically, it's liquid but with min (760px) and max (1300px) width set for the home page and fully liquid for the individual entry pages.
3) There's a reason the navigation is in the centre with bits spread equally either side - I wanted this site to really reflect who I am and what I do, and for the longest time I couldn't reconcile the "words" and "pictures" parts of my personality in terms of my blog and find space for the other nonsense too. I didn't want to weight the blog in favour of words or pictures, so I came up with the idea to balance them out as best as I can.
4) More later. Please do feel free to leave thoughts, feedback, comments, whatever (just keep them polite please) in the comments box. I'll fix any problems when I'm up and about again.
I like it. It's a concept that I haven't seen before, and it seems to work.
I agree with Pete; I haven't seen a layout like this but I think it really works.
I love having the comments at the top of the post and I really like the way the photos are mixed in with the posts on the home page. It makes me want to visit the site, not just read it in my feed reader!
Definately like it. It's the first *really* new layout style I've seen in a while, and boy does it actually work!
The homepage especially is nice.
I like it too - my only slightly negative thought would be that the navigation moves between front page and individual post page.
It'll be an interesting thing to use - I think a central nav column is a novel idea, although it wouldn't be practical in a lot of scenarios.
The front page feels quite "busy" with the way the images and text work around each other, but that could just be the normal human reaction to change. *grin*
Nice piece of work, Pix, and hope you feel better soon!
Eep! YOU WIN!
Lovely lovely lovely. Such ingeniousness.
Only thing I'd suggest is a little more white space, as Lyle mentioned it is a little busy, but that might just be because we're not used to it yet.
Now the REAL question is, as I've tried to split my site by 'post types' a little more, is why didn't I think of doing something like this!!!
Lovely. Like yourself.
Hope yer tummy gets better soon.
It looks really good. I love it!
One observation - the timestamps on the comments seem to be very close to the left-hand edge of the grey panel. If this is intentional, I apologise, but it looks a bit off to me.
Yeah, what Derek said upthread. It's refreshing to see such a different and distinctive layout, and it makes me much more inclined to click on the site proper from Bloglines, to experience the words in their full visual glory. Also, I like the "busy" feel... the minimal look can be overrated. I particularly like the way that the photos fill the space, and keep reaching to scroll left or right, only to realise that's where they stop!
Really nice work, pix.
Very very nice.
Innovative, but in a way that's still actually usable. Which is all too rare :-)
But...
As your lone Opera-based reader (I guess from previous experiences) it doesn't seem right. Opera 8.01 on WinXP here.
In FF, though, it rocks. Nice work indeed.
it'll take some getting used to, but I like it :)
Wow. Thanks a lot for all the feedback, and especially for all the nice things you've said. It really is very much appreciated.
On the whitespace thing, I'm still playing with it, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't too much whitespace which was cramping the content at lower screen sizes.
Pete - thanks for pointing that out, I'll have a check and see what's causing the datestamp to go wonky when the gravatar image isn't there.
Mark - how very, very odd, and once more, that's what I get for not checking it with Opera just before uploading it. I did check it in the early stages and it was fine, but for some reason, Opera seems not to be dealing with the transparent png that I'm using to give a bit of a background to the photo title text. I'll have a check and see if I can sort it. Thanks for pointing it out.
Mike and Lyle - on the whole "busy" thing - well I did say that I wanted the site to reflect my personality and what I'm doing at the moment, and I guess busy is pretty appropriate - my head is full to bursting with stuff and there's so much going on that it's difficult to separate it or categorise it.
Of course, the photos are meant to fill the space but only give you a hint of their full glory, to encourage you to click through and have a look at the full thing :)
Now I just need my stomach to feel better so I can get back to finishing all the untidy bits off.
I feel a bit like I've exited the loos at a posh do with my fabulous designer gown tucked in my knickers and dragging a trail of loo roll behind me!
Ooh, funky! Looks fabulous in widescreen blog-o-vision.
I would have to say this was the most obvious design but no one has ever ever thought about doing it and its done very professionally I think it shows class and taste. I say keep up the good work you just earned yourself a faithful visitor.
If you don't mind would be kind to email me any problems you had with doing this layout that you experienced I am researching usablity and navigation problems but I has awed by this design and wanted to know what if any issues you had.
I really like. Gives alot more prominence to your photos, which can only be a positive thing
It's bee-you-ti-ful... *sigh*
Really, really gorgeous.
Wow.
Second thoughts and clarification.
I don't think you need to change a thing.
And apologies for stealing your far more deserved limelight! Mine is more a "re-work" than a "re-design".
Great concept and wonderful execution! I really love it.
Now good luck finishing off "all the untidy bits" when you feel better.
A very strong, interesting and original layout. Thumbs up from me!
I like the fresher style, and seeing more of your great piccies. What's that you say? Nikon's rule
COR!.
I'm hugely impressed. the classiest thing I've seen in months. don't change a thing (just tell me how you did it!)
can you feel the jealousy eminating through the interwebnetthingy?)
:)
Woah, this is a bit different. Will take me a while to get my head around the two-sided thingy, but I'm easily freaked out at the moment so don't mind me. All in all, two very enthusiastic thumbs up.
I like the new design - in the old version, I always had to shrink the text size, as the first few letters got hidden. Glad you launched early, and hope you get better soon.
Really nice. Fresh, daring and unexpected. Lovely phototography too. I should look into this 'elastic layout' thing :)
I LOVE IT! ^.^
I like! And get well soon :-)
I really like the fluidity. It's harder than it looks and you pulled it off wonderfully. I like the feel, it's very large scale and bold. Great lines, wicked work.
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