Monday 19 March 2012

Facelift!

After five and a half years, it's time to give the blog a bit of a facelift. This is my first attempt, so what do people think? The white on grey text is something I know some people have issues with, though I like it (and this doesn't give me strobing headaches like a lot of white-on-black text options do). It's fairly easy to change things around though, so if this design is unpopular I can try something else out. Cheers.

UPDATE: Have switched to an easier-to-read interface. The generic background picture will likely get changed but I'm a bit happier with this one.

UPDATE 2: The background picture was too cheesy, so it's gone.

34 comments:

Pete said...

Looks good. Is it coincidence you and Aidan are doing this on the same day?

Adam Whitehead said...

Aidan and the Speculative Scotsman did it earlier today, Pat did it a few weeks ago and I've been planning a change for a while. Together with Blogger switching to a much easier interface, it just seemed the right time.

Anonymous said...

It's not great.

There's plenty of great templates out there though, and worth spending a bit of time browsing those before picking one that suits.

Dadawa said...

The repeating background throws me off.

Bryce L. said...

Looks super sleek and pretty, but it's a bit tough on the eyes. I've gone back and forth myself, but found I don't even like reading my own blog when it's light text on dark background and I'm my biggest fan. :D

Aidan Moher said...

Absolute coincidence, Pete!

Adam Whitehead said...

Looking into those issues. I wanted a background picture I'd taken myself rather than one nabbed from the Interwebs, but the image I've got is a bit small. I'll have to see if I've got a bigger version somewhere.

The light text on dark background is starting to bug me after using it for a while, so will likely switch it around.

RobB said...

I like it quite a bit. Easier on the eyes than the previous version. Actually, reminds me a bit of tweetdeck.

This redesign is better than Aidan's and leaps and bounds better than Pat's.

Gabriele Campbell said...

Yeah, like Bryce, white text on dark background is something my eyes don't like.

Anonymous said...

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan...the old style had something very classic and clean about it, and chunky-ness of the elements, the transparency, etc., in the new one take away from that a bit, for me.

ediFanoB said...

I like your second change. The first one with the light text on dark background was tiresome for me.

Jack Eason said...

Looks OK Adam. I takes a bit of time to get it right. Ultimately, its what you the author the blog likes. :)

Aidan Moher said...

*Shakes fist at RobB*

Anonymous said...

It's a litle bit "heavy" on my computer. don't know if it's the background pictures or if it's because the page is too long because of the review index.

Anonymous said...

It's a litle bit "heavy" on my computer. don't know if it's the background pictures or if it's because the page is too long because of the review index.

Gabriele Campbell said...

Yeah, that one's much easier on my poor ol' eyes.

Heh, I've been blogging for close to 7 years now and never changed the template. Though I've tweaked one of the custom templates back then to make it my own.

Adam Whitehead said...

Yeah, I've noticed that as well. I think the problem is that switching to the upgraded version of Blogger simply increases the load time as there's a lot more it can do. The extended list shouldn't be a problem, as I had it on the last version and it was fine then.

dingo said...

Wow Adam, I have to say that checking your page today for updates was quite the surprise. A good improvement over the old bland site :)

Aidan Moher said...

@Adam — I hid the sidebar using Chrome's developer tools and it sped up the site quite substantially. I'd consider trimming that bad boy down.

Steffen said...

Well, I honestly don't like it. I liked the previous blue and light brown design much better. It seemed warm and well-designed. This new look seems a bit messy and not very styled. Remember the important saying, that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I thought the one before was much warmer, it was cozy, and it was clean. This version looks a bit unproffessional. Sorry, I have to be honest...change back the design.

Michael Heagerty said...

The text I don't mind but I don't like the background.

Elfy said...

A change is as good as a holiday. It'll take me a while to get used to the new look, though.

Don said...

Looks great on my Android phone. Keep up the great work! Your blog is my favorite SFF blog and one of the first sites I browse on the interweb each day.

Unknown said...

Sorry Wert but it's like when you come after a year of uni and find your parents have changed the locks. going to take some getting used to.

Alex said...

Try the simple template, white text, orange headers and a grey background. This one, all you need are the little digger GIFS and it'd be like Geocities never died ;)

Madwand said...

Like the blog (a lot!), dislike the new look; the text box is ok - still easy on the eyes, while the picture is just...well, it's not good. :)

gleizou said...

I don't like it.
The previous one was better, "classier".

Wastrel said...

Don't like it. Looks very Geocities, with a hint of MySpace. The old design was, yes, a little 'bland', but also more professional and serious.

That said, a big part of not liking the new one is the cheesy background art. Although to be honest, any background art in this context is cheesy.

[Some bitterness in this post may be self-directed. Wish I could change my blog but can't find anything acceptable. Why is it so difficult to find themes with the links on the left, where they ought to be? Plus if I change I can't change back because te theme I use isn't available anymore...]

Anonymous said...

If you have a laptop screen with a blue tinge, "glowing blue" gets associates with cheap electronics. But maybe it looks fine with another setup.

Adam Whitehead said...

I remember the worst of the Geocities years. I don't it's 'that' bad. But fair enough, there seems to be a growing consensus that this isn't the way forwards. Maybe if I just got rid of the background image and had a plain black image? Should help with loading as well until I can find the several hours it will take to fix the links.

Alex said...

Update 2 is much better my man :)

Wastrel said...

It looks a lot better without the background, yes. Still don't think it's as good as before, but it's a lot better.

One area I don't like is the lack of distinction around the links, with two columns, one with subsections, all crammed together without borders (plus you need to make it wider because at the moment the words are being broken up by the ends of the lines).

[Oh, and obviously I didn't mean to call to mind the WORST of the Geocities Age. The WORST of geocities is beyond the possibility of human minds to conceive, let alone replicate!]

Gabriele Campbell said...

Wastrel, you could make a copy of the template, save it in Word or whatever you use, and in case you don't like the new thing, go to Edit Template and repost the old one. Just overwrite the whole though, don't try to fiddle with widgets or you'll end up with two messy templates. ;)

Calibandar said...

Honestly Wert, the old style just looked better. I don't think this is a case of not wanting to adjust to something new, the previous version just had a much better colour combination, not bland at all.

Of course, a separate issue is that the page is now heavier on the pc than the old style, which I notice even though I have a brand new pc. Hardly an improvement on that front either, as some have already pointed out.

It'sa the same for the redesign on Pat's site, for what it's worth, it just isn't an improvement. Sort of reminds me of a Windows OS update. Busier, more options that you don't really need, requires more power.