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orion_joel
09-27-2009, 08:18 PM
Hi All,

I have recently made a change to the theme that i am using on my blog, and would like some thoughts on it.

Ths blog is www.joelbrown.id.au (http://www.joelbrown.id.au), Using Wordpress i have added the theme iBlog, it is pretty much the standard for the theme, and while it is clean, simple and i like it there may be some small changes i could make, and would appreciate any suggestions

vangogh
09-28-2009, 11:47 AM
Definitely inspired by the Apple site design, which I like. The one thing that stands out to me is a lack of color. A couple of places you could easily add color are to the calendar icons and your logo. Also when writing posts look to add some images in them.

Otherwise it's a nice clean design. It just needs more color.

orion_joel
09-28-2009, 08:50 PM
Thanks for the tips, i had the same feeling about the colour. and will be looking to add some.

Also i do agree on the images, and for a few of my recent posts, i have gone looking at the stock photo sites to try and finds something to work into the posts, however have had little success finding anything that i really think connects to the topic, and as such have so far opted for no images. The biggest issue here is that i see in my mind a idea for an image and then cannot find anything that i think comes close, and just end up giving up on the image. Will have to try and get a little less picky.

vangogh
09-29-2009, 12:16 AM
Grab a plugin called Photo Dropper. It searches Flickr for creative commons licensed images. You can search right inside your post and add the image with a click. All the code is written by the plugin.

I use it all the time to add images to my posts. When I'm about ready to publish I look for where I think an image would look good and look to the words near that spot and search for something related to the text.

When you're inserting an image the code will go wherever your cursor is in the post so set the cursor first and then insert the image. I usually check the image at Flickr first to see the different sizes. The first icon in the image search results takes you to Flicker. Often I want a different size for the image than what's available so I add width and height values into the code.

Paper Shredder Clay
09-29-2009, 12:54 PM
I don't know if you know how to edit the theme or not, but if you do I think it would be nice for each side of the content to have a shadow to pull it off of the background. The style is nice, and I love simplicity but I think its missing something to draw it off. Adding one color one place might do that. Sometimes when I use just grays and whites, I use one color in a button or something to add more humph to it.


Hi All,

I have recently made a change to the theme that i am using on my blog, and would like some thoughts on it.

Ths blog is www.joelbrown.id.au (http://www.joelbrown.id.au), Using Wordpress i have added the theme iBlog, it is pretty much the standard for the theme, and while it is clean, simple and i like it there may be some small changes i could make, and would appreciate any suggestions

KristineS
09-29-2009, 01:53 PM
I'm with Vangogh, needs some color and an occasional picture. It's a nice clean theme and it does center on the text, but it's a little bland right now. Add a little color and spice to it, and I think it will be great.

orion_joel
09-30-2009, 09:37 PM
Good Feedback thank-you, everything for me is usually a constant work in progress. I have added a colour the the Post Date, a little Red.

Also I am working on the suggestion to try and lift it a little i have managed to get the border down the left hand side to break the grey and white , however having some trouble working out the correct placement for the right hand side? Theme says 940px for the width but does not seem to show when i go with that a little testing required i think.

vangogh
10-01-2009, 02:58 AM
Even the little bit of color in the calendar helps a lot. The next thing I would work on is the headings. Try and introduce a little color in those. Visit a site like the color wizard (http://www.colorsontheweb.com/thecolorwizard.asp) (it's at the bottom of the page) and enter the red you used in the calendar where you see the input for the hex color. Set that color and then at the bottom click on the different types of color schemes.

Then use one of the colors you get as your h1 and another as your h2 or maybe as the headings in the sidebar.

Did you install the Photo Dropper plugin? It really is a very easy way to find and add images to posts.

orion_joel
10-01-2009, 12:21 PM
Will take a look in the morning, a the colour Wizard. And start working on some more colour.

I have installed the Photo Dropper plugin ,but still not working out to well on the images side, still struggling with finding images that i think fit the theme of the posts i want to put them on. Have found one picture that will work with the post i am going to publish tomorrow, but was a stock photo i found and made a little modification and fits the post well i think.

KristineS
10-01-2009, 01:03 PM
I like the little bit of added color. It draws the eye. I do agree with Vangogh that turning the headlines a color might be a good idea as well.

orion_joel
10-01-2009, 10:01 PM
Ok, I played a little with the post headings and data. I never knew how much trial and error there was really in finding what changes what. Probably will get more used to it as i work with the theme more though.

Additionally have made a change to the headings in the sidebar, with a blue gradient, and post data under the post title is now the same red as the darker colour in the calendar icon.

Finally when you visit now you may notice that there is a new post, and that this post has a picture. First one with a picture on this blog i think, will have to work to keep it up now. As i think the picture does help to make some difference.

Also the Colour wizard is a good tool, however i think i might be changing my calendar icon to get a colour that works with colours i like. Because the colours that work with that red are terrible, really, or more so not colours that i would want to use.

vangogh
10-02-2009, 02:59 AM
Again the splashes of color are really improving things. It's looking better and better. You don't have to add a lot of color to make the overall design colorful. A few splashes in the right places can have a huge impact.

The image in the first post adds a lot too. I do like Photo Dropper, though sometimes you do have to get creative in how you search for images. If the plugin doesn't work for you, find some other way to incorporate images into posts. They make a big difference.

You can also add more whitespace into posts. Instead of one paragraph after another, use a heading after every few paragraphs and add some lists. The lists add a lot of whitespace and make the flow of space more interesting in your posts.

orion_joel
10-11-2009, 10:03 AM
Ok, this is i know counter intuitive, however i have made another change to the design, which with any luck will be the last for a long time to come.

The theme that i choose was the Who's Who Theme from Elegant Theme's. It does what i want and i am quite pleased with the look. I have plans for two other theme's from Elegant Theme's as well for two other sites. All of the theme's look good, just not all serviceable in all cases.

Harold Mansfield
10-11-2009, 01:59 PM
Just a few nit picks...I am not a big fan of the tags displayed any more. I don't know why, for some reason it just looks like they don't belong..that is just a personal thing with me.

I think you should go ahead and fill out your Authors box with a short bio and a link to your business website and place it top of the sidebar. I know you have an "About" page..nothing wrong with a teaser on the home page and direct them to find out more about you on the "About" page. Also it will let you remove that lone page listing that looks out of place by itself.

I would also remove the subscribers box, or at least the numbers until you have something to show..it is a hindrance to getting people to actually subscribe...it makes it look as if no one else finds your blog interesting. Personally, I would wipe out everything in that box (you don't need 4 subscribe buttons) and replace them with a nice set of matching "Linked In", "Facebook", "Twitter", and "RSS"icons.

Also, it seems that your theme places default thumbnails at the beginning of the post, you should take notice of that , and avoid placing additional images, or a duplicate image in the same spot. It is pushing your text too far and wasting space. If you already have that thumbnail, you can use little text decoration tricks to further give your posts some style without using the same image over again such as breaking up text into smaller paragraphs, bold important points, block quotes, lists, headings, and so on.

If you still insert images into the posts, you need to resize them..they are waayy too big and are taking away from your content, and make use of your image padding and borders so that you text is not slammed against the images.

I am also not a big fan of the duplicate share icons..if you already have a "Tweet This" button listed with your sociable icons, you don't need another one ("Twitter This") right below it.

Also, I'm sure that you know you still have the "elegant themes" and "wordpress" links in your footer..I would probably ditch those as well unless one is an affiliate link.

These are all little things, but added up (to me) they take away from the overall impression of the blog.

A few last things:
If I were making any custom changes on this design, I would probably change the color of the post headlines to black, there is a lot of blue text on the home page and it kind of all blends in together. I think it will fit well since the post text is grey and not black.

I would also ditch 2 posts from the "recent Posts" section to bring up the other post categories and give the overall layout a little more symmetry.
On your category headers, that text looks smaller than your menu text, if there as a way to make that larger, I would..and you should add the word "post" on those headers...right now they say "recent from business growth", I would just make them say "recent posts from business growth".

I know that's lot of stuff, but it is the the first few things I noticed when I looked. I hope it doesn't come off as too nit picky, but I think it's a nice theme, it just needs a little personalization.

orion_joel
10-11-2009, 09:14 PM
No not to nit picky. I had almost finished my reply, but hit backspace at the wrong time and lost it but i will try and remember it all

For the tags, do you mean the tag cloud in the sidebar. If so that is a not so sure, if i should have it or not. Just thinking it through at the moment, will probably take it out though.

The images is something that i am working on, at the moment some are from Flickr with Creative Common's and need an attribution which at the moment i have been including with the image in the post. However what i may do is look for a way to include the attribution in the autor and category info area. Or what would be preferable is use all my own photo's or buy royalty free stock photo's. Just thinking a little cost conscious at the moment.

The text is something i am looking to change, i personally do not like reading grey text, and would prefer the post text to be black. Or at least a darker Grey then it is now. Going to try a few things in this area though.

Will also make the considerations about the Social media buttons now that the Share button is at the top i may be able to remove all from further down, or just leave the share this at the bottom and the one at the top.

Finally the Elegant theme's link at the bottom i am going to change to an affiliate link, I think, or remove it. Not sure which at this point.

Thank-you for your in depth overview, i will be looking into all the areas you mention, and hopefully within a week or two have everything setup and looking just right. Then be able to get on with the writing and forget about the design side of at least this blog for the time being.

orion_joel
10-11-2009, 09:34 PM
Actually a quick after though, what do you mean by author box? Is it a widget, or do i just set up a plain text widget? Or maybe a plugin, this i think is a good idea.

Harold Mansfield
10-11-2009, 10:20 PM
Actually a quick after though, what do you mean by author box? Is it a widget, or do i just set up a plain text widget? Or maybe a plugin, this i think is a good idea.

You can do it both ways. You can set it up in a text box with some basic HTML to justify and add padding to your photo, and then go ahead with the short bio and links.
There are plenty of Authors box plug ins, although I have never found one that really works the way I like, so I'm not going to suggest one.

Another way to "cheat it" is to find the authors box code in your template. A lot of themes have it. It should look something like this, but if your theme has one, it may not be exactly the same:


<div class="auth-bio clearfix">
<p class="bio">
<?php // this is the author photo pulled from gravatar.com
if (function_exists('get_avatar')) {
$gravsize = $wp_smooth_grav_size;
$author_email = get_the_author_email();
echo get_avatar($author_email,$size="$gravsize");
} else {
//alternate gravatar code for < 2.5
$gravsize = $wp_smooth_grav_size;
$md5 = md5( $email=get_the_author_email() );
echo "<img class='avatar' src='http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=$md5&amp;size=$gravsize' alt='' />";
} ?>
<strong><?php _e(""); ?></strong><?php the_author_description(); ?></p>


You can place that in a text box and just label it "About Me" (or whatever), and it will display your user information that you have set up via your dashboard under "users", including your Gravatar (http://en.gravatar.com/) if you have one set up.

If you just do it with HTML, you can use a little text decorating like put it in a text box to make it stand out a little more, even shade the box a little to really make it stand out.

Here is some sample code for a shaded text box area (blue):


<div style="border: 1px solid grey; padding: 10px; width: 150px; height: 100px; background-color: #429ede;"><span style="color: #ffffff;"><strong>xxxxxxxxxxxxx<p>
<address style="padding-left: 1px;">xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<br><strong>xxxxxxxxxxxxx<p>
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
</address></span></strong></div>
You can use that as a template and just change your dimensions, background and text colors. You don't necessarily need this part <address style="padding-left: 1px;">, it's just a slight indentation.
You would of course have to size and add any images that you want in there.

It's those little things that aren't always a part of a theme, and frankly take more time to construct than installing or setting the theme up, that make a big difference in the look of the whole thing.
Many times a few custom changes or edits like that, custom buttons and icons, and other stuff that will make a theme look completely different than it did when you installed it and give you the personalization that you need so that no matter how many people use the same theme, none of them will ever look just like yours.

The big thing is to get the look that you want. I can make suggestions all day long, but that doesn't meant that it's what you want for your blog, so take what I say with a grain of salt...just suggestions

Harold Mansfield
10-12-2009, 02:18 PM
Sorry, I didn't address you other questions:



For the tags, do you mean the tag cloud in the sidebar. If so that is a not so sure, if i should have it or not. Just thinking it through at the moment, will probably take it out though.


The tag thing is a personal opinion. I just think that they are wasted space. Not using them, just displaying them. I don't think people really use them as a reference once they are already on the blog. I'm not sure many "regular" people even know what they are for. I can think many different things to put in that area that will get more miles than a tag box....I see you have ads on your blog..I would much rather put an ad there, than waste such a large area. Just my option, I don't believe in wasting, or filling space.



Will also make the considerations about the Social media buttons now that the Share button is at the top i may be able to remove all from further down, or just leave the share this at the bottom and the one at the top.


Well right now at the end of your posts, you have the "Share" button, Sociable Icons, and a "Twitter this" button. All of those do the same thing.

I know some blogs like Mashable has Social bookmarking buttons, and toolbars popping up everywhere..actually most of the content is "Share This", and "Bookmark This" all over the place, but it is overkill.
If you want to add options there, at least place something different yet functional like "Print This", or "Email this to a friend".

The biggest stand out to me is the waste of space with all the RSS options. I think it's too many and that space (which is one of the most looked at areas of the page) can be used more effectively and if you have Social media pages, that would be a good place to display them....get more out of the space other than just a bunch of RSS options....that can be done with one link.

orion_joel
10-12-2009, 07:44 PM
Ok thanks eborg, will get onto these.

I agree with the TAGS, i quickly relised i had a lot of tags for one or two main words, and most of the others just blend in together.

I have fixed for the most part the social media links. I have left the Share button which is part of the theme at the top, and just to Sociable option at the bottom. I think that people are more likely to click straight on a small icon of their favorite social network then a share button (even though that is what it is at the time) But also having it at the beginning and end cannot hurt to much.

Just need to find some Social Icons to use where the RSS currently is. Coincidently, since having that there i have gained one reader, however do agree that showing i have 1 is probably worse then showing nothing at all.

Harold Mansfield
10-12-2009, 09:43 PM
Ok thanks eborg, will get onto these.

I agree with the TAGS, i quickly relised i had a lot of tags for one or two main words, and most of the others just blend in together.

I have fixed for the most part the social media links. I have left the Share button which is part of the theme at the top, and just to Sociable option at the bottom. I think that people are more likely to click straight on a small icon of their favorite social network then a share button (even though that is what it is at the time) But also having it at the beginning and end cannot hurt to much.

Just need to find some Social Icons to use where the RSS currently is. Coincidently, since having that there i have gained one reader, however do agree that showing i have 1 is probably worse then showing nothing at all.
Just search "Free Social Media Icons" or something like that, and they are everywhere, many under CC. You will probably have to resize them, but that's easy to do.