The site cycles again, and takes a conservative approach
Angry in the Great White North morphs again, and this time tradition wins out over wacky ideas.
As you can see, Angry in the Great White North has been transformed yet again.
Here is a rundown of the changes:
- Much less image intensive. Down to 20 or so image portions from over 90.
- Menu is text-based, not image-based. Not only does this load faster, a search engine spider can now crawl the pages.
- All the pages are implemented except for the custom search engine page. That'll take another day.
- The colour scheme is back to my favourite black-and-white.
- Many of the widget-y elements are now gone. Some may return in the future.
- Main text runs along the left rail so that people with small screens can still see all the content without scrolling sideways.
- Much better behaved across browsers. Tested on Firefox 2+, IE7, and Opera v9.
- Ads are running between the main text and the auxiliary elements (videos, search, etc). Gotta pay the bills.
The overall site plan is a much more traditional blog style. Main index on the front page. Post pages, archive pages, link and blog roll pages. I've learned a lot running through these various re-designs (important stuff for my job) and now I'm satisfied that I can throttle back and take Angry in the Great White North back along a more conservative path.
Bonus: You can read Angry in the Great White North on your Blackberry!
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Comments
Well, it's a start! Yes, I like it a little more than the last try.
Posted by: Dave at March 14, 2007 02:12 AM
Much cleaner and crisper. As well, I didn't care for the posts being contained within a scrolling frame as was the case with the other skin.
Posted by: Len at March 14, 2007 02:22 AM
I like it much better than the previous one.
I was starting to find your blog very hard to navigate and read.
Posted by: Northern BCDipper at March 14, 2007 02:40 AM
I like it much better than the previous one.
I was starting to find your blog very hard to navigate and read.
Posted by: Northern BC Dipper at March 14, 2007 02:40 AM
The navigation in the previous design was too busy. I guess there's a reason why blogs look the way they do.
Posted by: Steve Janke at March 14, 2007 06:34 AM
I agree, looks better than the last incarnation. Only comment is I would prefer to have the ads, stephane video, and the blogroll on the left and have the blog entry/text on the right hand side. Don't know what others think.
Posted by: Jon at March 14, 2007 07:09 AM
Good morning Steve:
I like it ... the font size is a bit small ... but I must give you kudos to the new layout.
One other point..... The comment window right side is overlapping the list of Blogging Tories.
That's all for now .
Way to go
Tom
Posted by: banjotom at March 14, 2007 07:13 AM
A lot cleaner. Might I suggest that all of your advertising be placed down the right side with the blog links below that? It would open up the viewing area and allow for larger font sidplay. Just a suggestion.
Posted by: odie441 at March 14, 2007 07:24 AM
Thanks for the input, Jon. Right now, I have all that stuff on the right in order to allow people who have smaller screens (800x600) to see content without having to scroll sideways at all.
Posted by: Steve Janke at March 14, 2007 08:20 AM
Much better, I must say. However I think it would be more intuitive if the actual content was on the right or center.. with the ad's down the left and perhaps the links down the right, although they could be down the same side as the ads. For some reason having the main content shoved over to the left side if the browser almost makes me feel like I'm reading it "left handed", if that makes sense.
Posted by: The Hammer of Thor at March 14, 2007 08:28 AM
Looks good in Safari! The old-new page was a disaster before...
Posted by: Ken at March 14, 2007 09:15 AM
Way better. Not just better, but waaaay better.
But the font needs to be one size bigger. :)
--
Posted by: Le Politico at March 14, 2007 09:36 AM
agree with le politico that the font should be increased. us blind old farts are going blind. LOL
Posted by: spike at March 14, 2007 09:48 AM
I'm liking it.
Anyone want to place bets on how long until a new format is launched? I almost spit out my coffee every time I click here and see a major redesign.
Posted by: mecheng at March 14, 2007 10:11 AM
Much, much better than the previous. I always thought the old light blue background was better than the most recent incarnaton, but this is better yet.
For those that see the font as small, try holding down the CTRL key while hitting + (to enlarge) or - (to shrink) the text. Works in IE or FF.
Posted by: Twolane at March 14, 2007 10:16 AM
twolane...
thanx for the tip. worked fine here.
Posted by: spike at March 14, 2007 10:23 AM
I agree it looks crisper this way.
Also, your blog's name IS Angry in the Great WHITE North, not the BLUE North. But no matter the packaging, it's the content that's primary. Keep up your good work.
Posted by: Gabby in QC at March 14, 2007 11:22 AM
Here's my vote for the new look.
Posted by: Brian in Calgary at March 14, 2007 11:28 AM
This is way better. I'm in a rural area, on a hamster-powered modem (23k), and it's great to have your site just load right up. Looks better, too.
Posted by: EBD at March 14, 2007 11:43 AM
Thank God. Those small windows with sliders were horrible. But tell me, what's the problem with a regular blog format that is wide or variable based on the USER'S browser window size?
Right now I see my comments (as I type) going into the BlogRoll and out the other side.
In brief, content is great ... layout "needs work ... a.k.a. Simplicity".
Posted by: Erik Sorenson at March 14, 2007 12:34 PM
looking great!
Posted by: Griff at March 14, 2007 12:51 PM
Yes, the last one was an eyesore.
This one? Well, if I can get used to the white winter storm look, I still don't know if I can get used to the blog being pushed to the left like that. I use a high screen resolution, so....
Posted by: Dennis (Second Thoughts) at March 14, 2007 01:07 PM
I like it a lot better. I wasn't coming by as often with the old page, it was too difficult to navigate and the colours were terribly distracting. I would add my vote to increasing the font size.
Good job!
Posted by: Annie at March 14, 2007 01:31 PM
Very nice. Faster & better looking, a good combination!
I have one minor thought on navigation though. I've been using live bookmarks (RSS) in Firefox to go directly to the posts; it would be nice if I could either move back and forth between posts or see a list of recent postings without going back up to your main page.
A note for those wanting larger text size, if you are using Firefox you can simply increase the text size yourself by holding Ctrl & using the scroll wheel or by using the view menu. Unfortunately this isn't working with IE.
Posted by: Denis at March 14, 2007 02:08 PM
Thank You!
Posted by: Slider at March 14, 2007 02:35 PM
Thank God
Posted by: missing link at March 14, 2007 05:18 PM
I have one minor thought on navigation though. I've been using live bookmarks (RSS) in Firefox to go directly to the posts; it would be nice if I could either move back and forth between posts or see a list of recent postings without going back up to your main page.
Nav between posts is coming up. Part of the list of little touches that have to be done to wrap things up.
Posted by: Steve Janke at March 14, 2007 06:02 PM
Absolutely agree about having the text on the right and links and other "stuff" on the left. Don't know why this is but it is just easier to read this way.
Posted by: dubya dubya at March 14, 2007 06:21 PM
When Steve realizes that it's the content of a site, and not its appearance, that determines its quality, he'll stop obsessing and wasting time remaking it every two or three months and just stick to investigating and writing.
That's why I come to this site. I won't waste time commenting on its appearance, because I don't really care about it, and it won't likely look like this for more than a few months anyway. I come here for his writing, and will continue to.
Posted by: Darrell at March 15, 2007 04:14 PM
K.I.S.S. --- Keep It Simple & Speedy .... after all, we all want to visit as many bloggers as possible.
Posted by: Frequent Visitor at March 15, 2007 10:35 PM
Heh. I'll quote Darrell "I won't waste time commenting on its appearance" and say that, i will comment on the appearance, even at the risk of wasting my time (or yours?). It's likely the least i could do, is give honest feedback. I read your site several times a week, daily when the blogosphere is in a huff (which seems to be more often than not these days).
i love the change, both for the visual element, and its renewed spidery goodness (web searching chops).
A little larger text would be fine too. There is always room to tinker.
/viewed on firefox (1074 X 768)
Posted by: Jace Anderson at March 16, 2007 12:11 AM
What a pleasant surprise your new look is, Steve! Much cleaner, clearer, and kinder to the reader. For some reason, I would rather see the lists of other blogs, the ads, etc., on the left-hand side of the screen. But that's a small criticism.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: 'been around the block at March 19, 2007 07:34 PM
Your new look is coming along nicely. Can you please change your style sheet to run a left-hand column for small column stuff, with blog content in the middle column? When the main blog content is hard left (pun), it's hard to read since it's right against the left-hand edge of the monitor. Oh, and increase the font size one size to maybe 12pt as in ?
Otherwise I have to increase font size going into AGWN (I'm old and can't read AGWN even with my glasses on :-) But I still enjoy your website.
Thanks!
Posted by: RJ Burke at March 21, 2007 02:41 AM
 
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