Another redesign of the blog
Yeah, I did it yet again. I just can't seem to hit that point where I'm totally satisfied with the way Angry in the Great White North looks and performs. Sometimes when I fiddle with the design I move farther away from that mysterious point. This one, I think, is getting closer. Let me explain some of the changes.
The theme of this redesign is consolidation and simplification. I've studied traffic data from the last few months, including how people interacted with the site, and made a series of changes both is response to way people are using the site, and how I think they would like to use the site.
First, the banner. A bit less imposing than the previous one, using a lighter font and weight. As with everything artistic, the results would throw a graphic designer into catatonic shock, but it's the best I can manage. I've moved the "Angry Beaver" inside of the (now defined) boundary of the banner to help unify the logo with the name.
The top level tabs are gone. Don't make the mistake of thinking I don't like tabs. I think they are a great navigation tool. But the fact is, a blog is not a site that requires a lot of navigation. From the index page to the post page via the permalink, and 98% of the user base is covered. Visitors to a site like Amazon engage in a lot of complex navigation and so require well thought out navigation aids. For a blog though, a few permanent links in a footer is fine for the few people looking for these auxiliary pages. To compensate though, I've moved the monthly archive link list to the a permanent home on all pages on the right rail.
The Blogging Tories get a rail all to their own -- a testament to the size of that blogroll.
With everything else moving to the inner right rail, I had to review all the gadgets and gizmos and decide what would remain and what wouldn't. Again, studying traffic data allowed me to decide which toys lived up to the promise of driving scads of traffic to my site. None did so out they went. That should not be taken as a criticism of these tools. The lack of traffic is just a likely to have to do with the blog. An Amercian blog about teen entertainment news might get a lot of mileage from a gadget that puts up the faces of recent visitors, but a Canadian blog focusing on politics doesn't seem to draw a lot from this sort of eye candy.
The underlying DIV structure is much more rational now. Besides being more efficient, it also gave me an opportunity to hone the site for presentation on mobile browsers, especially those that don't process CSS. Before it was not bad, but now it looks even better, with no fragmented image slices hurting the user experience.
The critical elements of the site are accessible on a browser set for a width of 800 pixels. One in six web surfers use monitors that can't go to a higher resolution than 800x600, so people managing websites need to remember that boundary if they want to maximize accessibility.
The lighter look also results in faster download times. The home page used to take 60 seconds or so to download on a 56k dialup connection. Now it measures a mere 20 seconds. For now that means speedier visits, obviously, but it also means I can consider adding new features to try out, if any catch my eye, since I've got some latitude with download time. But I'm in no rush to do that. For now, I want to refine the new look of the site, gather some feedback, and plan for the next redesign.
Update: Two changes:
- The problem with the shifting right-rails was only partially resolved. It should now work for all pages.
- When I first redesigned the banner, I was playing on the colour white purely as a name for a colour. But the emphasis I put on the word "white" made me wonder if the blog would be seen as some sort of white supremacist site. Was I being paranoid? When one of my long-time readers made the same observation via email, I knew that I had hit the wrong note. So I shifted to altering the colour of the word "white" to white, and nothing more than that. It now alternates with "great" and "north". The emphasis has been moved to the word "angry". I feel more comfortable with that banner.
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Comments
I like it. Simple and clean.
Posted by: ferrethouse at August 25, 2007 11:56 PM
Viewing the re-designed site on my Mac PowerBook G4 with Safari 2.0.4, the stuff that's supposed to be in the right sidebars appears beneath the post, not beside it. Same computer with Firefox 2.0.0.6, however, displays the right sidebars where they're supposed to be.
Otherwise, I think the new look is much superior to its predecessor. Much easier to read and navigate.
Posted by: Scott Gilbreath at August 26, 2007 12:33 AM
I like it, change sometimes is a good thing and agree with the others.
Posted by: badbeta at August 26, 2007 02:54 AM
Thanks Scott. I see where the problem is. I can fix that easily enough.
Posted by: Steve Janke at August 26, 2007 06:45 AM
OK, that's fixed Scott. Give it about 15 minutes to 30 minutes from the time of this comment to propagate the change across all pages. The home page has already been done.
Posted by: Steve Janke at August 26, 2007 06:58 AM
The new look? It is marvelous and very appealing all around.
Well done Steve.
Your blog is very important to us and has a prominent place on our Start Bar.
Keep doing your very important work it is priceless.
Posted by: Jan at August 26, 2007 07:40 AM
Best yet, Steve!
Posted by: Joe Molnar at August 26, 2007 09:06 AM
This is good!
Posted by: Twolane at August 26, 2007 09:50 AM
From the Scribner-Bantam English Dictionary:
Conservative:
1.opposed to change in social and political institutions
Makes us dinosaurs crazy when you do this, Steve. LOL
(actually, it does load a bit faster now -and it's not all that different)
Though I did really like it way back when the whole screen was blue...
Posted by: up north at August 26, 2007 10:53 AM
Looks good.
Loads faster for me.
Posted by: Peter S. at August 26, 2007 11:29 AM
I like it! It's clean, easier to read, and downloads faster. Bravo...keep up the GR-8 work!
Posted by: 'been around the block at August 26, 2007 12:25 PM
Greetings. Your excellent postings are a testiment to your large and loyal traffic. Personally I find this blog very hard to read. There is too much White without enough contrast. It produces glare. If your sidebars were a muted contrasting colour it would make it SO much easier on the eyes.
I read your posts and enjoy them but seldom comment or linger looking for other info because of this. Hope this helps. Cheers.
Posted by: sandra at August 26, 2007 03:03 PM
I forgot to mention that some others now have the option to be notified of other comments on the same posting. It is a great help as many of us don't have the time to keep going back to the site to see what other comments have been added. This way we get the info throught our email. Great way to got dialogue going. Cheers.
Posted by: sandra at August 26, 2007 03:10 PM
I very much enjoy the commentary on this blog, but not the site's setup. The easiest to read sites I visit regularly are Dust My Broom, and Small Dead Animals, maybe you could try their style.
It does load a lot faster now, though.
Posted by: dmorris at August 26, 2007 07:53 PM
Looks good Steve!
Posted by: paul m at August 27, 2007 08:53 AM
Nice redesign and it loads a whole lot faster. Also, the color scheme is much easier on the eyes. I think your on the right track with this design.
Posted by: phil n at August 27, 2007 09:34 AM
Makes us dinosaurs crazy when you do this, Steve.
in fact this ones MAD, oops I might have gone ot but "up north" made say it. I'm just a victim.
Posted by: DrWright at August 27, 2007 11:26 AM
Makes us dinosaurs crazy when you do this, Steve.
In fact this ones MAD, oops I might have gone ot but "up north" made me say it. I'm just a victim here.
Click my URL if you want to know what I'm getting at.
It looks less cluttered,
Ps my dinosaur is gone :(
Posted by: DrWright at August 27, 2007 11:34 AM
REALLY like this redesign Steve!
Posted by: mecheng at August 27, 2007 12:06 PM
Your blog looks great!
And - a bonus - it has substance, too. ;-)
Posted by: Gabby in QC at August 27, 2007 02:21 PM
Looks good, Steve. However, I still have a horizontal scrollbar, for no reason that I can see. Have you got a right margin or pad somewhere that you don't need?
DG
Posted by: Darrell Goodman at August 27, 2007 05:54 PM
*
i see the word "angry" in the banner is now highlighted... did you catch hell for highlighting "white" and decide to change it?
*
Posted by: neo at August 27, 2007 07:27 PM
Yes I did neo. Well, not hell. But when I looked at it, I wondered if I was emphasizing the wrong word. I was just playing on the colour white, but obviously white is more than just a colour. I thought I was being paranoid, and then someone emailed me to say that the emphasis could be misconstrued. Clearly I should have followed by gut, and so I re-did it. And I think it actually looks better!
Darrel, not sure where the scroll bar is coming from. I've looked at the site using a div viewer, and there are no rogue divs that I can find.
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