Have You Noticed Something New?
November 24, 2007
In my tireless pursuit of a perfect design, I have done another round of changes to my blog’s design.
I’ve been working on the new design over the past couple of days, and this time I’ve not only changed the color scheme, but also changed the positioning of three main columns.
So what’s new?
A real three column layout
My previous design was stuck in between two and three columns. So I have put everything where it belongs: all three columns standing in their own distinct space.
I’ve placed the content column in the center because I want to put emphasis on the content. In my previous design, the sidebar on the right was rather big and was attracting too much attention.
Is this a right move?
A darker color scheme
Before you speculate that I’ve joined the dark side, no I haven’t. I am still a humble Jedi.
Again, because of the darker background color in the sidebar, and dimmed text over it, the eye naturally lands on the center column. And this is where I want to guide your eyes. Thou shalt do as ye is ordered!
Do you like this design better than previous one? Anything else you want to see changed?
P.S. will anyone be interested in using my previous theme?
Update: Since almost no one liked the darker background color, I’ve changed it to light gray. This is the ease of CSS. I just changed a couple of color properties and viola!
Thanks all for your feedback!
17 comments so far and counting
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I’m lovin’ it!
But I also think that the white column in the middle is too bright (because the entire page is black in colour). Yes, my eyes are automatically directed to where you want them to, but after a while, I had to look away.
Naah, age must be catching up with me. DANG.
I like it — great use of CSS to give it a nice graphical look with hardly any graphics. There are a couple things that seemed just a little off to me. One is that the red B of your logo seems too bright, like you over-adjusted the levels in Photoshop. It does not match the color of the B in your favicon. Second, the navbar hover color of yellow isn’t found anywhere else in your design, so the yellow didn’t seem to have a reason to be there, if you know what I mean.
Overall, I like it quite a bit. You’ve done a great job!
Nice theme! I use a 24″ Wide screen with a 1920×1200 resolution, so all websites pretty much fit on my screen. But don’t you feel that the middle column here (where you put your text) is too thin?
Looks good Mohsin. So are you planning on sticking with this theme? I also thought the one you had up a few days ago looked nice.
Mohsin,
I like new design, but I’d second Pelf’s point on the white background standing out a little much. I have one of the new headlight iMacs. My eyes have adjusted, but that background really pops out!
I’d recommend highlighting the search box somehow. I prefer to place them at the top, but that location is going to subscription boxes more and more. I’m sure you struggled with it’s placement…but maybe there is a way place it more prominently without breaking your design.
I like it!
Just a couple of suggestions:
1. The white is almost to bright with the darker side background. After a few minutes, it really glares at you. Maybe try a #efefef or other really light gray color.
2. I would move the search feature right up under the subscribe RSS on the right. It gets lost at the bottom of the right column. This would make it easier to find, and therefore use.
3. I would suggest moving all of the social bookmarks to one spot, preferably the bottom of the article, so as to make it easier and more suggestible to use them.
Hope these help, but the new design is very sleek and clean looking! Good job!
Pelf, thanks and fixed!
Michael, sorry the yellow color had come through from the last design.
I’ll fix the logo color. Thanks for reminding.
Steven, I hope so. I seriously need to stick with this one.
Aaron, thanks, I’ve changed the background to a lighter color. Looks better now?
Elliot, 1) Fixed!
2) Well, I guess if somebody is so desperate that they need to search something, they’ll find it after a bit of search.
3) Hmm.. I was thinking of that too. But I had practical benefit of moving the del.icio.us button to the top. One of my earlier posts was stuck on del.icio.us popular page, but as soon as moved the button to the top, the saves started coming in huge numbers and soon the post was on del.icio.us front page!
But I guess I’ll move the digg button to the bottom.
Mohsin, I liked the darker columns. I’d prefer to see the center column’s background darkened.
Aaron, nah.. That’d be disastrous for readability, don;t you think? I’ve always advised others not to use dark background color in the main content area. How can I go against my own advice? ^_^
Ahh, but if you switch be to #000 text, you’ll have the same amount of contrast between the text and background.
My site breaks with that usability rule, but I’d still be interested in any comments you might have. I’ve got an open thread on the Authority Blogger Forum.
Moshin,
Looks better and easier on the eyes! I guess you are right about searching for the search feature.
Interesting thoughts about putting the buttons for delicious, etc at the top of the page…something to consider trying myself!
Robert, yes it’s rather thin, but that’s how much space I can give it with all other columns taking up the space as well.
Aaron, white text on black background hurts the eyes. If you look at a black web page with white text on it for a while, and then look away, you’ll be hard put to concentrate on anything else.
Check out this post by Roger Johansson to read more on this issue.
Looks good for clear and unobstructive reading
By the picture the new design is really looking nice. Any color looks great with a combination with white.
I like the new look but where’s the big “B” ? It’s what always reminds me of bloggingbits.