Monday, September 25, 2006

New skin - [Updated]

UPDATE: The commenting is up at running (see comment)...leave feedback at your conveniance!


Looking through the sweat in my eyes, I see a blog skin that I am actually nominally happy with. And as the blood rolls off my hands and onto the keyboard, I am reminded that, although I have put myself through the punishing ordeal of creating this template from what amounts to scratch, the comments pages are for some reason non-existent.

I will continue to work on the comments--I really hope it won't take too long. At least I know the past comments still exist because of the link that says the number on each post.

If you would like to leave feedback on this skin (unfinished as it is), please email me. I'd love to have the feedback. Thanks to those who have already shared--some tips of which I'm still working to implement.

Cheers!
<< Home 11 Comments:
Blogger Mark said...

testing testing...

Whoohoo! It's good to go! Sorry for the delay, the template I canabalized had HaloScan commenting installed--the installation of such a platform is done automatically and deletes random code from the original template--Thanks to Beka for loaning her template for code comparisons (not that I asked...) :S

Cheers

5:08 PM, September 26, 2006  
Blogger Crystal said...

Mark,
Here are my thoughts: Sorry if they sound harsh, or negative because I really like it so far, just think I would like it even better with a few more changes!

#1. I LOVE the top photo
#2. I don't really care for the size of the font down the middle column. It's too big. I know mine is too small but there has to be a happy medium somewhere. I think maybe if the font in the middle were a bit smaller some of the other things I am going to suggest might not be such a big deal.
#3. If there is an easy way you could get rid of the links on both sides I would suggest trying to get them all on one side. When you open your blog is just says "BUSY" and it's hard to focus on anything in particular. If you have points that you are trying to make I am afraid they will get lost in the hubbub.
#4. Have you thought about creating separate pages similar to the pages you have for your friends and family links for some of your other link groups? Either that or take some of them off and rotate them through or something. There are just too many and it's over whelming. If you could categorize some of them and put them in pages so that we don't have to scroll so much first of all and second of all it would just make things less overwhelming and more tidy looking.
#5. If you decide to leave things as 3 column have your tried putting the color on the outside columns and leaving the middle one light background and dark font? I think it might look better or at the very least if the font size stays large it would be easier to read. Or at the very least make the font color the same as the outside background or black (like the comments come up). The way it is, I find it hard to read.
#6. Also when you click on the link to e-mail you it doesn't work properly, at least in my e-mail it comes up like this: reimerm3[at]cc[dot]wwu[dot]edu

I might think of something else later but that should give you something to think about. Like I said I am enjoying the change and I am sure you will get it just the way you want it after having given careful consideration to everyone's comments! LOL

5:52 PM, September 26, 2006  
Blogger Crystal said...

humm...very strange...when I just went to open it again all the links on the R. side on the main page are way down at the bottom of the L. side. But in the comment page they are correct and just fine. Think I'll stop trying to look at it for a while since you must be working on it as I type.

5:55 PM, September 26, 2006  
Blogger Mark said...

I'll get back to you on some of those issues...if you see random changes happening, it's because I'm changing things as I write...sorry for the inconsistancy

6:16 PM, September 26, 2006  
Blogger Mark said...

Ok...just a few notes now that I've stopped messing around for now.

One of my main purposes and reasons for creating the new template was to have the two sidebars. That said, I agree that the main problem is business. It's a trade-off for what I feel is the increased options and functionality that the third column gives.

I'll give the font size issue some thought and testing (I haven't even tried anything in that regard.

I agree that my links list is too long. I plan on pairing it down (and/or reorganizing) significantly...for now, this is just all the links I had on the other template.

Part of it is not going to go away because there are more bases that I am trying to cover and I have to accept some of the repracusions of a more complicated site: people who are "blog-surfing" from the average template have to adjust their perspective a bit. A better way of comparing whether this layout is working would be to compare it to other three-column blogs (frankly, I won't be going back to a two in the near future). Here's a few examples of (in my opinion) good three column blogs:

http://misspatriot.blogspot.com/
http://lashawnbarber.com/

Does that make any sense or am I still out there a little? I do agree, less busy is better and the more you can prioritize the information (I should know about that being in Journalism...argh), the better.

6:52 PM, September 26, 2006  
Blogger Cassi said...

arrrggg! I feel so bad now! I totally forgot I was supposed to help you out with this, like, forever ago! I'm SOOOO sorry! plz forgive!

7:43 PM, September 26, 2006  
Blogger Mark said...

cassi: don't worry a bit. Yeah, that was when my time was limited by school so I didn't know if I was going to get it fixed at all.

7:47 PM, September 26, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know much about the set up stuff--the only thing I'd say for sure is that it is hard to read on the brown center column.

I was also trying to see the pics--tried to register in face book--I couldn't see the letters for the word verification. How do I fix that?

1:32 PM, September 27, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with Rachel...It is very difficult to read the print in the center column when the background is brown. Maybe a lighter brown w/darker print...?

9:56 AM, September 29, 2006  
Blogger Mark said...

regarding the background and text: I don't know whether you are talking about the comments or the main text (two very different things). I have been trying to get the whole column to be light text--but nothing seems to work yet. I'll either have to alter the whole color sceme or get some help.

4:56 PM, September 29, 2006  
Blogger hopeful said...

The thing I notice is that it doesn't seem to fit on my screen. It's like the text is running off the edge of my screen on the left (but not on the right). I don't think I've had any other blog do this to me.

6:28 PM, October 05, 2006  

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