(ctrl+F5.) Wow, I'm just shocked to see that Internet Explorer handles my CSS pretty well! Not that it is really complicated, but I always manage to break something badly. Ok, so Internet Explorer doesn't support the background image on the root element, but for the rest it is pretty good, no?
Now I know I'm not really a designer and Arthur didn't have any time to create something new (the last one was horrible) so I tried myself. Do you like the result?
(A screen shot of the previous "layout" is available!)
Actually, IE handles background images on the root element 'perfectly well' -- it's the PNG image in Index Color mode it's having difficulties with.
The same image in GIF (which is always in Indexed Color mode) or PNG in RGB mode would work 'just fine' (not saying you should, by any means... just saying it does).
Orders of magnitude better than the previous design. Indeed, I considered the previous design to be just a temporary lash-up while you got used to WordPress.
I liked the design with orange and black (although it was buggy in some ways), but this design is still as empty as your previous layout.
The font is probably a little small and I not quite sure what all those ~ ~ ~ are doing it is supposed to be some form of ripple effect?
A little too brilliant white for my eyes
It looks pretty nice. Nothing fancy, but hey, content is king. The font could be a tad bigger though.
Well yes, now we're getting somewhere. It still needs some work, but much nicer already! Keep up the good work! And maybe I should do a redesign of stijlstek as well - I've been thinking about it...
The new design is incomprehensibly much nicer then the previous one, but I have to agree with Jerome that the black and orange one was a bit more refreshing. I too, as Robert Wellock, think the font is a little too small, and that the white background is a little too much.. Uhm.. White.
Besides from that, the new design is good.
I like it. But why won't the site open at all in Opera? I have tried 7.5 Preview 4 and Beta 1. It loads the graphics (showing the background squiggle) then stalls.
You might also want to read my latest article, which mentions this site!
BTW, how about making that squiggle a genuine character rather than an image?
Worse, on the third try with Opera, it crashes! (On both versions I tried! Agh!)
A lot better than the previous layout, although that doesn't say much, does it? ;)
I like the sinus shaped logo (if it is a logo), and the rippled wave graphic, and how they connect metaphorically.
Is there a reason behind your choice? (beyond the obvious connotation that you're striving for perfection? :)
I don't think the placement of the header text in the graphic is optimal though, and the same goes for the fixed position of the logo, which now sits at the bottom right corner.
The logo placement is the most unconventional of the two (the header text is just misaligned), which is probably why I find it more annoying than anything else (such as "brand strengthening", etc, dependig on what you want it to be).
I've seen this done on other sites, mostly weblogs, and it just feels wrong.
I don't have any scientific results to prove it, but I recall having read a study that concluded that the "best" placement was in the upper left, followed by the upper right corner. Not sure how or what they measured as good though.
Regardless of which, I'd like to suggest a name change...
...dramatic pause...
...if you drop the "Weblog about" part, you'll not only have a shorter, better sounding name, but the text will also fit nicely into the empty space in the middle of the wave graphic.
As for whitespace, well, there is a lot of it... :)
I'd even say there's too much, and I'm a hardcore minimalist. Of course, the tricky part is knowing what to fill it with...
You're definitely on the right track though.
Keep us posted.
P.S. You really need to include markup guidelines somwhere near the comment form (I shouldn't be required to follow a link just to find out that I need to mark up my comment text), or I am afraid your error messages will do more harm than good.
Well done, Anne!
(Although I probably would have missed it if you hadn't added the Ctrl+F5 part. LOL.)
Unlike Lars, I like the header text placement and the placement of the logo. Purely subjective, of course. I also like the whitespace, but as Robert said, it may be a tad too white. With a good TFT display, I almost need sunglasses. :)
Interesting content and a nice design … what more could one ask from a weblog? Keep up the good work!
Just a thought: when I hit 'preview' I have to scroll down to find my comment preview. It would be nicer if that was at the top of the screen when the page has loaded.
I actually like this quite much. The font is just right for me. I like the amount of whitespace (big fan of it myself). And although I can see how the bright white might be a bit much for some people, it doesn't bother me. I also like the logo thingie in the "wrong" corner.
What I don't particularly like is the colour scheme - the reddish pink just doesn't do it for me. But that is probably a matter of taste. Also I think it would be nice to have the title in the graphic function as a link to the home page, as many people would expect. And indeed it would be good to jump to the comment preview when one hits Preview.
Chris Hester: I use Opera 7.5b1, and it works brilliantly here. No problems at all.
Same again tonight. The site never loads fully (although 5 out of 5 images do, along with the HTML). I hit stop, then reload, which is when Opera 7.50 P4 and B1 both crash.
Since the site validates, I have submitted it as a bug to the folks at Opera.
Wilde niet te snel zijn met mijn oordeel, daarom een wat lare reactie van mij. :)
Het eerste wat mij opvalt is dat er minder structuur aanwezig is. Ik kan de verschillende elementen niet goed van elkaar scheiden omdat ze zo op elkaar lijken. De tekst kan zeker wat groter.
Het menu is ook helemaal verdwenen; opgelost in de rest van de pagina.
De ~ in de rechterhoek vind ik wel wat hebben. Beetje aan het 'rebranden'? ;) Ik vind het een goed idee.
Wat ik zou doen: laat het menu wat duidelijker naar voren komen. De headers van de entries kunnen wel een wat grotere tekstgrootte gebruiken, zodat je gelijk weet wanneer een nieuwe entry begint en waar hij over gaat. Daarnaast kan er nog wel een kleur doorheen, om de verschillende delen te scheiden.
Wat ik eigenlijk wil zeggen is dat het een goed design is, alleen kan er wat aan de persoonlijkheid gedaan worden. :)
