New Design… Sort Of!
21 November, 2007 - Your Feedback - 14 Comments
I’ve decided that I’m going to ask a professional designer to create my new blog design. Paul happens to be my business partner and he’s offered to do the design at a good rate (very good rate… as in free. :lol:). He’s been producing some awesome work for our Web design clients recently, so I can’t wait to see what he comes up with for the blog. I’ll be sending him a complete spec tomorrow so he knows what he needs to design. I’ll include that spec here and talk a little about what goes in to a piece of work from the perspective of a designer such as Paul.
For now, we play!
While Paul works on the new design, I decided I would take it upon myself to update this current design. The home page has seen the biggest changes. You’ll now notice the four column layout has gone in favour of a much more conservative three columns. I’ve also added several plugins such as recent comments and recent trackbacks, as well as MyBlogLog.
Full RSS Posts
The most significant change is I’m now able to display the full post in your RSS feed. No more teasing paragraphs with a link to read more. You can now read the full post within the comfort of your own reader. I’ll be keeping a close eye on whether or not this change effects the blog. I’ve been blessed with some fantastic reader to comment ratios since I started blogging earlier this year and I have to wonder whether that is because I forced users to visit the site to read the full post. If you start slacking with the comments I might have to get evil and return the paragraph teasers. 
I’ll be adding some more plugins tomorrow which I hope will enhance your experience as much as they will mine. I don’t mean to sound cheesy, but it’s all about you. If you want a plugin, give me a shout with the request. I’ll happily add a plugin at your request if it looks helpful.
I hope you like the new changes. More will be made over the next couple of days and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on how Paul progresses with the design. Maybe we’ll even give you an insight in to what goes on when a new Web site is contracted to a Web development company such as ours. The design process is always fun and interesting. 
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed!
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Posted on 21 November, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
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New designs are always fun…I know my friend has been trying to hunt down a new design for her blog too. It can be such a fun job! Can’t wait to see it!
Looking forward to it. Did you make this initial design or borrow off a template?
I should have said in the post… this one was desinged by Paul too. So if you like this one, hopefully you’ll like the next one he does.
I love this design as it is… but yeah, the home page layout change is a massive improvement and a lot less confusing now - great!
Thanks Mike.
Sorry, another point to make! You mentioned plugins.. have you ever used http://www.last.fm? It’s brilliant and it would be nice to see your 10 most recent listened to tracks displayed around the blog, if you’re into your music :p
I am in to music (mainly an alternative rock guy) but unfortunately my laptop doesn’t take too well to it. For whatever reason, it often freezes when I play music in media player or Winamp. As a result, I use the TV music channels instead.
Hi Mike, I love last.fm too! I hadn’t thought about putting my recent tracks on my blog. I might go and do that.
The changes are good, much easier to see any new posts without having to navigate to your weblof section. What happened to the video blog on the front page?
Thanks Nick.
I decided to get rid of the video blog on the home page. It just couldn’t fit in to the three column layout. You can still see the vlogs by clicking the “Video Blog” link in the menu.
Any new vLogs due soon?
We must push our blogger to work! Heh, just interested - they’re cool and something I don’t see so much.
Possibly, Mike. Possibly.
My only gripe with doing a new vLog right now is the lack of video and sound quality. I’m stuck using my built in laptop webcam and a cheap microphone. I plan to purchase a video camera in the new year.
I guess if people are enjoying them despite the low quality, I should do another one.
Alright, Sir, you now have vLogs firmly in my mind again. I’ll see if I can get some more pumped out soon.
Hi Jamie, I think the recent changes are for the best. Intrigued to see the new design…
I think you have a good amount of comments because you have been getting your name out there (from what I’ve read so far, anyway - as you know, I only started reading recently). Most importantly, you write good content. You wouldn’t get comments if you didn’t!
Thanks for the kind words, Ben.