Been working on a new theme, which you see before you. I still have some work to do on it, so I’d appreciate any comments pointing to how it can be improved and what not.
The plugins for the drop-down menus are from Typeby.com.
UPDATE: Replaced the Buddha with a line drawing. Looks better, IMHO. Oh, and in case you’re curious, that’s the drum pavilion from Baegyang Temple.
61 Comments
It looks really good, but a bit too minimalist. Needs a banner with some color and art to balance out the half of screen that is blank when you scroll down the page. The side bar is really nice. Where is the hit counter?
Looks clean at first, but when you scroll down you lose the balance that the art provides up top.
Other than that it looks great
I like it — but I think the picture is too big. I find the new links system less user friendly than before as well. The white space is generally good, but another color somewhere might help.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by “more user friendly,” but I just fixed the drop-down links so they open in a new window.
Reminds me of my theme. Only much, much better-looking.
Good job!
That is also my main complaint with the new layout, if there are too many comments, even more than 10 as I mentioned in my response in the last post, the balance of the page is thrown off because the right half of the screen is only white space. Oh also I should inform you that you may want to remove brainysmurf from your Asia Blog’s menu, hes stopped blogging months ago and the link of yours is dead. I’m not sure which other links no longer work, so you may want to try them out.
In addition to what Jing said, I just noticed that the right sidebar flows over the footer in Firefox on my Mac. Not sure if you get the same thing in IE, but it might require a little code change.
I like the drop menus better than the previous long list. However, I agree that it leaves too much blank space once you scroll down, and since your comments sections often have lively debates, I do tend to scroll down to posts from days ago to keep up with the discussion —- so I would notice the blank space.
I also liked the header images on yours and other blogs that present a nice image and the blog’s name or theme running across the top.
Maybe adding something in a column to the left would make it more eye appealing — centering the texts section and taking away some the white effect.
But, I like it as it is just fine too. I come for the content rather than presentation…
With your new drop-down menus, it’s impossible to use one’s middle button to open multiple links in tabs like before. Now each time you click, links open in a whole new window, which is very inconvenient.
The redesign is nice and clean, although I liked your old layout too. On this one, I feel like a delicate splash of horizontal colour (blue?) somewhere at the top might be nice. To me, the header looks a little too much like a Word doc at the moment.
Another very minor thing - Opera 8 seems to want to chop off the very top of Buddha’s head. Strange, but no big deal.
Looking good, Robert. Do you have trackbacks enabled yet? I was going to trackback to this post but I got an error when I clicked on the Trackback URL link.
And my offer still stands…LOL…
Oops…either I screwed up the link in my last comment, or something’s up with html coding.
if there are too many comments, even more than 10
gee, it’s not like you get hundreds of posts for one topic…
safari (for macintosh) also cuts off a little of buddha’s head.
overall, i like the minimalism, but it would be nice to have something (something subtle) to separate the comments. from a style point of view, drop the period after the numbers (for each post) and put them in a bold sans-serif font, leaving the text in regular serif font like now.
and is it just my browser or do all the names of linked posters appear in RED? oh, the cultural faux-pas horror!
I always enjoy the ways you keep tweaking your blog. It’s not really necessary (in my humble opinion) but fun to see some new images and layouts. Where do you find the time?
It’s looking good, Marmot! Here are a few thoughts:
From a user’s perspective, an alternating pattern of backgrounds (shaded/non-shaded, as you had before) makes it a lot easier to find particular posts, and to read them in general, and made the posts more individual. Also, changing the current page color (part or all) from white might make it easier to read.
In terms of placement, if the text isn’t centered, then balancing the page with some sort of background image would look nice.
I like the ‘artifact’ idea - you’ve got some really nice images
Also, the menus are nice as they are now…
I like it. It’s really tidy and well laid out.
You need a nicer title picture than simply a large font.
There is too much unbroken white throughout the whole thing. Break it up some more or try some off white colors.
The artifact pictures are also too big and not aesthetically pleasing (though that’s probably just me)
But the actual content of the blog is what matters (especially in the era of RSS) and that remains great
Like watching the secreatary change her wardrobe thuought the year-change is always refreshing. While I liked the old format, the new one is nice too although I suppose if I had my druthers I would add a little color here and there to srpuce things up a bit.
Keep it up.
Really nice, like the home page of a museum site (that’s a compliment). I would just make the blog title a few points bigger and in a slightly more swank font like garamond, but it’s got a nice “land of the morning calm” spareness to it, unlike your comments section, hahaha…
Hi, marmot:
Is there any way to see all (not just the 10 most) recent comments? There are so many threads that people post comments to, it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on sometimes…. (I am being somewhat selfish here: I posted a couple of replies to archived threads that probably no one’s noticed because the the original threads are too old…
.)
The design is nice, but there is more to be concerned with, given your artistic choice. Knowing that you pride yourself to be a conservative, I trust that this ????????????? image will not simply be a commodity to enhance your style, but a constant reminder guiding the purpose behind your tasks here at the marmot’s hole. May your every word here be filled with the spirt of that image, such that it purveys the ideals of the bodhisattva path. ???????~ ????????????.
Well, I like the artefactual images. The top needs something else–a horizontal line and some color. I think that drop downs are neat–but there are too many of them. Using a drop-down to access a blog is very inconvenient, and, I think, discourages users from visiting those blogs.
Of course - it looks good. But, enough already. Marmot is my favorite blog. Give it some stability. Create some other bs blog to satisfy your restless creativity.
I like the black-and-white pencil drawings. They seem to go better with the white space.
Hows about a spell check function for the comments section?
You need more flashing backgrounds, rotating (and otherwise moving) Java applets, contrasting color-schemes, obscure cartoons, alternating font styles and sizes, and background music that can’t be turned off. Pretty much the opposite of the Zen austerity you have going right now.
Yes, I think that’d do it.
I like the line drawing, but alas, at least on my IE browser in ???????? 600 x 800 (yes, some of those still exist), some of the text was superimposed on the drawing and thus rendered completely illegible (fortunately, it was only one or two words, however…). You didn’t perchance do the drawing, did you? (Can’t tell if those ????? in the lower right-hand corner spell out “marmot”….)
The drawing’s nice, less former than Buddha, but your blog title is still smaller than the drop caps, kinda throws off the eye. Everybody’s a critic, huh Mr. Marmot?
Less FORMAL…god I’m even writing in Konglish now!
Lovely…
That is stylin’! See how the larger title complements the drawing? Also the typeface is a little less heavy than the old one… Now just add a flash page and a cartoon marmot in a hanbok and…just kidding!
The new image is even better. But I think it is a little too big and that the text where you post could be wider. One more color in the background would make it look really good. I wonder if the picture would also look better on the left instead of the right.
Maybe my 19 inch monitor with (no longer sure) 1024 X ? settings, but like nails on a blackboard compared to your previous wah-ful layout.
Cheers,
Justin (Yet to get from Oz to Korea)
Ditto on comment #8.
Here’s a good piece on what’s wrong with opening links in a new window:
http://diveintoaccessibility.o.....ndows.html
Also, the xhtml validator fails…
However, I must disagree with your claim that the template design is “dreadful”
In the end, I am happy with any changes you make to the page’s appearance. (The original format was fine, too.) The various bits of traditional artwork you’ve been putting up here have been excellent.
I just have to persnickety about the fact that in a 600 x 800 monitor, the right edge of the top post merges with the line drawing, rendering some words unreadable. Maybe I’m stuck in the age of the dinosaurs, but is there any way you could make the drawing a bit smaller, or render it in some shade of grey less than RGB #FFFFFF?
Whoops, what an HTML faux-pas! I stand corrected: RGB #000000, not that the drawing actually has a colo(u)r value set for it….
The “Boseong Tea Green” theme is very classy, especially with the seal at the bottom of each post. But when I posted a comment in the pop-up widow, it disappeared! Gone into the ether. I reloaded the page and reopened the comments window, but it’s definitely gone. (BTW, I saw the photo when you were toying with it briefly yesterday. I was wondering where it wasnow I know!)
Boseong tea: wow - nice work!! It’s great having a choice of templates! I seem to have had the same problem mentioned in comment #38 with my comment just vanishing after clicking the submit button.
this one is much better better, nice and clear. the old new site with all the white wasn’t as nice.
Other people said it too, but yeah - the dropdown menus are cool, but they kill the tabs function of Firefox (which is the #1 reason why I use Firefox).
I just have to persnickety about the fact that in a 600 x 800 monitor
Sewing, with all due respect:
It’s 800 x 600 (width, height)Get a 21st Century screen/computer
Alas, I don’t think I could convince my better half to upgrade to a new monitor just so I could read someone’s blog!
Ick. Where did this new aqua format come from? One big vote here for your previous design, of the past few days. This new one is ugly.
And one more vote here for tab-friendly browsing.
Ah, and posting comments appears to work now in ???? ?????
Hi, Anonymous (post 44):
You can switch between the themes by choosing the desired one under “theme switcher” in the right-hand sidebar.
Um, marmot, dda, et al.:
Again, I like whatever you do with your site, and I especially like the Boseong Tea Green theme. But I appear to be having a problem switching to archives or other blogs when selecting them from the drop-down menus in the new theme.
Yep, I wanted to post about that earlier, but the comment feature seems to be down. All the links on your drop-down menus seem to be broken
Bad bad Marmot!
Boy, you’re really keeping us on our toes! I see the drop-down menus are gone from the ???? ????? theme (for which I suspect many people will thank you), but the theme switcher is not there either…is the ??????? theme gone? I don’t mind personally (the ???? theme looks better on my steam-driven analytical engine), but some people appear to prefer the ??????? theme.
Woops… forgot to add the theme switcher. Correcting.
Thanks for your patience dealing with all your comments, but, well, um, now all the links from the sidebar are missing in the Boseong Tea Green theme!
I don’t dig the comments feature - teh way the little window pops up. Get rid of it, seriously. At least make it a normal full size window if it has to be seperated.
oh, I also forgot to add, that this new design is great besides my one gripe up above. Good job!
Marmot - I also realize that you can maximize the comments window, but seeing how many seperate links to articles and such that you post along with each blog (which is much appreciated, btw), the number of windows on the user’s desktop can get a bit numerous… so that’s why I suggested to link the Comments page of the blog in the very same window. It’s just…neater that way.
Ray — duly noted. Popup comments have now been disabled.
Still got some cleaning up to do with this design — the comment page could look better, the footer is fugly (especially in IE) and there are some other issues that need to be addressed. It is, however, much easier on the eyes than straight white.
Well, I agree with another poster about the aqua color. I think the Temple White theme is actually easier on the eyes. The Marmot is to be commended for giving us the choice! Of course, I still don’t like the drop down menus for so many things, but that’s life. One thing, though: the Temple White really needs something horizontal and colored at the top to provide a transition between the plain-styled title of the blog and the white page background.
Another Firefox nerd registering in favor of tab-friendliness, but otherwise I quite like the baegyang temple white layout! (The other’s a bit hard on my eyes, but I wouldn’t dream of bitching since you offer us the choice.)
Now I’m thinking my own shift to WordPress will be a good thing… whenever I actually get around to it…
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