Feedback appreciated
Bowing to consensus, I’ve reverted to the 2-column layout.
As you can tell, I’m trying out Bharath Kumar’s three-column layout for K2. I’ve got a ton of shit on my sidebar (recent comments, asides, Flickr, blog lists, etc.), and this makes it a lot less crowded. Or at least so it seems.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
It looks good. Now that you don’t show the contents of comments in the sidebar, you don’t have the issue of long URLs in comments pushing the whole sidebar down to the bottom of the page…what I mean is, I don’t see any issue that could foul up the fixed-width (?) formatting and make a mess of a 3-column layout.
But there’s no image currently in the masthead/banner…still working on that, I guess?
Anyhow, it looks very professional, very big-time.
As a professional web developer for the past decade, I’ll say that consistancy is way more important than getting the layout perfect. Your users come here and know what to expect, and pulling the rug out from under them every few months is distracting. It looks like you actually lose screen real estate for what people come here for (your articles).
I do redesigns of my sites every 2-6 years, both my own sites and the ones for the company I direct. Realistically, your content is great and most of us come here for that, we don’t come here to see new and exciting blog layouts.
Hope this helps.
I’ve always been a fan of three-column layouts. Have you considered using a show/hide script to minimize sidebar bloat?
Well, frequent changes could be distracting, but if they’re all towards a goal of improving the overall look of the page, why not? I think the bigger issue was the temporary lapse in naming (낙동강부터 압록강까지, or whatever it was called), which cost Mr. Marmot some serious brand recognition. Now he’s regained his senses. Oh, and the periodic changing of the URL….
I vote no, nein, nyet, nee, iie, animnida. TheBDF has it right – this format chews up more space which ought to be devoted to the main attraction on this site, which is the posts. The old way was just fine, really.
The new format turned my balls from powder blue to navy blue.
I find this new format cumbersome at best.
It is hard on the eyes for me. And while I love your willingness to be constantly improving the site, I must echo the sentiments of theBDF. We come for the content and too much change–especially change that takes away from the horizontal space and therefore ease of readability of the articles–is not an improvement.
This change is not as bad a move as the ill-fated name change that was thankfully scrapped, but it is certainly not a move in the right direction. How many people even care much about the sidebar content? I know I do not.
/$.02
Kangmi wrote
I use javascript for that exact thing and it works wonders. But I must say that I prefer one of your earlier looks.
Robert,
For what it’s worth; the previous layout looked much better. I agree with the other comments that we come here for the content (and comments, in my case;)) not so much the appearance.
My $0.02 – two columns looks/reads better.
Actually, the switch to a three-column layout was more a question of utility than looks–yes, a lot of people come here for content, but a lot also come because of my blog list. Plus, frankly, I enjoy fucking around with my blog. Anyway, all it takes is a click of the button to switch back to the 2-column layout, so it’s not like I have to rework everything to go back to the old version.
Oh, and speaking of content, there might be relatively little of it today and (possibly) tomorrow. I got a deadline coming up, and I’m looking at an all-nighter or two. At any rate, it gives readers plenty of time to bitch about the new layout.
Three columns are fine, but how about having the sidebars on the left and right sides and the content in the middle? Just my two cents…
A lot of blogs are trying the 3-column format with the main body text in the center, flanked by the recent comments/blog lists/whatnot. Not saying it’s any better than what you have–some people like the symmetrical layout, some don’t.
I’ve added the blog aggregator to the middle column. Need to play around with styling/get it to appear only on front page, but gives you an idea of what I’d like to do with the added sidebar space.
Robert — I prefer the two column layout. If you want to keep this format, put the main content in the center.
I guess two-column it is, then.
Tough crowd, here. Tough crowd.
Tough schmough. Just imagine if poor Shelton had been the one to switch this blog to the 3-column format!
I agree with Iceberg; if 3-column, posts in the center with relatively narrow left/right columns looks fine. In that case I’d go ~900px wide, but could cause problems for some at 1024×768. As you say, screwing around is free.
BTW, sorry LunarPages didn’t work out for you; ever find why your blog was so sluggish there?
Robert says:
“Plus, frankly, I enjoy fucking around with my blog.”
What self-respecting conservative spends that much time trying to CHANGE things? Change, change, change… Christ, it’s enough to make me think you’re a goddamn Buddhist or something.
Web design mania can get out of hand. Less is often more. I’ve stuck with the same template for three years — the only alterations being the banner and the composition of the sidebar — and that, of course, is why I now rake in over 10,000 unique visits per hour. Don’t change the art gallery; just change the art every now & then.
And stay conservative. People get used to seeing their Big Mac arrive a certain way. The day you hand them a Big Mac with purple bread, mountain oysters, and elephant snot as the “secret” sauce, that’s the day you lose customers.
(Some might argue that gratuitous references to bodily emissions don’t exactly help you attract readers, to which I’d reply that they do — they attract a special kind of reader.)
Kevin
Two little quibbles — is it possible to put spaces between paragraphs? Sometimes, it is hard to read the copy. And could the default font be just a itty-bitty bit bigger.
Not big problems, just observations.
One more quibble — is it possible to remove Shelton Bumgarner’s posting privileges?
Brendon it’s 10 million just to have a Marmot consider the case. Give me a call, ask for Joey T. 796-4688.
Since folks are tossing in their two cents’ worth: two columns are better than three, and I also think that good content and commentary are what bring folks here – not layout. And, to any looking for easy access to a blog roll, may I suggest the purchase of a wheel mouse?
OTOH, it also seems clear that web design is Robert’s hobbyhorse, and I’d be the last one to suggest taking that away from anyone, so screw around at will, Marmot. C’mon – does anyone not know that Marmot continually revamps his site? That’s just what he does – so be it…
Robert, you should change “bowing to consensus” at the top of the post to “bowing to near consensus.” I for one liked the 3-column layout. Everyone else was just looking for something to whine about since Shelton hasn’t posted anything lately.
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