Dosh Dosh Finally Gets a New Site Design
Yes, it’s been long overdue but I finally changed the design for Dosh Dosh after more than a year. Because of the lack of time, I’ve been procrastinating but frankly, I’m just really glad its finished now. If you’re reading this from your feed reader or inbox, come over and check it out.
I haven’t prepared a detailed writeup about the design process but I thought I’ll give you all a short tour of the new look. First of all, the logo was designed by David Airey, who’s one of the most reliable graphic/logo designers I’ve worked with.
He’s always fast on email and is quite open to feedback. If you’re looking to get any work done, get in touch with David.
For the new theme, I wanted a simple logo, something that takes up much less space than the previous design, so more content appears above the fold. This is quite important to me, because I’ve always felt my site had an overly large and redundant header.
The original site design was done by a friend of mine who kindly offered his time to help. He did most of the work but got a little busy and so I got some help from Justin Tadlock, a Wordpress designer to tweak and finish up the theme.
The new design is nothing ground-breaking. I’m not a picky person and all I wanted was a clean design which gives precedence to the content. I opted for a two-column theme and for the benefit of advertisers, shifted the 125 x 125 ads into a two-by-two format, so there’s more visibility for their banners.
I also removed the adsense unit in the sidebar. It didn’t really go with the current look so I decided to drop adsense altogether and focus on banner ads alone.
In the sidebar you’ll also get to see the Top 10 Most Viewed Articles for the day, ranked in order of pageviews. Below that are links to my social media profiles, including my recent activity on each of them. I kept it only to three services (Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon) although I’m active on many other sites.
You may also notice that comments now come with gravatars and the default image I’m using for all commenters is someone you are all probably visually familiar with: Suzumiya Haruhi, the title character of a popular anime series.
If you don’t want Haruhi as your avatar, just sign up for a free Gravatar account and upload your preferred image. This only takes less than 3 minutes and I highly recommend doing it as it’ll make your comments stand out, not only on this blog but every other site that users gravatar-powered comment systems.
Beneath each article are links which allow you to print, email or submit it to social bookmarking sites. I know some of you have been wanting a print option for a while so hopefully you’ll find it useful. The print page is currently text-only: If you want me to include images in the print page, leave a comment and let me know.
I don’t want to ramble on too much so feel free to comment on the design. This is pretty much the final look although I still may be adding more stuff to the sidebar when I have more time. Just wanted to get it out first so everyone can see it. ^_^
CLEAN…
Nice design! I like your logo as its very plain & simple.
Sweet - simple and to the point. Good job!
Very nice!
Wait… where am I? Which blog is this?
Seriously, looks nice. I like how you can pick between looking at recent posts and categories on the sidebar, and the 125×125 ads look very nice. I’m sure the advertisers will be pleased.
Wow, great work, the site looks great!
Okay, since you were complaining about me not be more constructive. Here goes. The design is very clean and does well for exhibiting the content. As far as the logo, I feel you should have kept the old double d logo and modified it, it’s way better and more of part of your brand then this new, umm, ugly logo. Aside from that, the sidebar and every thing else is fine. I especially like the print option.
I like it - but you removed the links to commenter’s websites!
There are sometimes some great comments on DoshDosh and I love to click back to people’s sites. You have a smart subscriber base and I’ve connected with some cool people.
Just a thought, I think that’s a good feature.
Like the new look.
Great articles.
Following you on twitter, like your twits.
Keep it up.
Hmmmm, it is quite minimalistic. If that is your goal, you have achieved it.
General Feedback:
On the 125x 125 ad blocks, i keep reading this is not the optimal size, as it creates ad blindness. I see you disagree with this line of thought. Also at first quick glance, i notice right away, that the focus must be on the content, as much of the space is allocated to it. You might also add the option for people to save your posts, as PDF. (fairly new concept)
Pros:
I like the social profile updates.
The highlight of Most Popular Posts, as it makes for digging deeper in the blog.
Very few visible ads, other than the 125x 125 blocks.
Cons:
The header could def be spruced up more, maybe an additional color on the sites name or a small photo of some sort.
It is quite different than the previous design, you might want to incorporate a small but visible blurb about the design change, so readers dont think they are at the wrong blog.
Final thought:
Your content is sooooooooooooo good, the design barely matters.
Missy.
I like it. You still have ads in the side, and they are above the fold but they are not screaming at me like alot of other ads do. I like it.
Did I say I like it?
I like it. Clean, smart, easy-to-read, and nothing to detract from that wonderful contact.
Nice clean look Maki.
Only one criticism: your comment form doesn’t have a “website” field. No link love for commentors?
Sorry Maki, I agree with Israel on the logo - I preferred the other one. This one looks a bit too corporate or seems to be lacking personality. A bit cold.
Love the clean design though, really suits you.
Looking sharp, man! Digging the new design.
-Tibi
I miss the old logo. It was really clean and nice.
Also never noticed, that there is a closing period for comments. I see for this post, the close date is on August 25, 2008.
Is this a plug-in?
Nice job on the new design.
Just a little thought, have you planned on uploading a new screenshot with this design in your “advertise” section?
Congrats to have reached more than 14,000+ RSS Feed subscribers
Very nice. Crisp and clean.
I’m a big fan of David’s but I don’t care much for the logo. I agree with Israel on that one. I do like the sidebar, including the id tab thing.
Overall, it’s simplistic but functional.
Not as nice and as distinctive as the old theme. This is very bland. Much less sense of a doshdosh brand. Lack of continuity with the old design…
Epic win on color scheme and typeface choices.
I like it, I wish I could have used it for one of my own blogs…. Hmph.
Looks great! But how about adding a Digg link in the little box where the print/bookmarking links are?
Very clean and to the point. Easy to read and navigate.
Plus, I really like the additional of your recent social media activity, makes it easier for me to follow you around the web.
Have to agree with Israel, though, not a huge fan of the new logo, but I understand it needs to be true to you and your brand, first and foremost
Nice clean redesign, Maki!
Love the clean new look. Color scheme is classic. Not so sure about the new logo, but it might just take a little whole to grow on me.
I really need to do some redesigning.
Looks great, bro.
Honestly, while this new site design is very clean, it’s also kinda non-descrip and generic. It looks nice, but has no punch. And the logo? Again, I suppose it’s nice, but it’s also rather dull… There’s very little of your personality or flavor evident here.
I’m a faithful reader, however site design has little to do with why… I keep coming back for your great content!
Very nice! Clean with great focus on your always-great content.
I think you need a few more ads in your sidebar.
nice job for the new theme, i specialy enjoy the right column w/ post/categories, digg submissions and more
I think it looks great
Looks great!..Nice and neat!
you should update the favicon to match the logo!
dave
http://www.passingnotes.com
Great new design. I like the thin header and the black headlines. Also the RSS is less confusing.
Looks great Maki!
I wish my site looked this cool…
Great work Maki. Definitely a better website. I love this clean design!
Hey Maki - nice job! Great idea adding your social media activity.
I really like the way the header design allows for more room above the fold!!!
It looks nice, but I liked the old design better. (Especially the cow!) Where did Maki get the old design from? I loved it, plus the logo. The DD logo was sleek and clean. Again, where did he get the old template/layout from? I seriously want to know! <(”<)
so, Maki can i have your old design?
Very nice and professional!
I really like the colors and, particularly, the simplicity for the different columns.
Concerning your logo, it’s just perfect! In fact, people (and commenters, tell me if I’m right??!!) here are not coming for your logo but for the quality of your content. Now, if you thing about selling your brand… Dosh Dosh is more than sufficient!!!!
Hope you the best Maki!
Hans
As you know, you can’t possibly please everyone. Some love your new logo, some don’t. I fall into the latter group… your new logo seems so bland, uncreative, and… anti-Maki!.
But as others have said, we’re not here for the design, so going with what YOU like makes the most sense.
You could have the ugliest blog design on the ‘net and you’d still be my favorite blog.
I like the KISS design, loads really quickly!
As far as the logo goes, it looks professional.
So Maki, it is up to you where you going with this.
But no URL link in the comment?
Looks really good. I like how the top part looks. Everything looks straight to the point, not crowded. Congrats!
I concur with Missy. The header can be spruced up a little more. It looks dull and plain now
Why not put the search box under the ads? It’s way too down there on the sidebar. And why no URLs in comments section? Please! But I loved the display of your twitter and other activity updates on the sidebar though.
Overall, the design is really good. Much better than the previous one.
Nice job Maki. I always liked the old design, but I think this new one is cleaner. It does give preference to the content like you say and I think the new sidebar is easier to navigate. I particularly like the addition of the social media info at the bottom.
I guess it looks cleaner but I feel like it’s missing something… not sure exactly yet, but it’ll come to me eventually.
Oh, and how come we can’t type in our URLs when leaving comments anymore?
Jay
DatMoney.com
Oh, and how come I seem to me a female anime character? lol!
Jay
Hey Maki! I think Justin and David did a great job I think. Biggest improvement is definitely the sidebar in my opinion, much better, less crowded/busy. I love the idea of having the Twitter/Digg/SU stuff in there too
I liked the old theme a lot but this new one clearly is an improvement. Again, good job!
Nice and clean. easy navigable. Everything is just where it’s expected to be.
Just my 2c.
I’d like a bit more of a header, this one looks too business-like and a bit cold. Being informal in that part makes more personal feel. Not to mention that I miss a slight touch of anime there
Great job on the new design. I always liked the old design, but this one is a little cleaner and less cluttered. I really like the social media info at the bottom of the sidebar and the images next to the recent posts are a nice touch.
Congrats on your new design.
I love your new design, though I do agree with a few comments above that your old logo is better than the new one. The old one had like more personality compared to the new one, which I think is too formal.
Simple design always work.
Ok, now I can stick my URL. Thanks Maki!
Let’s see what Avatar I get, maybe I will be Sailor Moon this time..:)
I like this. Clean and spacious. But I liked the old logo better. Also, a little whitespace at the bottom where the sidebar exceeds the content. Maybe you can set the number of posts per page to 8?
Just my two paise.
Much better, and cleaner design than the previous one. The text looks clearer (you used grey before, didn’t you?). I agree on the logo that it’s not perfect, the old one was better, but perhaps it just takes getting used to for people who’ve seen the old one for a while…
Very nice!! I like it! It’s very nice and clean…to the point as well. I like the color mix up and yes the logo design is also very nice and gives it a professional corporate like feel. Good work! Now get back to posting
Thanks everyone for all your comments. I read them all and I appreciate the honest feedback. Sorry I can’t reply to everyone but I’ll try to address specific questions/issues raised by some readers.
First of all, I know this design looks very different from the original theme. Some of you might be surprised by the sudden change and prefer the previous design, that’s fine with me. I’m quite sure this will change over time.
Getting a site redesigned is like renewing your blog and I find it quite refreshing to work on a completely new template. I deliberately decided to make a break from some of the common associations you’re familiar with (like the logo + toy robot + color scheme) because I wanted the blog to feel different, as if it was having a new start.
It’s hard to please everyone. I know some people will hate the design no matter how many hours I spend on it or whatever I do so I’m focusing more on making sure that the site is usable and more importantly, that I feel comfortable with working on the site. And so this theme was developed.
It’s not going to be the last one. I’m sure I’ll change it again in the future, if the site is still alive and well. So until then, this is probably what you’ll be looking at… and I hope you don’t mind it!
@ Adam Singer, Ankesh, Shankar, Jay
That was an error on my part. It wasn’t intentional. The url field is now working in the comments.. Sorry for the inconvenience!
@ Missy Diaz
Thanks for the quick review. I am actually thinking of tweaking the header a little bit and maybe explore PDF downloads too. As for the comment closing date, I’m using the Comment Timeout plugin.
@ Isabelle
Thanks for reminding me to do that! It honestly slipped my mind.
@ Sano
Digg is actually featured in the ‘Social Bookmark’ link. The reason why I’m not featuring the digg button too much is that this site does not usually do well with the Digg audience.
@ Rob O.
I actually haven’t seen many blogs that have the same design… so maybe it’s not entirely generic. I definitely think the design could have been done better. That’s always the case when you have the time, money or energy to work on a project.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the patience to wait for another designer to create a new look and work with me on it. It’s much too tedious and I think sometimes OK is good enough (for now). My No. 1 focus is and always will be the content and I think that matters the most.
A clean design was specifically chosen for this purpose.
@ Chris
Continuity was deliberately accentuated by increased usage of anime pictures both in the comments and as thumbs in the sidebar. It’s hard to maintain the same look when deep down inside I just really wanted something very different. I was pretty tired of the old theme and didn’t want to go down that path again.
@ Susan
The old design was a modified version of a free Wordpress theme. It’s nothing fancy and I think it’ll be easy to get that look if you want it…
@ JC
No, not really.
@ Hans
Thanks for liking the logo. Not many do!
@ Bonnie
Awww… thanks for the encouragement.
@ Vijayendra
That’s a good idea, I’ll think about setting a higher no. of posts per page.
@ Carl-Johan
I can’t remember if I used grey but yeah I think people will eventually get used to the logo. I think its drastically different from the previous logo and some people are not used to the sudden change, hence they find it cold, dull or boring. Personally, I don’t mind it. I actually wanted something different from the original web 2.0/cute look that I had. Got tired of it.
Congrats on your new design. Indeed, it’s very clean. But I kindda miss the old favicon/logo. Anyway, I know I’ll get used to your new one.
Cheers and looking forward to more learning from your blog.
Clean design - really makes your content stand out.
A few things on optimization, though. Since you went with a clean design with minimal clutter and graphics, you can speed up the pageloads by changing a few things. For example, the sidebar tabbed boxes use jQuery and Tabs. You can use DOMTabs instead, which is much smaller in size and hence loads faster.
Also, plain text can be used instead of CSS image replacement for sidebar headers. And the font isn’t particularly better than, say exquisitely crafted web fonts.
Every bit adds up
Nice, Dosh. It’s a worthwhile update.
An excellent design. I think it really reflects and works with well with who are you are what the site is about.
Nice! I like it a lot — added bonus: I’ll no longer have nightmares about those milky white blobby creatures from the old header.
Looks good - I like it a lot. As you’re not using it can I pinch your old design :p I liked the double d logo and the pink was sweet.
Very nice and clean!
Great Work Maki. It makes a big difference in usability. I’m always impressed with you.
Hi Dosh, nice design, though i think it is pretty pathetic that you are still cluttering yor site with trash ad space such as the one ‘The Gurus dont want you to click here’. That site is the complete antithesis of what you preach about on your blogs. I understand that you may seek some revenue for the free information service that you provide, but i would advise that you choose your advertisers more carefully. Great site though
David
Clean and simplistic. Very nice.
Great new design and use of semantics. Looking forward to more great things!
Cheers!
Maki,
That’s a much better blog design IMO, and the logo
is not as good as the previous one.
I like the sidebar improvements..
And the “print”/”e-mail” options at the bottom of each post.
Is there a plugin for doing that?
Also, how did you make “recent posts” and “categories”
available in just one spot?
Cheers,
Codrut Turcanu - “Succeeding Against All Odds!”
Looking really clean and straightforward. I stop in form time to time to peek around a bit. Is this built on the WP framework?
Nice and clean. I like it
Nice design. Nitpick - all avatars are linking to the post title.
Ok. I guess its when the commentor has not posted a url.
Wow, this looks great! Good work!
I just loved the design from the logo to the footer, any chances to get your theme and edit it
j/k! Maki, now seriously this design is what I was looking for my blog and my other projects and you just made it. Nice looking and congratulations!
wow… looks great! love the new design.
Sharp, simple and emphasizes your great writing skills with less to distract the reader. Nice new look Maki! Usability counts…
I love the new design. Really clean and easy to navigate. Not that the old one wasn’t, but I really like the new theme. Keep up the great work Maki.
Wow Maki,
Always admired your blog, and writing. And now the design looks sleeker.
Nice!
Nice, simple but boring design (In my mind, Dosh Dosh “looks” more like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or Clannad. Or at least Dosh Dosh reminds me of them. And Haruhi and Clannad surely don’t look like this design.)
Newcomers might leave after thinking about “what’s this site about?” There’s no visual cue or tagline. Only this site’s title tells about Dosh Dosh. Still, they might leave (confused or a little frustrated) before taking a look at the blog posts’ headlines or the about-page.
And why do you close comments? Isn’t Akismet enough to stop spam? I don’t see any other reason, besides spam, to close comments in blog posts that are “timeless”.
Well done Maki!
I like it.
The only thing that threw me was the logo, but like most others, I’ll get used to it. I’m glad you kept the anime. I especially like being able to tab between categories and recent post, as well as the links to the social sites.
I’m intrigued.
What is your fave new thing; and is there anything that you would have liked to include that you haven’t?
One more thing
Did you consider an ‘edit comments’ plugin? Probably the last thing on your mind, but a nice thing for visitors…
I agree with Israel, I feel you should have kept the original logo and white header, the old site had a more fresh clean feel. This one isn’t bad just it has a more ‘corporate’ feel to it now.
Really now it looks like a hundred other blogs out there, the original was more unique imo.
The new side bar is nice, I like how things are arranged on there…
Looks great, and I like the new logo a lot - congrats! Don’t worry about the negativity, change is difficult for some…
It’s simple and to-the-point. I dig it!
Must be a a weekend for it - I gave my sites a facelift yesterday too! I like what you’ve done - especially the links to your Digg submissions and Stumbles
I like it.
Your new layout looks much cleaner & better than the last layout… don’t pay no attention to the haters above.
Very beautiful design Maki. Clean, simple, and light-weight. Very elegant.
I particularly like it because its general feel is like my own blog. It appears we have similar design preferences.
It looks pretty nice, well done design and cleaner. Though I still love old logo, it’s your blog trademark, why do you change it? For me the anime don’t jive on you current design since it is more business type or corporate looks.
I particularly like the changes you’ve made in the comments section.
Do you intend to continue using anime/manga as recurring images in this blog over the long term? This theme feels like a step away from that, despite the changes to the Comments section.
I miss the mascots(the illegitimate children of the Michellin Man)Maki. Will they be making an appearance in the future?
Hi! This is the first post of mine to your blog and I wanted to start by saying that I am a happy RSS reader that hardly ever visits the blog because of that.
Yet, when I read the email about the change to the site I wanted to take a peak at it because I like to look at website designs. I feel they are a reflection of your character, visions, and goals.
With that being said…I would like to congratulate you on such a crisp, clean, uncluttered, nicely designed, goal and vision oriented Web 2.0 theme. (Pat on the back) Job Well Done!
After reading your latest twitter post, I wanted to let you know that your blog design (as you already know) should only be based upon your own ideas, visions, and goals for you and your business. Yes, we the readers are important parts of that equation but, I LOVE your posts and would read them if you had them posted to the UGLIEST website design on the web!
You know we can’t make everyone happy so there is no need in trying, crying, or getting upset. Apparently, the design is good if people don’t like it, you did something right!
Truth be told if this design was a theme that I could download, I would and have it uploaded to my site today! I like the header area the best, it’s really that fresh and clean.
Bottom line, don’t worry about making us happy with the design of the site…just keep us happy with the content. That IS what’s most important…at least to me. You had your vision of a site change and did what it took to get it done - good job. Now you can stop concentrating on the design and move on to your next goal. (Many of the haters won’t even think of changing their ugly websites.)
I’ll be making it a point to stop in to read my post from time to time, I like the design that much!
Keep ya head up…you did good!
I do not like this design
Where is your old (very nice and clear) logo? Last design was your big advice - different than others.
As I mentioned in Twitter, I like this clean, minimalistic design. The small logo is effective without eating up your above-the-fold space, and the subdued grayscale makes it not compete with your ads, your page navigation at the top right, or your subscribe button. The subtle striping in the dark gray background adds texture and keeps it from being boring.
I like the column width of text, the sans-serif font, and the leading; it’s very readable. The links are also easy to spot without being so very bold that they disrupt the text. Your bulleted lists use extra leading, which makes them stand out in a nice way, and the square bullets are a nice match with the other squared-off shapes on the page.
On the pages where you use headlines and subheads, the use of a serif font looks fine, although I don’t think it looks best when it’s not bolded … UNLESS you add extra space below the header. So to my eyes, it looks great on your front page but not as pretty as the second headline on your “Advertise” page, where it gets kind of lost in the text and almost looks like a typesetting error.
You’ve got some inconsistent capitalization in your headlines, which are mostly capitalized throughout. For example: You’ve got “you” being lowercase on the Advertise page’s second heading and other words in the last heading, where I’d capitalize “More Information.” That’s a very minor style inconsistency, though.
I particularly like how you have “recent posts” and “categories” tabbed in your far right sidebar. Very economical use of space, and both are still easily accessible. I only wish that these were higher above the fold. But having plenty of ads isn’t really a problem for a site owner to get upset about, is it! The ads are neatly displayed and add color to the page. I particularly like that none of them are blinking or scurrying across the page like they do on some sites, a style that annoys me.
I really like the contents of your sidebar, particularly the most-viewed articles, as well as the Twitter, Digg, and StumbleUpon links. Good self promotion and also good networking.
Have you thought about adding a disclosure policy for clear communications about the purpose of the blog, types of ads and other compensation you accept, etc.? They’re easy to generate at http://www.disclosurepolicy.org . You can see the one I generated on my blog; go to the bottom left of my front page at http://www.carolynbahm.com and click the little “I Disclose” icon.
That’s enough yammering from me. Great job!
I love the new design! Glad you are changing it. Any way you look at it, I would still come back time and time again. There is just so much really useful information here. In fact, I spend too much time on DoshDosh :p
I like it
Wise design choices right down the line - I like it very much. I’ve been staring at it here, playing devil’s advocate, trying to find some tweak to suggest that would have a foundation in ease-of-use or quality of reader experience or even SEO - something more than a quibble based on personal aesthetics and being so used to seeing the old Dosh Dosh… nope, there’s nothing I can pick apart. Well done, Team Maki.
First design that really looks good in the majority of feed-readers’ browser windows!
Personally I like it much more than the previous design… kudos!
Very professional looking! I love it!
Congratz Maki!
the new design is really nice
1) Are you concerned that the bury brigade will be more aggressive with your submissions now that you feature them here?
2) Same question for Stumble trolls.
3) Any plans to feature Sphinn on the sidebar?
Oh, well… I like clean designs and grey is my favourite colour. Still… *sighs* I detested it. Really. The previous one made me feel welcome, while this new look is too cold, as if I was visiting the website of a huge corporation. I know my opinion won’t make any difference at all, but… ah, forget it.
Very nice and clean upgrade.
Very nice and simple layout!
-Mike
Hey guys, I welcome you all to a Debate on my site! It should be Fun!
Keep up the good work!
Clean Design
Congrats Maki
Really nice new design, I like it.
I’d love to read a detailed review of the design process. I admit that I prefer your previous header although I appreciate your concern for having more content above the fold. My initial impression was that your new logo was too dark looking and not memorable and that the two-by-two banner format was distracting. I’ve always been attracted to color and my eye naturally moves toward the color in the banners first rather than your logo. I’m sure your advertizers won’t mind but I think it distracts from your content and overpowers your design. After scrolling below the banners I love the clean, light look! Great content!
Just a though, move search above the fold.
I’m trying to find old articles of yours to link to.
Hi Maki
Congratulations on pushing forward with the new design. Like some have mentioned, it’s your content (plus the animation!) that keeps me coming back. Now, if you’d gotten rid of the animation, I would have cried into my heaving bosom with great sadness and plenty of chocolate for comfort.
I prefer the old logo, not because either one is better, but because I was used to the old one. Change is necessary and I’ll get used to this one
take care…
Maki, nice new suits you have for your website. Looks very tidy, nice. But the best part is, i still prefer to read your post on making money online more
Hello maki, good design. Congratulations!!!
Solid job, but I really think the header is now too short. I am see that all over the internet now, folks are either doing the daddy bear web 2.0 header (too big), or now they are switching to the baby bear header (too small), its looks scrunched and suffocating up at the top now. i understand the concept, but it needs just a little bit more white space. you of all bloggers dont need to worry about people not scrolling down to read what you have to say.
Pick the mama bear header, make it bigger another half inch or so.-that way it will be jusssst right! lol…. and more color in the logo, please. Only tax collectors and morticians should have all grey logos…!
but the content looks wonderfully organized.
Dont get me wrong, I am not a web designer and will love your site whatever it looks like.
Love the new design, Maki! It’s very clean and user friendly. Makes me wanna redesign my own blog already.
Maki, because of this new clean, easy-to-read layout you have one more reader to your blog and that’s me!
I always believed that a blog should look simple as possible so that the readers can focus more on the content.
I love the use of dark red for the text and header. I too use similar colors in my blog. These colors make the blog feel more personal.
The comments layout looks excellent. Overall a very good design!
Maki - I love the simplicity of your new design, including the logo and header. Of course, the colors used are my favorites so it’s hard not to like it. But really, as stated already, the design is just a bonus, it’s the content of your blog that really makes a difference.
I was reading David’s article about the logo he designed for you, and have to admit I didn’t really like it. However, now I have seen it incorporated into the blog design it is absolutely fantastic, and fits in perfectly.
Congratulations on the new design - I just had an overhaul at Community Spark so appreciate how much work is required!
- Martin Reed
I like it. Really simple yet it draws attention to the blogs itself which is the primary reason everyone comes here. It really appeals to me since its a total change from what you had before, more like a departure from style and moving over to substance. Continue the good work in blogging! Really like your work.
Nice new and professional layout.
Maybe John Chow and Darren Rowse will redesign again after this. Lol.
I am a new visitor/subscriber to your site and I have no idea what the old design looked like… Could you add a screen shot of it or of the logo at the bottom of your post ?
I really love your design!
I like mine too, but it doesn’t look so good in internet explorer
Maki,
I like the original design and logo better. Much stronger. And the repetition of the log was spot on. The snowmen? were strange, but if you cleaned up the sidebar it would have been much better.
Thanks for the link Babak, nice touch (I forgot the name of the site where they keep archives of old sites).
Yep, I prefer the old logo too. Having the DD blue or another color (orange, yellow, lime green, red…) on the gray header bar would look quite attractive and speak better to visitors than the pixelated high-tech gray D.
simple and cute design..
may you can spreade your acknowledge, with this simple design