Posts Tagged ‘design’
room for improvement
Although i’ve just launched a new theme and introduced a new set of self imposed rules on this blog, i’m still trying to make it even better.
As promised, my new theme went live today. I’ve been working on it for the last few weeks so it’s nice to finally have it up and running.
I could have waited a while, but i’m eager to get the new theme up and running as quick as possible. I think i’ll work harder once it goes live so it makes sense to put it live as early as possible.
Notice anything different on the site today? You should. In preparation for the big revamp, i’ve started doing a bit of a spring clean on smemon.com. The new theme is almost ready but rather than introduce it overnight, i thought i’d gradually simplify the existing theme to get everyone used to a new streamlined smemon.com – no clutter.
Up until lunchtime today, this is how the site looked;
With the new revamp on this blog, will come new rules…
- All blog posts will contain a 720px x 250px custom designed image. The image must be related in some way to the blog post content or title.
- Blog posts will also contain one opening sentence followed by a ‘read more’ link. Much like newspaper article, the opening sentence must be interesting to make people ‘read more’.
- No paid ads. Any existing ads will run their course & die after that.
- Blog posts must be made at least once every 24 hours. There’ll be no punishment for missing a day, but in my next post i must give answers.
One big new rule change will be the ban on ads… this was a tough one, but i think it’s necessary to develop the blog. Of course that means the blog can never pay for itself directly, but i’ll take that so long as it continues to grow. This may not be a permanent rule, but i’m prepared to run with it for a while and see what, if any difference it makes to things around here.
The new theme is starting to take shape. The first thing you’ll notice is how much spacier it is. There aren’t that many lines or borders anywhere which helps to create that sense of space. It’s all white in colour, which means the focus is all on the large custom designed images and the text / font, which is the way it should be.
This new design is not just change for the sake of change, which is what earlier revamps were. It’s ‘well thought out’ change which is designed to make be a better designer, better writer and ultimately create a better blog and increase traffic, RSS subscribers etc…
So far though, any changes i’ve made to this blog have been positive and i’ve put more thought in to this revamp than any that have gone before it, so i’m confident i can still keep smemon.com climbing upwards 
