Code. Some of the HTML/CSS code from my new template. I have been looking at this kind of thing repeatedly over the past few weeks.
First, I want to say a big HAPPY NEW YEAR to all. I am excited about the the prospects for 2011. There seems to be a real spark to the economy which I hope continues to grow making 2011 a better year.
This is a big day at woodfever.net - the big unveiling of an updated look for my site. I have been working on the new design for about six weeks and am pretty pleased with the look especially since this was accomplished for virtually no money. And all of the changes, except for a little bit of code, was completed in-house.
Why the new look? This year, I plan to start selling things on my blog. I want to retire in fifteen years (or sooner), at least retire to woodworking and I hope this blog will be a key part of my retirement income. At present, about 20 new people visit my blog each day. I feel the need to see if there is something of value I can offer them. With that in mind, I needed a dedicated space for items I sell, so I decided a change to a three column template was in order. I plan to put items for sale in the left side bar.
Also, with this new look, a few things were fixed that I did not like with the old one. I wanted a more modern look, so I went with a minimalist color scheme and a more unstructured look.
My daughter who is pretty good with graphic design worked on the logo for me since I was never really happy with the old one.
And, the old color scheme which featured a khaki color for the background, visible on the left and right side, had a weird yellow cast to it on some computer monitors. The all-white look of my new design fixes that.
Some other changes:
- No Facebook badge on my new template. As I experiment with the whole social media thing, I have been disappointed with the impact from Facebook.
- An emphasis on Twitter. I have been very pleased with Twitter. There is a very active woodworking community there and a lot of information is passed back and forth.
- Removal of Google Adsense. At present, I have taken Google Adsense off my blog. In the past year, I’ll bet it generated less than $20.00 in income. I may add it back in the future, but as I develop items to sell, I feel Adsense not longer fits my business plan.
5 comments:
Jeff,
Nice, clean new look. I like it. I'm also looking forward to your post about the design resources used. While not unhappy with my design, I am a complete web development novice and would love to learn more about it.
Happy new year.
Looks good, Jeff. I went with Blogger right out of the can, but I'll be interested to see how you develop with a more customized approach.
Next thing you know, you'll have me convinced I need to learn Sketchup ;)
Thanks Dyami - there are a lot of simple design elements things that pay off big.
Christopher - one of the blogs I like the look of is yours. Very simple and a nice use of color. A good use of a standard Blogger template.
Looks good, Jeff. I'm a big believer that less is more, I find reading text on the monitor difficult with a lot of distracting colour and graphics. Subtlety goes a long way!
Good luck!
Hey, it looks like you're asking a Twitter follower about Panasonic cameras, I use a Lumix myself and I love it. Flourescents aren't so good but in the sun it takes spectacular photos.
Darnell - Yikes, I have flourescents in my shop. I dropped my current camera on my shop floor which is concrete. The zoom lense was extended out. Now it makes a strange noise when I turn it off and the lense retracts into the camera. I think it's days are numbered. Something else for the wish list.
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