As you can see, I have done some tweaking to the layout and format of the blog. A few structural changes, but mostly just cosmetic. New year, new look.
You may have noticed the new banner of the blog. I wanted to go with something a wee bit more graphical. I hope it isn’t too much.
The rest involved cleaning up some old stuff on the sidebar and hard coding some formatting to avoid some of the strange rendering differences experienced among browsers.
I will be doing some other tweaks over the days and weeks to come.
If you like the new format, please let me know. If you don’t, I suggest that you spend some time in prayer to find out why you are such a mean and tasteless person.
Honestly, if you have any comments, questions, or problems please let me know.
December 29, 2008 at 8:43 pm
It looks cool. Love the site. Keep it up.
December 29, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I really like it, especially the new header. Very cool.
December 29, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Once again, I find myself amazed at your web design skillz.
December 29, 2008 at 9:42 pm
love the look but the headlines at the top are much smaller and harder to read now. not mean or tasteless, just blind. 😉 Merry Christmastide and Blessed New Year!
December 29, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I like it a lot! Great job!
December 29, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Looks great and seems to load much faster (using a Mac).
December 29, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I dig it.
December 29, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I love it! It’s the greatest blog design in the history of Catholic blogging! You should get an indulgence or a Papal Blessing or something!!
(Disclaimer: The above is an unsolicited comment from an actual blog reader, who is not, despite appearances, being paid in any way for her comment. Had this been a paid endorsement, the above comment would have been followed by several rows of further exclamatory sentences and a whole lot of annoying smiley emoticons.)
December 29, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I agree with Anonymous above the the headline font size is more difficult to read. Other than that, I think it looks fantastic.
December 29, 2008 at 10:13 pm
‘Report’ is a little fuzzy, but I don’t care. You’ve got it all right there in the header. Great job.
December 29, 2008 at 10:40 pm
This is a change we can believe in!
December 29, 2008 at 10:50 pm
PLEASE PUT THE “HOME” BUTTON BACK!
PEGGY
December 29, 2008 at 10:51 pm
The content has always been excellent (and stable — please don’t ever go Gerald Augustinus on your readers!), and the new format is quite attractive.
— Mack
December 29, 2008 at 11:10 pm
What Mack said…and I’d really up the font size on the Papa Ratzinger quote on the left.
December 29, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I really like the changes. Looks great, and I like the slightly more dramatic flare. I agree that it loads MUCH more quickly (also on a Mac, and using Safari) than it had been recently.
A few comments…
• I agree that the words at the top (Creative Minority Report) are not as sharp as they used to be (it’s just most obvious on “Report”). I imagine you’ve got it as an image file, rather than a text one, so it may be as simple as upping your DPI or perhaps starting with a larger source pic and then scaling it for the heading.
• I can read the top bit (under “Today on CMR – (date)”) but it’s right at the edge for me.. maybe up one point size? Good call sticking with a san serif font, though.
• I agre that the BXVI quote is too demure.. But to me it seems like it could be fixed by making it a darker color. Even if you went into a different color range (than the white-grey-black) spectrum to keep it somewhat subtle, it’d be better to see it more.
• My personal aesthetic would not cut off the great images at the top corners of the screen — it’d be nice for them to spill over into the rest of it. That’s just my design aesthetic, of course, which clearly is not your primary concern (nor should it be).
• The only other thing is that the pen on the top left strikes me a big funny.. Was it cut out of something? Its lines are a bit rough on the right side and it seems somewhat out of proportion. Is it a drop shadow as well? Something about the shadow going up is funny.
Okay, now I feel like a lout.. I clearly spend too much time in photoshop-land and will now go pray for my conversion…
~Zee
December 30, 2008 at 12:27 am
I like the new banner. Nice new look.
Of course that appears to be my St. Benedict rosary on the upper right, right on top of my picture of St. Thomas More, along with my particular issue of the Douay-Rheims on the upper left. I don’t know how you sneaked in here and took photographs, but I expect royalties.
December 30, 2008 at 2:19 am
Thanks everyone for the great feedback (especially Red!)
The small font issue was due to me using fonts in with mm size designation. This caused small fonts on systems with 96 dpi. I have now switched font sizes to pts instead and that should resolve the problem.
Nzie caught me being lazy by using a jpg of of the old header rather than retyping it. This caused the slight blurriness on the title. This should be resolved now.
Nzie also caught a couple of pixel error on the pen which is also now corrected. You are very scary Nzie!
I will be working on some other tweaks in the days to some so keep the comments coming!
December 30, 2008 at 4:02 am
Peggy,
Click anywhere on the top of the page and it will take you home.
Mack,
Why are worried that we will go the way of the Cafeteria? Was it something I said?
December 30, 2008 at 4:24 am
I’m the graphics monster…
Just kidding. I’ve just got an eye for detail, honed by doing a bit of graphics myself. I hope I’m not too scary!
I really do love the update.
~Zee
December 30, 2008 at 5:04 am
I like the new header and color scheme.