September 17, 2008
Blog Operations Department
Change I Can Believe In
Windypundit is published using the Movable Type blogging engine from Six Apart, and they've just released an interesting sounding update. I think I'll switch to it in the next week or two.
I may have to rebuild the templates that create the look and feel of this site, but even if I don't, I'm getting a little tired of the current look of the blog and I'd like to change it.
Any suggestions?
New stuff to add?
Anything I should borrow from another site?
Anything you want to see gone?
Leave comments please.
9 Comments
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I like the banner photo and logo. I hope eventually to replicate something similar on my blog's banner photo.
Thanks, Kip.
Although most of the photography on the site is mine, my banner photos have always been by someone else. The first was a NASA shot of Chicago from space, then I used a stock image, and now I'm using a panarama shot taken and stitched together by my friend Ken.
I got the original Windypundit logo by paying the folks at gotlogos.com $25 to create one for me, and that's what they came up with. I later recreated the logo myself in vector format so I sould resize it (GotLogos will do that for $99). The GotLogos folks are really hit-or-miss, but the price is low enough that you can use them as your graphics department by asking them to create, say, eight example logos for you and then ordering the full-vector package for the one you like most. It's still cheaper than paying a design firm $400 to do the same thing.
The banner image is a Photoshopped and cropped version of the original panarama, assigned as the background image to the header <div> tag. The actualy logo in the banner is a pair of transparent PNG files placed over the banner with CSS positioning. A small bit of javascript handles swapping the images as you hover over the logo.
Windy -
I like the design...I wouldn't change a thing! Hey, I might have some questions for you...have you ever used Wordpress? That's what I'm using and there are some design tweaks and some site questions I'd like to pose to a professional...such as yourself. Also, do you do any other web design? I realize you're a programmer and not a designer...but my employer is looking to get our site up and running (besides my blog) and I'm looking for some expertise.
Perhaps I can drop you a line some time?
-=Rob=-
I agree with Kip on the excellent banner & logo. That's something that I wouldn't change. It looks clean and professional.
I like how you have separated the adds from the important links....I don't have to hunt around for anything that way. So I end up visiting other blogs and posts I missed pretty easy.
Personally, the more user friendly and easy on the eyes the blog is, the more likely that I am to visit and comment regularly.
If I have to log in just to post a comment, I won't, even if I really like the blog.
Thanks for saying nice things about the site.
Yeah, the comment system is the weak link. I don't understand if I'm not using it right or what, but it seems non-intuitive and, occasionally, downright hostile. That's odd, because MT and TypePad have a similar code base, and TypePad has really nice comments. Maybe I need a plug-in or something...
I love your writing, and I love the site...but I still don't like the hover-white-logo thing...
I'm just sayin'...
The Wife
It all looks the same in the RSS feed, if you catch my drift.
Always with the smartass remarks, Scott.
Mark,
Hi! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, but I just wanted to thank you for your recommendation re: Text-link-ads.com! I think it really might work out. Best wishes,
Seth Abramson