Those of you that read my Twitter will be well aware that over the past week and a bit I’ve been riding a rollercoaster of emotions trying to redesign the blog. I want to do everything myself, even though I have no real training in web design, and the only time I ever touch code is when I’m working on something for HYA, so I don’t get much practise. Due to this, I can’t make the site look like I want it to, but I know that over time I can tweak and improve the site until it reaches a point where I think it can be the best I can manage. However, that is going to take an awfully long time whilst I test things, whereas the site is just about where I want it to be as you see it now, so I thought I’d just let you see where I am right now, and then based on your feedback I’ll be able to align my aims with your expectations, and then hopefully this site can go on to bigger and better things.
Here’s what isn’t in the site quite yet:
Facebook Connect Integration
Thumbnails for all posts (for use in the popular posts, etc.)
Better Integrated Social Media Icons (they don’t look too great as-is, right?)
Lightbox-style galleries
Features Gallery where you guys can upload your own photos to
Message box for tee companies to add their coupon codes to
Integrated shop
A few typography and colour palette tweaks
It’s not a huge list of additions, but the web designers amongst you will probably be aware of why I ended up leaving these features out, because they’re a bit complicated, and whenever me and something complicated meet for dinner, I end up with a metaphorical drink in my face. In case you think I’m being a bit down about the redesign because I’ve had to compromise things a bit, I do like it, but I’m going to like it more, and so are you.
Oh, and after what has been a bit of a “me, me, me” week on HYA, we will be resuming normal service and doing the thing I’m here to do, let you know about some great clothes.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: @chadosko
love the redesign. love the shirts!
Twitter: @RudeRetro
I didn’t imagine what it would like but I like the big font. It may even inspire me to redesign my own site. I don’t even have a logo. I have been designing websites as a kind of hobby for the last few years so if you are interested in a little constructive criticism I will lay it out for you.
Loving the re-design! – and the new tees of course
Just a couple of things I’ve noticed in chrome -
The ‘What I’m doing…’ and ‘Recent Comments’ have been pushed below the content.
The orange ‘Grab the RSS Feed’ button is stretched.
I really recommend a more stylised font for the shop banner (perhaps something like your logo font?)
Wow!! This looks excellent – and I love the background!!
Twitter: @silencenogood
Like Julian pointed out the ‘What I’m doing…’ and ‘Recent Comments’ at the bottom seems like there is some html error. Other than that, great simple site. Impressed you did it all yourself! Keep it going!!
@Rude Retro, lay it on me, I’m a big boy, I can take it! (e-mail?)
The font is probably 1 or 2 points larger than before, it doesn’t seem that large to me but I am on a 1920×1080 screen (well, 2 screens, but they’re both that resolution) so that could be a factor, I might drop the sizes by 1pt and see how that looks.
@Julian, the what I’m doing and recent comments bit were working fine (in Firefox, IE, and Chrome) before I launched it, but I’m experiencing the same problem, they’re not too integral to the design so I may remove them for now. Could you tell me a bit more about the RSS problem, the image is meant to run the width of the sidebar, it starts at the left of the ‘categories tab’ and finishes on the right of the searchbox, is it doeing something else for you? The image doesn’t look the best, I wasn’t happy with it, so it could be it’s low quality fooling you into believing there is an issue.
The shop image was another rush-job compromise, that space was meant to be the featured content gallery and user upload area, but it was being troublesome so I swapped it at the last minute for a static picture for simplicities sake. I wanted to use a different font but thought I’d better keep it in line with the rest of the site for now. I’d love to have lots more stuff using the logo font, but I think Ray drew it freehand so it’s custom type, and getting him to do the whole alphabet would be a bit beyond my budget I’d imagine.
Thanks for all the feedback and pointers, the design is an ongoing process so it will all be considered when I’m working on it.
Regarding the RSS button, its displaying correctly – I just noticed looks a little soft (I’m anal when it comes to images!). The image dimensions are 425 x 95px and your code is displaying it at 422 x 93px.