30 Responses to “Exciting New Look For More Than Scratch The Surface”
This page contains comments from the Exciting New Look For More Than Scratch The Surface article.
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Stephen Cronin is Manager of Online Service Delivery at a Queensland Government department & has been a freelance WordPress developer/consultant since 2007
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Stephen,
I really like the new look and the advertising blocks you have added. Also, learnt a few valuable insights that you provided while you created this theme. Thanks for sharing those. I did have one question though.. about jQuery. Isn’t it already a part of WordPress? If we tried to use it in the theme, does that mean additional kb’s on the page?
Good luck!
Hi K,
Thanks!
JQuery is included with WordPress but by default, it’s only actually called in the Admin pages, not in the rest of your site. When people view your site, the JQuery script is just sitting on the server, it’s not downloaded to their computer. Of course some themes may call it and use it, but most themes don’t.
The minified version of JQuery is 54KB, which I believe drops to about 20KB if you’re using gzip. Google has a hosted copy of the JQuery script which may be better – the theory is that if your visitors have been to another site using Google’s copy, then it’s already cached on their machine and doesn’t ahve to be downloaded.
Hey Stephen, that makes perfect sense. The minified version of it doesn’t sound that bad though and especially as it gains more traction, there is a good chance the visitor would already have it downloaded. Keep up the great work!
I must say I also really like the new design especially the new color. The offscreen really makes it stand out more than just the gray also maintaining a very professional feel. I agree the new menus are an improvement just having the color I feel really change the whole feel.
Thanks John,
I’m glad you like it!
Hey Stephen, you definitely made a great work with this new version! Congratulations and keep up the good work!
Hi Jean-Baptiste,
Thanks. I still have a way to go yet. I want a slideshow eventually. I’ve seen your excellent tutorial on integrating Smooth Gallery, but I really want to find a JQuery solution. I’m sure they’re out there. I just have to find the time…
Hi Stephen. Looks good overall, much more “professional” for want of a better word. I see what you mean about the link colour. It’s obvious when the link-text is bold, but when it’s normal it’s not so easy to spot the green amongst the black text. Maybe use a darker version of the orange that’s in the RSS graphics… or purple usually goes well with green?
HTH
Cheers, Jon
I like the color scheme it makes everything easy to read. There have been a few bloggers recently (won’t mention names) that re-did their themes and made the blog harder to read and harder to find things. Job well done.
I like the new look of the site. Rather than going for a completely new design you have upgraded and improved your previous design. What i really dislike is to see a website that you visit regularly suddenly and completely change the look and feel of their site, often for the worse.
I think the green blended in with the black looks really nice, and makes the site look more professional. Good job!
Well, i like the new design for sure. Especially i like this dark green color combination. Overall, complete design looks more modern and oval. The code is clean until sidebar as you said
, but that is not so important. Good work.
The new color scheme looks super. you mentioned issues with the coding and that you will be building it from scratch eventually, but truthfully, it does look great the way it is. And, yes, I like the font used in the images.
I guess I am just like everyone else… I like the new theme – thanks for sharing it. Very nice, in my opinion.
Nice look and design, all fit together in an elegant way, This is one of the blogs I always read and like.
Ordinarily I don’t like the wide sidebar as I feel it takes away from the content but on your site it works. I don’t think I have seen a 3 across 125×125 sidebar for ads but I like the look better than the vertical stacking. I really like the header graphic too. nice job!
Hey, big fan of the new design, I really love the colors, they are unique and arn’t overused like on some sites.
The design is fabulous. I love the look of the buttons at the top.
It’s a pity that one can’t use this type of design with the Semiologic blog software.
Overall the colors and the design is very appealing. A job well done…
I really like the design! it is really cool! I really love your blog.
I know I’m late to the party, Stephen, but I think the redesign looks great: fresh, clean, and professional. Everything loads very fast and looks consistent across browsers (including IE!). Great job!
Hi Jeff,
The door’s always open to you, no such thing as late to the party…
Thanks, but I really want to pull it apart and build it from scratch. It’s not as clean behind the scenes as it should be.
I think the color scheme makes this blog very simple and easy to read. Very professional. Unlike many gimmicky blogs that attempt to rely on aesthetics only, your blog gives off a very modern and proper vibe.
The design is really amazing! I love the color and its design. I salute you! Cheers!
thanks.
It has been a while since I’ve visited your blog Stephen and the new theme looks fantastic. Your advertising rates seem very fair and reasonable as well. Best of luck with it all.
Hey Stephen, your new “look” is great but i have one comment about it. The only thing i would change out is the color. I would change it from green to blue (just my personal preference). Have you tried different colors or is this the only one that’s available? Also, i’m interested in advertising on your site but i would prefer a text link instead of a button. Could we work something out?
I’d be interested in linking to the site too, again a text link would be great if possible?
I think the new theme looks much better and also helps the site flow better.
I like the new theme of the site much better then the old one. You can really tell quite the difference between the two.
Theme is very clean and looks good.
Why you have not put any adsense ads?
The new theme is more livelier and good to the eyes. I just suggest the header will look little smoother.
But over all I like the theme.