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Red No More

I've almost finished ("almost", because I'm sure there are still a few bugs to iron out - there always are) the 6th incarnation of this site. This is mostly a visual/layout overhaul, with basic functionality remaining the same as previously (because I think that I'm finally happy with it).

Yes, the reds of version 5 and before have been put back into the closet, for now (though as ever you can access older versions of the design through the footer). They may make a reappearance in the future. The aim of this redesign was to make the actual design visually less distracting. The focus is on the content, not the denim wallpaper.

To that end, I've made a few other changes to the layout. Extra information, not as important (in my eyes) as the rest of the content, is now all in the footer. Yes, I've gone with the bigfoot approach. Comments are on the same page as the rest of the content now, and articles are all on one page rather than spread out over several as some were.

The archive page has gone missing (actually, it's still there, but it seemed nobody was using it and it was taking up valuable primary menu space, now occupied by a quick link to those infernal cheat sheets. The "About" page is also due to be changed and expanded, but for now remains the same.

Finally, the home page now inludes some useful links to the most read, more commented-on, and most recent posts on the site, as well as links to a few of those posts I feel are some of the most useful ones here.

21 comments

Hey man I've been using your cheat sheets for a while and lurking. I gotta say, I love the new look!

Doing an overhaul myself, but I think I'm going to get a new domain to go with it....

Take Care,
Jeremy Ivy
Hi Jeremy,

Glad you like the new look. This one's been a long time coming. There were a lot of designs that were discarded along the way.
Looks very nice, great job. You might consider adding a link to the archive in your great big footer, just in case someone wants to browse.

Any plans to update related projects like the top hosting directory to the new design?
It's on the to-do list, yes :)

The archive in the footer ... nice idea. I was thinking about adding some drop-down elements to the main menu and adding it there, but the footer might do nicely until then. Thanks.
Tolga AYDIN
Turkey #5: August 27, 2007
HAPPY BİRTHDAY MR. DANIEL
Matthias O.
China #6: August 27, 2007
This one is simple and nice...
Congratulation ;)
@Scott: Archive link now added to footer.

@Tolga: Only a few days now :)

@Matthias: Thanks, glad you like it.
Hey Dave, you need to change your favicon too. It's still pretty red. :)
Alenônimo: I was going to keep it - I still need a little red around here or I'll end up going through some sort of red-withdrawal.
I like what you've done, though the red will be fondly missed
Nice Design... Very clean, i like that (though i still dont understand why you keep the ugly gray backgorundcolor on active links)...

I think this realy made the site way more reable...
I've been using your mod_rewrite cheat sheet for about a year now when I need some reference, but have only a few times come over to your blog.

I really like the new design - its clean, distinguished, makes good use of fonts and has good spatial layout.
I like the new look.

I'd also like to let you know that I use your Archives page exclusively to see if you posted new content. This is because I took me weeks to read through all the archives, so I kept it bookmarked. I still find it useful now that I finally caught up!
Nice skin man, v6 is better than v5, but then again I'm not really into red anyway.

Laters.
Shawn Gordon
United States #15: September 2, 2007
Dave,

I definitely like that you dropped the over abundance of red and now use red as more of an accent than a main color.

I do like the large footer approach. It is akin to the prize inside that cereal boxes had in yesteryear.

I also like the subtle colors, or muted tones (whichever you prefer).

Though, with anything the good harbors the bad...

I can't say I'm overly fond of the "I love Jack daniels" in the top left. I don't have anything against the title, placement or style... really i don't. However, it does appear a bit "jaggy". Normally I would offer a suggestion to solve this, but it is a little obvious as to what the solution would be (make it bigger).

I can't say that I'm keen on the navigational placement being pushed right.

Lastly, The "top of page" icon resting on the footer-body border looks jaggy.

However, I'll close with stating that the progression from version 1 to the current version is terrific. Looking back at version 1 I say to myself "wtf is that?" and this version is better in every aspect.

Also, I don't come here to look at the site, I come to get content, which is to say take my input on the visual aspect with a grain of salt... it's the content that keeps me coming back. Good work, btw, in the way of content.
Clean simple...looks like textpattern?
Josh Atkins
Unknown #17: September 4, 2007
Congrats on the new theme -- it's great. I especially like the footer section and the design archive.
Rafael
Unknown #18: September 5, 2007
You have simple design and looks great. I like your LIVE comment preview. Is that a plugin? First time I saw it..
Ben Wallis
United Kingdom #19: September 6, 2007
Ya know, if you resize the screen to 800x600 your main navigation gets lost under the logo...
Will there be a version 7 and when? This is not to say that 6 is not nice. It's very nice and clean. Thanks for your articles, especially the CSS box model one.
Great improvement. I've found that simpler, cleaner, and more neutral designs hold their value a lot longer. I especially like the uppercase type on your headings. Overall the layout is very user friendly and should go a long way in making the content easier to parse for those of us from a non-programming background.

Having said that I also agree with a little of what Shawn said in that the logo seems out of place, in both size and position. Perhaps pull it out of the navigation bar entirely and let it occupy the full width of the header in a manner that might foreshadow the abundant footer.

Well, that's my $.02.

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