litheon

Discussion on all things college and technology.

What do you look for in a blog theme?

I've been working on a new blog theme for MajorNelson.com for the past few months now and upon reviewing comments regarding it I'm fairly convinced that it needs a bit of work. Despite the attempts at a simple, yet pleasing presentation, it seems the theme has some issues. Namely it doesn't support some standards for user-accessibility, and well-formed markup. So there will be some changes in the conventions used for design; although it will be staying with tables, because, even though semantically tables shouldn't be used for anything but data, it still makes sense to use them since not all browsers easily support some of the CSS that would be required to using div tags as floating elements. In addition the the convention changes the theme itself will be compliant with CSS standards and markup standards, among some other tweaks to the rounding of corners and the reflection employed by certain parts of the theme.

So I'm looking for some criticism regarding the theme, specifically about the following:

  • What do you think of the navigation area at the top of the page? Does trading the sleakness of the current design to that of a more easily navigable one make sense?
  • What do you think of the link colors? Should the ones in content areas be changed based on what the link is in regard to?
  • Do the rounded corners look good or does it just look like there's just too much of an attempt at creating a Web 2.0 look?
  • Even if you use the sidebar collapse link on the top of the right side does it seem like there isn't enough space horizontally? (Especially when viewing a post's comments)
  • Do the posts seem to run together? Should there be more differentiation between them?
  • How do you think anonymous comments should be dealt with? Should they be hidden by default?
  • Is there anything else you don't like about the theme? Colors too bright or repeated too much?

The theme is a work in progress, and it's something that will be in-use for quite a while until the next itteration of a theme so any feedback you provide to improve the theme will better serve you when viewing the site. Also, any feature requests you may have would be appreciated as well. Once this theme is finished there is a high probability that in the future you will be able to reorganize items on the left and, assuming you choose to display it, the right columns using some of the amazing code available from brothercake.

Posted: Sun, Oct 21 2007 3:34 AM by litheon | with 4 comment(s)
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Comments

Sam Kirton said:

Hello, I've taken the time to write up a few constructive criticisms of the new majornelson.com layout. As a project manager I've overseen the development of many high quality web applications, this is my thanks to you guys for running such an informative blog, please don't be offended by the criticism that follows.

Overall a poor attempt at web 2.0, a lot of things need improving:

- All content needs equal padding.

- Completely remove the right column, people with lower screen resolutions shouldn't be subject to a vertical scrollbar, not everyone has a 1080p monitor!

- TABLES AREN'T FOR LAYOUT! http://xrl.us/kd35, if the majority of users are browsing in; IE6+, firefox or opera there is no excuse for using tables.

- Do not use "justify" text alignment, it makes the comments harder to read and gives an overall messy look.

- Either scrap the gamercard or position it underneath user comments (maybe support the community and use the gamertag signature mygamercard.net generates?).

- The current comment structure will hinder long posts. The comment content should span 100% so in depth comments aren't obscured.

- To much emphasis has been given to the rounded borders. The left navigation content should have square or slightly rounded edges. This will improve readability and the general page flow.

- The hue of a hyper link should always differ from the color it is placed upon.

- Make the banner the same width as the content.

- Change the order of user comments to descending (by comment id), displaying the latest comments at the top of the blog will spark new conversations and hide old ones.

- The join hyper link is broken, thus I couldn't create a user account.

Hopefully this helps with your development process. If you weren't a group of computing specialists this layout would suffice, since this isn't the case you have certain standards you should be meeting!

- Sam Kirton (samkirton@swfup.com)

# October 23, 2007 3:55 AM

Habenero Pepper said:

I use a wide screen monitor, and the 2 side menus work very well for me. The only problem I had is trying to find how to get back to the 2 bars after I decided to see how the site looked without the right bar. The link is hidden at the bottom the page. It should be in the search box for continuity.

On my widescreen the banner looks out of place and just kind of floats there. It needs blending better in to the main page. The problem is the banner was designed for a set size of page (probably the old blog) without knowing how it would work with the new one.

# October 24, 2007 4:58 AM

Suffur said:

I like them both, but yours has some jean et say que, I think thats how you spell it(Canadian and French people, will laugh at the English Garcon), the Majornelson.com site, should have more green, to reflect XBox and the 360, like maybe the side bars of this site, like your Navey Slate grey, but green, and just as darkish. But cool work.

# February 20, 2008 11:44 AM

Michael said:

ON MN.com I would love to have the option to see all comments on a single page. Makes it easier to find something. Personally, I think there is to much white on the page. Makes me want to turn the brightness way down on the monitor. Just some random thoughts on it.

# February 20, 2008 11:44 AM