Speaking of bugs…who’s that guy up there in the corner? Well, that’s me, of course. You finally get to see what I look like (without having to dig around my bio page).
Well, I’m back. Yeah, I know it’s been a while. But I’ve been pretty hard at work.
You’ll also notice that in my month-long absence, I’ve managed to complete a new design of my blog. My goal was to clear out the clutter so the good stuff would be easier to find.
And while I don’t see this layout as being complete, I felt it was close enough to launch it tonight. What I’d love is your feedback. What do you like and don’t like. What works, what doesn’t. And please, if you run into any bugs, let me know. If you could list the browser and operating system you’re using that would be most helpful.
I’m really excited about the layout changes. I’ve got lots of plans for the coming year – including podcasts and video casts. I’m also working on a customized homepage layout – which I’m in no rush to put up.
In the meantime, I’m going back through old posts making sure formatting is solid as well as adding tags and changing my categories (oh what we know in hindsight). Gonna be a lot of work, and for me it’s worth it. So you’ll see small changes on my site over the next few week.
Now that I’ve gotten this launched, updated from WordPress 2.2 to WordPress 2.5, updated my services pages, restructured my growing business and caught up with my work, I’ll also get back to writing regularly – both here and at emoms.
There’s more, of course, including a new blog my wife and I have been hard at work planning. As well as getting her up to speed on her soon-to-be-announced mom blog (about moms, pregnancy, birth and parenting).
So lots going on. Sorry for the break. Now back to our regularly scheduled program…
And remember, I’d love to hear your feedback.
Looks good to me and I’m glad to see you back and around. Was wondering where you’d got to!
Best wishes
Joanna
Dawud, I love the new look. It’s clean and simple, and it is great to see you on each page. I must say I miss the tree, though…there was something about growth and strong roots that I always connect with you in my mind.
I know how much a new design takes, so kudos on a terrific outcome for all that time put into it!
I have been gone for awhile too. I really like the clean look to the site and hope that everything is going great. Congradulations on being able to work and share the new emom blog. I think that is great that you and her are able to work together on common goals. I guess that is the whole idea 😉
I think the new design is great! I really liked the previous one, but this certainly brings clarity and simplicity to your website.
Well done, Dawud!
pS: browsing with Firefox 3b4 on Ubuntu Hardy x64
Paul,
Thanks. I love working with Wendy. And I’m even happier I can call her a friend.
Gleb,
Nice. Clarity is what I was shooting for.
Joanna,
Ah, thanks. I’m happy to be back. BTW, are you coming to SOBCon?
Tammy,
Yeah, I know. I loved the tree too. Yet, I felt the trade-off for my mug was necessary. Perhaps we’ll see the tree in the future.
Kevin,
Thanks
Coach Anne,
I had comments and pings separated on my last design. It’s on my list for this one. Thanks.
Dave,
How are you, my friend? Poke around and give me any feedback you like.
David,
My two friends named David in a row – how remarkable (hey, could that be a song?).
You’re dead on. Just couldn’t get to before I passed out at 3:30am this morning. Thanks for your feedback. I really appreciate it.
it´s great that you´re back….so best wishes for future and i hope to read more on your blog…;-)
Hi, Dawud,
Welcome back and congrats on the new look. I really like it — the muted colors, the clean layout, the easy navigation.
One thing that bugs me is the intermingling of trackbacks with comments — the former interrupt the flow of reading the latter.
As you develop your homepage, I’d love to hear your thoughts about what belongs on a homepage, as opposed to the blog itself.
Wishing you much success and joy with the new look,
AmpleHugs & SunflowerSmiles,
-Anne
Dawud – It looks fabulous! I look forward to poking around and will be happy to let you know what I find. And I cant wait to see the new blog. Cheers.
A fresh new look, for sure, and great to see your smiley mug at the top. 😉
One thing you should change (which is probably on your ‘to-do’ list) is to remove your affiliate links from the ‘blogs I read regularly’ section. Either that, or rename the section to ‘useful resources’ or similar.
Best of luck with it, Dawud!
Dawud,
This looks so great! I am browsing on a PC via Firefox and everything looks good.
Welcome back DM. Nice to see your face on the blog too. Quite cheerful and adds some spice to the site! I like the clean new look. Look forward to you blogging more regularly than the last month. Cheers.
The changes are excellent, and it’s great to see you! You could use a proofreader. I’m available. 🙂
Char,
Great…thanks.
Home Recording,
Good to be back. And I’ll definitely be blogging more than last month – bank on it.
Carol,
I know. A little rushed on the copy. And you do have a fine eye.
Hi Dawud! Welcome back! It’s great to “hear” your voice again. I’ve been out of the loop for a while, too. Really like the new design!
Bug Report from WinXP Pro, IE6 (ugh, yes, IE6… corporate policy):
– Lots of content shifts, unfortunately. The whole sidebar is at the bottom of the page under this content. The comment box is pushed off to the right of its container (not directly under the Website field where I imagine it should be) and the Subscribe to Comments and Submit buttons are above it, right below the Website field.
– RSS box has a repeating background
– Looks like there could be some more space between the end of the footer content and the copyright info
If you’d like a couple of screenshots, let me know and I can email them to you!
Dawud, yes I’m going to SobCon! Can hardly wait 🙂
Does your question mean you’re going to be there too?
Joanna
Sooooooo much easier to navigate! Great work.
Of course, I have some design thoughts, but I’ll collect them and deliver them to you in a more cogent fashion (rather than just pulling them randomly out of a particular sector of my anatomy.)
I will say right off the bat that I love where you’re going with the (dawu)dmiracle.com graphic. First time I got it! Yay!
Hi Dawud, your theme is looking really nice, very clean and crisp. I’m looking forward to the new things to come, podcasts etc.
Since you asked about operating systems and browsers, I thought you might to check out “Woopra”, a new Beta system launched at WordCampDallas a couple of weeks ago.
I’m using it on my blog and Woopra not only shows me everything I could possibly want to know, browsers/operating systems, Referrals etc, but I can also “see” who is on my site LIVE.
Woopra.com is where you check it all out, plus there are lots of video podcasts and interviews online you or your readers may want to google search. Very cool system for bloggers, web admin’s etc.
I think this layout is very comfortable feeling and easy to use. The colors are beautiful and fresh, the layout is simple and effective, the eyes feel relaxed and focused as they move around the page. It’s just great. Good job!
LaurenMarie,
I’d love a couple of screenshots. And, if you could, what build of IE6? I’ve test in IE6 and have only seen the repeating background behind the RSS feed. Thanks. Let me know if you need my email.
communicatrix,
Thanks. I definitely want to hear your feedback. Email me when your thoughts pull together.
Lin,
I’m looking forward to podcasting also. I’ll definitely check out Woopra. Thanks for the tip.
Ria,
Thanks. That’s exactly what I was shooting for. I want people to be able to relax, poke around a while and join the conversation that suits them.
How do you like WordPress 2.5? Been thinking about upgrading myself
Joanna,
Great. I’m planning to go also. Gonna be great to reconnect with you.
James,
I love it. Highly recommend it. New features are great. Some suggest wait until next round of bugs are fixed in 2.5.1, but I’ve had very few problems with it right now.
And, as a note, I’ve updated 42 of my clients to WP 2.5 – all but one without incident.
Adam,
Contact page – haven’t gotten there yet. Just made sure it still works. And it’s on my list.
Mike,
Likely be up with my first one in the next 4-6 weeks. And I may do something from SOBCon – though I’m not sure.
Love it – of course. I can already see a few design elements that I’m looking forward to borrowing… 😉
I haven’t found any bugs yet (except perhaps the styling of the form on the contact page), and I’m really enjoying the finer touches here.
@Joanna, you’re going to SOBCon? Awesome! Can’t wait to meet you in person, finally!
I’m also flying with WP 2.5 – no problems.
OoOo ill be looking forward to those podcasts! me and my friend are always listening to them on our commute to work.
~Mike
I like the new look and i especially like to be able to see right away who the blog is about.
Nicole,
Thanks. I work so hard at connecting with people through my blog that I though it important to see me more easily.
Dawud, did you get my email with the screenshots I sent yesterday? Did it help?
LaurenMarie,
Did get them, but I’ve been too afraid to look 🙂
Really, just been swamped with work. Will look over the weekend. More than anything, thank you for taking the time.
You’re welcome! Just wanted to make sure they got through ok.
I think what you have is a float order issue with IE. A floated element needs to appear before a non-float in the HTML heirarchy (though this is not ideal in terms of proper semantic markup). To fix it best, have the left column then the right column in the code heirarchy, and make both floating left. If that’s too much, just move the right column above the left column in the code order and float the right column right (no float on the left). Does that make sense? Did that fix it?
A break is also a good thing, then the work goes much better. 🙂
I think the new design looks great. Very nice. The colores are beautiful and have a feeling of summer. I like it 🙂
LaurenMarie,
It does appear to be a box-model problem. My simple attempts of creating an IE6-specific sidebar width failed. I’m making time in the morning, finally, to play with it. I’ve solved a few of the other problems – so thank you so much.
The funny thing is I tested the site in IE6 in my development domain before launching it and it looked great. Not sure what got messed up in the transfer.
More than anything, I really, deeply appreciate your help. Thank you.
Jens,
It does – and has. Though the break was from my blog and focused much more on work. BTW, how goes it?
Tina,
Thank you. Hadn’t through about summer color theme – at least consciously. Though it does seem to fit after a long, gray winter.
well, i like the new design. looks great 😉
The new design looks very great. I love it. The colour and new design looks fresh. I likt to read here 🙂
Drew & Ducky
Thanks.