Abstract Promotion’s New Design
September 25th, 2007Hello everyone! After a couple days of hard work, I have finished the new design for AbstractPromotion.com, as you can see. I’ve tested it on Firefox 2 and IE6 and everything appears to be working fine, but if you find any layout glitches or anything that you think is not right, please tell me. Thoughts and opinions on the new design are welcome!
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By WarriorBlog on Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
Hey that awesome I like it - look clean and very professional (seriously).
Just woke up - gonna go and eat now and get HALO 3 !!!!!!!!!
By Nick on Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
Thanks!
By Katie Konrath on Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
I like the clean look as well. The colors are good and the white center draws my eye in–just like it should.
Thoughts: The pop-up description of the icons is something that always drives me insane. The people who know how to use those social bookmarking sites already know the symbols, and the other people will just be distracted. Your content is the most important part, don’t do anything to draw people away from it.
Could you make the middle column a little bigger and the right one a little smaller? You have really good things to say, and making the center column a little wider would be more eye-catching.
The search function: few people actually use that, and it’s taking up one of the best spots on your blog. I’d suggest moving it down to right above the “Meta” section. Then it’s still there, but not distracting.
Can you make your banner bigger? I’d love to see more of it. It’s a really clean, good combination and fits your blog well. If the resolution allows, I’d expand it across the screen. Keep it short though.
I like the big rss subscription button, but could you move that up as well? Put it up by the navigation, or on the upper right side. People don’t like having to look for subscription options. Also, could you add an email subscription? A lot of people still use that.
Also, keep the “Top commentators” up high. People like to see their names promoted. One thought, instead of all-time top commentators, can you do it by week or month? Encourage people to come back and participate on a regular basis to see their name up there.
Can you rename the “Navigation” category? It’s very generic like that. Name it something to draw people further into your site.
Finally, people want to know who you are! Give us a photo, at least on your About Me page. It would also look good where the search function is now, especially if you have a nice photo in a blue button-down shirt. (If you have to, check out a couple photos of professionals you like, and get a photography student take some shots of you in the same style with a neutral background. That’s what I did for mine.)
I hope this helps. Most of those are just minor edits that I found helped my site–your new blog style looks great. Many kudos!
By Nick on Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
Katie,
Thanks for the great feedback! Great ideas, I am going to implement them now. I appreciate you taking the time in doing this.
By WarriorBlog on Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
Nick I agree with what Kate said - did you design this theme yourself? I nkow nothing of PHP or codes! a little bit of HTML :-)
By Nick on Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
Yeah, all in-house designing ;)
By Katie Konrath on Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
I love the photo! Way to show a fun side of yourself! And I see you lengthened the About page as well… looks good.
By Nick on Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Katie. Your suggestions were great. I’m still working on a couple of little improvements, which should be implemented throughout next week.
By Opal Tribble on Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
This is the first time I’ve seen your website but I like it!
By Nick on Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Opal - I hope you can find some useful information here :)