Friday, March 19, 2010

Let Me Explain The Change…

If you’ve visited this blog at least once before today you might have noticed that between now and then I’ve COMPLETELY changed the whole blog. I thought I should probably mention what and why I did. Oh, yes, there is always method to my madness. ;)

I wanted to take advantage of some blogger features that I had previously neglected. For instance, you can now easily subscribe to Benedictions! Just find the “Subscribe Via Email” box on the sidebar. I’ve also set up blogger’s new Pages Gadget (find the links directly beneath the header). Now I can cleanly keep information permanently posted.
I also wanted to widen the whole blog. The traditional format was so narrow, every time I wanted to post something more than a few hundred words it turned into a scroll-a-thon. Personally, I’m allergic to too much scrolling. ;)
My sidebar was staring to look really messy too, so I streamed lined it and reduced the mismatched images to text. I’m not sure if that makes them less visible, but it feels cleaner.
Of course, I also have to admit that this blog has become my perpetual art project. :) And yes, the image in the header is a real picture of an edit I was going through one day. That’s what happens when you have three versions of the same story and you attempt to merge them. :P
Anyway, I hope you like it! Have a great weekend.

Btw, if you’d like to update your blog in the future, I’ve designed dozens of blog backgrounds and made them available to download for free at Blogcargo.com. Like I said, this is sort of my new art project. :)

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the direction this is going. There are two problems that I see. First is that the sidebar's bright green color attracts the eye to it more than the eye is attracted to the article. Second is that some of the links are a little difficult to find.

Still, I like the direction this is going. :-)

Anonymous said...

Nice! I just had trouble reading the gray and dark blue/purple writing against the black background...

Other than that, change is good! Me likey! ;)

Emily Ann Benedict said...

Okay, I'll work on finding a better color for the links and see if I can make links a easier to find...Hm...Might take me a few days.

As to the bright green sidebar...I actually wanted it to attrach the eye that way. People will naturally read the article, but I want them to pay attention to the information on the sidebar just as much!

Your Favorite Neighbour said...

I like it :)

Elana Johnson said...

I'm allergic to scrolling too. And tiny print. So mine is a scroll-a-thon even if it's short. Le sigh.

Cara said...

Looks great, Emily! :)

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Emily -

I like the graphics in your header. Very nice.

I'm having difficulty reading the text at the bottom of your post because of the colors.

Blessings,
Susan :)

Anonymous said...

I love the new look and that you are fully utilizing blogger. Great job! :O)

Karen said...

Emily, good job. But I agree with the comments about the links under the header. I didn't even see them until I put my cursor there. But love the design. Have a great weekend.

Emily Ann Benedict said...

You know what's funny, I can see the colors just fine, but then I realized I have a special type of screen (or so my brother tells me). Anyway, apparently I can't trust my screen to tell me the truth because other types of screens aren't recognizing the colors the same way.

Karen Lange said...

Like the new format! Been thinking about redoing mine. Will have to use some of your tips, and maybe check out your backgrounds.
Thanks and blessings,
Karen

Bernadine said...

Love your new look.

alicia said...

love the look! I am addicted to changing my own blog as well and glad to know I am not the only one!

Carol J. Alexander said...

Hi Emily,
Karen Lange sent me here. I love your look. And I looked up your backgrounds cause I'm redoing mine and yours is the first place to find something I like but can't use. The green with vines...but the vines cover stuff up in my sidebars.
Can I ask you a question? How did you increase the font size on your page titles along the top?
I'm following,
Carol

Brianna said...

I hate to tell you this, but I kind of preferred the old blog design/lay out... Seemed to fit your style better. ;-) I prefer narrow web designs over wide ones too. I don't mind scrolling, but I do hate having to scoot the page over to see all that's there! LOL! I do like the color green you have along the side though! :-) Nice and bright!

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

Thanks so much for the follow :) Love having new blogger buddies! :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

glad to know I'm not the only one with three versions of a story that need merging . . . whew!