And We’re Live With the New Design
Hey there. So, notice anything different?
After what seems like a long journey (longer for some, eh, Lisa?), I’m really pleased to be able to unveil the new design here at DannyBrown.me. Built from scratch on the core WordPress platform, design has been handled by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.
It’s a bit of a change for me, since it’s the first time I’ve used a fully customized design as opposed to building from a premium framework (I’ve used everything from Thesis to Headway to Genesis on here at some stage).
I have to say, I’m absolutely delighted with the makeover – I think Lisa has captured what this blog is all about perfectly, from the professional and business-like layout to the (hopefully) welcoming header and comments section.
The blog has always been about making you feel at home, but knowing that you’ll find business advice as well as personal stories of social media and marketing, and I think Lisa has got that perfectly.
It also means that, due to Lisa’s hard coding, I can delete a ton of plug-ins that will mean a faster load time on the blog. At the minute, it’s not completely optimized, due to some tables being left over from a previous theme and some conflicts within my WordPress database because of that, but my web hosts are on that and should have that resolved soon.
So, what’s some of the new stuff?
Home Page
You’ll see the funky new layout, with the featured post image rotator, as well as the drop shadow effects around the blog, the teaser boxes and the sidebar. You’ll also see a nice little speech bubble indicator for how many comments a post has received, and clicking that will take you straight to the comments.
Single Post
Underneath the single post, there’s now a social box, where you can subscribe to the blog for future updates, as well as share with your friends if you liked the post (Facebook Like and Twitter shares are still handled separately). There are also related posts that you can click through on, and the comments section has had a complete makeover. These replace Livefyre, and go back to vanilla WordPress comments with CommentLuv enabled. If I can get Livefyre coded the same, and it adds CommentLuv or similar, I’ve no doubt I’ll switch it back on.
Archives
Click through to the Archives page and you’ll see a spiffy layout that shows visual representations of recent posts, the most popular ones (by comments) and category and monthly archived posts. Simply choose the one that interests you and away you go!
Sidebar
If you look to the right of the blog, the sidebar has had a makeover too. There are different sidebars for different pages, so Work With Me will look different from single post will look different from Charities, and so on. I felt it made more sense to have complementary sidebars as opposed to a generic one all the way through.
Footer
I’m saying nothing except scroll down to the bottom of the blog and check that funky footer option out!
These are just some of the new features and design changes – there are some more, which I’ll let you find for yourself if you so desire. Suffice to say, I’m really excited about the new look, which Lisa has done a tremendous job on.
So tremendous, in fact, that Lisa is now officially the web design arm of Bonsai Interactive Marketing. We’ll be sharing more information soon, as well as a very special offer to celebrate Lisa becoming part of the Bonsai family (as well as the launch of this design), so stay tuned in the coming days!
Like I say, there are some minor tweaks to carry out, but that’s more from the remnants of previous designs and plug-ins in my WordPress database. That should be resolved in the next few days, and the full makeover will be complete.
In the meantime, what do you think?
G'Day Danny,
Like it: in particular I like the way you've used the sidebar to make it really easy to find stuff. I have two personal quibbles; I'd like to see what you look like and I'm not sure that a black typeface on a dark grey wash is easy to read. These are personal quibbles, that's all.
Y'know, I worked out recently that I had my first articles published more than 50 years ago. I'm sure that I'd be embarrassed to read what I wrote so long ago. My writing style's a lot more reader friendly these days. But I've been writing, one way or another, ever since. And I've learnt a few things.
There are only three things that really matter---assuming that you have something worthwhile to say!
1. Is my writing easy to read? There are two elements to this. Is it laid out so that it encourages reading: and is it written in clear conversational English that doesn't tax readers' vocabulary and concentration?
2. Is it easy to follow? Can readers find what the want readily and easily? Your new sidebar does this very well
3 When I've satisfied the first two I address the most important question. Does what I write achieve my writing objectives? In the case of a blog , the writing must achieve the objectives that the blog exists to achieve.
Frankly, it doesn't matter how great it looks, how attractive my friends find it or how glowing are the comments of my business associates.
If it's hard to read, difficult to follow and doesn't do what i want it to, I've failed.
Have a great 2011. And may your new design bring you precisely the results you want
Regards
Leon
Hey there Leon,
Great to see you back in the comment stream (I know your problems with Livefyre) :)
That's a great trio of advice there that any writer would do well to heed. One of the things I'm always wary of in my posts is the formatting, especially on longer posts. I try to keep to 2-3 sentences per paragraph, and break them up with headers and bullets - hopefully it works.
And thanks for the feedback on the black on dark - I know on some display resolutions it's fine, others maybe not so much. I'll look into that.
Cheers again, mate, and have a great 2011!
Danny, I'm waving the white flag here. We. Can't. Keep. Up. You are the Lance Armstrong of bloggers.
Beautiful job and congratulaitons to the both of you!
Congratulations on the new design Danny! I'm a fan of the red that you've selected to use and everything else, well, it looks very clean and polished.
As I'm leaving this comment, also noticing the nice little footer banner on where to connect with you elsewhere, nice touch :-P
Hey Danny! Looks great - very smooth, polished and organised.Congrat's to you, Lisa and the team. Wishing you all good things for 2011. Warm wishes from Downunder! Anne :)
Loving your re-design and really liking the different sidebars for different pages. And the logo looks very professional. Well done! I'm partial to grays myself. The 'check this box to confirm you are human' is funny.
I agree with Doug. This is one of the best blog designs I've seen in awhile. It's easy to navigate and has just enough white space that it doesn't appear cluttered or busy. You and Lisa did a great job!
I can't wait to read more of your insightful posts in 2011! Have a very Happy New Year!
Hey Danny, looks awesome. My basic criteria is clean, professional looking and easy to navigate, and you've done them all. Sure, with a background of 17 years in design, white space it good. But I think Lisa has done a fantastic job.
At first I did think the db logo on each sidebar widget might be overkill, but the color and design blends in well and doesn't overwhelm the content.
Congrats!
woohoo congratulations!
Looks really great love the spacing, the header and foot work well, some of the darker text is hard to read but that might just be my own resolution, love the way the comments are spaced out.
Wendy
Thanks Wendy - is that the darker text in the box on the single posts, or elsewhere? I know I've tried different resolutions of different browsers, and trying to find the balance can be a little tricky, but always great to hear feedback and see if anything can be tweaked.
And yes, I'm totally digging what Lisa's done with the comments! :)
I love the new design - LOVE it!
I can find what I am looking for instantly and nothing gets in the way of your content. The balance is spot on.
A great platform for you and your community mate. Well done!
Hey there mister Jim,
Cheers mate - agreed, I think Lisa got the space versus content balance bang on.
Cheers for all you've shared in 2010, and for your help and calls when needed - you've been a great friend, and I look forward to adding to it all over again next year. :)
Looks amazing Danny. One day my site will look this amazing. Until then I'll just have to try and compete with you on the content-side of things. Haha, another uphill battle.
But seriously, it looks great. Lisa did some amazing things here.
Love the new look Danny and I actually quite like the little "db's" along the sidebar. Was excited to see you were releasing a new look and it was worth waiting for.
I hope you and your family had a great holiday and best wishes for a great new year!
Looks great, Danny. Congrats!
Love the redesign Danny. Great stuff. Lisa has done an awesome job.
Looking forward to another great year of posts as you continue to take the site to the next level.
Cheers!
I love it! I think the new layout is really outstanding. Lisa is obviously exceptionally talented. Glad to hear she's joining the Bonsai team! Cheers!
Danny / Lisa
Absolutely fantastic design.
Layout, colours, readability - all top notch.
Lisa if you ever feel like doing a little charity work... hope you'll visit my site first. LOL
I'm oh so envious!
Hey there Keith,
Cheers mate, and it's been great getting to know you recently - here's to more conversations ahead. :)
Hi Danny,
Nice job on your Home Makeover!
This inspired me to kick my own site up a notch. Even tho I'm still using Headway, it still may have another mile or 2 left in 'er.
And I like the ComLuv. Your new Comment setup is so much easier to use. I may come by more often as a result. The old one forced me to use specific browsers, and always gave me fits.
Rick
Cheers Rick,
I hear you - I know Livefyre isn't for everyone. I'm a fan, especially of its potential (as used in the Q&A I had with David Garland). But while it's in beta, I'm back on WordPress core comments (especially loving the coding and threading Lisa's worked in).
Cheers, sir, and look forward to watching your design evolve. :)
Is there any reason you can't use both? Maybe set up a special place for Livefyre for those occasions where you want an interactive chat environment. I saw that in action, and it is impressive. IMO, just perhaps not in every situation.
Rick
It's definitely something that I've been thinking about, Rick. Like you say, loved the interaction on the experiment with David, so may look at that for future similar options. :)
Hi Danny,
The new design look really cool. Bravo to Lisa! But may be to make top menu little brighter, may be with #999999... I am specifically like your footer but there is one banner of best blogging tips online is not easy to read. ;-)
Hi Rose,
Thanks for the feedback, and I'll definitely keep it in mind. :)
Sweet! I like designs like this - clean, neat, uncluttered. Lisa's done a great job.
(If I was going to be picky about anything, it'd be that it does mix a few too many stylistic ideas - e.g. round corners, square corners, ribbons, embossing and flats. But still, that's a minor finicky designer personal preference thing. also being finicky, i think the "here" link in click here for the Gravatar should be underlined or highlighted.)
Have a great 2011!
Hey there Chris,
Cheers for the feedback, sir, and like you say, it's design choices between designers and "clients" - obviously loving what Lisa's done, else it wouldn't be live. I think the mix is bang on, but appreciate your insight. :)
The Gravatar thing I can't control, unfortunately, as that's a plug-in, but I'll ping some feedback the developer's way.
Cheers! :)
* Updated - actually, just noticed in settings I can alter alert on the Gravatar sign-up so a box with highlighted link appears. Should be better now. :)
G'Day Danny,
Like it: in particular I like the way you've used the sidebar to make it really easy to find stuff. I have two personal quibbles; I'd like to see what you look like and I'm not sure that a black typeface on a dark grey wash is easy to read. These are personal quibbles, that's all.
Y'know, I worked out recently that I had my first articles published more than 50 years ago. I'm sure that I'd be embarrassed to read what I wrote so long ago. My writing style's a lot more reader friendly these days. But I've been writing, one way or another, ever since. And I've learnt a few things.
There are only three things that really matter---assuming that you have something worthwhile to say!
1. Is my writing easy to read? There are two elements to this. Is it laid out so that it encourages reading: and is it written in clear conversational English that doesn't tax readers' vocabulary and concentration?
2. Is it easy to follow? Can readers find what the want readily and easily? Your new sidebar does this very well
3 When I've satisfied the first two I address the most important question. Does what I write achieve my writing objectives? In the case of a blog , the writing must achieve the objectives that the blog exists to achieve.
Frankly, it doesn't matter how great it looks, how attractive my friends find it or how glowing are the comments of my business associates.
If it's hard to read, difficult to follow and doesn't do what i want it to, I've failed.
Have a great 2011. And may your new design bring you precisely the results you want
Regards
Leon
Hey there Leon,
Great to see you back in the comment stream (I know your problems with Livefyre) :)
That's a great trio of advice there that any writer would do well to heed. One of the things I'm always wary of in my posts is the formatting, especially on longer posts. I try to keep to 2-3 sentences per paragraph, and break them up with headers and bullets - hopefully it works.
And thanks for the feedback on the black on dark - I know on some display resolutions it's fine, others maybe not so much. I'll look into that.
Cheers again, mate, and have a great 2011!
Danny, I'm waving the white flag here. We. Can't. Keep. Up. You are the Lance Armstrong of bloggers.
Beautiful job and congratulaitons to the both of you!
Ah, but he got to date Sheryl Crow. Though still can't decide if that's a good or bad thing... ;-)
Cheers mate, really happy with what Lisa came up with - think this one will be a keeper for a while!
I love the new design. Makes me want to go and redesign my blogs. :)
Thanks Dean - let me know if you do, always love seeing what other folks do. :)
Congratulations on the new design Danny! I'm a fan of the red that you've selected to use and everything else, well, it looks very clean and polished.
As I'm leaving this comment, also noticing the nice little footer banner on where to connect with you elsewhere, nice touch :-P
Hey there Ricardo,
Cheers fella, much appreciated sir. Yep, I'm with you, I've always liked the boldness that red offers, especially when mixed with greys and blacks, so this is perfect for me. :)
And glad you like the footer, love what Lisa did with it! :)
Hey Danny! Looks great - very smooth, polished and organised.Congrat's to you, Lisa and the team. Wishing you all good things for 2011. Warm wishes from Downunder! Anne :)
Thanks, Anne - the smooth, polished and organised part must come from Lisa, as I'm anything but! ;-)
Have a great New Year, and here's to having a drink and a chat sooner rather than later. :)
Danny and Lisa, Nice job on the website update.. it's on my resolutions to-do list.
Thanks Davina - look forward to your New Year makeover. :)
Just wanted to poke my head in and say thank you so much to all of you for taking the time to look at Danny's new design and commenting here. I really do appreciate it :)
@Ari I would have rather you posted what I actually said in my email to you which was... "I'm not a fan of A LOT of white space because it's been over used and really only works when the typography is amazing". As opposed to your incorrect version.
And just poking my head in to say thanks again, Lisa - as you can see from the comments, almost universal in the praise for you. And rightly so, miss! :)
I have been so touched reading all these wonderful comments, I think I might print them all out and frame them :)
...and Danny you're very welcome!..you have been very modest in your comments, giving all the credit to me, but you were very much the guiding light here. It's been delightful working with you! :)
Fair enough, Lisa, but if you need to qualify when you like white space and when you don't like it, that summarizes for me you would prefer no white space.
I'm not a designer so I can't do the magic you do. And, yes, I wrote magic.
How long did it take the two of you to churn this out, from first contact to launch? Can you share?
Hi Ari,
I don't think "qualifying" is a summarization, more a definition. Similar, but different. I'm the same as Lisa (which I've chatted about with you before, and left some links as examples) - white space can be great, but often gets lost unless typography is great too.
There were some hiccups along the way, as we originally started trying to design using the Headway framework, but then found that couldn't do some of the stuff we wanted to do.
Then Lisa had some personal issues to understandably take care off. So, all told, in figures of hard coding, I'd say probably between 4-6 weeks of coding, approving and tweaking. And much of that time was me asking for minor changes.
Loving your re-design and really liking the different sidebars for different pages. And the logo looks very professional. Well done! I'm partial to grays myself. The 'check this box to confirm you are human' is funny.
Cheers Brad,
Yep, that was one of the "must-haves", if you like, the distinctive sidebars. Makes more sense to have testimonials on a Work page, and charity news on the charity page. Glad Lisa could accommodate. :)
The new design looks very sharp, Danny. I don't know why, but I'm always a huge fan of unique social media icons and yours add a nice splash of color that looks great in contrast to the overall tone of the site. Sounds lame, but I love me some social media icons! ;)
Hey there Jeremy,
Yep, contrast is always good, and love the little icons Lisa came up with :)
I agree with Doug. This is one of the best blog designs I've seen in awhile. It's easy to navigate and has just enough white space that it doesn't appear cluttered or busy. You and Lisa did a great job!
I can't wait to read more of your insightful posts in 2011! Have a very Happy New Year!
Hey there Jessica,
Thank you! Really glad you liked it, and glad to have you here - looking forward to chatting more in 2011 and beyond, and have a very Happy New Year yourself! :)
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