A few days ago I began using a new Tumblog-Hybrid theme on the site. I have received some mixed opinions on the design. A few by a poll and some others via email. So far I have only received 14 votes on the poll.
- I love it! (36%, 5 Votes)
- It’s ok. (29%, 4 Votes)
- Needs improvement. (21%, 3 Votes)
- Where are the colors? (21%, 3 Votes)
- I hate it. (0%, 0 Votes) -
While the votes for “I love it” would win in a running race, it wouldn’t be by a country mile. The majority of the votes point to it’s ok, needs improvement and some color.
I agree.
I thought I wanted to make IAMWW a little more personal by adding links, photos, and other mixed media. But I don’t think it fits the site. I think it needs a little more polished design and content. The current design feels confining.
Robert Ellis (who I consider a mentor) recently said:
“I think part of the problem you’re having is that you haven’t really decided what you want your site to be about.”
He is exactly right. I am struggling with how to “brand” the site and what I really want the site to be about or even what I want to write about. When I first built the site I didn’t really plan on doing a whole lot of writing (and certainly wasn’t planning on designing WordPress themes). I merely wanted to build an easy to manage site quickly. Now I would like to write some posts, but I don’t see myself making a lengthy post everyday. I just don’t have time. So, that is when I thought about mixing in some quick posts and other mixed media. I think it works great on my family website, but I don’t believe it matches the content here.
I have spent the last few days thinking over the site and what direction in branding and writing I want to take it. I am going to mix things up. I want to keep the site somewhat technical or design based with the right mix of short posts. But rather than build it as a stream of conscience, life stream, or daily log, I am going to remove the “asides” from the typical flow of the home page. Also, I really don’t know about the title or description or if I will even continue to use one.
With all of that said:
I just finished up the layout for the homepage of my next theme. I think everyone (including myself) is going to like the next design much more than my current or even past designs.
Once the next design for the site is finished I hope to begin working on another theme for public release.
If there is any interest for a tumblelog-hybrid WordPress theme, maybe I can clean up the template files and release them for download…
Until the chaos fades, be sure to check out Brian Gardner’s latest site design!
Update: Also check out Robert’s new theme release Upstart Blogger Futurosity Altera.
6 Comments
I’m late for the poll, anyway i like the actual design!
Hello Laburno - I like the current design too. I am just not sure it fits the site’s content. The next design should be a better balance between style, matching the site content, and usability!
A belated vote for “I like it!” I wouldn’t worry about adding color so much as more color-contrast. Looking forward to the next theme.
Thanks Ian and understood. I hope to have time to finish it up this week!
Personally I love your tumble-hybrid theme!
I’m using Moo-point atm (which is perfection btw), and trying to decide whether to keep my tumblelog on tumblr or host it myself. If you released this theme it would be perfect for me, I’d have a semi-matching theme for my tumblelog. These are purely selfish reasons of course.
Love your designs though, you’re doing great things with them!
Thanks Jackie!
Dependant on the way you wanted to display your posts, you could tweak Moo-Point a little bit to work your tumbles into the normal flow of the site. You could do that with the technique similar to the one used in the Moo-Point asides.
Regardless, if there is enough interest I will clean up the current theme for public download.