New WP template

[EEVblog]

I'm trying out a new WP template for the site, let me know what you think.

I think it looks cleaner than the old one which I never really liked all that much, but I know it needs a few colour tweaks on the sidebar maybe.

I've already had a few comments that people don't like it. if so, why? What was so much better about the old one?

Thanks
Dave.

[Matt]

Personally, I think the old one looked better.  It was clean and simple, no varying shades of color between different post windows, basic background.  Just curious, is there a way to have the front page scale to the window width?  The forum does this, but not the main page.  With larger widescreen monitors being prevalent nowadays, the main page looks a little compressed in the center of the screen.  I run 24" widescreens and there's a lot of space on the sides.

-Matt

[Zero999]

I see your point about the width but why not just zoom in a bit?

My monitor is 1920x1080 so all I do is zoom to 190% and it fills the screen.

[EEVblog]

Personally, I think the old one looked better.  It was clean and simple, no varying shades of color between different post windows, basic background.  Just curious, is there a way to have the front page scale to the window width?  The forum does this, but not the main page.  With larger widescreen monitors being prevalent nowadays, the main page looks a little compressed in the center of the screen.  I run 24" widescreens and there's a lot of space on the sides.

-Matt

Fixed width blogs are pretty much standard for the majority of Wordpress type blogs out there.
I think there are a few "variable width" WP templates available, but I believe they aren't popular because it creates an inconsistent look and can screw up the ad formatting.

Dave.

[Matt]

That's cool, i was just curious.  This is pretty much the only blog I visit, so I'm not that familiar with the layouts and didn't know if it was possible.

-Matt

[dengorius]

I liked the old one better it was more... "elegant". I think it's because of the gray background

[EEVblog]

Does anyone like the new template better?

The shorter and more compact header, the highlighting menu items?

Dave.

[marianoapp]

it looks like a page from a couple of years ago with the hard borders, before the fancy CSS. And the color scheme reminds me of those older magazines printed in just cyan and magenta

[EEVblog]

it looks like a page from a couple of years ago with the hard borders, before the fancy CSS. And the color scheme reminds me of those older magazines printed in just cyan and magenta

And the old one was better??

Dave.

[Simon]

Hm I'm not hugely fussed but I was fine with the old one, this one is a bit harsh

[Mechatrommer]

i like the new look better than the old. maybe due to its flatten and new look. everythings look fine (just as the old one), except!.....

1) bolded texts surrounding every place in the blog. i think normal unbolded text should be more than the bolded.
2) why change the  forum button to far right? i think the more important buttons should be on the more left.

Forum, Live, Search, Store, Merch, Donate, Books, Wiki, All Episodes, All Misc, Lab, About
My opinion.

ps: I dont understand why most webs still got the "Home button" on the "Home page"

[Simon]

ps: I dont understand why most webs still got the "Home button" on the "Home page"

because it is far simpler to have one standard "header" than 2 just so you can omit the link on the home page

[alm]

I don't like it. I don't think the different shades of blue (especially the bright blue EEVblog header and the darker, muted blue of 'Latest posts' and the date header at the top) go well together. The sidebar, especially the ads, attract more attention with these headers: they're distracting. Now the page is a collection of independent boxes (like a newspaper), the old one focused on the important content, and made everything else less obvious. It didn't emphasize the divisions between the various elements. The sidebar was one single graphical element, as was the list of posts. The previous template may have been boring, but at least I didn't mind. Thumbs down as far as I'm concerned, 'they' screwed up a fine product just for the sake of changing .

I think three posts on the front page is on the low side, all posts on the current front page where posted within a span of five days, so if you haven't read the site in a week, you might miss some posts. You mentioned something about a Google Ad limit on Twitter, but the ads within the stories are now gone (good riddance, they made the site look cheap), so it should be possible to raise the limit now.

But I'm by no means a skilled graphics designer, so this is just another AU$ 0.02.

[EEVblog]

I don't like it. I don't think the different shades of blue (especially the bright blue EEVblog header and the darker, muted blue of 'Latest posts' and the date header at the top) go well together. The sidebar, especially the ads, attract more attention with these headers: they're distracting. Now the page is a collection of independent boxes (like a newspaper), the old one focused on the important content, and made everything else less obvious. It didn't emphasize the divisions between the various elements. The sidebar was one single graphical element, as was the list of posts. The previous template may have been boring, but at least I didn't mind. Thumbs down as far as I'm concerned, 'they' screwed up a fine product just for the sake of changing .

I never liked the old template. I only chose it because it "sucked the least" when I set up the blog.
I like the newer one better, but apparently I'm the only one...
I think everyone just hates change. I'm willing to bet if I used this template first up I wouldn't get a single complaint :->

I think three posts on the front page is on the low side, all posts on the current front page where posted within a span of five days, so if you haven't read the site in a week, you might miss some posts. You mentioned something about a Google Ad limit on Twitter, but the ads within the stories are now gone (good riddance, they made the site look cheap), so it should be possible to raise the limit now.

The Google ads are not gone at present ,they are still there. Google does not let you have more than 3 ads per page, and I have one ad per post, so I can't display more than 3 posts at present unless I manually dick around and maintain it, and that sucks.

Dave.

[alm]

I think everyone just hates change. I'm willing to bet if I used this template first up I wouldn't get a single complaint :->

Sure, but so do you . I believe you even recorded a drive-time rant about manufacturers randomly changing perfectly fine products. I think the previous design sucked less. If you're going to change a product, the new version should be a significant step up.

The Google ads are not gone at present ,they are still there. Google does not let you have more than 3 ads per page, and I have one ad per post, so I can't display more than 3 posts at present unless I manually dick around and maintain it, and that sucks.

Funny, I don't see them here in either Firefox or Opera (even though I've got content blocking disabled on eevblog.com, and I did see them initially). I thought they looked cheap, like those leeches that mix other people's content with as many ads as possible. Ads should integrate nicely in the design, not stand out. But I do understand that you need to pay the bills, so if this helps with keeping the site alive or you motivated, so be it.

The three post limit now makes the sidebar about twice as long as the main column, don't think this was the case with the previous template.

[EEVblog]

Sure, but so do you . I believe you even recorded a drive-time rant about manufacturers randomly changing perfectly fine products. I think the previous design sucked less. If you're going to change a product, the new version should be a significant step up.

The web site is not my "product", the videos are.
A step up according to who? It's just like my blog content, it impossible to please everyone, it's just not possible. No matter what I do there will be people who don't like it.
But I've probably learned my lesson, I shouldn't have even asked!
At least my my wife thinks it looks better...

[/quote]
The three post limit now makes the sidebar about twice as long as the main column, don't think this was the case with the previous template.
[/quote]

Probably. But it depends entirely on the content of the blogs post as to how long it is. My last 3 only contain one with a video window which is not the norm.

Dave.

[alm]

A step up according to who? It's just like my blog content, it impossible to please everyone, it's just not possible. No matter what I do there will be people who don't like it.

Absolutely, no argument there. But that's with any design. The fact that it's subjective and you can't please everyone doesn't make every design equal, otherwise professional designers would be useless.

But you're obviously free to do whatever you want with the blog, I won't be asking for a refund .

At least my my wife thinks it looks better...

I can't argue with that .

[dengorius]

The web site is not my "product", the videos are.
A step up according to who? It's just like my blog content, it impossible to please everyone, it's just not possible. No matter what I do there will be people who don't like it.
But I've probably learned my lesson, I shouldn't have even asked!
At least my my wife thinks it looks better...

I don't completely agree with that, the website is the envelope around your videos and since *you* are choosing which theme would be better, that makes it part of your "product".
Anyway it's just a matter of habit IMHO. And I totally agree with you when you say that you can't please everyone, we're all different, and thanks for that!

You just asked for an opinion and I gave you one, that's it
Personally I don't really care what the website looks like because I get there every now and then, I use a newsreader for the contents.

Lastly, you run the place and if you think that it looks better now that's it, period. I can live with that

Cheers

[saturation]

I like it, its cleaner, and more professional looking.  But the prior version seemed more 'fun' , this pro look might be intimidating to newbies. 

[transmissiongate]

Hi Dave,

I agree with what a few other people already said.

1) The smaller header is nice. It leaves more room for the content.
2) I don't really like the different shades of blue. The transitions are a bit too harsh maybe. The white background for the text on the old website was fine.
3) I find the bold text disturbing. When I scale down the new website to 80% or something, the bold font changes to normal and it looks much nicer to me.
4) Maybe the headline ("Latest Posts", "Follow EEVBLOG@", etc.) should be a bit smaller as well. The text in the headlines is really large. And there is something wrong with the "Into embedded stuff" "For best value online" headlines. The word "Try" is dangleing between the two lines.

Does WP allow users to choose between different styles for the looks of the website? You could offer both versions then 

André

[EEVblog]

Hi Dave,

I agree with what a few other people already said.
1) The smaller header is nice. It leaves more room for the content.
2) I don't really like the different shades of blue. The transitions are a bit too harsh maybe. The white background for the text on the old website was fine.
3) I find the bold text disturbing. When I scale down the new website to 80% or something, the bold font changes to normal and it looks much nicer to me.
4) Maybe the headline ("Latest Posts", "Follow EEVBLOG@", etc.) should be a bit smaller as well. The text in the headlines is really large. And there is something wrong with the "Into embedded stuff" "For best value online" headlines. The word "Try" is dangleing between the two lines.

Does WP allow users to choose between different styles for the looks of the website? You could offer both versions then 

André

You must be seeing something different to me then, attached is what I see.
I don't see any "really large" text in the headines, and I don't see the dangling text.

No WP does not allow people to change the theme as far as I am aware.

Dave.

[dezza]

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to say I don't like the new design over the old design either! I agree the old one wasn't perfect, but when I opened the site up today it was like a whack in the face and it made me come hunting on the forum to find out what had happened!    I don't mind change, but only when its for the better 

Here's my input:
1) 'The smaller header is nice. It leaves more room for the content', I agree with this but I did like the blue gradients in the background of the blog description previously. Depending on what kind of look you want from your blog you could try to do something similar with your new header and perhaps your section headings too.

2) 'I find the bold text disturbing.' I also agree with this, and its probably the most annoying part for me about the new design, it makes the writing really hard to read and that's probably due to the fact it is smaller as well. I really like the font formatting of the blog posts from the old design. Perhaps just a slight change of this would make a dramatic effect on the overall feel of the new design and people would see what has changed for the better?

3) I like how you have changed the section headings to make them stand out more.

4) Please don't forget your blog and keep the videos coming now that you have also got your radio show going! I find I can't concentrate on just listening to audio, I need video to go along with it. Have you thought about trying to capture video while doing your radio show? I guess there may not be much point to that tho..

[transmissiongate]

You must be seeing something different to me then, attached is what I see.
I don't see any "really large" text in the headines, and I don't see the dangling text.

No WP does not allow people to change the theme as far as I am aware.

Dave.

Hehe, sorry Dave you're right, I got fooled by my adblock-filter 

Well, maybe not "really large" text, but for my personal taste, I think it would look better if it was a bit smaller. I've marked the sections I'm talking about in the screenshot.

[EEVblog]

Well, maybe not "really large" text, but for my personal taste, I think it would look better if it was a bit smaller. I've marked the sections I'm talking about in the screenshot.

It just goes to show how much variation there is in personal taste. I much prefer the look of the big new title bars.

Dave.

[transmissiongate]

Almost got used to the new looks of the website. And hey, I'm here for the content, not for the website itself :-)

André