We are trying a new look (yes again!) and there are some minor features missing (author listings on posts for one). This will be corrected in the next few days if we decide to stick with this one. In the mean time, register your likes/dislikes here. Thanks!
Update: We’ve gone back to our original look. Thanks for your comments. If you saw the new one and still want to comment here, that’s fine.
I wondered where the author listing went.
I like it….. now instead of the three columns being stacked one on top of the other in the other schema, this one only stacks two! (The middle and right-hand one).
I don’t know if this slowed my computer down or not…. and it takes forever for a post to show up after it is posted.
Well, that one didn’t take long… so strike the forever on the posts. Dangit!! Forgot about this editting option!!
I find it cold and impersonal. The old layout had this whole “come on in and have pie” feeling going for it.
You don’t suppose Apple will sue for copyright infringement, do you? How about a more original background?
I also find the little icons in front of every link in the sidebars…annoying.
Other than that, I like the basic layout lots!
Have to say I preferred the previous one. This looks very generic and kind of overly techie. Just my opinion.
I perferred the previous one too. This just seems annoying somehow. Maybe the bright blue.
I’ve worked in publishing for 30 years, so I’ve been through many redesigns of both magazines and websites. Even the best redesigns–as judged by professionals–seem to annoy at least as many readers as they please. We get used to finding information in one format, and it’s a pain to have to learn our way through a new one.
That being said, you can put me down as neutral-to-negative on this one. The whole look resembles a generic powerpoint slide. But I’m sure I’ll get used to it, and then be a little unhappy next time you change.
As much as I love my Macintosh, the look feels out of place here. Maybe I just need time to get used to it…
It doesn’t look any different on my mobile device. XGW is easier to navigate and faster loading than, (cough cough), boxturtlebulletin or towleroad. That’s not to say I don’t love graphics or pictures…just restrain in using too much.
And, thank you…for keeping it “open-office-cublicle friendly” for when I’m at my desk.
What more could we ask for 🙂
@cowboy
Mobile navigation and office safe content are something we strive for – thanks for noticing. The latter is one of the reasons we are not using the ubiquitous Google ads anymore (or a few others).
Awww…I liked the new look….
Could it be set to where the viewer could choose the skin they prefer? I run a message board and I allow my members to choose their skin for viewing. I believe its the same with WordPress.
Sorry Ken 🙁
We will be considering a few things but to be honest, we have our hands full working with content. Otherwise, we would have had more time to shake that design down before trying it out here. There are some issues with it that make some browsers open slow and hang. As for providing choices of themes, it would be way too much maintenance for an already overworked volunteer crew.
For whatever it’s flaws, the current design uses simple code and few graphics. I think we will stick to it for a while. Thanks again for the input.
Could I indulge a bit more with chatting about mobile devices and navigating?
When I get back in the saddle (what I affectionately call my commuting time) I use my mobile device to access the web. I find some websites put the links and extraneous (fluff) stuff on the top. This, on a small screen, can be somewhat infuriating when you want to get to the “meat” and “juicy stuff”. You tend to get thumbitis.
XGW does it best. Hear that boxturtlebull/goodasU/towlerobe? ((nudge nudge wink wink)) You know I appreciate ya. Think about it over the weekend.
I want there to be an author’s section so that I can tell my friends to search for my name or whatever and then see all my articles at once. But that’s just me and my ego talking. 8)
We will always make sure the authors of each post show up, that would have been fixed on the other theme but as I said, there are more issues and most people don’t seem to have cared for it anyway.
Couldn’t even see the new look, but I am using the computer equivalent of a dinosaur.
I’ll be perfectly frank: I look more for content and often times format (new or old) is a distraction.
Having said that, I’ve read this blog for a few years, and I can’t even remember what it looked like when I first started coming here. It seems like there’ve been about 5 or 6 “new looks.” As I remember, it was a light blue format when I first got here.
In 2002, this site was affiliated with Salon.com’s subscriber blogs, and so it had this layout courtesy of Salon.com.
(I love the original site motto: “Gays, ex-gays, ex-ex-gays… sexually confused activists share their confusion with us. This is their story. Now I’m confused.”)
In September 2003, the site moved to its own domain, using TypePad as a platform. Indeed, for some years it consisted of a plain white background and a simple sky-blue banner with white text. Bright, simple and attractive.
It stayed that way until 2005 or 2006, when we created a red version of the green open-arms logo that you see above. The red clashed with sky blue, so the site acquired a banner with red logo and black Avant Garde text on a simple white background, a black separator line, and black sans-serif body copy on a white background, with navy-blue left and right page borders. At times, the sidebar, blogroll and ad areas were shaded gray. (Unfortunately, Archive.org’s Wayback Machine has not preserved an accurate copy of that layout.)
When we moved to WordPress in the past year, we adopted some attractive interim layouts which turned out to function poorly, and we eventually settled on the current format.
I feel the current format is a bit plain-looking, but it is by far the most functional of the layouts that XGW has used — and it’s free.