I’ve been working on a new theme (look) for the website. I started with the mnmlist theme by Leo Babauta. I added search, comments, and moved the sidebar to the right. It’s a clean and minimalist theme that focuses on the content without distractions. My goal is for it to load fast so that you can get to the content (which is the important stuff) as quickly and easily as possible.
A Few Thoughts
These two themes are quite different. As I’ve been thinking about my blogging, I’ve come to realize that my goals have shifted slightly. With more activities and requirements being thrust upon my life, I have begun to focus more on simplicity, on minimalism. In order to reflect that, I thought that a simpler look might be a good thing to work toward.
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Click on picture to see larger version.
While I certainly understand wanting things to load faster, this one never seems to load slowly for me, and I don’t have the fastest connection.
I have read that black print on white background is supposed to be easiest on the eyes, it seems glaringly white here. I might be just accustomed to the green.
I would miss your little hiking guy by the tree.
Just my two cents.
🙂
I’m glad to hear that the site loads quickly enough for you. I’ve always been concerned about that and would like to make it faster.
I tried out the minimalist theme with the green backgrounds, but it just didn’t look right. I think I have to put the borders in there for those colors to work well. I would miss the hiker guy too. It took some tinkering to get him in place.
I’m still waiting for all of the votes to trickle in, before I announce a winner.
I don’t have problems loading this page either. I don’t have any problems reading the text either, and I rather like the shades of green.
Your current theme works well, I think.
However, I do understand the desire for the page layout to reflect the content and the goals of this blog.
If you want to go the minimalist theme, more power to you! I have not worked with wordpress, but if it’s similar to blogger, then you can edit the colors and fonts and text size as well. Perhaps the minimalist theme with the same colors as you have here?
My two cents, I would keep it the same.
jj
Glad to hear that you like the theme. Thanks for the kinds words!
I’ll go to the minimalist theme only if the votes warrant it. So it’s currently a waiting game. WordPress.com is similar to blogger. However, I’m using self-hosted WordPress.org, which (at least with this theme) means that I have to manually make any changes. I tried out the colors, one at a time, and it just didn’t work as well. I think that for the colors to work, I’d have to basically just re-create the current theme from the ground up. Which kind of defeats the purpose. 😀
Yeah…no need for templates if you’ve got to build it up yourself, right? I see what you’re saying about the green needing the borders, it probably wouldn’t look right.
I still say I like the layout.
If you’re looking for small tweaks to do, font size is always a consideration.
I’m always thinking of ways to tweak my blog. I don’t always follow through with my ideas, but it’s good to keep the design in mind, with readability of course as the number one goal.
Anyway, I look forward to whatever the site looks like after the poll!
jj
I found a lot of pre-made themes, just none that I really liked. This current them is one that I found and modified. They do make themes that just have adjustable settings, but they either cost money, or I don’t care for the look. -shrugs- I guess that I’m just too picky.
After reading the other comments, felt I should share mine own. Understand the desire to change, update or modify, but the truth is -if it ain’t broke why fix it? – holds true. Website loads quickly for me, it is visually appealing and soothing to view, letting your blog be the focus. Some sites are so jammed with icons, ads, and choices they give a chaotic, frantic aura. Glad to read others have the good taste to appreciate your little walking guy and would miss him if not present. Do agree maybe change in font choice or size could add fresh new look. There ya go.
This seems to be the consensus. I certainly like the current look, just wasn’t sure that everyone else did too. Guess I can look into the fonts a bit more, though. 😀