Old and new

Time for a change. Yesterday while watching general conference, I got an itch to redesign this blog. Here’s what it used to look like:

And here’s what it looks like now:

The layout’s a bit cleaner, with a rather trimmed-down sidebar. And I’ve condensed the subscription stuff into a subscribe page. Ditto for the about page.

I like it. My design sensibilities have changed a lot since I first designed this blog, and the old look was getting kind of embarrassing. But I can live with this one.

Now I just need to upgrade to WordPress 2.5…

I like the new one much better! It’s so pretty.

Woah… it’s really different! Clearly, too much time on your hands. You should take up knitting.

Shouldn’t you be reading mistborn instead of making new websites?

Steve

p.s. Thanks for having blankslate.net, I used it to teach myself CSS and now I use css all the time. So much better than straight html, and not that hard to learn.

Ali: Thanks! :)

M: Haha, I should. Or do both, even.

Steve: I know, I know — I just moved it to the top of my list, actually. :) And I’m flattered that you’re learning CSS from blankslate.net. Hopefully this new design will have some tricks for you, too. (960.gs is my new friend.)

Hey Ben,

Do you have any good suggestions on where/how to learn CSS? Where/how did Steve learn from BlankSlate?

Thanks.

Oh! This is a happy surprise—I really like it.
{Imagine that last bit said in a British accent. Charlie and Lola style. Because that’s how I mean it.}

Good stuff, Ben - It’s always nice when you redesign something. It just makes you want to look at it all day, even when you should be reading. ;)

Alyssa: The one at westciv.com is good. I’d go through that and then google around for “css tutorial” and find some more that you like. As for Blank Slate, it’s one of my other websites, and Steve learned from it by viewing the source. :)

E: Thanks! I really like it, too. :)

James: I know, it really does. Whenever I design something I like, I keep going back to look at it over and over again. It’s kind of silly but very therapeutic. :P

By the way, the mountain picture on your new blog format reminds me of some of the Misty Mountains footage from the beginning of the The Two Towers film. Although I was less fond of the new format at first, now I like it - both for the LOTR association (for me), and because it looks kind of clean and fresh!

Cool, I like that association, too. :) And I agree, it feels cleaner for me, too. Glad you like it now!