Something a Bit Different
As those of you who don’t read via my feed may have noticed, I’ve had a bit of a fiddle with the design. I’ve done that trendy thing and gone one-columned. (Columned.. is that a word?) Also done a bit of nifty CSS navigation but I can’t decide if I like it because drop-downs are awkward. That said, you can still browse by clicking the section names.
It’s not completely done. There’s no indication in the header that this is actually jemjabella.co.uk, but I’m not really sure where I can put the domain name without making a mess or making it look odd (feel free to make suggestions). I also can’t decide whether or not I’ll leave the date/category/comments stuff where it is (if you’re lost, look up and to the right slightly).
Do let me know what you think…
Update (19th Jan): Thank you for all of your feedback, everyone. As I continue to work on the layout I’ll take a lot of what has been said into consideration — I don’t want this to be another “upload it and leave it” type layouts. Unfortunately I’m without power at home and have been for almost 24 hours, so I’ve no idea when I’ll actually be able to make any changes…
Becky said:
On 17 Jan at 8:13 pm
Jem, you’re ace! Oh yeah, first comment! Perhaps I’ll post this then come back with a more lengthy comment as is becoming popular amongst the dinkus bloggers? I tried going one column but failed miserably because I couldn’t find places to stick my sidebar-ee things so I’m suitably impressed that you did :P Although, one of your first layouts that I remember was one columned so you’ve done it before. The only thing I can complain about it the colour of the link hover, it doesn’t appear to have enough contrast _for me_, but that’s just me and perhaps my monitor (it’s a different one from the one I’m usually on. Personally I like the drop downs and the date/category/comments look fine where it is, perhaps a “box” around it would distinguish it more? Nothing large or anything that POPS mind you, perhaps a lighter shade of the comment colour? I don’t know, just rambling.
Jem said:
On 17 Jan at 8:21 pm
I personally am a bit worried about the colour of both links and the link hover :X
Becky said:
On 17 Jan at 8:26 pm
(‘scuse the errors, I’m half asleep) I don’t really have a problem with the link colour itself, but it doesn’t stand out enough from the rest of the text. That can be rectified if you add a more bold border or just make the links bold.
Josh(ua/y) said:
On 17 Jan at 8:27 pm
Blimey! It’s awesome! Maybe if you were to put the domain name in the header, it would look even better cos the coffee computing code bit is really spaced out. Also, if this website was for computing non-experts it might be confusing, but you can kind of get away with it here
Hillarie said:
On 17 Jan at 8:36 pm
OMG OMG OMG!!! I love it, as you can see…it is so…different! AIEE!
Elea said:
On 17 Jan at 8:37 pm
I think you could put the site name to the right of “coffee computing code” and that’d be just fine. Though you might want to make that tagline a little less prominent? Right now that part looks as if it’s navigational or the title of the website, which might be confusing for first time visitors. I do really like the header image and the colour scheme though.
Josh(ua/y) said:
On 17 Jan at 8:40 pm
Sorry… I’ve just realised. I’d made a bit of a mistake. Why don’t you put the logo thingy at the bottom… it’s like a slogan type thing? And you could pop the domain name up top.
Hillarie said:
On 17 Jan at 8:42 pm
Also, I’ve been resizing my browser size like mad…fluid layouts are fun… As you see, small things amuse me.
Jem said:
On 17 Jan at 8:43 pm
I just had a bit of a “brainwave” on a similar level.. how about http://jemurl.com/ryxpi ?
Corinne said:
On 17 Jan at 8:50 pm
I’m not a fan of brown, but I like the layout, I’m a big fan of one column layouts (I’m actually considering yet another design). I don’t know though, I’m not sure there’s enough color contrast with the links in the… “bottombar” and the background. Maybe it’s because I’m sitting about 2 feet from the screen.
Jem said:
On 17 Jan at 8:52 pm
I know, and I’m struggling with that because it’s such a neutral colour — there’s nothing that really stands out from it without looking stupid with the layout.
Carina said:
On 17 Jan at 8:56 pm
It looks pretty neat, but I have never been a fan of one column. I like the colors and the fluid-ness. I don’t like where the date and comments are, the old way looked a lot more organized.
Corinne said:
On 17 Jan at 9:00 pm
It’ll be harder because of the circles. Even the white text is a bit difficult. I would make the circles a little darker closer to the deeper brown.
Jordan said:
On 17 Jan at 9:00 pm
Hmmm, this is definitely something I would not have expected at all, and I quite like it! Though I’m not so sure about the header… I think instead of using “coffee computing code” (which makes me feel like I’m about to view a site for some business) Maybe somehow make it a slogan instead? “Jemjabella: it’s all just coffee, computing and code.” or though I’m sure you could probably find other ways to make it “niftier.” Also love the dropdowns. I just put up some for my hosting companies new layout, and I’m excited that it actually works in all browsers with no problems! =) *goes off to look at everything*
Stephanie said:
On 17 Jan at 9:11 pm
Nice. It’s definitely with the current trends in web design. What I never liked about these one column layouts are that there’s always random lists plastered on the bottom of every page. It makes the site look a bit disorganized, not that yours is. I envy your skill.
Natalie said:
On 17 Jan at 9:12 pm
Jem, I have to congratulate you on another impressive layout. It’s very ‘you’. Though can I just say that the background looks a little odd, couldn’t you make it circl-y like the rest of the layout? I love the header image. Coffee! :)
Merike said:
On 17 Jan at 9:16 pm
At first when I came from Thunderbird, I thought what a mess! Then I realized Firefox took some of stuff from its cache and reloaded the page. I think the darker background of comments has a bit too little contrast with text and there’s too much white space around comments. But in general I am still convinced that you’re skilled when it comes doing layouts. By the way: is the menu hovering working only on CSS? Because I couldn’t get mine to work in IE and I didn’t want to use java*script.
Jem said:
On 17 Jan at 9:19 pm
No, unfortunately crappy browsers like IE have a JS fix to make it work.
Gemma said:
On 17 Jan at 9:21 pm
I’m always fascinated by those Web 2.0 layouts that put the secondary navigation down at the bottom. I like the way you’ve pulled this off – it looks very professional (and like it was difficult to do!). I’m not quite sure about the diamond-patterned background, but I like the overall colour scheme – subtle but not dull – and the header image.
Daz said:
On 17 Jan at 9:27 pm
Oh everyone’s getting new designs – I want one :( I like this one (too) – I msut admit reading the header image as “Coffee, Computers, Cods” though. Weird stuff goes on in my mind.
Bubs said:
On 17 Jan at 9:28 pm
Beautiful new design!
Amelie said:
On 17 Jan at 10:04 pm
Ooh, now then. Hmmm. I don’t like the contrast between comment text and background – it’s a little bit hard to read for me, especially for your comments.
Jem said:
On 17 Jan at 10:09 pm
@Amelie: I’ve made the comment boxes lighter, is that better?
Nick said:
On 17 Jan at 10:26 pm
It’s AMAZING. It all works together so well, and you’ve even incorporated the old circles into it. As for suggestions, I have none. I think the link colors are fine and the drop down is a nice switch. I’ve tried the one column thing, but sadly, failed miserably at it. I do quite like the boxy-like background.
Angie said:
On 17 Jan at 10:30 pm
I was going to suggest that spot to you after reading your post. It looks good like that.
Julie said:
On 17 Jan at 10:31 pm
OMG. I do read through the feed (Firefox live bookmarks) and when I saw “Something a Bit Different” it never even occurred to me that you might have a new layout, so I truly made a surprised face when I saw it. Then I laughed hysterically because you did include a coffee cup. I think I like it, except perhaps that I could repeat Amelie’s comments. It’s strange, I have a computer with a very high-quality graphic rendering, but I always seem to find a lack of contrast between stuff…But it’s not *that* bad. Anyway, I like how you have some slight touches here and there, like the stripes behind the navigation that you had once used, and the circles at the bottom of the content area. I also like drop down menus. But why is the comment button on the left? While I understand the form looks prettier that way, it took me some time to realize it. Okay, “some time” is approximately 1 second, but still…It does looks strange, like it applied only to the left fields (which makes no sense, of course).
Jem said:
On 17 Jan at 10:42 pm
I don’t know.. where else should I have it? It just sort of ended up there. I tab through form elements so I didn’t really think about button placement!
Dave said:
On 18 Jan at 12:11 am
I really don’t like it :( It reminds me of the 90s look of websites. Bring back the old one!! Actually, you know what? I do like it especially the footer. I just hate the header :S The previous one was so much more bubbly. It made me think you were a happy girl. This one makes me think you’re a nerd with giant thick glasses and never been kissed ;) It’s not girly enough dammit!
Belinda said:
On 18 Jan at 12:31 am
Yay for dark text on light background again! Very soothing colours used. I think I do like the spunkiness of the last one better, this looks too professional and not personal enough for a blog/personal site. But kudos for experimenting!
Stephanie said:
On 18 Jan at 12:47 am
Wow! I have to say I like it a lot. It’s so different from the last few layouts, and I love that! It’s delightful, now there’s a good word. The new layout causes delight.
Stephanie said:
On 18 Jan at 1:28 am
I hate to be the bursting bubble, but I really prefer your funky style to this minimal one. I think this layout is more suited towards a portfolio site you might use for a CV or if you were planning on doing freelance design on the side yet still keeping the jemjabella name attached to it. I think it’s not very you. Of course, your funkadelic side could be completely nonexistant, and the other layouts were made out in left field ;) But personally… these minimal, sleek and frankly boring layouts are people trying to do less with less, you know? That’s why they’re used on portfolio sites where people are trying to pimp their mad skillz. It almost makes their awesome stuff look better because they’re on a boring page. It’s not like I’m downing the minimalist style. I’m just saying that this doesn’t have as much personality as your other layouts, and I much more prefer those. And it’s good to experiment, but I do think you should stick to your more funky stuff. It’s more unique than this. But that’s only my opinion, everyone else seems to love it, hah. It’s not bad by any means, it’s just… not Jem enough.
Munin said:
On 18 Jan at 1:35 am
The new design looks wonderful, Jem! It’s a fresh change of pace. Although I don’t particularly like where the comment links and date is positioned.. It’s a bit awkward… But everything else is fine.
Mel said:
On 18 Jan at 1:47 am
This is nice, but it looks like you took off the search box for your blogs? I always found the search very handy!
Loadx said:
On 18 Jan at 1:48 am
I really can’t stand one column layouts but I will say your colour scheme is fantastic along with the CSS etc. One colum just doesn’t float my boat.
Belinda said:
On 18 Jan at 1:50 am
I like it, alot. The colors are very nice! Personally, I’m not a huge fan of one-column themes, but it works alright with this layout. :) Er, pardon the stupidity, but are you the creator of jemurl? I just don’t know sing it says “jem” in it.XD
Sonya said:
On 18 Jan at 2:15 am
The new layout looks pretty cool. Unusual colour combination, but it works. My suggestion for where to put Jemjabella.co.uk – on the right of the header, in the same font and colours, but in capital letters. My only gripe is the background… it’s not really to my taste at all. It reminds me of grandpa vests and tartan socks. But I don’t think I’d put a solid colour there either. Maybe a dark gradient.
Louise said:
On 18 Jan at 2:32 am
This is a great new design. I don’t think I have anything to complain about… except me not being able to come up with nice new designs for my own site. :(
Jordie said:
On 18 Jan at 2:38 am
I like it. :) No complaints here.
Aaron said:
On 18 Jan at 2:57 am
I do love what you have done with your website. It is completely different, but it’s neat. I love the argyle pattern in the background, too. I don’t remember ever seeing that done before. The only thing that bothers me is the border size around the drop-down menus. Maybe if they were the same width as the border around the navigation? Still, I love it.
Shannon said:
On 18 Jan at 3:28 am
I like it a lot. It’s a kind of change from your usual style, but it has that ‘Jemjabella’ feeling to it. I think that it’s because of the colours and the fonts. Though, I was hoping a little that maybe the header fonts would change a little? It’s getting quite boring with the same font announcing each post title every layout. I don’t know if I like how the right/bottom borders of the comments are so light. And it looks slightly jumbly with the shadowed and faded PHP snippet on the top banner. I don’t like shadows that are too dark in contrast to the background it’s on. It looks forced and strange. And unbalanced considering there’s a 52px break before the coffee cup and yet the PHP snippet runs right to the border. Yet I can’t imagine it any other way. Because it makes so much more sense the way it is now. Hmm… the background is from squidfingers, right? But it (because of the small amount of texture) is such an abrupt change from the rest of the layout (which seems more solid and definite), that I think it’d be better if you have the same thing, but have the colours on it more solid… -y. Uhh. I’m bad at articulating my thoughts on layouts. And the things that annoy me are just because of my really strange taste. I can see how they can be enjoyed by others. …I’d die if I was a site reviewer.
Tracey said:
On 18 Jan at 4:36 am
Oh my goodness. I really like this Jem, especially the colours. It looks lovely and I think the background is nice, I don’t think you should change it to circles, cause it’s a funky mix and match kind of thing (to me). I would definitely have to echo someone’s comment about putting a border around the date/category/comments stuff, or just a light background, something to distinguish it from the actual post.
Courtney said:
On 18 Jan at 5:06 am
I really adore it. I love one column layouts, though I’m not crazy about huge footers. That’s why it’s not my site, though. :) I really really like it.
Sara said:
On 18 Jan at 5:47 am
I like it – it’s professional, the colours work well together, and it’s certainly visually pleasing. But… I have to say that I probably prefer your previous layout better, if only because I think the brighter colours and more funky, informal look seem to suit your personality a bit better.
Elea said:
On 18 Jan at 7:23 am
Perhaps make the title a bit larger and add a drop shadow to that as well so that it’s not less conspicuous than “coffee computing code”?
Jem said:
On 18 Jan at 8:31 am
Nope, not at all.. Amelie pointed it out to me and I thought it was nifty so I just replaced the tinyurl link with it :) It’s coming back as soon as I find a suitable place for it. Not sure where to stick it at the moment. There’s more going on in this one than the last.. it was not intended to be minimal o.O
Riitta said:
On 18 Jan at 9:08 am
HOLY SHIT! (Do excuse me..) I just randomly browsed in during class, and I actually gasped out loud when the layout loaded. :D This is so good, and I mean really. Wow. And the circles are right here and everything, hehe, wow. Way to go! *has mad love for the site* I’m off to browse some more now – is there a better way to get distracted in a math class?
Marko said:
On 18 Jan at 10:57 am
Man…I really liked your previous design….I think you gone into wrong direction with this one….
Corinne said:
On 18 Jan at 11:44 am
What about paginating your comments? You’ve got so much to scroll through, it could be helpful.
Jem said:
On 18 Jan at 11:45 am
Ick! I absolutely detest paginated comments. If you don’t want to scroll, the “Leave a comment of your own” is a skip link which’ll take you directly to the form :)
Chans said:
On 18 Jan at 1:26 pm
I like the layout generally but I’m not a big fan of one column layouts, I always feel the information at the bottom is always a bit awkward. Like it didn’t fit anywhere else so one just plunged it at the bottom (I’m not only talking here, but in generally) Also the text on the comment button doesn’t fit, right now it shows ‘Add Commen’ so it got cut off.
Alys said:
On 18 Jan at 1:57 pm
“I just randomly browsed in during class, and I actually gasped out loud when the layout loaded. :D” Same! I was in IT and I sort of shouted pretty loudly. It’s amazing Jem *gazes in wonder and goes to change own layout* :)
Shawna said:
On 18 Jan at 2:39 pm
*peeks in through feed* Ahhhhh!! I LOVE IT! Yaaay! Jem tried something new—and I didn’t recognize the site at all at first—but that’s okay!
Mumblies said:
On 18 Jan at 3:40 pm
Yep! I like it :o)
Melle said:
On 18 Jan at 4:11 pm
Great redesign, I’m loving it. The way you set up the comments is nifty too
Nika said:
On 18 Jan at 4:34 pm
Whoa, that’s very different, not just a bit. I like it, but I’m not sure if I like it more than the old one. But I’ll get used of it. That code is from PHP mail form, right? I was just setting it up (following the tutorial). =) This (https://www.jemjabella.co.uk/images/header1.jpg) looks much better than what is it like right now. I’m not sure I like the borders on navigation; the upper border is thiner and the colors are not matching. Well, maybe it’s just me. And I kind of miss the way comments were set. But I like it … I think. =) I just need some time.
Aithnea said:
On 18 Jan at 4:43 pm
I really like the mellower layout. I say mellow because that’s how it feels, nice and mellow. However, when I mouse over your navigation strip the ones with drop down menus sort of come up a little funny for me (I’m using Opera on Ubuntu so it may just be me). The background shows up, but only on half of the text, the rest of the text is on a white background like your main content area.
Corinne said:
On 18 Jan at 6:15 pm
lol. No problem. Also, will you bring back the quote button?
Amelie said:
On 18 Jan at 7:14 pm
Yes, for normal comments. Yours are still a little difficult to see though…
Shari said:
On 18 Jan at 8:20 pm
But of course I had to see through the feed. And I love the new design (not more than the previous ones though). Although the link hover color leaves much to be desired, considering that this is Jemjabella.co.uk. ^_^ I’m reading Amelie’s last comment now, and I have to agree. Your comments are a little bit difficult to read.
Chrissy said:
On 18 Jan at 8:58 pm
I like the design part and the colors, but the pictures are a little too distorted for my liking. Even with the names under each, it still took me awhile to figure out what it was. Especially the “coding” part.
Cheri said:
On 18 Jan at 9:29 pm
I love this layout! I know you don’t have it quite finished yet, but I still love it. :D I’m not sure how I feel about the commenting link, date, etc. being in the place it is (as you mentioned in your blog, I see). But other than that, I love it. :) Very professional.
Lew said:
On 18 Jan at 11:12 pm
Really like the design. Not sure I’d call it trendy, more retro. As for where to put the domain/title, perhaps I could suggest that the design is already too busy. I also really like where you’ve put the date/time/category info.
Montoya said:
On 19 Jan at 6:09 am
I like the design, it’s very classic and chic, but dropdowns suck. Just my 2p :/
Sarai said:
On 23 Jan at 12:45 am
I’m a bit ‘late’ but imo, I think instead of “coffee computing code”, there should be jemjabella in the same font and color. The rest of it looks awesome! I love the color scheme.
Aneesah said:
On 23 Jan at 11:06 am
64 comments?! Man, I’m so behind in my blog-visiting. -_-; This one-column thing looks familiar to me, especially the three columns in the bottom bar down there. ;P I’ve grown to like one-column layouts though, the center-ness is just quite pleasing. I think you have enough suggestions already, yeah? I’ll wait for some changes before I suggest anything else. :) Great job overall, the colour scheme’s the neatest thing, I think. :D
Hev said:
On 24 Jan at 3:59 pm
Jem I know I am late adding this comment, but I wanted to let you know that I like this design. You have chosen a wonderful color scheme and graphic use. your one column is sorta like Nuwen.com’s design. It looks very simple, but is very neat.
Steven said:
On 26 Jan at 4:59 am
Oh yeah!!! Love it! I have a one-column layout also, I think they are nifty! I have to add tabindex though. :( Maybe add a slight timeout for the menus so they don’t go away so fast?
Jem said:
On 26 Jan at 9:16 am
The menus are CSS based, if they’re disappearing when you hover over them, you’re not hovering over them ‘properly’. Bring your cursor down the menu instead of whizzing it around the screen.
Steven said:
On 26 Jan at 11:29 pm
Oh no, I am. But when you take your mouse away it immediately moves on to the great beyond. Add a time-out so it waits, say 1 second, then goes away. :)
Jem said:
On 27 Jan at 7:31 pm
As I said, they’re CSS based. This means that – without JS – there’s no way to make them time out. I’m not adding more crappy JS.
Montoya said:
On 28 Jan at 12:19 am
Well Jem, I guess it’s obvious that CSS-based flyouts don’t work for everyone. I would have gone with a 2-level navigation… for sections with sub-pages, have a second navigation bar appear below the first. It’s a 2-step process to reach certain pages but it’s actually more usable.
Grant Mc said:
On 28 Jan at 12:44 am
I am really not sure of the main page as i like to see by scrolling down of a few previous posts like the last version of the site!
Jem said:
On 28 Jan at 12:43 pm
.. I believe I pointed that out in my original post, in a round-a-bout way?
Steven said:
On 31 Jan at 3:28 am
JS is actually very useful. Sometimes. Don’t you hate it when someones WHOLE damn site is powered by JS? Takes AGES on Dial-Up. Anyways, maybe something similar to the Dolphin menu?
Grant Mc said:
On 02 Feb at 7:08 pm
OMG! CSS is the way foward bruv. Don’t tell me you still play with tables!