..is really bugging me now. I miss my sidebar, and I loathe my navigation. I still haven’t added my site name to the header and I feel it’s too high. The footer looks weirdly green on my Mum’s monitor, and there’s so much stuff missing (search bar, etc) that people are starting to complain.
*woe* :(
In other news: I cannot believe it’s the end of January already. This month has gone quite quickly. It’s probably because I’ve had so much to do. It’ll be March before I get chance to blink again, you watch..
31 Jan at 9:39 pm
Aside from the brightly coloured themes with grey backgrounds that you used to sport on your website… This is my favourite of yours! :P
31 Jan at 9:51 pm
Thank god you noticed, to be honest i hate this layout!
31 Jan at 9:56 pm
You want the truth? It’s starting to annoy me too. Your main navigation is really bugging. I like the idea of the coffee, PHP code and computer. Perhaps if you keep that idea, just change the design a little? Hmm…
31 Jan at 10:00 pm
I didn’t “notice” anything, and I still like my layout. There are simply a handful of things that aren’t right with it (that I pointed out in my original post). But thanks for being honest in the first place Grant, nice to know that you have balls and all that.
31 Jan at 10:29 pm
Make an um.. alternative? :D I really like this website. ;P
31 Jan at 10:29 pm
I meant layout. But I do like the website, too! :P
31 Jan at 10:48 pm
It was a bit of a shock at first but this layout is quite growing on me. I find the navigation a bit…I dunno…just where sometimes there are dropdowns and sometimes not, it’s not as fluent. Perhaps you can find a happy medium between the old and the new?
31 Jan at 11:01 pm
I don’t dislike the navigation, it’s just I don’t like the fact that you can still click on a link without hovering over it. I would try to show you, but cursors don’t show up in screen shots, or at least mine don’t. I’m not a fan of brown in layouts (as I said before), and I really don’t like this background. I think it would look better with a different background.
31 Jan at 11:06 pm
To be honest, I liked your last layout better too. But maybe you could at an extra page with all of the things that are missing.
31 Jan at 11:40 pm
I like you layout. The navigation is interesting. Maybe a drop down menu. CSS Play has a bunch that work. I don’t think the main image is to big.
01 Feb at 12:01 am
January has gone by quickly. But when I think about the beginning of January, it seems like so long ago.
01 Feb at 12:28 am
I like the layout, but I kind of miss the sidebar =/ Go for whatever you want, I’d kind of like to see the “coffee computing code” theme again with your next layout.
01 Feb at 12:29 am
I liked the old layout a lot, but I felt as if you needed a change. This layout is a CHANGE. To be quite honest, I hate the navigation and the fact that there isn’t a search bar. The rest of the layout is fine besides the background, in my opinion. I think that the background make your site look a bit boring, and your site is anything but that!
01 Feb at 1:07 am
I loved the colors of this theme, but I really don’tlike one column layouts, in general. =/
01 Feb at 1:53 am
Er, sorry, but I’m not a fan of this layout. I shouldn’t complain, because mine is DULL. I miss the sidebar, too. I dunno, but this one doesn’t seem as ‘you’ as the other one did. I like the huge sidebars and fluid navigation to the right.
01 Feb at 2:15 am
This might be the most pointless comment and it’s isn’t really constructive either – the wrapping of this website is in this case not important enough to decide whether I like it or not – I just want to rip off the wrapping when I come here and go straight to the marrow of it’s contents.
01 Feb at 2:55 am
I don’t like the colors, just because dull colors have never been my thing. I love the way you’ve done the footer and I think a search box would fit nicely. Instead of the dropdowns, you could add a subnav under the main navigation like the way the wordpress admin panel is set out. Since this is a fluid layout, you could make the container wider easily and then add a sidebar.
01 Feb at 3:06 am
My opinion still stands. I think it’s interesting how people’s opinions have changed, though.
01 Feb at 3:12 am
I still like the layout. I think it’s elegant. I just miss the sidebar and the search form.
01 Feb at 3:15 am
I think you should keep the one-columned layout, but the content needs to change. :) I don’t really like the menu a lot, and I liked the old layout better. The colors aren’t really… you. Even though I haven’t been here long, I can just tell… (I need help.) So, yeah.
01 Feb at 4:28 am
I must say that I really like this layout. Colors like this are really calming to me, and your layout just makes me feel, well, calm. lol I’m a fan of drop down menus, myself. But you know, it’s your site and your happiness with it is what ultimately matters. :)
01 Feb at 4:42 am
Well, *I* like the layout.
01 Feb at 6:41 am
Delurking to say that I actually like this layout better than the previous one, although that one was good, too. This one’s easier to read. I even like the drop-down menus better—quicker access. Maybe you can just replace “coffee computing code” with your site title? You can also add a search box to the footer.
01 Feb at 7:20 am
I agree with Shari and many others in saying that i like this new layout. The colours, albeit “weirdly green” as you put I find soothing and relaxing (There is no much brash harsh and jangling colour on some websites) Ditto the coffee/computing/code is good but i did prefer the sidebar look over this dropdown one. Would it be possible to combine the two perhaps as some have suggested and use these colours and header with the old layout? I think experimenting is the key Jem, Rome wasn’t built in a day was it? ;)
01 Feb at 8:16 am
I like this layout a lot in terms of colour and readability but I have to say as a newcomer to your site I’m sometimes perplexed by the links at the bottom. It took me an embarassingly long time to notice them there at all, and I’ve still not quite nailed down why which links appear where. Maybe it’s really simple and I’m just daft, though.
01 Feb at 9:18 am
..wtf?
01 Feb at 9:18 am
For what it’s worth, I still love this layout. :) I hope you can make it not bug you, somehow, because I know how annoying that can get.. :S
01 Feb at 9:42 am
yeah i’ve never liked 1 column layouts and this one falls into the same category. I’ll stay tuned to see what you produce next :) Good luck
01 Feb at 9:43 am
..nothing, probably, not got enough time :(
01 Feb at 10:01 am
I like this layout! I like the coffee colours; it makes it seem like a very personal site, which is what it is. It’s up to you whether you change the site layout or not, but I have a suggestion… Using your php skills, perhaps you could make a site-skinning feature, and then somehow track who uses which skin…
01 Feb at 10:11 am
It was a bit of a shock at first but this layout is quite growing on me. I find the navigation a bit…I dunno…just where sometimes there are dropdowns and sometimes not, it’s not as fluent. Perhaps you can find a happy medium between the old and the new?
01 Feb at 11:01 am
I personally really like the layout :)
01 Feb at 12:23 pm
I really like this layout because it has the same structure that most of my layouts have. However, the drop down navigation is kind of annoying. I love the header and the background, though. January has passed by quickly. I’ll probably be saying that at the end of February, too…
01 Feb at 12:23 pm
Why is it when I design sites for other people I am nearly always happy with them, but when I do it for myself it always feels like such a huge compromise. I say just keep going, redesign as often as you like. It’s your site, your world, your rules.
01 Feb at 12:24 pm
In terms of the coding of the layout, it is, once again, flawless. The mechanics are pristine. Would we expect anything less? However, what the decorations (by this I mean the background, the colours, the borders) – you might think of them as the little silver balls or candles on a birthday cake – are saying to me is, “Old Grandpa”. The kind of grandpa I’m getting an image of from this layout is, “When I was your age, I had to ride a donkey 500 miles to get to school, through wind and rain and slush and snow…” Do you get what I’m saying? It’s evoking a very strong feeling of “short Web design course at the nursing home”. I doubt I could possibly offend you, but I’ve just decided to be honest here, and I’m just thinking “grandpa”.
01 Feb at 12:25 pm
I find that more amusing than offensive Sonya, your analogy was quite cute :D (And I know exactly what you mean.)
01 Feb at 2:17 pm
I’m with Grant. I think you’re selling yourself short with this one and could do much better. The colour scheme looks dated and drab and your header isn’t very inspiring. Your writing is great though so it’s a shame.
01 Feb at 3:04 pm
Colors definetly fit to together. But I agree with Sonya, background reminds me of my friend’s pullover that was actually called “grandpa style”. Anyway the point is if you don’t like it then change it.
01 Feb at 4:19 pm
I thought it was a nice change ;)
01 Feb at 5:36 pm
I found a moonrock in my nose! Not sure how much value my opinion has here, but I can say that I haven’t really enjoyed any of your layouts since you started on the idea of having the circular theme (seen here in the bottom right corner) Plus, your light on dark layouts always bothered me. I think you knew this, though – I’ve mentioned it before. I like this layout better than the previous one, but I’d really love to see the return of something like these: past layout 13 / past layout 11 / past layout 08 I especially loved the middle one :P
01 Feb at 5:42 pm
@Rose: it’s funny you should say you don’t like the circular theme, because layout 11 had a dark circular background repeating across the bottom of the page ;)
01 Feb at 5:45 pm
… . …. (keep scrolling….) . .. I am oblivious!!!!!
01 Feb at 7:26 pm
Lol @ Sonya’s comment. Love it, and kind of agree :)
01 Feb at 9:20 pm
I like the header image, though the lack of jemjabella anywhere is so odd I’m used to seeing it. The dropdown links aren’t really my cup of tea either. As for the footer. I generally don’t like such long ones. I prefer the ones that fit on one line and only have some copyright info there (like this site is property of blah). As for the sidebar… um… maybe for the blog. Although if you whole site is prowered by the same CMS (not like mine, WP for the blog and plain html for the rest)… then a search button can come in pretty handy. What I do very much like are these circles at the bottom. ^.^
01 Feb at 9:38 pm
NOOOOOOOOO! This is an awesome layout! —At least turn it into a wordpress theme or something :P I have to say, this is a very professional layout and you did an amazing job on the colors, and it was a nice change of pace.
07 Feb at 5:21 am
Well, I guess now is a good time for me to say that I didn’t like that layout. The new one you’ve put up since (as in, the old one that you updated a bit) is much better :)