New Design; Back 5 Years

I decided to stick up a “new” layout. I’ve used ideas from some of my old layouts, basically going back to a time when gradients were nowt but a sparkle in the eye of whichever chappie it was decided to invent the term “web 2.0”. So it’s not really new at all, is it?

I quite like it though :) I like the amount of white space (both literally and ‘designy’ speaking) I have to play with. It’s totally minimalist which means low space, low bandwidth. This has the benefit of allowing me to post more photos in my entries without having to worry about page load times.

Once I’ve finished debugging (it actually took some major restructuring) I will make a reverse version – white on dark.

Update: thank you for the feedback, everyone. While I don’t intend on making any major changes to the layout because I still like it how it is, I’ve used a few suggestions. The dark version is now available but is not quite polished off yet. (If you don’t like the dark, you can reset to white.)

65 Comments

  1. I don’t like it. It looks… weird. And yes I did ctrl+f5. Several times in fact. Sorry. :(

  2. Looks like the header is not liking my widescreen (1280x800px) one bit… :(

  3. Jem

    11 Jan at 9:53 pm

    I run 1280×800 – what’s wrong with it Nyx?

  4. Mmm. Damn. The way the header hits the sidebar doesn’t quite feel ‘complete’. I kept refreshing thinking I was missing a background colour or special border or something…

  5. ^ Agreed. Don’t like the title font. Don’t like that the sidebar links aren’t display: block;ed. Yeah. Looks generally unfinished and lacking something :/ P.S. Now make me a new layout. :P

  6. I think they might mean this: http://tinyurl.com/2gjxxu I do like the blue though. And the side menu. My screen res is 1280×800 FF2

  7. Jem

    11 Jan at 10:01 pm

    I think they might mean this: http://tinyurl.com/2gjxxu That’s exactly how it’s supposed to look. The header detail ends as the content ‘block’ does. The way the header hits the sidebar doesn’t quite feel ‘complete’. I haven’t decided yet whether I want the blue dashed line to meet the dark grey in the side or not..

  8. its purty. i like it but…. where’s the ninja? :(

  9. Jem

    11 Jan at 10:03 pm

    @Ian: bringing it back in a different way ;)

  10. Oh right, sorry Jem. I thought maybe the left hand bit was missing a bg colour. Oops. I just keep wanting to push the right bit over to the left.

  11. Needs more advertising :)

  12. Can’t say I’m a fan of this (definitely preferred your last, although the colour scheme is far easier on the eyes). It looks too incomplete and unbalanced for me. I like the wider sidebar and the navigation though.

  13. Jem

    11 Jan at 10:13 pm

    Heh, no worries Teesee – if it doesn’t like right, it doesn’t look right however I intended it! ;)

  14. I’m really not a big fan of this layout although I do like the blue. I really like the layout you had up before. I think the blue would look good on the last layout.

  15. That’s exactly how it’s supposed to look. The header detail ends as the content ‘block’ does. Oh. My bad then (yeah that’s what I was seeing and wondering if that was intentional or not).

  16. Did someone steal that brilliant brain of yours for a moment and put this up? Change is good, but change to this? Though i like the white space, I do not like the overall color scheme.

  17. Wonderful layout as usual.

  18. I’m fine with the whitespace as well… but I don’t like the layout overall. It just looks weird overall. If I take some elements individually, I do like them, and the idea itself is also good. I’d make the site title larger though, being so “thin” it’s a bit difficult to read, and all this white is hurting my eyes (I can’t stare at plain white for too long). I’d also have the tilted stripes till the edge of the layout, and not have that white separator, at the end of the content area. It looks odd to suddenly have a separator there. It’s not like people can’t see where the text ends… Um… yeah… it’s too “tech” oriented. I prefer more elegant layouts.

  19. Jem

    11 Jan at 10:36 pm

    it’s too “tech” oriented. Nothing can ever be too tech oriented. Well done for spotting the general concept/theme though :)

  20. The one thing that annoys me for the moment is that the stripes stop at some point on the top. There’s a small white line and then the background continues without stripes.

  21. Not keen my self on this layout, but I would like to see the reverse version as I like dark themes, they’re much easier on the eye and they save electricity!

  22. Firstly: bring back the red and grey one ;-) This feels like there are three seperate areas: sidebar, content block and right side whitespace. Whilst I love the ‘techie’ theme and the writing in the sidebar, I think the diagonal pattern should either carry on the the right, or be ‘stopped’ with a thicker line to tie in with all the other lines. (top of banner, right hand of sidebar) Lastly, I like what you are aiming for, all the seperate bits, but it just doesn’t feel…complete…. it’s not good the usual good feng shui.

  23. Nice new layout Jem, but I have to say it’s not my most favourite one. One of your best minimalistic layouts has got to be your red and grey/white layout. Although I’d like to see how this layout looks in dark colours, I’m sure that would be great.

  24. I like this layout, although I think the text above the navigation should be bigger because the navigation seems to take the attention away from it.

  25. I’m not sure if I like this one… definitely not a fan of that bitmap font you used in the top right corner there…!

  26. ^ Yeah, if you step back and look, I think the sidebar makes the content area look less significant. The sidebar ‘pop’s out …

  27. Being a fan of minimalistic designs, I quite like what you’ve got here. You still keep the same structure and format, but you give us a fresh breath away from non-neutral color schemes and whatnot. I think the only criticism I have to offer is that the tagline is a bit hard to rid, with the blue dropshadow effect on it. I mean, I know what it says, but to actually read it, I have to squint at it. Other than that, Blue+Yellow=FTW.

  28. I love this layout :) The only things that are kind of bugging me are all the white space beside the main links on the side, and the way the light stripes in the header (over the content area) end. But overall, I like it more than your previous one and I think this is a lot more unique.

  29. Personally Jem, I like it. It is very unique. Very you. Though it is very “white” it isn’t so bad that it hurts your eyes. I would keep the design, Jem.

  30. It’s different from your other layout, but I agree that it looks like it’s missing something (it might be something small). I like the colour scheme a lot, though.

  31. I had a feeling something new was going to load when I clicked “https://www.jemjabella.co.uk” on my browser’s history. Its simple. I like — love simple though I liked the red and gray one. This one is awesome too, the colors you used are my favorites.

  32. I’ve been waiting for the new layout. I think the header would look more “complete” with the nav links in it :P

  33. I love it! It’s very unique. But I think that the font that Jemjabella and the slogan is in is difficult to read… Although I like the tech style of it :).

  34. I like the simplistic, minimalistic feel of it as well, but I don’t know. Maybe it needs to grow on me. I look forward to the white on dark one; I may like it more than this version. I really like the font for jemjabella though.

  35. It took a while for me to get used to it, but I actually kind of like it. :) One thing that doesn’t seem quite right to me is how the visited links and hover links in the navigation have the background color. Since the links are so close to each other (right above/below the other), I think they should resemble each other more or at least, not be too different. And plus, they just kind of feel a little boxed in, while the unvisited links feel open (which is the feeling I get from a navigation like this), aaand errr, I hope that made sense. :x (The above only applies to the navigation. The links elsewhere on the page look fine. :3)

  36. The logo bothers me to no end, but eee. BLUE! The grey bar above the logo irks me a bit, too … For some reason it reminds me forcibly of a Blogger pre-made theme, but then again I suck at all things layout, so you know, equals out. At least the colour schemed better than your last one. :P Nice job, though! Minimalistic = love.

  37. Don’t like this lay… White colour is killing my eyes… Dark version please! :) However the idea is very good ;) I just don’t like when there’s so much brightness in the site ;) But, it’s just my personal opinion ;)

  38. I’m surprised that you have kept a layout for that long!

  39. I like it – it’s brave and different, plus the colours are just lovely. My only gripe is with the ‘ultimately better than you’ text – it’s a nightmare to read.

  40. Meh! Me prefers dark backgrounds, easier to read for me then.

  41. Seems like I’m the only one who likes this layout? I feel so singled out, haha.

  42. I like this. It’s clean, nice, and sophiscated. Well done Jem, and like Ian, I want the ninja back!

  43. I’m really a fan of the previous layout, I must admit.

  44. Can’t say I’m a big fan of this layout, I preferred the other one. I have 1280×800 too and I’m not liking the way the stripes on the blue suddenly stop at the top right – it looks a bit as if it was designed for a smaller screen. Sidebar’s nice and big, but because the header isn’t carried across though, it reminds me of Iframes (which can never be good), and I keep expecting that as I scroll down the sidebar will just float there. I don’t really like the fact that some links are highlighted too – useful I suppose, but I’m not a fan of the highlighted nav links either – it reminds me of my old poor grasp of CSS on piczo. But hey, nice colours. I’m liking the white, too.

  45. Ewa: Don’t like this lay… White colour is killing my eyes… Dark version please! :) Most sites have white backgrounds like this, so do most sites kill your eyes ^^ ? I would prefer light text on a dark background, but I don’t mind white as long as the text is readable. What has happened to the pwning PHP ninja? x]

  46. o’reily came up with the term web 2.0 – I’ve had to write essays on his damn essay! ugh! I’m not to keen on the logo font but to each her own. :D

  47. – Title image. Blue shadow makes it difficult to read. + Pretty much everything else. I like the minimalism here. Layout feels very light. I hope the reverse version will be ready soon :D. I like this.

  48. The white layout looks really good. I like the minimalist look.

  49. I think if the top stripey bit ends, the rest of the block should end as well. Like, have some sort of dividing factor. Otherwise, it reminds me of those sites that never have centred layouts, and only design for 800×600. I much prefer this logo to yesterday’s!

  50. It’s much better dark, but I still think instead of a 1px line – it needs to be thicker to match everything else. Or as Aisling says, a ‘dividing factor’ where the content ends to tie in with the line. But I like the black, and I thought I’d prefer the white…

  51. Um… NO! Looks much better white. The block navigation makes so much more of a difference. Glad that all that yellow is not present anymore. Other than that… the title is better, I can read it easier now. I guess it’ll take some getting used to. The only thing that still irks me is that the patterned part of the top blue “thingie” still doesn’t go all the way. But if you like it this way, go with it :-)

  52. *feels nostalgic* I love it. :)

  53. The new look is nice! :)

  54. The changes you made look great :) I like this layout a lot (the white version more than the dark, simply because I don’t care much for dark layouts).

  55. Nice, Retro is definetly the way forward! Glad to hear you aint still on the Web 2.0 Bus, i jumped off at the last stop as well.

  56. I can’t say I’m finding it beautiful, really – well, I can but it wouldn’t be telling the truth if I did. Perhaps it’ll grow on me and stuff though, since it’s early days and I suspect you’ll tinker with it. I don’t like how the visited links are highlighted on the dark version – I personally like my visited link styling to be only subtly different. Oh, and I don’t think the guy who coined “web 2.0” had design in mind when he did so, it was more about user generated content and whatdoodah – it’s just that shiny gradients and what have you were trendy at the time and became associated with web 2.0.

  57. I like it. Good job!

  58. I’m still in the minimalist phase myself, so I’m loving this layout. I prefer the white version to the dark version; the colors go together better.

  59. Finally got my new design launched today :D

  60. Woah I can’t see any blog post or comments except the quoted comments. http://i3.tinypic.com/8an9sgh.jpg

  61. The white is lovely. I love the choice of pink for the navi hover color!

  62. The dark version looks a little odd with the blue. Like it’s not blended in well. It’s odd, though, because black goes with everything (or so they say). Maybe it’s just me. The header is what is throwing me off the most, however. It starts and ends suddenly. I keep cocking my head at it as though it’s going to change magically somehow.

  63. I love the nav sub menu when you go to a section!

  64. I really like how clean cut it is. The dark grey line at the top touching the light grey looks a little weird though.

  65. mmm, I do like the dark version better – more colourful and altogether more to my taste. Kiitos for changing the text of Jemjabella, too. The only thing is still the header but I’ve already mentioned that. The highlighting of links is growing on me too… …now what can I say? Just waiting for the ninja…