Today I made the first changes to the layout of my blog since I started writing in 2010. I've been experimenting for the last few hours, so anyone who's been reading might have seen the mess while I was in the middle of editing. I decided against using a background picture. My principle is "content over form", i.e. I don't want to do anything that makes the page look better if it distracts from what I've been writing. I might use a subtle background image, if I can find one, something that is almost one colour, maybe just a mixture of blue and white.
I've removed the Amazon search boxes. They slow down page loading times, especially on slow computers. I might add Amazon banners as simple links, if I can find matching banners for Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de. I might have to make them myself. There are plenty of banners online, but each country offers them in different sizes. My blog isn't intended primarily to make money. I want to write something informative for my readers. If there are any ads they have to be subtle and non-intrusive.
I've increased the width of my posts, but also increased my font size, so I'm writing the same amount of text in a larger space. The main advantage of this is that I can include bigger pictures. I've made the contrast between followed and not followed links more drastic to assist new readers who want to go back and read my whole blog.
After a few months of low reader numbers I've been picking up again this month, but I've noticed some fake traffic. For instance, I have a Russian "reader" who clicks through my November 2010 posts a few times a week. It's obviously a robot, not a real reader. I would rather have low traffic and know my posts are being read than high traffic that is bloated with fakes. If you're one of my genuine readers please acknowledge you've read a post by clicking on the "Like" or "Don't Like" buttons... or better still, leave a comment. And most of all, please comment on the changes to my blog format. I would like to hear what you think.
What a surprise the new layout was! A wonderful change! I've scrolled through and I really love what you've done here, you know I try to read every day and have always enjoyed your blog now I will even more so. Thanks for all your hard work!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your words of praise, Dakota. My old layout was the default blog layout when I signed up in 2010. I didn't change a thing. I quite liked it, but after all this time I wanted a change. Some of the blogs I follow (check my links) look fancier, so I tried my hand at configuring. There are dozens of presets, and I tried a lot of them, but they were all too "aggressive" on the eye, if you know what I mean. After a lot of trial and error I picked a simple preset, then made my own changes to calm it down even further. The only thing I still want to change is my "Film Fan" header. It looked good with the old design, but doesn't suit the new design so well. I'm thinking about using the font Korinna, which was common for the text screens in silent movies.
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