About these changes . . .
Welcome back!
As you can see, we have made some changes to the joint -- and I'd like to give you a quick run down of what's different.
Size Matters: To begin with, the Big Picture is now, well, much BIGGER. The old layout was a standard Typepad size -- two column, 500 pixels across the main section. It barely took up half of my iMac screen at home, and a third of my dual monitor Dell screens in the office. That older design was popular back in the day when 15 inch monitors ruled the world's desktops. Today, 17 inchers are de riguer, and 19 inch screens are a modest upgrade. So we went BIG. I went with three columns, added some more topics, expanded the center section to 550 pixels, and generally made things sizable. If you cannot see the full page across the width of your screen, its a a cheap wakeup call: Sorry kids, time to upgrade your monitor(s).
Third Column: allowed me to add some new elements and additional content:
-Favorite Posts (primarily the highest read/commented items)
-Blog roll (can you believe I didn't have one?)
-Media Quotes (at the insistence of a friend working in PR)
-Google Search box (more clearly identified with logo)
-Updated media/research sites
-Link to the Premium site (too many emailers couldn't find it)
Navigation: Most people never realized the glyphs up top were navigation links to the main posting categories. Now, they are not only bigger, but change color on mouse rollover -- click one and you can see the full run of published items on those topics. The new category Digital Media will also cover Film, Music, Television, and Technology (they will also retain their individual categories).
Functionality: We added quite a few upgrades to make the site more user friendly. At the end of every post, you will now find all of the usual tags: Digg, del.icio.us, etc. And the two biggest requests from last year -- a "print this post" and an "email this post" should be up and running shortly.
Given all the excerpting I do, I wanted to make it even clearer whenever I am reference someone else's work. Those indents should now stand out even more.
Oh, and a reader created a Favicon in the URL box. (Neat!).
Lastly, mad props to Joelle of Moxie Design Studios. Not only are her design ideas fresh and unique, she did some awesome programming -- from randomizing the media quotes (a different ones show up every refresh) to allt he new functionality. I know she worked long and hard on this, and it is much appreciated. I heartily recommend the services of Moxie.
~~~
Any Blog lives and dies on its content. I do not expect any major changes in postings or content -- just nicer to look at, with bigger charts, easier navigation, more useful functionality.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006 | 11:30 AM | Permalink
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» What Else is New? from The Learning Curve
Hoo, and speaking of webpage redesigns, looks like they're not making any more land over on Barry Ritholz's The Big Picture! By that, I mean Barry is using every inch of real estate available in his new 3-column layout... [Read More]
Tracked on Dec 5, 2006 6:32:11 PM
Comments
I can get on to the individual stories from my RSS feed but I'm still getting the we'll be right back only for the main splash page.
Posted by: lola | Dec 5, 2006 10:13:31 AM
I see no difference... except the main page no longer works at all.
Posted by: tniccum | Dec 5, 2006 11:51:35 AM
hi there... your site is not online right now, I'm still in the middle of working on it. Unfortunately, Typepad does not allow the shut-down of a site during development so all I can do is put up the splash page for now.
Your patience is appreciated! Thank you!
Posted by: Joelle | Dec 5, 2006 12:48:53 PM
It's certainly not a pretty site on my ultralight notebook - 15". I'll stick with the RSS Feeds.
Posted by: Tina Choi | Dec 5, 2006 2:50:29 PM
Tina, I just viewed it on a 15" laptop. In fact, I just built it on a 15" laptop. It looks good from what I can tell. Perhaps you saw the site when it was in transition... thanks for constructive your feedback. :)
Posted by: Joelle | Dec 5, 2006 3:11:28 PM
New site looks fine. Good on ya, mate.
This looks sickening:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6211250.stm
Top 2% ruling elite owns 50% of global wealth.
Posted by: Meik Ebjadrick | Dec 5, 2006 3:34:10 PM
Looks great to me.
FireFox 2.0
Windows XP 64-bit
1280x1024
Posted by: MAS (San Diego) | Dec 5, 2006 3:40:45 PM
I like it, nice improvemnt!
Posted by: Bucky Katt | Dec 5, 2006 3:43:00 PM
Looks good. No problems so far.
Posted by: MTHood | Dec 5, 2006 3:46:32 PM
Wonderful! I was worried for a while there -- thought maybe Kudlow had you gagged and bound to a chair in the green room.
Posted by: semper fubar | Dec 5, 2006 3:47:53 PM
I viewed it through IE 6 and it is bent even on the big screen(with XP). It works well through firefox but I am getting none of the random quotes under reviews and quotes
Otherwise it is a good looking upgrade once you work out the bugs
Running a 19 inch screen BTW
Posted by: DavidB | Dec 5, 2006 3:49:12 PM
I should add, dual 30" Apple Cinema screens, Tiger, etc. Works fine on the windows box as well.
Posted by: Bucky Katt | Dec 5, 2006 3:50:07 PM
DavidB, can you explain what you mean about IE6, please? I've tested this design on multiple computers in IE6, IE7, Firefox, Opera, and Safari, both on PC and Mac where applicable.
Barry, thanks for the kind words! Your randomized media bits should be in effect shortly (for those looking for them) and the "print this" functionality is in progress. Thanks for your patience!
Posted by: Joelle | Dec 5, 2006 3:52:44 PM
Also, for those who are having challenges with the layout, I highly recommend clearing your temp or cache files, please. Sometimes what appears to be a bug is cleared up just by refreshing or clearing your cache. Thank you! :)
Posted by: Joelle | Dec 5, 2006 3:56:22 PM
Nice work Barry & Joelle.
Posted by: Josh | Dec 5, 2006 4:00:09 PM
bravo, bravo, bravo !
best blog i know.
Posted by: blablabla | Dec 5, 2006 4:04:16 PM
Great changes. Calculated Risk is listed 2x on your blog roll.
Posted by: Leisa | Dec 5, 2006 4:09:41 PM
I like the increased functionality,
now if you could only increase mine....
Posted by: alexd | Dec 5, 2006 4:17:04 PM
Meik! Get in the 2%!
"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better" - Jim Rohn
Posted by: my1 | Dec 5, 2006 4:46:13 PM
Nice changes.
Posted by: BDG123 | Dec 5, 2006 4:51:39 PM
Running Mac G4, 10.3.9, 20" monitor, Safari
at first, loaded weirdly - followed Joelle's advice and cleared cache - now looks great - Kudos!
Love the new white BG - my old eyes really appreciate the change
Keep up the good work
Now when do we get to vote on the Favorite Posts??
Posted by: fatbear | Dec 5, 2006 5:20:23 PM
Some of these changes are very nice. The new title really anchors the site. However, the site is still amazingly cluttered and confuses its main purpose(s). Why do people feel the need to list all these random things in the margins on every page? Now you have two margins! Maybe your MP3's Spinning or Favorite Links, etc., could at least be shown/hidden underneath disclosure triangles for those who want to focus exclusively on your excellent content.
Also, there still doesn't seem to be any good way to browse past content by article title and maybe a short summary. I don't know much about what you've written before I subscribed last July because scrolling through mile-long pages of content in each of your categories just feels like looking for a needle in a haystack.
I hope someday sites like this will start breaking out a little from the generic blog mold and actually focus on usability.
Posted by: Scott Teresi | Dec 5, 2006 5:23:44 PM
DavidB, can you explain what you mean about IE6, please?
There appears to be something wrong with the formatting on the text sizing. When it is set to medium for IE6 everything works fine but when it is set to 'largest' everything runs together and the right hand column writing disappears. I just checked and 'larger' works fine it is just the 'largest' setting that does it.
I sit back about four feet from my monitor to protect my eyes from the radiation that is why I have the setting so high. I'm not sure how many people it would affect but you may want to tinker with it anyway
Posted by: DavidB | Dec 5, 2006 5:55:15 PM
Thanks for the feedback, David. I'm sorry for your inconvenience, but the site wasn't designed for adjustable font sizes, especially not "largest". I'm sorry! It wasn't requested that way. :)
Posted by: Joelle | Dec 5, 2006 6:01:18 PM
Change is good. This new look is great.
Posted by: Fred | Dec 5, 2006 6:17:32 PM
