Wiep.net Redesign
When I started this blog little over a year ago, I set only little expectations. No specific targets but having fun writing about SEO and link building and improving my (English) writing skills. Although my writing skills remain far from perfect (I’d give myself a “that’ll do”), they certainly have improved and I’m still having fun maintaining this blog.
Recently, when I evaluated my first year of blogging, I decided to set some additional goals. The first of these goals has been accomplished today; being able to publish dark text on a light background.
Although the current design looked pretty nice (at least to me) a year ago, the readability kept bugging me more and more over time, as a dark background is even considered to be a usability sin.
The design still isn’t completely finished yet, but considering the former readability and the little amount of time that I have on my hands right now, I decided to push it a little bit. I will keep on tweaking it though, reading tips from guys like WordPress Joost and Richard Baxter really helped a lot and they will keep providing a lot of future work.
So, what do you think? Is the new one design better than the old one?
RSS ?
15 comments on this post
Looking good Wiep! Looking good!
Ah, much better! I like it Wiep. The dark background on your previous site make your articles really hard to read.
I like your redesign, especially the link building tip-idea on the top right.
Honestly, I never really liked your previous design. The header was way too big, had to scroll almost a full page height before seeing some content.
Well done!
Very nice Wiep! In addition to the overall design, I love the “Connection Marketing” and the new logo. Both do a good job of conveying the gist of the blog.
What about this page http://wiep.net/link-value-factors/ ? Will it be getting a makeover also?
I thought the header of the old design was to big, you had to scroll down for your first read… Nice work!
@Joost, Gyutae; Thanks!
@Steven, Lodewijk; I liked the colors and design of the old header, but I agree that it was pretty big.
@YoungMaster; Thanks. The Link Value Factors page will be getting a makeover as well, but it’s a static page that has to be adjusted manually.
The design looks much better than your old one but I don’t like the colorscheme you are using here
Dave
Am I the only one that prefered the old design?
Normally, I agree, avoid black backgrounds at almost all costs unless it has a serious brand implication, or it really suits the type of visitor you are hoping to attract – but it worked really nicely with the bold colors you were using.
Ah well!
It indeed looks good Wiep. I think it’s better than the old one!
This new design looks very good Wiep, allthough i don’t see it much cause i use the feedreader to read all of your posts
I guess i should come hang out here more..
Hi Wiep – fantastic new site, great work!!
@Dave; would red have been better?
@Charles; somebody has to be the first one…
@Eduard, Edwin, Richard; Thanks
Oh, and yes, the emoticons are definitely on my to-do list…
Overall good. But hey, what’s a new redsign without critique?
Exactly.
I personally liked the old one. I hadn’t seen it before. This seems more cookie cutter, bland, etc. Maybe I’m just a fan of big grungey headers, I don’t know.
I don’t get ‘Connection Marketing’. Maybe Im just stupid, but I can imagine lots of people don’t immediately think ‘Oh right, Connection Marketing!’.
Not that the old ‘100% sugar free’ added to the blog topic.
Something with ‘Link building’… ‘100% link building’… ‘All link building, all the time’… ‘We love links’… ‘The best links about links’ etc.
To me, that’s much more what the blog is about compared to ‘Connection Marketing’. Unless I miss a lot of posts and you’re taking things in a new direction.
The symbol bit in the logo… what is it?
After a few seconds it starts looking fairly sexual.
I realise it’s not ‘new’… but a linked chain would be a bit more obvious.
The tips in the top right are a very nice feature.
At the end of the day: het is jouw feestje.
All that counts is that you like it.
brewgin; thanks for the input.
The ‘Connection Marketing’ is actually pretty easy to explain; link building is all about connecting websites. Everybody uses ‘link building so-and-so’ as their subtitle and I like to do things slightly different.
The logo actually is a stylish linked chain, but in a way that it can also be seen as a (slightly tilted) ‘W’. Not everybody notices that right away, though
Very nice. I’m diggin’ it.