Thirteen Questions for YOU regarding my new look and blogs in general...
- How awesome is Lindsay at Splat Designs?
- I'd like to add bloglines or a blogroll or *something* that will condense my bloglist down. Any suggestions? #1 criteria is: free. I looked at blogroll.com today, but after entering a lot of links discovered in the forum that all was not well.
- If I do end up just typing them all into a list, would it be better at the very bottom of the sidebar? It would be fairly long.
- What about the archives? Should they be at the bottom instead?
- Do people actually use the archives? (besides me, I mean)
- Have you been to Splat Designs to check it out yet?
- I have a very small handful of non-blog links. Should they be near the top? The bottom? Do you follow links (not-blog links) from other blogs?
- I'm thinking about adding a quote in the footer. What's your favorite quote?
- What is the coolest little feature of your own blog?
- What is the coolest little feature you've seen on someone else's blog?
- Do you generally notice changes to sidebars or new elements in blogs?
- Do you usually read it all from a feed like Google Reader and rarely see the blog itself?
- Why have you not gone over to Splat Designs yet?
If you are able to put JavaScript into your template, you might try uptting your links behind collapsable titles...or in fixed-height areas with scrollbars (like the link boxes on my blog).
ReplyDeleteIf you think your sidebar is getting too long, you might try putting navigation links to the various sub-areas. Does blogger provide for a blog-specific search feature? That would be helpful to people, and wouldn't take much room on the sidebar.
I can't pick a favorite quote - that's why myine rotate randomly. I keep adding to the list :D
I will notice changes on those blogs I visit regularly - but I notice changes most often when there's a drastic change, like a new design or the complete rearrangement of the sidebar area.
The coolest feature of my blog is the fact that between the current design and the previous two, I only changed the stylesheet. I didn't change any of the underlying code, even with the rearranged righthand sidebar (which is now on the bottom).
Your blog design is fabulous. I can see why you love it.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your T13 too. I would love for you to visit mine!
I resemble that red!
ReplyDeleteI'm a Google Reader lurker, but when I am here, I often click on sidebar links -- you never know where you'll wind up.
not much help; I'd listen to laughing muse, myself.
Yes your blog looks great. I like it alot.
ReplyDeleteThis is a gorgeous new blog. You have one of my favorite quotes in the header. Check out Annie at Blogger University (Blog U) she can tell you how to do a drop down link list. I read from feed, but go to the site to comment.
ReplyDeleteI love the colors! Your template looks great!
ReplyDeleteI would like to be able to figure out how to do the navigation links.
Annie at Blogu has good information on how to do the collapsible links.
I don't do the google reader, but someday might b/c of my blog addiction and lack of hours in the day.
Good question about archives, I would like to just navigate to a page that has them.
I like having a tag cloud, it's a fun feature.
archives should be on top, i suggest. and honestly, i don't really notice any changes in a sidebar, i don't normally check them out,lol!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to go to Splat designs....just can't afford it!! My hubby just got laid off, and I have to support my book habit!
ReplyDeleteLove the new site!!
Wow, your new design is indeed gorgeous! And I have checked out Splat Designs and I agree, Lindsay is a talented designer -- one of the best out there I've seen. :)
ReplyDeleteYou ask good questions, and I'll offer some thoughts: I have several blogrolls on my blog. Some are automated through Blogrolling -- all I had to do was put the Java script into my blog layout. I also have a blogroll that I maintain manually. I keep my blogrolls roughly in the middle of my sidebar, and I put my archives above them because I think people besides me actually use them. Well, maybe. A girl can dream. :)
I have an "art quote of the day" from Brainy Quote, and I have a section of "quotes to live by." All of these are in my sidebar.
I tend to notice changes in people's sidebars because I like to endlessly tweak mine. I never read blogs from a feed; I go directly to the blogs themselves so I can get the ambience. :) And here's some of the sidebar widgets on my blog I think are the coolest:
Punkymoods (really cute! :) )
My Library (random books, highly configurable)
Zoomclouds (tags and labels and such)
Writing Tip of the Day
Hope some of my rambling helped! :)
Happy TT, and thanks for visiting my blog!
I usually read through Thunderbird: all my blogs and emails under one roof! I click through to comment, though!
ReplyDeleteI do notice changes on blogs, and enjoy playing with some of the toys people put in the sidebars. :-) (And Splat Designs is cool!)
Happy TT!
Love your design! I got a new one recently, too :-)
ReplyDeleteI do use archives with the blogs that I read regularly, because I can usually remember when I read something, so I can zero in on the month.
ReplyDeleteIf there's one thing that will get me to IMMEDIATELY close a blog, it is anything that flashes!
I like the look. Just one thing - you're header banner is way too thick, IMO. I'm on a laptop and I had to scroll down to see the text. Please don't take this as a criticism because when MY blog was first designed I had people say the exact same thing to me and they were right, so I had it shrunk a little and lost nothing in the visuals.
ReplyDeleteAs for blogrolls, I stick them in "Flooble" shrinkable buttons. A general good search should help you find them.
Good luck with it and thanks for visiting me :)
Your site looks awesome!!!! :) What a fun list. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYour new site is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI usually read through Google Reader or Sage.
ReplyDeleteLove the colors and the banner (not at all too thick in my opinion). Splat Designs: very nice.
ReplyDeleteIf you could organize your blogrolls into categories, that would be a really helpful way to make them meaningful. If I like a blog I most definitely look at the blog list. The problem is, if they get TOO long (or contain broken links), they're not nearly as meaningful.
The trouble with aggregators is that if you give people your whole text, they don't visit...and I personally don't want to see the entire text, just enough to tell me whether I feel like jumping over to the blog to read more.
I did visit your designer, but she hasn't knocked mine off of my adoration list. Perhaps we can have a template designer Survivor type contest ;)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd go with any advice Laughing Muse gives you. She knows what she's talking about.
Looks great, Lisa!
ReplyDeleteI do love the new look, and Lindsay is great - she was just in the first stages of designing (I think) when she did my template - I didn't even know her, she just emailed me and said, 'I've been fooling around with a butterfly design, do you want me to make you a new template?' She's great like that. I usually notice sidebars, but I don't have anything useful to add to everyone else's comments, and I never notice quotes!
ReplyDeleteI love the new look!
ReplyDeleteSplat designs does rock.
ReplyDeleteGreat list. Happy TT thanks for dropping by mine.
I love your 'new look'...(not that I know what it looked like before as this is my 1st visit!)...this is my very favourite kind of red. I'm jealous!
ReplyDeleteHappy T13, I enjoyed it. Can't answer your questions though...I have so much to learn about blogging (sigh). Hope you'll visit my T13 too!
Thanks everyone for the great comments and suggestions. I will certainly go check out Blogger U for help.
ReplyDeletejenny- I thought archives should be at the top, but wasn't sure.
jennymcb- I will add a tag cloud!
di- I hate the flash too, but even more, I hate websites that play music. Makes it hard to surf secretly at work.
I love this TT idea. It's a fantastic way to get input.
ReplyDeleteI like the look of your blog. My opinion on template designs is that you should do things the way you like, because it's your blog.
I do notice changes on the blogs I read regularly, and I do use links that look interesting on other blogs too. And, even though I do read a lot of blogs via Google Reader, I like to stop in to the blog itself at least every now and then for a "real" visit.
As for the archives, I used to have them at the top, but I decided that no one but me really uses them, so now they are at the bottom of my sidebar.
And the thing I like best on my blog right now is the new Header Image I created a couple of months ago to go along with muy newest blog design.
Happy TT! :-)
Doh! I totally forgot about this option...put your archives in a dropdown list. That way, no matter where you put them, they won't take up tons of space on the sidebar. I use a form widget; but if you wanted to put all of your longer sidebar items in either collapsable or scrollable boxes (so that everything matched) that would work too.
ReplyDeleteI'm such a newbie at this stuff but I do have a few answers...I do go into archives at other blogs - I'm a blog addict and if I like the first few posts, I'll generally look for more.
ReplyDeleteI am jonesning for a blog done by Lindsay, I just have to get my ducks in a row...hopefully by July I should have more of jusy 'my' money to spend...she does fabulous stuff and I know I'm going to so love what she does.
I usually notice the Header and layout design of a blog first and foremost, and I must say, yours is looking mighty fine & sharp. I do love it, and yes, I have been to splatdesigns before....there is a lot of nifty looks there. I'm interested, but not sure of pricing.
ReplyDeleteI'm always concerned about first impressions when someone hits my site, so I try to have it look neat and uncluttered. I did join the TT blogroll, and now I have this HUGE blogroll down the right side. Oh, well...
Nice TT, nice new look!
I am new to the whole blog thing, or at least returning to it again and wow have things changed.
ReplyDeleteMy answers:
1. Lindsay is awesome.
2. I think a blogroll is a great idea.
3. I think that putting the blogroll at the bottom is a bad idea.
4. Yes I think the archives should be at the bottom instead. I read somewhere that it is better to archive by tag rather than date. Maybe do the last two months archived like that and the rest by tags.
5. I only use the archives to look at something I have looked at recently (with in the past 2 months) or by hitting one of the tags at the bottom of the post.
6. No.
7. Non blogging links should be near the top and marked as such. I do follow them. Sometimes I am looking for non blog links. Sometimes the other way around. I like it when they aren't mixed together.
8. "Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man." ~Vladimir Nabokov
9. As far as I can tell my blog doesn't have any cool features. So I would have to say me. I am the coolest feature of my blog.
10. I think one thing I like best in a blog, it isn't exactly cool but, is when links are opened in a new window/tab. (Keeping people reading on your site!!)
11.Yes.
12. I always read from the blog itself.
13. I have absolutely no good answer for that.
P.S. Thanks for doing Thursday Thirteen so that I could find out about it. Check out my first 13!
10.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.whiskeytalking.com/ has
"Magical Live Preview"
Found this after I answered. Never seen it before and I LOVE it. If you haven't seen it either you HAVE to try it out.