I’ve had a facelift!
Remember a few weeks back when I was suffering from serious ennui and thought my blog design sucked lemons and didn’t know what I was doing this for and yadayada …? Well, I sat myself down and had a good long think, and my think went something like this: Either I just scrap the whole blog thing because my enthusiasm has sort of waned, stop doing it altogether and do something else, OR I inject it with some freshness, take a new approach, try something different.
And, well, I picked the second option.
So here we are, this is the first stage of my new and improved Iceland Weather Report: a new look. Like it? I do. Especially the supercool rotating header image … m-hm, you read that right, it’s actually a rotating header image, so that every time you log on you will have a different picture at the top. Yes I know, it’s the coolest thing you’ve ever seen, I know. Me too.
The second thing is that I want to do new and different things with the content, but all that will have to happen gradually. Meanwhile, over the coming days and weeks I’ll be tweaking the site and adding more headers and trying out new things and adding new pages and seeing if I can import my comments from Haloscan [initially they will all be left behind, sob!] and a myriad other stuff that needs to be addressed. And so - the future is a blank template, an unwritten blog post!
AND AS IF ON CUE, SPRING SPRUNG TODAY
It actually went up to around 8°C and felt unspeakably balmy, although there was a strong wind. It’s that time of year when you don’t quite know how to dress when you go out … I went to the bank this afternoon with a wool scarf around my neck and wearing my [thin, windproof] winter jacket and was sweltering, particularly as the sun came out just as I was leaving the house. It’s time to get out the sneakers and put away the sheepskin mitts. Yowsa! Currently 7°C [45F] and sunrise in the capital was at 5.48 am, sunset at 9.08 pm.
PS - the old site will stay up for a while, but on www.icelandweatherreport.blogspot.com
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the idea of the revolving header. That means I will have to log on all the time to see each new one!
Or just to refresh your browser!
oh yes, that’s brilliant!
Love it! I’m a big fan of rotating header pics and yours are quite pretty. I also love the new fonts and layout…. fantastic!
There’s only one small thing that I don’t like…. I don’t like short posts on on the front page that make me “click here for more” to read the whole thing. I like the whole thing right there right up front. *shrug* It’s your choice.
I want to live in the blue house.
Wow ! It looks great Alda.
It’s easier to comment now Alda. Thanks!
Very nice, you take beautiful photos, its nice to see them featured more. More pictures!!
Great new design - I love the header pictures and also the comments option is much better. But I have to agree with Karen - the “click here to read more” to read the whole blog entry is rather annoying - I prefer the whole post on the main page.
Thanks, everyone! I’m glad you like it.
Yes, I will add more pictures, as soon as I have a bit more time. I also need to tweak the template and fix the feed.
As for the read more option - yes I completely understand. When I was setting up the site someone commented that I should consider this option because my posts are, ahem, kind of long. And now the content column is more narrow than before, so they seem even longer. But I’m totally willing to consider your opinions - what do other people think?
Yes, don’t bother with ‘read more’.
love the new photo header. personally I like to read from templates that stretch when you want the column to be bigger or smaller.
… I like the older layout better, the narrow Wordpress template seems to make your posts’ impact subordinate to the sidebars. And you never, ever write too much!
I’m not a great fan of the “read more” option either. I love the fonts and header image(s) and the fresh clean layout. Drool-worthy. Gorgeous spring makeover!
o xxx
And when we will hear about teh bathmate shortage?
Mary,
Thanks for weighing in.
sara,
I’ve never seen that kind of template, but I agree it’s a good idea.
Professor,
I see your point - I plan to fiddle with it to see if I can make the sidebars narrower. They’re quite wide, perhaps unnecessarily so. And thanks for the kind words.
Orchidea,
Thank you dearest.
Anonymous,
come again?
I agree, like it better without the ‘read more’
kveðja frá Ástr
I agree, like it better without the ‘read more’
kveðja frá Ástralíu
The page is much easier to load on my blackberry now.
Cool ideas in the redesign, Alda. One thing you could do as a comprimise between faster page loads and doing away with the ‘read more’ option would be to limit the number of stories you display on the entry page. Personally, I do prefer the ‘read more’ bit because my Internet is streaming through satellite and is considerably slower than most peoples high speed. However, I suspect I will be a minority in my opinion and I understand other peoples preference. If I had access to true high speed, I would likely concur with them. Also, I’d like to re-echo someone elses compliment on the photos. I’ve visited your flickr feed a few times and love the additional views of your island home that you’ve captured there. I will look forward to clicking onto your site more now for the cool new banners.
It looks fantastic! I love it!
Auður,
Takk - vona að þið hafið það gott þarna suðurfrá!
Jacob,
That’s a bonus!
gary,
Good idea - I’d thought of that too, I just have to figure out where I can adjust that in the settings. I’m trying to figure my way around this new dashboard and platform, it’s all very new!
maja,
Takk!
I too like the rotating headers. I have no opinion either way on the “read more” bit. But I am very sad that you want to delete the archives (i.e. your old blog). There is a lot of excellent writing there. Having looked again, I see that you have imported your old posts, and that we might just lose the old comments.
I like it just fine. Its very pretty, but I still come for the writing.
Hi Alda,
I like the look of the new redesign. Clean and the images are beautiful. I agree with most though, I am not fond on the click here for more option.
shelley
I love the new look, but count me as one who doesn’t like to have to click “read more” as I already have to click over from my feed reader to read your entire post as it is. If you would let the entire post go to the reader, I PROMISE to click through and comment as often as I would have otherwise.
Ooh - I love it and am glad you decided against jacking it all in. When I feel like that I just have a bit of a rest. x
I don’t mind the - click for more. Easier to see all the entries, this way. Page looks nice
Love the new look!
Love the rotating images in the banner. My favorite thing about the redesign for sure.
I think I slightly prefer not having to click “read more”–but it’s not a huge issue for me, since I have a fast connection and am always motivated to click through to the second part of the post.
Looks great! (And I snorted when I read that you might want to pack it up. Sorry.) I have been contemplating doing the same off and on for awhile but, with my limited skills, have worried about losing all my posts. Maybe when my blog turns 3 next month. And now I want to log off and log on again just to see the new header.
Andrea, you don’t have to log on or off, just refresh the page.
Love the new layout but there is no date on the posts (except in the comments)
Nicole,
The date is at the bottom. A bit annoying, I know.
Hey, this looks cool. And I like the revolving header.
[…] Just – please – don’t let me turn into Michael Jackson! […]
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