Redesign Done
As you probably already noticed in the last days, the layout around here is vastly different from what it was before. My blog has slowly grown in content and readership and I think it was time that its design keeps up with that.
Work actually only started on it last week and it was thanks to a capable designer, Leah of Root Design Works, that what you see before you was finished this fast. If you ever need help with your site, get in touch with Leah.
Some smaller touches I may still apply, but all in all, this is the new evilcyber.com! 🙂
Of course I’d be very interested in hearing how you like it!
8 Comments
I think that it is great 😉
Thank you, Dille! 🙂
I liked the older one because of how simple it was, but I like this one too, looks more ‘professional’.
Yeah, that was exactly what I had to weigh between: simplicity and letting readers find what they are interested in faster.
From all the possible layouts I saw, this one struck me as the best solution between the two.
I think the older one was much much better. The site has in a way lost it’s cozy simplicity and friendliness and it seems now more conventional and bigger in the sence that you’d almost expect to find a members area and a supplement store. In a nutshell, I get the impression that the site is run more by a big company. Also I think there’s more ads now, or then they just show up more. I understand that some amount of advertising is necessary, but I think the best thing to do would be to have ads of products you yourself would recommend and use. Now I’m seeing ads for nutrition information that you yourself wouldn’t be writing about in a positive manner. Also a thing I don’t like is all this white colour. The dark blue theme was something original and unique. It’s just my opinion.
You are right, those ads are needed to cover the costs of running this blog, but I have little control over what appears in them.
The simplicity, well, that was something I was worried about, too, but looking over the stats since this layout is running, it seems that people now read more, as they can find what they are interested in easier.
However, I hope that despite not liking this layout, you will still stick around 😉
Advertising can be either annoying or it can actually be very useful for everybody. One great way to handle the advertising I’ve seen is to have those text ads by Google. They aren’t so annoying and they can be helpful since they usually have something to do with the site that they’re on. Another great one I’ve seen is to have an Amazon search box. When someone searches something from that search and completes a purchase, Amazon sends a small portion to the site the search was started from. I’d also put fixed ads of particular products that I myself would recommend on the site. That way at least I’d be covering the costs ethically endorsing what I believe in instead of advertising something I have no control of, which a lot of times ends up being a fast food ad.
Just my thought, and don’t really know how easy these things are to put to practice and are they really of any value.
Thanks for these suggestions, Kael, I will look into them! The core of it all is of course to provide useful information to readers and this may enhance that.