My Theme Has Changed!

October 30, 2011 · 85 comments

In case you hadn’t already noticed, my site looks a little different than it did before. I am now officially a Thesis user, thanks to Jesse from PF Firewall.

Some of you might miss my clouds and such, but I hope you like the new look. I will be spending the next day or two experimenting a little bit, so please be patient.

Also, let me know what you think, I welcome positive feedback AND constructive criticism.

Thanks!

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{ 84 comments… read them below or add one }

Daniel October 30, 2011 at 10:52 pm

I like it! The grey background (behind the white) makes it so I have a scroll button on the bottom. That’s the only thing I see that you may want to update as I see no real need for it. It’s a great change, everything looks very fresh!

Kris October 31, 2011 at 8:32 am: Daniel, do you mean you have to scroll to the right?

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Jesse October 31, 2011 at 12:02 am

Hey Kris, just happy to help! 🙂

Jacq October 31, 2011 at 7:50 am

I like it, but I think your banner needs some other color besides blue – maybe in the light bulb? Your site (on my computer anyway) comes up with the right hand side too wide and has to be scrolled across to see everything. It cuts off about half way through the A in your Travel category. I looked up a couple of other sites to see if the problem was my laptop, and nobody else’s was that wide that they required scrolling. I don’t know, maybe if you eliminated that tweet button on the right hand side of the post (since you already have it down on the bottom?) it would all fit? But I’m not a big twitter fan, maybe you are and want it more prominently shown.
With your categories, some are indented – holidays, car/driving, money saving tips. Maybe that’s deliberate though.

(Please don’t critique mine, as I’m too lazy to fix anything.)

Oh, and I like it. Very nice and clean.

Kris October 31, 2011 at 8:17 am

No! You can’t have issues Jacq, you are one of my best readers. Can I ask what browser you are using?? I have looked at chrome, ie and firefox and it seems fine, but who knows.

The indention is intentional as those are ‘child’ categories.

Thanks for the info!

Jacq November 1, 2011 at 1:16 pm

It’s firefox. LOL, I don’t have “issues” (or I do – but not with you, your site or site design) 😉

I like the idea of a yellow light bulb but apparently there’s some kind of science to people’s eye patterns on sites – so what looks best may not be what works best. So maybe the light bulb should be on the other (right hand) side to bring the attention to your subscribe options?

And yup, not having a cut-off problem anymore.

Kris November 2, 2011 at 8:46 am: I am so glad you don’t have issues with me, that would bum me out.

Thanks for the lightbulb suggestion. You will now notice a nice yellow lightbulb up in the header, it was a great idea.

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Kris October 31, 2011 at 8:30 am

Maybe a red lightbulb? That would be pretty funky!

Money Reasons October 31, 2011 at 8:23 pm

Hmm, I didn’t notice it, but Jacq’s right, How about some yellow lines projecting away from the bulb (outlined with a think black outline coming from the bulb (or maybe blue)). I think it might might it look cool, but perhaps not, art isn’t my strong point…

I don’t know, I like that way to looks as is, great improvement I think (and appropriate too).

Kris October 31, 2011 at 9:28 pm: A yellow lightbulb is in current product development. 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion!

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Moneycone October 31, 2011 at 8:24 am

This is the only theme-makeover that captures the spirit of the old theme, yet is modern looking! Great job Kris!

Kris October 31, 2011 at 8:27 am: Well, I deserve no credit, but thank you. Do you see any funky issues?

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Roshawn @ Watson Inc October 31, 2011 at 8:47 am

I like… I like. When you mentioned that you had changed over, I wasn’t sure when it would be implemented. Congrats. It looks very nice!

Little House October 31, 2011 at 9:41 am

I really like the new theme. It looks great! Very clean and streamlined.

Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter October 31, 2011 at 10:16 am

Great new look. I love it. It looks so clean and easy to read. It also seems less cluttered.

Jeff @ Sustainable Life Blog October 31, 2011 at 10:26 am

I like the new layout and logo!

Crystal October 31, 2011 at 12:37 pm

Looks great here! I use IE8.

First Gen American October 31, 2011 at 1:30 pm

I love using thesis on my own blog. It’s so simple and user friendly compared to the other themes.

I have a similar issue to jacq where a whole page doesn’t fit into my window. I think you should go to Thesis, Design Options, Columns, and narrow down your column size. Just as a point of reference, my 3 columns total up to 1100px on first gen. Otherwise looks great.

Kris October 31, 2011 at 1:42 pm: OK, I had brought it down to 1170, I will shrink a little more. Thank you!

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Krantcents October 31, 2011 at 1:39 pm

Much brighter than before!

Kris October 31, 2011 at 1:51 pm: Wait until the lightbulb changes color! 🙂

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retirebyforty@retireby40.org October 31, 2011 at 7:05 pm

I like it!
I really need to move to Thesis too. My theme is too slow and I heard Thesis is great for speed.

Lindy Mint October 31, 2011 at 7:07 pm

I like the new header and logo. Cute light bulb. Very clean!

Car Negotiation Coach October 31, 2011 at 8:51 pm

Hey Kris, Long time no speak! or trade comments 🙂

I like the new look, very clean. And I’ve been a strong proponent of Thesis for a while now. I use it for all my new sites. The only issue I have with it is that sometimes you need to get a little help for some of the more technical stuff…..but if you’ve got Jesse helping you’re in great shape! Also, there’s such a big Thesis community that you can pretty much google the answer to any technical question you have and copy/paste code snippets.

Kris October 31, 2011 at 9:29 pm: I was scared to try Thesis because many people said it was pretty complex. Actually, I find it easier than most standard themes. I would rather do the ‘hooks’ than edit individual phps. You are right, there is a huge Thesis community out there. I did some cutting and pasting today as a matter of fact!

Thanks for the visit. I will ‘see’ you soon!

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MoneyforCollegePro November 1, 2011 at 5:19 am

I like the new look a lot. I like how clean and simple it is. Very nice!

Kris November 2, 2011 at 8:52 am: Thanks so much!!

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Squirrelers November 1, 2011 at 11:38 pm

Looks great! I’m impressed by the new look.

Kris November 2, 2011 at 8:44 am: Thank you Squirrel! It really was an easy transition.

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Kay Lynn @ Bucksome Boomer November 13, 2011 at 1:44 pm

Kris, it looks great. I have been using Thesis for a while and really like it although it’s taken me a while to get good at it. 🙂

Kris November 15, 2011 at 9:00 am: Kay Lynn, it was your site that inspired me- it looks fantastic. (Whereas I still have quite a bit of tweaking!)

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PatrickLem September 3, 2021 at 9:01 am