Part of the Bloggiesta week long experience is the oppportunity to ask for feedback about the style & design of your blog.Obviously the aesthetics of your blog should appeal to you. It should reflect who you are and make you feel a little flutter of pride everytime you log on.
But there are some elements of design that help or hinder visitors when they come to your blog.
I've been fiddling with lots of these features this week.
I've moved to a two column blog which has allowed me to make the central post column much wider (but is it too wide now?)
I would like to make the sidebar a little slimmer, but any smaller than it currently is affects the integrity of the goodreads widget. I have yet to check the goodreads widget code to see if I can easily change its dimensions.
What do you like to see in a sidebar? My current set-up reflects what I like to spot when I visit others - readalongs & other bookish events and what people are reading esp.
I managed to change my label widget to a drop down menu which has freed up a lot of space. Does anyone know if you use the same code (but change the relevant names) to create a drop down for the archives widget too?
The recent change to my blog lost all my old add-ons (the social media icons in particular).
I have found how to get three of them back, but would also like to add an Instagram and Feedly button that matches what I currently have. Where did you source your SM icon's from?
The header looks too thick to my eyes too, but I don't know how to adjust that without changing the template completely.
I've toyed with the idea of my own personalised image and/or badge, but have never come across anything I really like and am prepared to commit to!
I've also considered changing to one of the dynamic templates that would allow me to run my posts as excerpts. But I'm in two minds about that. I often fail to click on the 'read more' option with most excerpts, although I spotted one last night that just had the title of the review with an image and that looked good and easy to navigate.
I've also started using IFTTT. What are your favourite/most useful recipes to date?
Please feel free to leave constructive feedback in the comments below.
I like it, Brona! For my taste the main column should be narrower, but I don't think the sidebar needs to be slimmer. A personalized image would be a nice touch but that's not so easy. Congrats on achieving one of your Bloggiesta goals!
ReplyDeleteI like the new theme. I think the width of the sidebar is fine, but I think the width of the content maybe should be just a tad bit slimmer, not by much, though. I prefer a less cluttered sidebar, but that's me. I'm not sure about the Archives widget because I use WP not blogger. I found simple social media icons on Google by searching for "free social media icons vector" and then I modified mine in Photoshop. The header does look a tad thick, but maybe you can add a picture or a tag line to help. A personalized image might be nice, but yeah, it's hard to choose what you want. I liked to see the full post instead of just an excerpt. I only just started using IFTTT and it quite hasn't worked the way I want it to yet. I hope this helps. :)
ReplyDeleteI've spent the afternoon googling 'reduce space in header' and finally found the two codes I needed to achieve success. I also found out how to over ride the blogger code that blocks you from changing your header. I've also slimmed the post column a smidgin.
DeleteBut my head hurts now & I need a break from the screen!
Thanks for your feedback Jenni :-)
It looks great! :)
DeleteHi Brona! Looks like you've made a lot of progress on your blog! Like Jenni suggested, search online for free social media icons. That's how I found mine. I like how yours spin, as I haven't seen that before! You can adjust the size of the Goodreads widget by playing with the html code in the widget, as I had to adjust mine to fit my sidebar. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog and for the feedback! I really appreciate all the help I'm getting, and that's one of the reasons I love Bloggiesta so much!
Terri @ Alexia's Books and Such...