I Told You Changes Were Coming!
June 25, 2008 by Deb Ng
Filed under Freelance Writing
So? What do you think of our new design? Do you love it? I still have to play around with the ads – but I think it looks terrific. I wanted to get away from the whole “mommy blogging” thing while still having a cozy, coffee-shop type feel.
The credit for the design goes to Harrison from Men with Pens and Nick Cernis from Put Things Off. They get my stamp of approval and recommendation for anyone looking for designer. Both Harry and James get bonus points for putting up with my truly dumb questions. It’s no fun being technically challenged!
Share your opinion in the comments.
Wow! I love the layout. And there are no dumb questions when trying to learn!!
Deb, Though I’m a relatively new here I have to say this new design is amazing. It provides the readers a relaxing atmosphere while searching for the “next” or “perfect” writing gig. Great job!
I think the new look is great! One suggestion – with the old site, the job leads I already viewed would change to a different color. I liked that because it let me see where I had already been. Even job leads that I had already visited on my own were changed when I came here. That helped streamline my search. Would it be possible to do that with the new design?
Looks nice. Clean and easy to navigate with one exception – the orange print.
To improve – please choose a new color to take its place.
The orange doesn’t show up well. It”s difficult to read (especially on a laptop) and interrupts the flow of the site.
A new color with a higher contrast would really help. Thanks!
Deb
I really like the layout design and the colors, but I too have a hard time seeing the orange or whatever color that is…hehe…type.
I do have a question though…Is the main font color gray or black? I think that would also be easier to read if it were slightly bigger and black. Now, I may be the only one having issues with main font color, but just a thought.
I know I can change my font settings in my browser, but that changes ‘all’ fonts, which I don’t want to really do. I see web sites fine normally, but some colors I think just mess with your eyes, otherwise, amazing and beautiful.
I too thought I was in the wrong place upon visiting this morning.
It looks fantastic! Very cool!
Laura,
Ditto … good observation about making the main font easier to read.
Along with changing the orange font, I would vote for the main font to be larger and black, or higher contrast too.
The easier on the eye the better!
I LOVE the new design. It’s so much more professional-looking, far more streamlined and cleaner. The old design was a bit cluttered and far too girly for my taste. It would be great if this new design attracted some more writer guys to the site in addition to all the women that flock here (not that there is anything wrong with having a bunch of women here!).
I do agree with Rebecca, though, in that it would be very nice if there was a way to see the author of each post from the main page.
I love the new design! I have this page bookmarked and when I clicked on the link this morning, I thought at first I’d clicked the wrong bookmark! The site is so fresh and clean. Like Louise and others however, I use IE (accessing at work and can’t use anything else) and I see the words, “Fresh News Theme, Another Premium News Wordpress Theme” behind the title, all kind of garbled together. But, I figure once I get home and use FireFox, that will be cured.
Anyway, great new look! Now, where’s my coffee?
Deb,
I’m having the same IE6 issue with the stacking of the different phrases on top of each other. I haven’t explored much, but so far I like the new look. I use a different version at home, so I’ll take a look there too.
Thanks all for your comments. The designers are reading the comments as wel and will be tweaking to make the blog more reader-friendly.
This new design absolutely rocks. A+ for aesthetics, and to me it’s easier on the eyes. Outstanding. Wonderful job.
Thank you Jodee, for all of your work.
And for being receptive to our ideas and suggestions.
I absolutely love it!!
This is a great look for the website. I liked the old version too however this homepage really jumps out at you and exudes professionalism! Nice!
The new website is really great! Nicely done and fantastic transition so far, Jodee. Thank you for everything you do for us!
Your new site looks fabulous! Great job and kudos!
Very very (did I say very) professional, well laid out, easy to navigate.
Lovin’ it!
Also, just noticed that in the very top nav, you have “about” and “about freelance writing jobs.” “About” takes you to a template, rather than the actual “About FWJ” page. I do like the new look, though!
@ Britt: Thank YOU! You are very kind!
@ Everyone: There are a few bugs to iron out, but we will look after them.
Actually, on reflection, and having strained my eyes slightly to read the job listings for today, I have to admit that orange lettering on a beige background does not entirely make for easy reading.
Still think it’s good though! It just needs a little tweaking.
Whoah! I was really confused for a second. But I love the design. Very contemporary and hip.
It looks great. I agree about the orange links, but it’s just a very minor complaint.
Way better – such a comfortable feel. Honestly, my first impression was: I gotta a layout like that!
Love the new look! The site looks mah-velous dah-ling! As a few others have stated, the orange print is a little bit hard to read – perhaps making it a tad deeper rather than brighter will help (at least on my monitor).
I love that there are little icons for those posting comments – I will have to look around some more to see how I can add one for myself.
Great job – keep up the fabulous work.
I really like this new look. I, too, am finding the orange hard to read, though, and I can’t immediately tell where I’ve already clicked on because the link colour stays the same! All in all I like it–especially the option for our pictures! Makes it very personable.
Like Laura above, I find this more difficult to read. I would prefer more contrast between background and type and/or a larger font size.
I’m no designer, but I know when things are hard on the eyes.
Overall I love it! But I do agree with those who say they’d like a little contrast between the print and the background. Then again, I need to get to an eye doctor someday.
I love this new design! It’s very crisp, easy to read and navigate and there aren’t distractions drawing my eye away from what I want to be focused on. It’s gender-neutral and cozy and seems like a great writer’s haven. I don’t find the font size or color difficult to ready, but I wear pretty heavey-duty prescriptions already
Good work!
WoW, this change is absolutely awesome…
Loved the layout colors and would you mind to give a cup of coffee to me here?
Wilson.
Looks nice, but agree with the others about the orange text. Found it very hard to read in job listings and kind of hurt my eyes, to be honest about it. Also, color coding for “visited” links woul be nice – once we’ve looked at a job listing.
Otherwise, a very clean look!
I love the design. I’ve customized two themes by this designer for two sites I run and I love them. The Pen Men rock – they did the banner on my site. However, can I add an easy archives link to the wish list? Sometimes I’d like to be able to find an old post easily.
Deb and Jodee, you two rock. You are very sweet and pleasant, even when we complain about the font, color/size…hehe.
Thanks for being YOU! Not everyone can take someone offering their opinions,especially when it is a form of criticism (although I still think the new (overall) look rocks); kudos.
HI guys,
Thank you for all the positive comments and creative criticism. I’m so glad you like the design as much as we do. I can’t tell you how good I feel about it. When I saw the mock up last week it was absolutely perfect – exactly the pull up a chair and have a cup of coffee feel I was looking for.
The designers are reading the comments and making note of the issues. We’ll take care of that pesky orange font that isn’t getting much love around here.
Rock on
I’ll second Deb’s thanks. The IE6 issue was corrected today (go figure. Looks great in Safari, Firefox and IE7… SWITCH TO FIREFOX, PEOPLE!) and we all agree that the orange should be a nice burnt orange to be easier to read. An archives plugin should also fix some of the “find me!” issues.
I LOVE the new design! At first I almost thought I was on the wrong website, since the change was so dramatic from old site to new site. Well done and many kudos!
@ Laura: Well, aren’t you kind!
Beautiful! Clean, crisp and professional, yet inviting and cozy. And this version loads *so much faster* on dial-up, which I appreciate very, very much.
I agree about the orange font being hard to read, and I would like to see the job leads in bold (although *not* how you had them before, where the text became bold when you moused over it, that was annoying), and I’d like visited links to turn a different color so that I can keep track of where I’ve been.
But why does it hate my gravatar James?
@ Deb and James: I can’t even see when I log in where to upload an image. Can one of you tell me where to look? Tx.
Hi Jodee – you can go to gravatar.com to upload your image.
I just wanted to second or third what was stated earlier about Deb and Jodee being so wonderful about ‘criticism’ and suggestions. It is true that not everyone can handle it; and Deb and Jodee are each a complete class act when it comes to that kind of thing. Thank you both for being so awesome.
@ Dani: You are so sweet to say that!
Thank you so much!
I LOVE it! Very crisp and professional, but still comfy.
Good job!
The site make-over looks amazing! Love the cool, coffee house feel. Totally digging it! So easy to navigate too.
Very handsome website indeed.
Classy and professional.
Though, I miss the “lady at the desk” too.
I like the overall design but find the link color print hard to read in the amber color.
I love it! Wow classy, easy on the eyes, and makes me want coffee!!!
I love the new look! It’s so clean and neat.