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moneysense.ca, 20/12/06
Coming Soon: Site Redesign
I am planning on refreshing the look of the blog over the Christmas and New Year holidays. I am hoping to maintain the two-column format: the left column would be devoted exclusively to blog posts without any advertising. The right column would be split into two columns to make better use of the screen real estate.
I am also going to change the colours on the main page and have slightly larger fonts so that it is easier on the eyes. I would love to hear your input: What would you like to see changed? Would you like me to add something that you think is missing? Are you overall happy with the current design and would like most of it maintained as it is?
moneysense.ca, 20/12/06
I like the site but I would make those suggestions:
- have a white background (I am thinking about this for my blog) … it is easier on the eyes too
- with all the content on your site, a semi-hierarchical and organized table of content like the left column on http://finance.yahoo.com/ would be great (the same organization could work for your links too)
- drop the greenish/brownish colors
CC,
I sort of like the dark background with light grey lettering. I don’t know why, but I find it easier to read than black on a white (or near white) screen. Good luck with the redesign and keep up the great posts.
CD
One minor thing that I have noticed with your current design that is not quite what I am used to. When I am reading a site I sometimes like to highlight (drag the cursor over some text) what I am reading to either mark my place or to make it a little easier to read (not sure if that makes sense). On most sites this has the effect of making the text background dark and the text a light colour. On the current design of your site this makes the background slightly lighter than it is normally and the text slightly darker, which is sort of the opposite effect that I am expecting. Anyway, it is a fairly minor point but something that I notice with the current design.
Maybe you should consider getting a layout that would be ad optimized. Check out the google adsense “hot zones” and base your layout around that.
FT
http://www.MillionDollarJourney.com
Overall if you keep it simple that’s probably the best advice for a redesign. A nice looking header might also be catchy. People tend to see your header before anything else.
FONT SUGGESTION: Maybe a sans serif font as they have a cleaner and more legible rendering. A modern design such as Helvetica is nice or perhaps a more geometric font such as Futura. As for size – I agree that bumping up the typeface a point or two wouldn’t hurt and perhaps adding a more generous vertical space between lines.
COLOUR SUGGESTION: Black text on a white background is easier to read but keep in mind this site isn’t a novel – it’s quick snapshot information – as such, consider white text on a darker background – looks more “designed”. Don’t be afraid to splash some colour throughout.
LAYOUT SUGGESTION: 2 column is nice but so is Swiss grid format (and incorporating ads within body).
Ultimately I could care less about how it looks…just not hot pink and yellow :0
As long as the content of the blog continues to be superior I will always keep coming back.
Maybe I’m in the minority (maybe not), but I like it just as it is.
A website designer told me once that, after a while (meaning after users view a site over and over), the stuff around the site’s content becomes “grey text” or something like that, meaning that readers will focus mostly on the new content; the ads, banner, welcome text, etc., become just almost invisible. I don’t look at the banner (even though I don’t like the green colour combo) or the ads on the right anymore. My eyes just focus on the content.
But maybe you can give us a preview of what you have in mind?
It would be cool if you could add “polls” to your site. So for things like your series on Net Worth of Canadians, you can collect statistics of people who look at your financial blog to see if we’re above average or not… =0)
Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am planning to incorporate some of your suggestions:
- already planning a white background with black/dark lettering
- polls are a great idea and I’ll plan a placeholder for it
- would like to go with either Helvetica or Verdana
I’ll start working on the template during the break.
I think you have the right idea , optimized a bit more for ads, if you want to make a little more.
I have installed XAMPP at home and wordpress and am trying things out there to see how it all might work. Prototyping is an important tool! Advertise you are going to put up a NEW format and let folks give you feedback and then tweek like hell!!!
I like the current site as is; larger font size would be great!