Got time on my hands...I'm playing with the blog template & design. Hence my advance explanation of why the blog will soon be either gibberish or a black screen has been issued.
so...let me know what you think. I am truly not offended by honest criticism of the blog design. All I care about is that it's easy for you to read but substantial in content, without being cluttered. And easy to navigate. I might have gone overboard in the no-clutter idea...
I think the header came out good. The rest I'll have to get used to. I hate change and I'm not sure about the rest. But after 4 years of no change I thought, go for it.
The posts are much easier to read now. Thanks! The side bars might need to be expanded a couple of letters worth of width due to the way words are cut into pieces. otherwise, I really like it!
Hi Elizabeth, I know exactly how you feel. I like you header. For me birds are always welcome. The most important is that the reader finds it easy to read and find the material. Personnaly, I am not for a white background, but it´s my personnal taste.I like the lack of clutter. I still have to tinker with mine especailly on the font color of the biblical quotes that are now fluorescent and quasi unreadable.It´s hard to have all the desired elements together and still preserving readability. Do you have the possibility of enlarging the content space? It took a me a while to find and adjust a new blog template to my liking, but I am close to it. Of course comparing with the sidebars in your old blog, something seems to be missing. Is it color? photos? I think a little more color makes for a more pleasant, inviting and attractive ambience and is a delight to the eyes of the readers. I tried to give mine a taste of the beauty of nature and the warmth of a home. I am also open to your critique as an artist, and a photographer who has an eye for beauty colour,contrast, blend, balance and nuances. You might enjoy my new post. http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2012/03/do-not-worry.html I am sure that the final result will be very good and that your readers will continue to enjoy visiting and coming back for more of the wisdom, encouragement, and exhortation from the Spirit that you share with us. God bless you.Jena-Louis.
Thanks for your input. It it taking me a while to get used to it too. What is missing are the icons on the right side of the blog text, each with the header synonymous with a highlighted symptom of the end times. I'd had "Third Temple", Pestilence", Israel" etc. and if you clicked on each of them it d bring you to a current news article of that topic.
I've been tinkering with the content space vs. the sidebar space. If I enlarge the text space, it gets too narrow on the sidebar space and the links are broken up in the middle of a word. If I go too narrow on the content space it makes it hard to read but the sidebar content is easier to read. In my other template I had more independent options. In this template it's kind of all or nothing
My other template was a custom template, not blogger's. I had thought that by going with Blogger template I'd have more flexibility, but in actuality I don't. I have less.
I'll check out your blog...I'm looking forward to it. Likely tomorrow. Thanks again, Jean-Louis :)
Yes, I struggle with the same content space and side bars issues. Finally I resolved it by suing a blogger template that you can customize to your own specs. I ended up with an enlarge middle content space and a generous unique right side bar that gives me the possibility of placing videos in a larger view frame and all the gadgets that I had before attractive with an attractive background and plesnt color contrast. I think it achieves a good balance. I also like the middle content space moving up as you scroll down against the beautiful sea scape and the setting sun. I chose the background with all the symbolic meanings to match the themes of my blog. Have you tried the new selection of Bloggers templates? there ae so many possibilities of background space use, a palette of colors and fonts to choose from. It takes time but I was rewarded and satisfied. Now I haven´t asked my readers what they thought, Maybe I´ll do that. so please feel free to give me your opinion. I am not a bit sensitive and I always appreciate good advice.I am looking forward to your visit and your critique. Jean-Louis.
This one is a Blogger template...but what I did is change the format to go with one sidebar instead of two, which increases the body space. Hope this helps.
Hi Elizabeth, How much have you widened your content space? I mught be a little bit wider, but not much.My reason for widening the middle space was to fit more writing per line, my wife tells me that my studies are too long and that people are interested in pre-digested food as in the Reader´s Digest. So I tried to fool the public (so to speak)so they didn´t have to scroll down so much hoping that their torture would be over soon. And also I didn´t want so much wasted space on either side which I waht I think the measurements of my central space and the side space accomplished. The result is that with the appropriate font size people can read almost all of my posts on the screen in front of them without having to scroll down so muuch. Some other posts like weekly from from Jack Kelley are a bit longer but are worth it. Let me know what you think. I hope you will find a good solution satisfactory to you and enjoyable for your readers. For me both content and form are important, however content takes precedence of course. Jean-Louis.
The general design standards for a successful reader experience is that if there is sufficient contrast between text and its background it is better. It is usually advised to use white background with black body text where possible and if not white against black, then the lightest background possible.
Blocks of text should not be too long nor too wide. I prefer more, shorter paragraphs, they are easier to read and they allow for highlighting one point for emphasis. That's why I like chunks rather than blocks.
Text blocks surrounded by margins and some white space also reduces eye fatigue and increases reader satisfaction...and the same is true for text blocks that are not too long. It fatigues the eye to track for a long time.
I think I have found a good balance, thanks to your input and others'. :) Thank you again.
Thank you Elizabeth. I agree with your last comment. I still have to work on mine. And also on my writing skills. I appreciate your input and will strive for more balance.
not sure if I like it. still a work in progress.
ReplyDeleteso...let me know what you think. I am truly not offended by honest criticism of the blog design. All I care about is that it's easy for you to read but substantial in content, without being cluttered. And easy to navigate. I might have gone overboard in the no-clutter idea...
ReplyDeleteI like the new header:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ma :) The bird header is a crop of a photo I took. The whole photo is here
ReplyDeletehttp://elizabethprata.blogspot.com/2010/05/corner-view-animals.html
I think the header came out good. The rest I'll have to get used to. I hate change and I'm not sure about the rest. But after 4 years of no change I thought, go for it.
The posts are much easier to read now. Thanks! The side bars might need to be expanded a couple of letters worth of width due to the way words are cut into pieces. otherwise, I really like it!
ReplyDeleteI like it. It is like your whole webpage put on the wedding garments . . . all nice and white and clean and simple.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth, I know exactly how you feel. I like you header. For me birds are always welcome. The most important is that the reader finds it easy to read and find the material. Personnaly, I am not for a white background, but it´s my personnal taste.I like the lack of clutter. I still have to tinker with mine especailly on the font color of the biblical quotes that are now fluorescent and quasi unreadable.It´s hard to have all the desired elements together and still preserving readability. Do you have the possibility of enlarging the content space? It took a me a while to find and adjust a new blog template to my liking, but I am close to it. Of course comparing with the sidebars in your old blog, something seems to be missing. Is it color? photos? I think a little more color makes for a more pleasant, inviting and attractive ambience and is a delight to the eyes of the readers. I tried to give mine a taste of the beauty of nature and the warmth of a home. I am also open to your critique as an artist, and a photographer who has an eye for beauty colour,contrast, blend, balance and nuances. You might enjoy my new post. http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2012/03/do-not-worry.html I am sure that the final result will be very good and that your readers will continue to enjoy visiting and coming back for more of the wisdom, encouragement, and exhortation from the Spirit that you share with us. God bless you.Jena-Louis.
ReplyDeleteHi Jean-Louis,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input. It it taking me a while to get used to it too. What is missing are the icons on the right side of the blog text, each with the header synonymous with a highlighted symptom of the end times. I'd had "Third Temple", Pestilence", Israel" etc. and if you clicked on each of them it
d bring you to a current news article of that topic.
I've been tinkering with the content space vs. the sidebar space. If I enlarge the text space, it gets too narrow on the sidebar space and the links are broken up in the middle of a word. If I go too narrow on the content space it makes it hard to read but the sidebar content is easier to read. In my other template I had more independent options. In this template it's kind of all or nothing
My other template was a custom template, not blogger's. I had thought that by going with Blogger template I'd have more flexibility, but in actuality I don't. I have less.
I'll check out your blog...I'm looking forward to it. Likely tomorrow. Thanks again, Jean-Louis :)
Yes, I struggle with the same content space and side bars issues. Finally I resolved it by suing a blogger template that you can customize to your own specs. I ended up with an enlarge middle content space and a generous unique right side bar that gives me the possibility of placing videos in a larger view frame and all the gadgets that I had before attractive with an attractive background and plesnt color contrast. I think it achieves a good balance. I also like the middle content space moving up as you scroll down against the beautiful sea scape and the setting sun. I chose the background with all the symbolic meanings to match the themes of my blog. Have you tried the new selection of Bloggers templates? there ae so many possibilities of background space use, a palette of colors and fonts to choose from. It takes time but I was rewarded and satisfied. Now I haven´t asked my readers what they thought, Maybe I´ll do that. so please feel free to give me your opinion. I am not a bit sensitive and I always appreciate good advice.I am looking forward to your visit and your critique. Jean-Louis.
ReplyDeleteHi Jean-Louis,
ReplyDeleteThis one is a Blogger template...but what I did is change the format to go with one sidebar instead of two, which increases the body space. Hope this helps.
Hi Elizabeth, How much have you widened your content space? I mught be a little bit wider, but not much.My reason for widening the middle space was to fit more writing per line, my wife tells me that my studies are too long and that people are interested in pre-digested food as in the Reader´s Digest. So I tried to fool the public (so to speak)so they didn´t have to scroll down so much hoping that their torture would be over soon. And also I didn´t want so much wasted space on either side which I waht I think the measurements of my central space and the side space accomplished. The result is that with the appropriate font size people can read almost all of my posts on the screen in front of them without having to scroll down so muuch. Some other posts like weekly from from Jack Kelley are a bit longer but are worth it. Let me know what you think. I hope you will find a good solution satisfactory to you and enjoyable for your readers. For me both content and form are important, however content takes precedence of course. Jean-Louis.
ReplyDeleteHi Jean-Louis,
ReplyDeleteThe general design standards for a successful reader experience is that if there is sufficient contrast between text and its background it is better. It is usually advised to use white background with black body text where possible and if not white against black, then the lightest background possible.
Blocks of text should not be too long nor too wide. I prefer more, shorter paragraphs, they are easier to read and they allow for highlighting one point for emphasis. That's why I like chunks rather than blocks.
Text blocks surrounded by margins and some white space also reduces eye fatigue and increases reader satisfaction...and the same is true for text blocks that are not too long. It fatigues the eye to track for a long time.
I think I have found a good balance, thanks to your input and others'. :) Thank you again.
Thank you Elizabeth. I agree with your last comment. I still have to work on mine. And also on my writing skills. I appreciate your input and will strive for more balance.
ReplyDelete