The site gets its annual design update.
The upgrade went fairly well, as these things go. If you are still seeing the old site or are seeing a messy hybrid, trying hitting “Refresh” in your browser a couple of times. That should clear things up.
Whenever I change the look of the site I am always asked why (and tend to receive plenty of negative feedback as well!). There are a few reasons for this upgrade. As I explained a little while ago, there are three main ones: a) I am easily bored with my designs, b) the sites serves, in part, as a gateway to my web design company and it is important to keep it looking fresh or c) the nature of the site changes a bit over time and there is something I wish to emphasize that cannot easily be done with the current design. All of these reasons have come together this time. Especially, though, I’ve had to prepare for the lead-up to the book, knowing that I’ll need to make the book available through the site and begin to “promote” it in some way. I think the new design lends itself to that task a little better. I am also considering integrating my company site with the blog.
The new design offers some new features that were also integral to the decision to switch. For example, I’ve now added tags to posts and this should serve as a good way of tying posts together and of quickly categorizing them. I’ve also added more features for those of you who use various social media and who wish to interact with the content a little more. And I’ve transitioned to a better system of URLs (search engine friendly, for those who care). Finally, I’m preparing the site for the release of the new version of Movabletype, my blogging software, and think the new features and new design will work best with that new software.
Anyways, work continues. I’ll continue to find and weed out problems as they occur today. Please continue to be patient with me!
7:06 AM - Today is the day I’m going to be moving to a whole new design for this blog. So please bear with me as, for the next couple of hours at least, things could be a little flaky around here. Images may not work for a while, formatting will be strange, and so on. So hang tight and I’ll post when things are returning to normal.
Comments (66) »
1. Mike
August 4, 2007
8:03 AM
This is definitely minor, but… Above the title of the post it says that there are “1 Comments,” and in the sidebar it says “There are currently 1 comments….” Not a big deal, but I would put a conditional statement in your PHP that finds out if there is only one comment, or zero or more comments. Pseudocode:
echo before text;
echo number of comments;
if (number of comments does not equal 1) (echo comments;
)else( echo comment; )
echo after text;
Otherwise, I like the new design a lot.
By the way, what “blogging engine” do you use? Is this moveable type, wordpress, or something else?
…OK, when I went to preview my comment, the preview page is a dark blue, the text is black, and there is no formatting on anything. You may want to check that out as well.
I hereby resign from my position of volunteer beta tester. Signing off… :)
2. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
8:12 AM
Thanks, Mike. I’m still tinkering so expect to see more of that kind of stuff until I get it sorted out! :)
3. alan rogers
August 4, 2007
9:18 AM
wow…i like it so far, it’s very sleek and modern, but not post-modern.
4. Blake
August 4, 2007
9:41 AM
I like the look and the colors, but again I recommend standardizing your link colors and hovers for all links. I was never a huge fan of the underline hover style for links… but that’s just me. There are also 5 nav buttons on the top of the page that work fine but then one sticking out under them that says “contact me” and does nothing. Using Firefox 2.0.0.6
5. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
9:47 AM
“I recommend standardizing your link colors and hovers for all links”
I think I have pretty well done that. There may be a few small variations, but I think things are pretty standardized. Aren’t they?
I’m also using Firefox 2.0.0.6 and don’t see the weird button. Maybe you need to refresh? What operating system are you using?
6. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
9:49 AM
Incidentally, I’ve tried the site in Firefox 2.x, Internet Explorer 6.x and 7.x, and Safari (all on Windows).
7. Tim
August 4, 2007
10:09 AM
Very Nice.
8. Richard
August 4, 2007
10:33 AM
Very nice Tim. Very clean and the navigation remains very easy. Looking forward to reading your book.
9. michael
August 4, 2007
11:00 AM
Tim, I have the “contact me” button that doesn’t go away or do anything as well. I’m using Firefox 2.0.0.5 on Ubuntu 7.0.4. Hope that helps. Otherwise…site looks great. And for whatever reason I really like the tree.
10. GUNNY HARTMAN
August 4, 2007
11:25 AM
alan wrote: “wow…i like it so far, it’s very sleek and modern, but not post-modern.”
So, does that mean the next facelift/update will be … uh … post-modern?
I’m nervous about that one, but this one is just splendid.
2 opposable thumbs up!
11. Randy
August 4, 2007
12:23 PM
Everything looks great in Linux/Firefox, but there should be no difference between that and Windows Firefox.
12. JT
August 4, 2007
12:31 PM
In Firefox 2.0.0.6/Mac OS X, the main article is jammed up against the left side of the window. A little more breathing space would be nice.
13. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
12:50 PM
“In Firefox 2.0.0.6/Mac OS X, the main article is jammed up against the left side of the window. A little more breathing space would be nice.”
I’d expect that this is probably due to your screen resolution more than the browser.
14. Chris Patton
August 4, 2007
12:58 PM
The new site looks outstanding!
15. Devin Bell
August 4, 2007
1:01 PM
Tim,
I like the new layout, very nice. I especially enjoy your insight and comments. Keep up the great work! Definitely has the business up front approach. Are you following Drew Goodmanson’s “web mullet strategy?”
16. Ellen b.
August 4, 2007
1:19 PM
I like it. It’s kind of like what stores do. Move stuff around so you have to notice different things you’ve never noticed before. Fresh!
17. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
1:25 PM
“Are you following Drew Goodmanson’s “web mullet strategy?”“
Not that I know of. I’ll have to Google that one…
18. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
1:31 PM
Could one of the Linux users refresh and see if the problem mentioned above has been fixed? I don’t have access to a Linux box…
And if a Javascript guru wants to tell me why tooltips are appearing beside this form in IE but not Firefox, I’d love a tip!
19. rebecca
August 4, 2007
1:54 PM
The new design is very light and friendly looking. I like it.
20. candyinsierras
August 4, 2007
2:22 PM
I really like it!
21. Jesse Gardner
August 4, 2007
2:22 PM
What, are you trying to make me look bad. Fine, I see your one redesign and raise you a blog, design site and photo blog. Still in?
22. JT
August 4, 2007
2:27 PM
“I’d expect that this is probably due to your screen resolution more than the browser.”
It happens regardless of the resolution of my browser.
http://homepage.mac.com/justified_type/challiesupdate.png
23. Joshua
August 4, 2007
2:39 PM
Mr. Challies,
Well done. I like the colors and the site seems to be easier to follow. I always got jumbled when I was trying to figure out what was going on in the middle (just to the right of your posts) of your webpages on the previous site. This is nice and clean.
24. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
2:47 PM
“This is nice and clean.”
That was the goal. I wanted to have clear divisions between content areas and to keep the “permalink” pages as clean and uncluttered as possible.
25. greg ogle
August 4, 2007
3:43 PM
In firefox, the layout gets rather distorted when I increase my text size.. I usually do that when I wanna read.
26. Dan Sudfeld
August 4, 2007
4:06 PM
Your design could look like “Notepad,” and I’d still read your stuff.
Having said that, your changes look fantastic.
Keep at it, Tim!
Just one thing I noticed as I previewed my comment. The background is dark blue and the font is black. Tough to see! (Using IE 7.0)
27. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
4:29 PM
“Just one thing I noticed as I previewed my comment. The background is dark blue and the font is black. Tough to see! (Using IE 7.0)”
Thanks. I haven’t gotten as far as the preview template yet. Thanks for reminding me!
“In firefox, the layout gets rather distorted when I increase my text size.. I usually do that when I wanna read.”
Firefox on what platform? How does it distort?
28. Austin Storm
August 4, 2007
4:34 PM
The new design looks lovely.
29. Dan Hall
August 4, 2007
4:51 PM
FYI - Your new site looks great on my Mac using Firefox, but using Safari it is a jumbled mess with a lot of the old layout and images coming through. I don’t know if you view things on a Mac or even care to, but I just thought I would let you know.
30. Tim Linkletter
August 4, 2007
5:10 PM
Hey Tim,
I like it. One question, where did the picture of the tree come from? Also is there any special significance in it?
Looks great. As for all the firefox stuff please get the extinguisher and put that fox out, as one who has not a clue about computer stuff.
Take care,
Tim
31. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
5:21 PM
“but using Safari it is a jumbled mess with a lot of the old layout and images coming through. I don’t know if you view things on a Mac or even care to, but I just thought I would let you know.”
I think you probably just need to refresh your browser. I’ve checked it on Safari and it looks great. From what you describe it seems you probably just have cached versions of some of the files.
32. michael
August 4, 2007
5:38 PM
“Could one of the Linux users refresh and see if the problem mentioned above has been fixed? I don’t have access to a Linux box…”
Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like in firefox/Ubuntu 7.0.4. Hope it helps.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1010246453&size=o
33. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
5:43 PM
“Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like in firefox/Ubuntu 7.0.4. Hope it helps.”
Isn’t that odd. It looks like all of the fonts are just plain bigger. They are too big and are pushing all the content down the page. Odd, that.
34. michael
August 4, 2007
5:54 PM
Tim! You are a genius! You fixed your site. I had forgotten that my text size was increased and for whatever reason, it made the “contact me” button stay on and more obviously it pushed all the text down. It looks perfect now with smaller text.
35. keith
August 4, 2007
6:02 PM
Tim - great upgrade, except one thing - the brown shading down one side of the text on the homepage is very distracting upon trying to read what is under it.
Keep up the good work
36. Jessica L.
August 4, 2007
6:06 PM
Hi Tim,
In response to your comment in #33, this occurs when I resize my browser to be anything less than 1024x768, it seems to be that the page is optimized to a particular browser size. it has to do with the fact that the left side column seems to be “fixed” and the right side columns are “more floaty”. this is my non technical way for describing what is going on. I’m using Firefox 2.0.0.6 and Safari 2.0.4.
Also, in Safari, the comment box doesn’t show up. All I get is a gray box, and none of the comments options show up. I had to use firefox to comment.
Jessica
37. keith
August 4, 2007
6:08 PM
Tim
What happened to the subtitle “putting the fun etc..”? Weren’t any of the recent suggestions stimulating enough?
38. Reid Monaghan
August 4, 2007
6:19 PM
Tim, some of the wrap down is due to resolutions on some machines. I have some CSS problems on my laptop with many sites with Firefox…IE 7 renders this page fine, but the Contact does jump down. This is the same on the Jacob’s Well site - I just view it in IE. I am running a high res laptop. I don’t see these problems on any desktop I check sites on. Love the too tips on the comment form - sweet.
39. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
6:28 PM
“What happened to the subtitle “putting the fun etc..”? Weren’t any of the recent suggestions stimulating enough?”
I went with Informing the Reforming. Love it!
The site is meant to work with resolutions of 1024 x 768 or higher. Anything lower than that will only see a partial site. This is exactly as it was before with the old design…
“the brown shading down one side of the text on the homepage is very distracting upon trying to read what is under it.”
It could be that you need to refresh your browser a couple of times. There is no brown in the design…
40. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
6:37 PM
“I like it. One question, where did the picture of the tree come from? Also is there any special significance in it?”
It came from a stock photo. There is no real significance. I just really liked the picture and it worked really well with the design. I have to say, though, that the tree has a whole lot of character and looks very Canadian.
41. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
7:27 PM
I’m just trying something. Ignore me!
42. Tim Challies
August 4, 2007
7:28 PM
Cool! It worked. The “Submit” button should now be disabled as soon as you press it…which in turn should stop the many duplicate comments we’ve been having here (since the server has slowed a bit). I’m a hero.
43. Nath @ Reformed Geek
August 4, 2007
7:30 PM
Looks great Tim. Just wanting to test the comments. I like the info that appears to the right as I type. Very clever!
Congrats again that it all went smoothly…
44. Pastor Paul Martin
August 4, 2007
8:23 PM
I got stuck thinking so long about what I wanted to post… that all I could say was this.
45. lisa
August 4, 2007
8:40 PM
First impression… “Oops… did I click on the wrong site?”
Second Impression… “Excellent design… makes me want to update mine.”
46. Ivan
August 4, 2007
8:51 PM
Hey Tim,
What would you say of a family having 17 children? Check out my blog and you’ll see what I mean. Amazing!
By the way, I like this design way better. It’s more “jumpy.” Not the best word, but it’ll do.
47. David
August 4, 2007
10:00 PM
a very nice redesign, Tim - I’m tempted to call it an upgrade!
48. James Martin
August 4, 2007
10:51 PM
Love the tree!
49. Jeri
August 4, 2007
11:06 PM
Tim this looks great! I like the new features and the blurb for your book seems really effective where you’ve placed it. (And I like your new tag line!)
50. wfseube
August 4, 2007
11:36 PM
Very slick, Tim. I really like this layout - the last one was very good, but this is even better. Very readable. I like the “Comments” link at the bottom of the article instead of the top. The “light color” theme is a pleasant change.
And it looks fine on my Windows system in Firefox 2.0.0.6 at 1600x1200, in Opera (Windows), and in Firefox 2.0 on my SuSE 10.2 Linux at 1024x768.
51. Ken Pierpont
August 4, 2007
11:42 PM
Thanks for the good work. I visit daily and appreciate your discernment. You are a gift to the church.
52. Rachel from Australia
August 4, 2007
11:46 PM
Tim, I’m a person who resists change (I sulked about your last site upgrade until I finally forgot what the previous design was like) but I LOVE this new look.
Apart from being gorgeous, it loads in a fraction of the time your last design did. I too, would read your site every day even if it looked like Notebook … but thanks for spoiling us.
PS. I’ve just discovered the little comment boxes that pop up as you fill in your comment. Coolies.
53. dt
August 5, 2007
12:15 AM
Looks great! (See, not all of your readers hate it!)
54. Diane
August 5, 2007
7:08 AM
I love the new look Tim! I usually use my AOL browser but I still get the messy hybrid through AOL.. but using Explorer I see it perfectly! Looks great! Thanks!
55. Reid Monaghan
August 5, 2007
6:17 PM
Tim, the tree is great…but it does look almost dead. Maybe add a few green leaves to show “life/reforming” or something.
The resolution issue I was referring to most likely is due to DPI settings on some laptops, not the screen
resolution/size.
It is a difficult trick to make the “submit” button go dead after the first comment click? I like AddThis - a cool feature we are using as well.
56. Matthew
August 5, 2007
6:56 PM
Tim,
I like the new design and it looks great in Firefox 2.0.0.6 on XP.
However, there is one issue with the design. When a sidebar is open in Firefox, such as the Sage RSS reader or Bookmarks, the margin between the left border of the page and the text goes to zero pixels. In other words, the text goes right up to the edge of the sidebar. It’s a minor issue and it’s probably a problem with Firefox, but I thought I would let you know.
57. Jeff
August 5, 2007
7:59 PM
In the previous version, I’d have to wait for several seconds before the text appears.
The site loads a lot faster now (or is it FasterFox? that’s making it faster?). I use Firefox.
58. Tim Challies
August 5, 2007
8:57 PM
It is a difficult trick to make the “submit” button go dead after the first comment click?
Nope. Just a bit of Javascript.
The site loads a lot faster now (or is it FasterFox? that’s making it faster?). I use Firefox.
Yeah, the new design is faster. It has fewer graphics and no Flash…
Tim, the tree is great…but it does look almost dead. Maybe add a few green leaves to show “life/reforming” or something.
Not a bad idea but I don’t know that I’ve got the graphic wherewithal to pull it off.
59. Ken
August 6, 2007
9:07 AM
Tim: Don’t know if you’ve heard from other AOL users, but the redesign looks terrible in this perspective.
Refreshing several times does nothing to improve it.
60. Tim Challies
August 6, 2007
9:27 AM
Tim: Don’t know if you’ve heard from other AOL users, but the redesign looks terrible in this perspective.
Any chance you could send me a screenshot or something? I’m not sure what AOL users are seeing—whether it’s something I’ve done wrong or whether it’s AOL’s fault.
61. Dave @ Banannery Public
August 6, 2007
10:03 AM
Beautiful and much faster! Great work!
62. Ken
August 6, 2007
11:10 AM
I’ll try. I’m not the world’s most knowledgable computer user.
63. Maureen
August 6, 2007
12:11 PM
The new format looks terrific on my mac! I had all kinds of problems before viewing using the latest rev of firefox on my new laptop macbook but “I can see clearly now”!
Thanks!
64. J.R. Jones
August 9, 2007
5:10 AM
I loved the old javascript “going up” links you had. The animation was pretty nice.
65. Tim Challies
August 9, 2007
7:25 AM
I loved the old javascript “going up” links you had. The animation was pretty nice.
I liked it too. However, it came with a bit of overhead (your computer had to load a fairly sizable javascript to make it work) so I just let it go…
66. LisaP
August 9, 2007
12:50 PM
I think it looks great…much faster too.
As for the tree…hmmm…looks a little like the dead of winter. How about a tree in all four seasons of LIFE? But, I was a huge fan of all your nature pictures in the header from a long time ago. I sure miss those a lot!