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The Big Blog Update
- 02/27/10
- 39
Today is the long-awaited site upgrade. It’s long-awaited in my books, anyway. I designed this new version of the site several months ago now. It has taken a long time to come to fruition, primarily because I’ve been so busy with the rest of life.
First off, if you are a RSS subscriber, you will probably not notice much of a difference except that you may find that the feed has “reset” meaning that it says there are twenty or more unread items. I do apologize for this; it should just happen this once.
As much as the site has received a visual redesign, there are even bigger changes behind the scenes. I’ve upgraded from Movable Type to Drupal as the backend software. That has given me infinitely more options and abilities.
- A pretty new design.
- Improved typography.
- 10MillionWords is now integrated into the stream of content on this site.
- A new commenting engine that includes avatars (those little pictures of the commenters).
- Improved abilities to share content via social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc).
- The ability to email an article to another person.
- Improved ability to print pages without fancy formatting.
- Better categorization of content.
- Improved search engine.
And more. But that gives you a sense of it anyway. Ultimately this site has just outgrown the ability of the old software to support it. It was high time that I made an investment in the site’s future.
Budget constraints have kept me from building out all the features I’d like to have. As I manage to find some funds, I will add new features. In the [hopefully near] future we should see:
- The ability to comment using your Facebook, Twitter or OpenID account.
- A list of related content at the bottom of each post.
- The ability for you to create an account so you can post a comment that includes links to your blog, Facebook and Twitter.
- Other useful bells, whistles and features.
I’m guessing that if you spend time on the site today, you’ll notice some inevitable little hiccups and bugs. If you notice such things, feel free to post them here so we can tidy them up.
Thanks to Travis Carden, programmer extraordinaire, for his diligence and near-infinite patience through this project.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (39)
VERY sweet looking design Tim!
I like the simple, yet classic design.
VERY user-friendly and easy on the eyes.
Well done.
Wow! This is crisp and clean, Tim. Good work.
Tim/Travis,
Looks great! Well done!
This is the first (?) official test of the comment system.
Looking forward to coming back and using all the resources. I guess Tim will be working hard on that book now… ;-)
Wait a minute… a math question?
Brian
I think this is the best yet. Very classy.
Very nice. Jealous. Super clean.
Very nice new look, Tim.
Maybe it’s just me, but I do find the post title font difficult to read.
It’s a change for the better, Tim. The design is neat, classy, and pleasing to the eyes. And you couldn’t have picked better font choices.
I Love the look, clean and easier on the eyes. Don’t have to sign on to post? But the new site seems to load slower than your previous site.
Very nice, but I do find the font hard on the eyes.
I miss the chair - thought it was just for me.
Great stuff. Love the look. Something else for me to envy :)
Love the design and am excited to see your switch to Drupal. I’m just learning Drupal to switch my church website onto it. Would be interested to know what modules, etc you have going.
Very nice Tim — especially on my Mac!
LOVE it. Pretty stuff. Less clutter. Good style.
Wow! As we say in Mexico… Que guapo!
I like the archive tabs in the sidebar. Suh-weet.
Hey, @Chris Roberts. You can learn a lot about building church web sites with Drupal at Geeks & God and via the Mustardseed Media Drupal Video Podcast. Drop me a line sometime for more specifics.
I love it! I especially like the wood tone/grain texture feel you’ve got going on here. I agree with Amy, “Suh-weet.”Did I say that right?
Very nice Tim — I like this quite a lot. I hate change, but yes sometimes it’s good! :)
Is it just me or did comments get lost in the transition?
PS Please don’t do long division or fractions in the comments section…I’ll never be able to post again.
I like the new look, Tim. I like the social media sharing features as well as the improved typography which lends itself to improved readability (at least for my tired eyes). It’s a nice, clean layout.
The new site looks nice, Tim. So why Drupal? Did you find it fairly easy to get comfortable with the CMS?
Very nice Tim! (I might miss the empty chair though). Ah well, change is the constant.Phil
Drupal rocks the CMS world, good choice
Nice. It’s as if I’m reading a book. And regarding your CAPTCHA…what if I’m really bad at math? :)
This works! Like others, I found the last “easy chair” design to be one of Challies.com’s finest. What would be the chances of releasing it as an opensource theme? (HTML layout + CSS)? :)
Nice layout. A bit of difficulty reading the font choice but that could be my age and my eyes.
When I click on the “HOME” link (Top Left) it takes me to a scrambled page with nothing but symbols on it.
Nice new look. I’ve always been a Joomla fan, but this has piqued my curiosity to look into Drupal again.
I love the new overall look, but not the font so much. Also, just personally, I really prefer not to have to click on a ‘read more’ link to see the whole post. Click on something to see the comments, yes, but I like to be able to scroll down and read the whole post on the main page. Probably just a personal pet peeve - won’t keep me away.
Looks great except for the small font size on my PC. Is this God telling me I need to invest in a Mac Book Pro or just stronger glasses?
Awesome design! My only issue (and I think I had it before) is the design is wider than my screen resolution. It’s not really a big deal for me, I just press “CTRL” + “-“, that is, the Ctrl button and the minus sign and it shrinks the page just perfectly. I really like it though. If anyone had the same problem as me; maybe that will help you.
Thank you Mr. Challies for a great blog and a nice new design!
Tim - The new look is great. Nice and clean.
Thanks for the great blog… I read your blog everyday.
“to be honest, I didn’t want to go through the long process of copying and pasting them all! ”
WHAT? I just really can’t imagine how else you’d want to spend your time!? :)
I agree with everyone else who has commented favorably. The new “look-and-feel” is very pleasant. I like the font, despite its being a little small for 63-year-old eyes. And I like that the 10Million Words content is directly accessible here. The only negative (IMHO) is in agreement with Ash - I don’t much care for the “Read More” link to finish reading a given post.
On a general note, Tim, I have been blessed countless times by your posts — your insights as well as the links to other sites. May the Lord continue to bless and prosper the work of your hands to His glory in all you do!
Eden
The overall design is great, but the font choice (a serif font) is actually harder to read than before. On my wide screen monitor it feels thin … as if I should add some toner to the copier…if you know what I mean. Plus it is about a point size too small for the comfort of old eye reading with trifocals.
Steve
Looks great Tim/Travis! (Esp. on my Mac!)
I’m with Ash on not liking the idea of clicking thru to read the whole post. I know the idea maybe is to help me move on to the next post if I don’t seem interested in this one (?), and I know it’s just a click, but it feels unnecessary. What you write is worthy and once I get here I want to see it all.
It’s always feels good to have a makeover. Tim you have your reasons. After a few weeks it will be like a haircut - settling down into what your used to and then it will need to be done again. (A few years I guess for a website).
As a reader I find the font you are using is difficult to read, too small and as others have said too light in ‘ink’. (Take for instance the list of favourite blogs in right column: barely readable because font is too small and grey is insipid). The serif font just does not cut the mustard on a PC. Maybe this is why non-serif are used more commonly on websites - greater readability…
Like others have also said, clicking through to read more when one has already read preceding articles is a bit of a detraction.
I’m sorry I just am not a fan of the wood grain effect. The whole effect is a bit too conservative and leaves me with a feeling a bit washed out.
The graphic which has the text Challis.com informing the reforming in top left is not crisp. Bring back the tree.