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Hey look – it’s a bird, it’s a plane… no, it’s the new dotTech! Last week I introduced a minimalist black-and-white design of dotTech. However, many dotTechies wanted something with color. So based upon the feedback I received, I have changed the look of dotTech yet again. The hardest part about this new redesign was advertisement placement because the minimalist design had excellent advertisement placement. However, in the end, I think I got it right but I may be moving the ads around. After all, someone has got to pay the bills so might as well let Google do it.
Please provide feedback and let me know if there are any bugs in the new design.
Had you thought I didn’t listen to what you said… :-D
I like this layout much better although a lighter shade of blue would have been much better IMHO
I guess I’m in the minority (unless others are just self-conscious about raining on the parade….), but I found the old design much more readable…..:-(….Maybe mine looked different because I was still on IE6….But I have a whole new system now, so I can only assume that at least now I am seeing the site as intended (Windows 7, IE8). I loved your old fonts. What font are the comments in? Anyway, I will mention a few concrete points:
1. The very top line—”dotTech(.org) Subscribe: RSS Feed E-mail Notifications Twitter”—is extremely difficult to read because it is a VERY dark gray on black and thus the letters blend right into the background.
2. The one thing that REALLY stands out on the top are the advertisements!!! That brilliant white on cobalt blue really pops out! “dotTech” is what should be there in white! Make the adverts in a blue only slightly lighter than the background blue so they will fade into the background instead of your top line….:-)….
3. The logo looked like a maestro conducting an orchestra (ha, ha)….It took me a while to figure out that the stick-like thing coming out of his hand is a laptop…….:-)……
4. I don’t think all the comment boxes should be the same size—shorter posts should have less-high boxes….As it is now, when the post is very short, there is a heck of a lot of empty space floating around. One result of this is you have to so a lot more scrolling than necessary……:-(….
5. If you DO want all the post boxes the same size after all, the “Reply to comment” should be located in the same position in all the boxes, that is, the same distance from thebottom of the box. Is there a reason you made all the boxes the same size/shape? What happens when you have a long comment? Will you go to a double box….or not allow long comments…..;-p….?
6. I don’t have any buttons for eg bold, italic, underline, etc….
7. I really like a Preview box.
8. As others mentioned, it is very helpful to number the comments.
9. The links on the right ‘panel’ should not be the same font and size as the text of the article. I think their font should be smaller.
Is there any way to see an old page from way back? I don’t remember how it was, but I remember I really liked it. If I can see an old page, I would be able to say why.
Ashraf, I adore you and I think you are great, and I missed you , and I depend on you. Thus, I hate to say anything negative given all the work you have put in, but I have been a graphic artist (among other things) for about forty years, so I thought you might want to know my thoughts….Only trying to help….Whatever the site looks like, it will continue to bring joy to many…!
Wow man….you have truly outdone yourself! This design is just great!! No more complaints on my part. Except…maybe you can restore the drop down menu on the top like last time? But really, this layout is very aesthetically pleasing, yet simple.
Oh too bad I really liked the old layout..It was very readable and nice to the eye. Do you still have it.. I cant remember the color you had used for the background.. But it was so nice . Please upload it to somewhere in your site
I love the new site, but please don’t go any lighter on the color as another has suggested. I am color-deficient (and so might be others) and the lighter colors can sometimes be hard to see. I, too, liked the drop down menus. Keep up the good work!
WOW. Simply Amazing. Incredible. Absolutely Marvelous. Very G…..
Whoa. I almost got carried away… You’ve captured a GREAT look here.
I LOVE it. (You noticed? Weird…)
Please publish in Bold type fonts. Thanks
Hey, I like your second design much better that the first redesign. And the to-the-side bold and enlarged font for names of comment posters makes its really easy to browse who said what.. Thumbs Up!
Can the orange ‘Professional DotTech Tecchnologians” be MUCH BIGGER (wider) and the white Google ads MUCH SMALLER…? The lovely text-and-picture logo is squooshed all the way over to the left side, while the white google ads on the blue background hog almost the entire top section..:-(…The name of the site should be across the top!