The Ministry gets a makeover…
Okay, so this is the rather spiffy new look for the Ministry of Truth, which (hopefully) makes things rather more readable.
There may be the odd further tweak or two in the next day of so, depending on how I feel and whether the Internet Exploder jockeys start moaning (FFS get a real browser like Firefox) but otherwise this should be it.
Oh, and save you all ruining your eyesight trying to figure out what the background text is on the template, the main section of the blog is Julius’s speech to Ringo from Pulp Fiction, while the quote in the sidebar is, naturally enough, from V For Vendetta.
Any problems, use the comments box.
Posted by Unity on 19 Feb 2007 at 17:07 pm
on 19 Feb 2007 at 5:40 pm 1.Joe said …
Text over text is never, ever a good idea.
on 19 Feb 2007 at 6:06 pm 2.Matt M said …
Yeah, I’d lose the background text. It’s just too busy otherwise. The rest of it looks great though.
on 19 Feb 2007 at 6:16 pm 3.. said …
Indeed. I’d say this is more difficult to read than before.
on 19 Feb 2007 at 6:37 pm 4.Unity said …
Text over text is never, ever a good idea.
I disagree (obviously) - text over text will work if you can strike the proper balance between colour, contrast, type face and size, etc.
This is where the odd bit of tweaking comes in - this should be more readable now that I’ve increased the size of the type, allowing the background text to merge more into the background as a texture.
on 19 Feb 2007 at 6:44 pm 5.Praguetory said …
Bad idea. Remember what happened to Piper when he had hs blog done.
on 19 Feb 2007 at 7:09 pm 6.Bob Piper said …
Comrade (that’s you I mean Unity, not Dickhead Dom), I’ve got to say it is still a bit offensive to the eye, a bit like reading back copies of OZ magazine.
on 19 Feb 2007 at 8:10 pm 7.Alan said …
I think it improves the site, feels more open, I like it
on 19 Feb 2007 at 8:36 pm 8.Devil's Kitchen said …
Sorry, Unity, but this definitely does not make things easier to read. The background image is too strong and the text does, indeed, make the text on top difficult to read.
The header images are also too busy. Think about lowering the contrast between the elements.
DK
on 19 Feb 2007 at 8:38 pm 9.Skuds said …
I think it makes the entire post look like a giant set of those anti-spam characters, designed to be impossible to read by computers and difficult for humans. Has the site been taken over by a teenager??
Don’t let dodgy form get in the way of excellent content!
on 19 Feb 2007 at 9:22 pm 10.Andy W said …
Unity,
Think the layout is far better, particularly for the length of posts you do. Seems to work fine with Exploder.
Get a real urge to try to clean the screen though!!!
Keep up the excellent content.
on 19 Feb 2007 at 9:29 pm 11.Bob said …
ok with safari . so the mac lot will be happy . I did like the old site so I think I’ll wait a week or so and see how I go .
on 19 Feb 2007 at 11:10 pm 12.Garry Chick-Mackay said …
This really hurts my eyes. I suspect that I would be more likely to skim over your longer posts now.
on 19 Feb 2007 at 11:41 pm 13.Unity said …
Right, I’ve adjusted the splatter effects and taken out the background text - see what you think…
on 20 Feb 2007 at 12:15 am 14.PoliticalHackUK said …
Hell, I like it. But what do I know?
on 20 Feb 2007 at 1:40 am 15.Paul Macmanomy said …
Looks bad - anyone with any sort of visual impairment ain’t gonna see the headlines. By the way - next time you leave a comment on my site don’t link to your dead blog (A Mass of Lies ….etc?)- bit of honesty with the world eh?
on 20 Feb 2007 at 1:42 am 16.ceedee said …
The background just makes the page too busy and I find it very straining.
Please consider something less intrusive.
Sorry, friend. Keep up the good work!
on 20 Feb 2007 at 1:53 am 17.ceedee said …
Toning down the background helps considerably!
Thanks, Unity.
on 20 Feb 2007 at 1:56 am 18.Lobster Blogster said …
Smooth transition to the new era. Those rent a blogs are already starting to look tired.
on 20 Feb 2007 at 3:27 am 19.leon said …
Its crap. Go back to the original, please?
on 20 Feb 2007 at 7:33 am 20.Unity said …
Paul:
???
Oh, no I see - sorry, that’s just a bit of crap left in my blogger account from a couple of years ago that I never got around to getting shot of as I only use it for commenting.
on 20 Feb 2007 at 9:25 am 21.lupin said …
Sorry, I don’t think it’s an improvement. The previous version was clean and clear, this version looks like you just got a trial copy of photoshop and went a bit mental. From a technical point of view it looks okay in Safari and firefox on Mac, but lookswise, it’s gone downhill. One vote here for back to the original.
on 20 Feb 2007 at 10:22 am 22.Neville said …
I like the new look, much easier to read, particularly for those like myself who are shortsighted ;)!
on 20 Feb 2007 at 10:39 am 23.Unity said …
Right, well that’s about it, and I’m happy which is what counts - you lot’ll get used to it in a while.
If anything still looks a little strange then try a hard page refresh first (Ctrl+F5 oon Windows - Mac jockey’s will have to work it out for themselves) or try clearing your browser cache.
Oh, and Leon - I’ve got a full copy of Photoshop CS2, thankyou very much 8oP
on 20 Feb 2007 at 11:16 am 24.jimmyhill said …
This all reminds me of that episode of friends in which Ross gets a pair of leather trousers…
Unity, I’m sure we’ll get used to the new look. Keep up the tory bating!
on 20 Feb 2007 at 12:26 pm 25.leon said …
The previous version was clean and clear, this version looks like you just got a trial copy of photoshop and went a bit mental. From a technical point of view it looks okay in Safari and firefox on Mac, but lookswise, it’s gone downhill. One vote here for back to the original.
What he said.
on 20 Feb 2007 at 1:31 pm 26.Johnnie said …
Sorry, don’t like it. Can you not use a bit of css to give us the option of a clear white background?
on 20 Feb 2007 at 1:46 pm 27.Johnnie said …
Oh, actually, I can do that myself, using the FF Stylish extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2108/
Now I’ve got black text on white background, and I’m happy.
on 20 Feb 2007 at 2:28 pm 28.Katherine said …
Well, you know, whatever, dude. Your blog. In all honesty, I prefer the old design, but you tend to prefer what you’re used to, so it’s entirely possible that I and all these other whingers will get used to the new one and prefer that, in the end. Would that be Status Quo Bias or Exposure Effect? (see wikipedia, I still haven’t worked out how to do proper nice hyperlinky thingies)
on 21 Feb 2007 at 3:30 pm 29.TinyHippo said …
I like it, but the old, regular-looking page was easier to pass off as work in work. I’ll just have to come up with better lies to the boss…
on 22 Feb 2007 at 10:23 am 30.leon said …
Oh, and Leon - I’ve got a full copy of Photoshop CS2
Erm, ok? Where did I make any reference to Photoshop?
on 24 Feb 2007 at 10:50 am 31.Orinoco said …
Could you style the links differently from quoted text please?