Yes, it’s a pretty drastic change for me. Yes, it only really works correcty in Safari (get over it). Yes, I did it pretty quickly. Yes, this redesign also constitutes an entire rewrite of my Django-based CMS. Yes, it no longer starts with www2. Yes, there are parts that are still unfinished. Yes, it's a bit of an answer to tumblr. Yes, I did hide the “powered by Google” logo on my maps (shhh, don’t tell). Yes, I’ll be talking about the new design direction more in the near future. Yes, it’s light on dark (get over it). Yes, the job listings you seen on the sides of blog entries are selected based on the content of the entry. Yes, the text is smaller (get over it). Yes, I’m anxious to hear what you think.
Yes, I’m going to bed.
001 // Natalie Jost // 02.15.2008 // 11:30 PM
hmm… different for sure. reminds me a little of kevin potts - just a little. it’s late though, so i can’t critique much till morning. I’m sure it’s just perfect. :)
002 // sarah // 02.15.2008 // 11:49 PM
I think I like it. Especially the pink :)
003 // Bryan Veloso // 02.15.2008 // 11:57 PM
Damn, it’s definitely brown. ;D I like it though! Great job. Can I have the Django now? ;)
004 // Levi Figueira // 02.16.2008 // 12:05 AM
Interesting! :) I’ve been keeping an eye on a redesign on your site basically because I’m very interested in developing a Django-powered blog myself! I’ve had the idea of a lifestream for a while (even mocked up a new design, never implemented it) but haven’t got around doing/learning… yet! :)
On a design note: it’s very… hmmm.. inman-ish! :) (which is a positive note, I must say! ;))
So, bottom line, I like it! I’ll definitely use it as inspiration when designing my own… Apparently the “lo-fi” is what’s coming really well from a lot of re-designs lately (so long web2.0 look/grunge) and I need to let it grow on my “creative thinking” a little more! I will browse around some more later (it’s late now!) and I’ll keep you posted on UI/Usability issues :)
Have a great weekend, Jeff!
005 // Jason Duerr // 02.16.2008 // 12:54 AM
Nice! I’ve been using more browns and reds lately myself.
I’m liking the update. Very sleek, Jeff.
006 // silent // 02.16.2008 // 12:58 AM
I like it!!!
007 // Ryan Berg // 02.16.2008 // 1:04 AM
Congrats on the relaunch. Looks sharp!
So what am I missing out on by using Firefox instead of Safari (3, I assume?)
I’ve been tinkering with a tumblelog of sorts on my dev server for quite a while now, but haven’t pulled the trigger because I’m not confident in its implementation. I’d be curious to see what makes yours tick.
008 // Seb Duggan // 02.16.2008 // 1:25 AM
Very nice, Jeff! Especially in Safari… I might have to experiment with those border radii and box shadows…
Doing a side-by-side with Safari and Firefox really shows how rubbish Firefox is at text rendering…
009 // KatB // 02.16.2008 // 1:27 AM
Don’t drink and design! ;)
In Firefox: the earth tones are quite soothing :) ; in Safari: very sharp :)
010 // Neum // 02.16.2008 // 2:12 AM
Love the dookie brown. Its very difficult to read a full post in Firefox right now because the contrast is so high. In Safari its just fine for me.
I finally get my first Django site up tonight and you just have to go and raise the bar higher:)
011 // Petar // 02.16.2008 // 2:45 AM
Congrats on your new design. It works and looks great.
012 // Liu Zhongshu // 02.16.2008 // 3:05 AM
Very nice. I like it, especially the font.
013 // George // 02.16.2008 // 3:06 AM
I likey!
014 // Mourner // 02.16.2008 // 3:17 AM
Brown-on-brown text is absolutely unreadable for me. :( What about accessibility, Jeff?
015 // Peter // 02.16.2008 // 3:35 AM
I agree with MOURNER, it’s absolutely unreadable for me to.
016 // Edd Sowden // 02.16.2008 // 5:01 AM
Really like the way your photos are cropped and re-shaped on the front page. They fit in with the rest of the site really nicely. Not liking how the comments don’t start until the bottom of the content in the right hand column. The brown is really nice however, some of the light brown fonts (like the one next to this comment box) is completely unreadable (and I am in safari) due to lack of contrast.
The sideways logo is really nice. It does feel like its pointing the wrong way though (away from the content) that could just be me though. Other than that I really like the new feel.
017 // Joshua Blount // 02.16.2008 // 5:20 AM
Holy fuck, that is some hot shit. Well done mate, well done.
018 // Trey Piepmeier // 02.16.2008 // 6:12 AM
Looks great, Jeff. For some reason, I’m inordinately happy about you dropping the
www2.019 // Brad Dielman // 02.16.2008 // 6:21 AM
Nothing wrong with that, Jeff. I like the new look a lot.
020 // Sara Flemming // 02.16.2008 // 7:14 AM
Yowza! This looks great, yo!
021 // Sara Flemming // 02.16.2008 // 7:16 AM
Also? Love the orientation of the logo and the hover state. Really nice. (:
022 // Hamish M // 02.16.2008 // 7:42 AM
Wow, it looks great, Jeff. Very different. If you ever had a design mold, you’ve certainly broken out of it!
Light on dark is fun. Had the same on my blog months ago, but it seems like nothing ever satisfies me very long.
023 // Jose Carlos // 02.16.2008 // 7:44 AM
It look great! yes, with Safari it looks even better but in Firefox it show very good. Congratulations in such a nice work.
024 // Hamish M // 02.16.2008 // 7:49 AM
Wow, just checked it out in Safari. Even better. I love the nice rounded corners and drop shadows.
Pity it’s Safari only…
025 // Eric Florenzano // 02.16.2008 // 8:43 AM
Yes, this new design freaking rocks!
026 // Alexander Radsby // 02.16.2008 // 8:43 AM
I love it, simply love it. It’s soo fresh, great shade of brown too. Good job!
027 // Chris Grocki // 02.16.2008 // 8:58 AM
Brown is the new black, web design is the new sexy. Your Django debug pages are still showing, but you probably knew that!
028 // Tom Watson // 02.16.2008 // 9:24 AM
Nice! Glad you stuck it out with the brown.
029 // Krystyn // 02.16.2008 // 9:30 AM
I like it — and I agree with Chris. (Points up) Brown is the new black.
I redesigned my site recently from a brown design. I’ve been kind of missing it. So now I can just pop over your site every now and then for my brown fix. ;)
http://www.hoperevo.com http://www.krystynheide.com
030 // Bret W // 02.16.2008 // 10:24 AM
Looks great. I particularly like the photo corners and shadows.
031 // Jim Ray // 02.16.2008 // 10:30 AM
I miss the ww2. Now that you’re working for UPS, will you kindly just leave the packages at the door to my apartment so I don’t have to drive down to sodo to pick them up?
(also, site’s hott)
032 // Maura Chace // 02.16.2008 // 10:33 AM
I like it! (And I’m looking at it in Safari!)
033 // Brade // 02.16.2008 // 10:33 AM
I kinda like this. Only problems I noted in firefox are: 1) comments start only after clearing the right sidebar. 2) your logo in the top left loses the mouseover effect when you are over the two F’s—I’m going to blame that on the link of your h2 tag on the article title. 3) the mouseovers at the very top strangely lag.
It’s very minimal, and if I had to guess, I’d say you will probably flesh it out a bit more in the coming weeks. But overall it’s nice—I always enjoy seeing what the esteemed web devs among us are doing!
034 // k4rl // 02.16.2008 // 10:40 AM
digging the 3d glasses pop’ness on the css text.
cheers, fellow tumblog’ian follower
035 // Andrea // 02.16.2008 // 11:07 AM
Well, I guess I’ll get over it.
Just kidding. :) I like. The brown is very chocolaty and lickable. My only suggestion is to give a little more contrast to the blockquotes in the comments— can’t read em.
But overall, yum.
036 // Wilson Miner // 02.16.2008 // 11:24 AM
Love the colors, nicely done. Needs moar pink though. :)
037 // Blake // 02.16.2008 // 11:30 AM
I like the look, but I agree with Andrea: I could use a bit more contrast between the light and dark browns to facilitate reading. Maybe it is just a mac vs pc gamma thing?
038 // Yashh // 02.16.2008 // 11:40 AM
Hi jeff, the design looks coo.
039 // Nate Klaiber // 02.16.2008 // 11:53 AM
I’m not even going to ruin it an look in another browser. First saw it on the iPhone and now on the desktop - it looks beautiful on both.
I love it
040 // Scott Johnson // 02.16.2008 // 12:08 PM
The brown on brown can be a bit difficult to read at time, but this is an otherwise excellent evolution of the site’s design.
041 // Sean S // 02.16.2008 // 12:46 PM
Well done, Jeff. Love the colors, love the grid, love the typography.
I gotta figure out this whole Helvetica Neue on Leopard garbage though. Your headers show up as Extended Bold — as does everything else calling for Helvetica Neue Bold. Lame.
My only concern is with the blockquotes. They are, in fact, tough to read. (I love the guttered quotation marks though! So smart/cool.)
Great design. It fits well; I’m glad to see orange still made it somewhere.
042 // Nick // 02.16.2008 // 12:47 PM
Agreed on the legibility. It is a strain on my eyes to read the brown on brown type.
043 // Keith // 02.16.2008 // 1:03 PM
Looks cool man, and it fits you. And, no, I mean that in a good way. Love how the orange and browns work together. Very nice!
044 // Jeff Croft // 02.16.2008 // 1:05 PM
Hey guys…just woke up to a ton of comments. Great to see! A couple of responses:
I’ll probably write a blog post more specifically about some of the stuff, but the basic idea of the site was to break out of a style I’d established for myself, while still retaining a focus on grid-based design and typography. I wanted to keep my trademark orange, but not make the site entirely orange. I feel like my old style perfectly reflected the work I was doing at newspapers and in journalism while in Lawrence; I wanted the new design to reflect more where I’m at now: doing client work at Blue Flavor.
Thanks for all the comments, guy. Glad to see so many people have a generally positive reaction to it. I wasn’t sure, given the drastic change, how it’d go over. :)
045 // Levi Figueira // 02.16.2008 // 2:29 PM
On a quick note, I think you could make the whole Firefox experience a lot better by adding the CSS3 calls for Gecko browsers!
For example, where you have “-webkit-border-radius” just add “-moz-border-radius”… :)
I’ve been testing FF3 and I’m very excited about it, especially because of the new address bar and it’s search feature! It has increase my productivity a lot when typing URLs I only remember part of them and not the beginning (thus failing auto-complete!)
I too love Safari and its font rendering but my main goal when designing is accessibility and usability, and if there are ways to provide users of another browser (I won’t add IE=<7 here) with a better experience, I’ll do my best to make sure it is so!
Like I said, I really like this new design and understand perfectly your option for “I don’t care about other browsers!”! The whole “browser war” is something that stresses me way too much and I too am wear out by that! BUT in this case, FF is a GOOD browser and supports CSS3! :)
Looking forward to seeing those improvements! ;)
PS: Just noticed that you escape those entities (like “<”) ;) Sweeet :D
046 // Jenna // 02.16.2008 // 2:47 PM
I like the brown but I can’t read the top menu or the things in the sidebar :( I’m having to highlight the whole page to read some stuff which is really frustrating. I’m using Firefox 2.
047 // Jeff Croft // 02.16.2008 // 2:54 PM
This is on my list of things to look into. Sadly, Firefox renders rounded corners without antialising, so I suspect things might actually look better in Firefox without the rounded corners than with them — but I plan to play around with it and see.
That’s a great main goals, and it’s often one of my, too, when it comes to serious work. But this is a personal site; it’s just for fun, and it’s just for me. I use it to spread my wings a little, try something new, try something different, push the boundaries, etc. It doesn’t need to be perfectly accessible and usable, because the content here is simply not that important.
My main goal is always serving the needs of the project and honoring the content. In most cases, accessibility and usability are near the very top of the list of needs for a project. In this case, they’re aren’t.
If it’s really that bad that you have to highlight things to read them, I’d suggest you may need to calibrate your monitor. These items are definitely lower in contrast and they’re designed to fade into the background a bit, but they still should be readable by anyone with decent eyesight (and a properly calibrated display).
048 // Levi Figueira // 02.16.2008 // 3:10 PM
Hmm… True! It does make sense! I need to “loosen up” a bit I guess! ;) hehe
And by no means did I imply that for other “pro/customer oriented work” you don’t take usability and accessibility seriously… ;)
I’m learning, I’m learning… (^^,)
I bet that if I redesign my own blog with the same mentality I’ll have a ton more fun and enjoyment! After all, the creative process should be fun and not “browser-bound-frustrating”, right? :) Keep it up! =)
049 // Matt Robin // 02.16.2008 // 4:54 PM
Nice re-coloring Jeff - brown was meant to be a big color last year for sites but it never really took hold, so I’m glad to see you using it here. The smaller font size in some places might not be to everyone’s tastes, but I barely notice it. It’s certainly a big difference to the previous look (the design itself seems largely the same though). Nice job dude, it looks fine on FF2 by the way.
050 // Scott McCracken // 02.16.2008 // 5:03 PM
Nice work, love the drastic change. You continue to push the bar higher for personal sites — the integration of your data from around the web is phenomenal, the fonts you’ve chosen work beautifully, and the border treatments on boxes and images are just plain cool (in Safari).
To echo Bryan and to build off my comment over at tincorporated, I’d be thrilled if you’d be willing to share some Django magic. Thanks for the continued inspiration.
051 // Levi Figueira // 02.16.2008 // 5:12 PM
Oh… and just one more thing: (no jobs’ish bashing intended :p)
-> I ABSOLUTELY love the integration of Flickr here (with comments, geolocation, etc…)! Amazing! =) /me wants it! <3
052 // Josh Walsh // 02.16.2008 // 6:20 PM
I like the layout, but the colors leave a bad taste in my mouth… literally. It reminds me of my definitive dislike for chocolate.
053 // Joseph Pecoraro // 02.16.2008 // 6:52 PM
This comment form ranks in my top 5 of all time! The new design looks superb. I love the focus on content. Here are some likes/dislikes:
Likes: Blockquotes in comments are amazing, Anything orange (links), Almost anything pink (certainly mouseovers look awesome), the Jeff Croft Logo in the top left
Dislikes: Lists in Comments go too far left for my taste, Sidebars pseudo 3D look doesn’t do it for me… I donno why not.
Well done.
054 // Nicholas // 02.17.2008 // 9:16 AM
It’s brown on brown, yo! On my laptop, unless the screen is angled just right, I can’t even see (like, at all) any of the low-contrast text, which includes such extraneous items as your top navigation and the headings in the right column as well as the instructions to the right of this very form.
Kudos for not going with low-contrast for the body text like so many cool kids do, but IMO, other very essential items are still still unreadable. (And I’m a young buck at 33.)
055 // Dylan // 02.17.2008 // 3:20 PM
Firefox 3 will (does) anti-alias rounded corners since it uses Cairo (vector graphics library) for everything.
I like the drastic change. I wasn’t really a fan of the low contrast portions initially, but most things are fairly readable (although the help text beside the comment form is pretty difficult to see since it’s so small) and it really does add an element of subtlety. Plus, as you said, this is a sandbox, exactly the place to push the boundaries.
056 // Jeff Croft // 02.17.2008 // 3:54 PM
Ohhh, good to know! I’ll definitely play with it. :)
057 // Jenna // 02.17.2008 // 5:39 PM
Thanks for responding Jeff (I’m a regular reader from years ago but don’t normally comment!). My screen is calibrated OK, but I have to angle the laptop screen to a particular angle to be able to see most of the light brown. I’m on another screen (non-laptop) right now and it’s still barely visible, but slightly better than the laptop.
Got my eyes checked last year so they’re ok too ;)
058 // Jeff Croft // 02.17.2008 // 6:29 PM
Thanks, Jenna! I think what I’ll do when I get the time is check out the site on as many different monitors as I can, and see what I think. So far, I’ve only seen this site on really nice, new Apple displays. It could be that when I see it in PC gamma or less-spectacular display, I side with you, and I’ll change it.
Thanks again! :)
059 // Dave Lowe // 02.18.2008 // 10 AM
I think I like the new design. I think it’ll take some time to get used to though. :) Particularly like the pink and yellow in the comments. And as a Safari devotee, lovin’ the Safari optimization!
060 // Thomas // 02.19.2008 // 1:44 AM
Very nice. I really appreciate your effort to the use of Safari’s CSS3 candy!
061 // George Vars // 02.19.2008 // 7:55 AM
Excellent and very modern color pallete. Brown, pink… Very good.
You should check the site with IE7. It’s kind of messed with the logo at the middle of the page and the content centered (not left aligned).
And now when I began to fill the comment form and used the Tab to jump to the next field… There is no tabindex and fro URL my marker went to the Markdown link to the right of the Your thoughts textarea.
062 // Jeff Croft // 02.19.2008 // 8:26 AM
I’ll get around to it eventually. It’s really not a major priority, because so few viewers of this site use IE — but, I will get there (at least for IE7 — probably will never bother with IE6 on this site). Thanks! :)
063 // Miksago // 02.22.2008 // 1:54 AM
Wow, nice new look. It is visually refreshing; One thing I do notice is that some of the buttons aren’t anti-aliased, maybe this is intentional, but in my opinion, it doesn’t really fit the design.. The orange/brown/ pink(or is it red) go really well together
064 // Viking KARWUR // 02.27.2008 // 5:42 PM
I love it… very nice… Congrats…
065 // Jamie // 02.29.2008 // 4:19 AM
Ummm. It looks like crap to me. Just being honest but it is ugly. Pooh brown with pink. I know its supposed to by stylish and cutting edge and “different” but to me it is boring and hideous..
066 // David Blanchet // 03.09.2008 // 10:13 PM
All I can say is - lol :D Do your thing man!
You “likes me [you] some brown” huh jeff, kinky boy you, ‘once you go … you never go back’ :D
067 // Paige Alford // 04.20.2008 // 9:10 AM
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068 // Ben Hayes // 05.06.2008 // 5:05 PM
I find the typography interesting, and usable. It draws you in, and yet is quite restful to read. Very nice.
Suggest maybe some of your design scheme is a little bit inconsistent, which might be improved a little. For example, the labels for the form have the same styling as some of the buttons (e.g. ‘previous’ and ‘next’). Yet one is clearly an interactive element that is all about ‘click me to do something’ whereas the other is only informative.
069 // Just Passing By // 05.12.2008 // 5:27 PM
I see you’re not just a Safari snob, but an Apple snob in general. :p That’s okay, I can live with that.
I’ve been reading a lot about white-on-black accessibility recently. It seems a lot of people have trouble with it. But I like it. It’s soothing and can be better for your eyes. As long as it is not too high-contrast.
In my opinion, the light-brown text is too dark and the white text is too…white. Especially in Firefox, but you can see the same problems in Safari with the Next/Previous buttons. White expands and bleeds into dark at such high contrast, regardless of display. It’s a well-known optical effect. Also, tabbing through the comment form isn’t quite right in Firefox but works in Safari, oddly enough.
070 // Dan // 06.27.2008 // 7:36 AM
I quite like it, good job. It definitely looks better in Safari though, the text shadows are a nice little touch.
071 // James Creare // 07.04.2008 // 2:02 AM
I like the brown look, and what’s wrong with being an ‘Apple Snob’ Just Passing By ? Apple Macs display type and everything else correctly.
The design reminds me of chocolate nougat.
072 // gareth design // 08.15.2008 // 1:11 AM
Brown is definately the new black! Mac all the way!
073 // Firebubble Design // 08.31.2008 // 5:03 AM
Hey I like the brown and who cares if it makes you an apple snob!