Espen André Øverdahl - My Blog Theme

My Blog Theme

Friday, June 22, 2007 5:49:27 PM

stuffidontknowof, design, layout, css, blog, theme

I've been doing some CSS tweaks to my blog over some time. Truls and I worked on the Heroes & Zeros group blog and I decided to add some of those elements to my own. But I feel something is missing. Can't really tell what ... Is it to messy? To big top picture? Should I add a dotted line between the content and the side element. Hm. What do you think? Gimme a tell so I can work on it.

P.S.: Quite happy with the font choice though, but maybe a bit to small?

Nintendo Street-ArtBack to Basics

Comments

CharlieBAMAToNE # Friday, June 22, 2007 5:55:32 PM

The header image is quite large, but there's no way you can really shorten it up any without redesigning it entirely. So I wouldn't really worry about that much. I think the rest of it looks pretty decent. I have always liked the "minimalistic" approach. You don't have a lot of flashy things. A+!

On a slightly unrelated subject, I think you should hide the gigantic Quicktime vid behind a cut. (That's LiveJournal speak... I don't know the equivalent here.) I don't like loading 3849273mb of video each time I visit your blog!

P.S. The font size is probably too small for some, but to me it's at the very border of being too small. What I mean is that if it were any smaller, I'd say yes, it is too small! (How many times can I say small!? Small! Small! Small! Small!

)

Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO # Friday, June 22, 2007 6:05:16 PM

The header image is quite large, [...]

Yes, you're right. Maybe I'll create a new top image.

On a slightly unrelated subject, I think you should hide the gigantic Quicktime vid behind a cut. (That's LiveJournal speak... I don't know the equivalent here.) I don't like loading 3849273mb of video each time I visit your blog!

Done! Didn't really think of that as I'm behind a quite fast line ... Shame on me!

P.S. The font size is probably too small for some, but to me it's at the very border of being too small.[...]

Hehe, ok. Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated!

CharlieBAMAToNE # Friday, June 22, 2007 6:09:11 PM

For what it's worth, I think the header image is quite awesome. :up: (Just a little too large for use as a header.) But maybe it's just my personal preference! ;)

Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl # Saturday, June 23, 2007 12:14:09 PM

To me, it looks like there's too much white space on the sides. I'd put a subtle background image, or maybe try expanding the content width a bit.

Again, just an opinion.

Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl # Saturday, June 23, 2007 12:23:32 PM

PS You could also try a different colour for the sides or the content background to get some contrast.

Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO # Saturday, June 23, 2007 1:51:59 PM

Hm, yes. I've used white because the top image is pretty colorful. However, when I scroll down I see that a nice content background would be nice. Thanks for the tip!

Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl # Saturday, June 23, 2007 5:00:25 PM

The contrasting backgrounds and borders on the comments do help.

Still a bit too much "white space" to my eyes.

Prosper TaylorNoah503935 # Saturday, June 23, 2007 5:44:46 PM

Yes, I agree. A background would look very nice!

Maybe if you could extend your upper design into your page, you woukd have a true masterpiece.

Øyvind ØstlundNoteMe # Saturday, June 23, 2007 6:30:54 PM

Though I am still no designer, I like the big banner. It seems to be very inn these days.

http://mochikit.com/
http://www.magicsomething.com/
http://www.celticcastles.com/castles/lumleycastle/

But I can understand those with small screen resolutions. It's a bit more pain for them.

- ØØ -

Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO # Sunday, June 24, 2007 11:00:09 AM

Some call that consistency.

Henrik HelmersHelmers # Sunday, June 24, 2007 11:08:59 AM

I don't like verdana, and the picture demands a lot of attention. Perhaps add some 'oomph!' to the blog, archive, photos, etc linsk... Nice work though, keep it up!

.edDotEd # Wednesday, June 27, 2007 1:14:19 AM

i think a huge visual addition to your blog would be as simple as using justified alignment in your posts... it makes things look soooo much cleaner. otherwise i love the minimal layout.

Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl # Wednesday, June 27, 2007 6:02:06 PM

Re. the updated design

Marjan KrebeljNikio # Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:51:30 PM

fantastic job! I really like it. It is nice to see a well done minimalism!

Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO # Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:57:20 PM

Thanks Nikio.

Does anyone know how I can add a link to the top image (the "I read blogs for a living" banner)?

Dustin WilsonKhadgar # Sunday, July 1, 2007 4:54:56 AM

I rather like the minimal layout, but I think the typeface needs to be larger. I also think the menu needs to have a border on the top or at least the header image above it have some contrast with the menu.

Dustin WilsonKhadgar # Sunday, July 1, 2007 4:40:47 PM

Wow. Much better, Espen

! It's simple and to the point. You read blogs for a living. I wish I could

Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO # Sunday, July 1, 2007 7:41:44 PM

Christopher DaSilvadannii # Tuesday, July 3, 2007 6:04:13 AM

i miss the last image you had

... big, artsy, and at least for me, it expressed real life and joy. what's more, i was about to ask you how did u put a big image on the top of ur blog! lol. (yeah, i gotta work up a lil bit on the smilies codes, might as well use my OPERA NOTES to have a reference)
Regarding to the font: small is the new trend. things small occupy less screen area, even if we have a huge monitor, i want things small so i can pay more attention to the big things in life.
and if u can let me know about some groups or whatever i can learn how to tweak my blog i would really appreciate that, since the picture sharing sounds very tempting.
Regards.

King NutinKingnutin # Wednesday, July 4, 2007 1:17:47 PM

Thanks for your tip to change the header image (http://my.opera.com/community/blog/transformers-banners).

I was wondering if you could give us simple CSS codes to make minor changes in the blog . Thanks in advance

Ulie_Juggins # Thursday, July 5, 2007 2:08:00 PM

I really like it!!!

You have done a great job!!

Castle of Creativitycastleofcreativity # Friday, July 13, 2007 3:47:17 PM

I would just change the image and make a bit more enlarged.
Rest is good as gold mate!

Great work.

Øyvind ØstlundNoteMe # Friday, July 13, 2007 4:48:00 PM

Does anyone know how I can add a link to the top image (the "I read blogs for a living" banner)?

Steal some link from the page, style it as a banner and don't tell anyone about it. Most important don't tell I told you

That Widgetize link in the lower right, no one will notice. *Run and Hides*

PS:

- ØØ -

jezecek # Sunday, July 15, 2007 2:04:15 PM

I like your css style, minimalistic yet tidy and well-aranged. But I'm personally missing some more contrast. When I loaded you page for the first time, everything looked somehow "flat", with nothing getting a little more to the foreground to get my eyes attention. One of the golden rules of web-desing says that it's neccessary to get users attention in the very first seconds, otherwise they may leave your page without actually giving a try to read through it. I would suggest using slightly more intense colour tones on the headlines and other in-page navigation elements so that your readers can quickly scan through the first page and get a basic orientation and idea what your blog is about. Or, if you want to stick with the mild colours, think about resizing some of the key elements of the page.
And as others already stated - there is too much whitespace on the sides, I would really consider using some light background image.

Ruben Garciaeztigma # Monday, July 16, 2007 4:59:46 AM

Nice minimalistic layout!

Hilton's BoyfriendHolo3D # Friday, July 27, 2007 8:34:22 AM

Hey sup Esp!!! Neva thought of saying this....... But now thanx GOD

....... Oh stil trying to understand

-demiphonic # Wednesday, August 29, 2007 6:01:42 AM

hmmm still kinda messy. The dotted lines separating the menu tabs cut the flow of the banner. Use the light gray lines instead like the rest of the blog

Also it looks messy cause of the different sizes of the top most menu bar (opera powered etc) & the banner with site menu.

If the banner & site menu were the same width as the top most bar it would stream line things more.

Either deleting the space between the Banner & the top bar or making that space light gray to match the background sides would help too.

now.... promise you won't ban me