Well. It’s done.
It took me a few days and several complete redos of the entire design, but I think I’m finally content with this new theme. I call it Retro-fitted because the colors are a kind of throwback to some past that I certainly didn’t live in.
Giving credit where credit is due
My original design for this was largely based off WordPress with its new design and the Movable Type Blog (Yes, I realize we’re at constant war with the other blogging system). I got my blue colors from the Movable type design and the reddish color from the WordPress design.
I had originally planned to go very open with the theme because I’m a big fan of Theme Shaper’s current theme. I like Ian’s my-design-won’t-get-in-your-way layout. I ultimately decided against the open layout and enclosed the content area. However, I still kept the front page’s fairly big post title font size, which puts a lot more focus on content.
Last — not anywhere near least — Smashing Magazine. Their recent article on the celebration of vintage and retro design made me completely rethink what I wanted to do with the theme. And to think I almost missed this article because I was working on the redesign. Luckily, I took a break and read through some posts from my feed reader and happened to catch the article.
More thoughts about the design
Gravatars
I don’t know how I ever lived without them. After a day or so of using them, then looking at my own blog, I just didn’t want to comment. It wasn’t any fun.
Author highlighting
You’ll also notice that I’ve added author highlighting to the comment section, so you’ll always be able to pick out my comments quickly because they’ll look a little different.
Sidebar
I’m not sure whether I’m happy with the sidebar just yet. I could probably work on it a few more days and get something more suitable. But, I might work on it a few more days and get nowhere.
Internet Explorer still sucks
Especially IE6. Really, the only problem I had with IE6 was PNG transparency issues. If only everybody would get off that browser, I wouldn’t have to support it with my designs.
Let me know what you think
Do you like it? Hate it?
Overall, I’m happy with it because I needed something fresh. Blogging can sometimes get boring, so we need to spruce up our sites once in a while. I wanted to go with something lighter and a bit more fun. I think I at least accomplished that.
I haven’t ported the theme over to the forums yet. Look for that in the next few days. Once that’s done, you all can look for some more of your regularly scheduled WordPress stuff.
I just want to test out comments to see if the author highlighting and gravatars are working correctly.
Looks really good, Justin. The colors really help the readability of your content—always a plus. And the retro look in the header and footer is pretty cool too. Gives everything a fun, let’s-try-some-cool-stuff-with-WordPress vibe.
Thanks for the nod to ThemeShaper. I appreciate it.
Very nice. I like the light look, non-crowded look. Did you consciously make the decision to use a wide fixed layout? I see more and more sites these days moving beyond the old baseline of 800×600 – not that I mind.
Just a tip, you have an error with the label tag for the name field – you missed the “=” in the “for” attribute.
So many sites with new looks these days, I really must try to get my redesign out the door
Ian
Thanks. I really wanted to explore some more colors with this theme. I’m typically a two or three-color kind of guy. It took me a while, but I think I found a decent color combination that works.
I felt I needed something different. I was pretty happy with the original, which I had finished most of a few days ago. It wasn’t exciting enough though.
Grant
I definitely decided to go with a wider fixed layout. I post a good bit of code, so I want to have room for it to breathe.
Thanks for the tip about the label tag. I’ll fix it right away.
Yah that’s a choice I’ve been pondering myself. I know 800×600 is the common baseline currently, but being able to go beyond that frees up your design and layout options. Posting code is one reason, photos is another.
Grant
Photo-posting also went into my decision. I’ll soon be starting a regular gallery for my family to see what life is like out here in Korea. I’ve been promising it for about six months or so. I guess I need to get on top of that.
The 800×600 layouts are pretty much out now. Most sites are going larger. I think it really depends on your user base though. Less than 3% of my visitors use 800×600, so it was never a concern for me. Anything smaller than this, I’d probably be doing a disservice to 97% of my visitors.
It looks very nice! I really like the colors, they make the blog look very clean, and the readability is very good. The search box, and the slightly separation between the content and the sidebar look great too.
Congratulations!
“Room to breathe” –it’s definitely got that, Justin. Very nice!
Looks real good Justin…
very excellent and stylish theme. beautiful.
one thing is missing – a footer where we can place some cool stuff.
This is totally sweet. That’s all I can say.
[...] few days after Matt put up his latest redesign, Justin Tadlock puts up his, called Retro-fitted. I think it looks totally cool. I was kinda waiting for a redesign as well, because the simple blue [...]
Looks great! Very easy on the eyes.
Justin, you mentioned that less than 3% of your visitors use 800×600–how are you capturing that data?
I think it looks terrific. Well done.
Tanguillo
Thanks. At first, I didn’t like what I done with the search box, but after I removed it, I just didn’t like the layout. I’m glad you like the colors. Putting together a multiple-color palette for a theme is the hardest thing for me to do.
CircleReader
Yeah, I definitely wanted the extra space, so a made the content area wider and the sidebar a bit shorter. I felt that the last design was too restrictive.
dinsan
Thank you. By the way, I like your avatar.
falguni1
I’m not a big fan of putting a lot of stuff in the footer. I really wanted to keep the layout fairly minimal in terms of what’s placed on the page.
BoltClock
Thanks. I’ve wanted to get a new design up for the last few months but haven’t had the time with all the custom work and theme support. So, I decided I had to take a break from most of that and focus on my own site.
Dan
Thanks. I gather user information using Google Analytics, which is free to use. Going back to view the last month’s stats, I noticed that only 1.28% of my visitors actually use 800×600 screen resolutions.
globetrotteri
Thank you. I just noticed that you live out here in this part of the world. Are you in Taiwan now? I’d really like to do a little more traveling while I’m in Korea.
Looks really good – I like the lighter colours. I changed your Structure theme to light colours a little similar to what you’ve got here, though mine has less variance between colours.
Very sharp!
Great job, Justin.
It’s a major improvement over the most recent look. This one has got more “class” and a much better layout.
Did you do the archives page by hand, or is that a plugin? I want a simple list like that for my site.
I agree that your audience would figure into your decision on layout in a large way. Even then, I like that we are able to start taking advantage of more screen space. Usability and backwards compatibility are all well and good, but it is important to weigh that against making progress.
Ian H.
Thanks. Your color scheme for Structure looks good. Look out for a major update to that theme in the near future, probably within the next couple of weeks.
WPModder
Thanks. I mostly just like looking at everybody’s avatars. That’s the reason for the new design. Really.
Volkher Hofmann
I agree that it’s a much better layout. I use the SRG Clean Archives plugin for my archives. I think I’ve used it pretty much since I’ve been using WordPress.
Grant Palin
Yes, we definitely have to “weigh that against making progress.” I think you’ll find that most users are using wider screens nowadays anyway. So, if you want to go a little larger with your design, it definitely won’t hurt. Actually, most users will probably thank you.
IE really does suck. If everyone would switch to FF the world would be a better place. LOL
I think new theme… suck as much as can. It looks like pink blog.
IE really does suck. If everyone would switch to FF the world would be a better place. LOL
I’m using FF but I think You are a FF fanatic.
Very useful–I haven’t delved far enough into Google Analytics and didn’t know it captured monitor size–that’s awesome!
Justin Tadlock,
It’s time for your site. And JustinTadlock.com is more attractive now, I really do love the old-book’s paper like color, yes it’s some time in the past.
Justin,
I really like the colors you’ve chosen and it definitely has a clean look.
I noticed them over on your forums and really liked them, too.
Nice to put a face to the comments.
Great job!
Noah
You’re right. I’m always promoting Firefox everywhere I go — friends, coworkers, no one can escape.
Oh no
It’s just sad that you have nothing better to do with your time.
Dan Butcher
There’s a lot to the Google Analytics. When I first signed up, I think I viewed every single thing for about a week. I was pretty hooked, so I got to know the ins and outs of it, at least the parts I was interested in.
J Mehmett
Thanks. I’m digging the new style too. I just like how much more readable everything is.
RebeccaJ
I was definitely going for something much more clean. The gravatars are great. It’s nice to see what my readers look like or at least how they represent themselves online.
Hey Justin,
Nice template…congrats on this! Planning to share this template with us? That would be awesome!
Keep it up!
Justin, this is really a neat theme, more easy to read the text. I’ll echo on Nick.
Nick
I’m already sharing the template. They’re called the Options and Structure themes. Basically, I use the same code across all my themes, so it wouldn’t be too hard to accomplish this with those through CSS. Obviously, a little of the XHTML has changed because I didn’t want to deal with manipulating the CSS to suit my needs.
I’ll probably release it when I’m done using it though. Or, I might release a differently-styled version of it at some point.
K
Thanks. I definitely like the readability. I’m a little concerned about having too many words per line, but I won’t worry with it too much. I’ll just see how it works out in the coming weeks and months.
Mm… I hate themes like this one, Justin. Pink-purple design, those “flowers” in corners of menus… i cant see them on my LCD monitor, those are too bright. You should better work with Options Theme, I think.
Moho
Thanks for the input. Why would I use the Options theme for my own blog though?
I didn’t say “use Options theme!” :/
Mm… i only think You should make next update for Options Theme becouse some things still didnt work (only on my blog?). There are still problems with widgets. There should be more things in this theme I think.
Moho
This is a blog post about the new design of my site. Why would you even bring the Options theme into the discussion if it wasn’t supposed to relate to what my site looks like?
If you have problems using any of my themes, you can always stop by the forums.
You say,”There should be more things in this theme.” What are those things?
Everything is good, but I dont like the header.
Yep. I’ve been in Asia for just over six years. We moved to Taiwan in 2006 after living in China for three years. I love the ease of grid-skipping. It’s impossible to do this kind of traveling back home. Be sure to let us know if you’re heading this way. We have regular blogger hoe-downs and they’re loads of fun.
Aris
What would you change about the header? I’d like to get a good logo for my site. I’m constantly struggling with it though.
Carrie
I’d like to visit Taiwan at some point. My traveling time is limited though. Even though I’ve been to Japan, it’s still on the top of my list of places to travel to this year. Thailand is next. Then, maybe China. If I come back out again next year, then I’ll be sure to add Taiwan to my list.
Really, it depends on how much money I have saved in August. I have an extra month on my visa after I complete my work contract, so I want to do some traveling before I go home.
Not about the logo, your logo is really “you”. But i means the page link box, i think its better placed near header line and use same color.
eye catching…. i said for this themes
love the theme. .. . great work, as always.