Blog Advice Please?

HowGudAmI · Feb 21, 2009

i honestly dont mean for this to be spam, if its spam please dont negative rep me - ill just remove the thread.

anyway, i have been doing my blog for just over a month, and im enjoying it. i mainly write reviews on iPhone apps but also generally write about things to do with apple.

i could do with some advice on improvements of absolutely anything on the site.

i dont have anyone else to ask

but this forum

.

so if you want to help, visit www.howgudami.co.uk .
please post your advice below

Thanks. :Smirk:

scathe · Feb 21, 2009

it's a little bulky for my taste, I can't quite phrase it though, the nonuniform height of the bubbles maybe? or you could put a slight gradient to the edges or background and take down the fonts just a little bit .... I really can't say, but it's just missing something and it bugs me that I can't figure out what it is

HowGudAmI · Feb 21, 2009

thanks

scathe said:
it's a little bulky for my taste, I can't quite phrase it though, the nonuniform height of the bubbles maybe? or you could put a slight gradient to the edges or background and take down the fonts just a little bit .... I really can't say, but it's just missing something and it bugs me that I can't figure out what it is

thanks for your feedback, will try to work on it asap

gibbs_h · Feb 21, 2009

Not sure what CMS you have used for creating this blog but i will advice you to go with Wordpress where you can get many beautiful free themes for your blog.

HowGudAmI · Feb 21, 2009

gibbs_h said:
Not sure what CMS you have used for creating this blog but i will advice you to go with Wordpress where you can get many beautiful free themes for your blog.

i was going to... but i enjoy using iweb. I should really switch but im so used to iweb.

calenerd · Feb 21, 2009

Definitely edit the red squiggly line or whatever you call that below your name. That's the biggest mistake you could ever make.

The website feels a lil' weird to me, I can't exactly describe what is it. And oh, please be mindful of starting a sentence with a capital letter instead, and work on your punctuation. That has to be done to make your blog more professional.

Good luck man, you have passion.

HowGudAmI · Feb 21, 2009

calenerd said:
Definitely edit the red squiggly line or whatever you call that below your name. That's the biggest mistake you could ever make.

The website feels a lil' weird to me, I can't exactly describe what is it. And oh, please be mindful of starting a sentence with a capital letter instead, and work on your punctuation. That has to be done to make your blog more professional.

Good luck man, you have passion.

ok, working on this now.

i really am grateful for this feedback, yours, and the above. thanks.

vansmith · Feb 21, 2009

I am a man of simple tastes and thus, I enjoy simple yet well laid out templates. This is probably why I like Google so much.

Might I suggest a more simplistic template, one with less pictures. This way, you keep the readers focused on the content and prevent them from being distracted.

EDIT: I also notice that the download link for the dashboard widget requires a username and password.

HowGudAmI · Feb 21, 2009

vansmith said:
I am a man of simple tastes and thus, I enjoy simple yet well laid out templates. This is probably why I like Google so much.

Might I suggest a more simplistic template, one with less pictures. This way, you keep the readers focused on the content and prevent them from being distracted.

EDIT: I also notice tat the download link for the dashboard widget requires a username and password.

understood. thanks, btw its not a template, i make it all from scratch.

im in the process of doing that now, ty.

HowGudAmI · Feb 21, 2009

I JUST SPENT THE LAST HOUR EDITING TO YOUR SUGGESTIONS,

and then iWeb decided to randomly quit for the first time.

had a new simplistic design, rewrote EVERYTHING for punctuation and spelling - all gone. will have to start again.

vansmith · Feb 21, 2009

That sucks. I know how that feels. That's probably why my cmd and s button get such good use.

I would suggest some sort of template system - in case you decide to change the look later, you can change it quickly as oppose to having to rewrite things again.

Derek McNelly · Feb 21, 2009

Impact is not a good font for anything other than image macros.

Try using something wider and less bold.

baggss · Feb 21, 2009

Derek McNelly said:
Impact is not a good font for anything other than image macros.

Try using something wider and less bold.

Give him the gold badge and suddenly he's gods gift to Blogging! ;D

Nice Blog...

calenerd · Feb 22, 2009

vansmith said:
I am a man of simple tastes and thus, I enjoy simple yet well laid out templates. This is probably why I like Google so much.

Might I suggest a more simplistic template, one with less pictures. This way, you keep the readers focused on the content and prevent them from being distracted.

I highly agree with that.

HowGudAmI · Feb 22, 2009

wordpress.....

hmmm, think im going to give wordpress a try.

HowGudAmI · Feb 22, 2009

ive done a basic redisign, is it better than the original homepage -
Blank

should i use that?

cant afford new hosting so i cant do wordpress.

vansmith · Feb 22, 2009

Personally, I would make the font smaller. That's my only caveat. Perhaps someone with a little more web design experience would be better able to give an opinion though.

acmq70 · Feb 22, 2009

I really like the site but I don't like the font. I can stand it but it just doesn't look pleasing to me.

Also the star background you got there annoys the HECK out of me. It always has. The yellow font over that background is also a no no. It fades into the white and it's hard to read. Something like orange might be better over the purple colorwise and it will stand out on the white stripes.

The grayish font is great. Its very easy on the eyes.

On the blog page the search bar is over the osx logo. That might only be because i am using opera (some compatability issues arise in Opera)

Even with those "flaws" I would still come to this site every day and read the posts and I have already subscribed to your rss feed.
KUDOS TO YOU FOR MAKING THIS FROM SCRATCH!!!

HowGudAmI · Feb 23, 2009

acmq70 said:
I really like the site but I don't like the font. I can stand it but it just doesn't look pleasing to me.

Also the star background you got there annoys the HECK out of me. It always has. The yellow font over that background is also a no no. It fades into the white and it's hard to read. Something like orange might be better over the purple colorwise and it will stand out on the white stripes.

The grayish font is great. Its very easy on the eyes.

On the blog page the search bar is over the osx logo. That might only be because i am using opera (some compatability issues arise in Opera)

Even with those "flaws" I would still come to this site every day and read the posts and I have already subscribed to your rss feed.
KUDOS TO YOU FOR MAKING THIS FROM SCRATCH!!!

Thanks for the feedback. and thanks for subscribing, means a lot.

HowGudAmI · Feb 23, 2009

Uploaded the new 'theme'. i hope its atleast an improvement,

Blog Advice Please?

HowGudAmI

scathe

HowGudAmI

gibbs_h

HowGudAmI

calenerd

HowGudAmI

vansmith

Senior Member

HowGudAmI

HowGudAmI

vansmith

Senior Member

Derek McNelly

baggss

calenerd

HowGudAmI

HowGudAmI

vansmith

Senior Member

acmq70

HowGudAmI

HowGudAmI

Shop Amazon