I’m really, really happy right now because we’re begininning the three year anniversary celebration a little early here. Back in March, I started to discuss the possibility of a professional theme with the fantabulous Lisa Sabin. I gave her some of my ideas and in essence let her go to town creating something suitably professional and refreshing for this blog. I had only a few specific ground rules:
- Whitespace
- Home Page NOT being the blog – more room for pulling together content in a better and more useful way than a linear blog
- Done before May 20, in time for my three year blogging anniversary
So I’m very, very happy to launch version 7 hitting all of those points and delivering a month early! We have taken a departure from the historically consistent nautical theme, grouped content better more effectively, implemented a del.icio.us powered link blog. And Chad, our director of sales, loves the ad placements, so there’s an added bonus! Commenting and posts look nicer too!
Your thoughts? Lisa is scared, but I think she did a smash-up job! :-)
{ 32 comments }
First!
nice work mate – really nice
Hmm..I’m kinda partial to it. :) I think I’m done biting my nails now! Happy (early) anniversary!
Looks really good, nice work. If it was me (which it isn’t of course) I think I would have a tagline near the logo to orient new readers, but it looks very smart all the same ;)
Loving the new look, Aaron and Lisa! It’s one of those styles which looks familiar and yet unique, if that makes sense…
I liked your previous look, but this one is pretty awesome as well. The red is bright, for sure – and I think I like it. I may have to look up this Lisa Sabin. I’ve been mulling over a professional design for awhile now.
Ooh… very nice. :)
Nice! It always takes some time to re-aquaint an old blog with a new theme. I like this one a lot. It’s unique and has some very cool elements. I like the color scheme as well.
Although, the footer text is not aligned properly in Safari…
Nice look and all that other good stuff. The “Appearances” tab is pretty entertaining, but we all have egos in the blogosphere. Now we just know where to stalk you. ;-)
Thanks for the love guys. :) AFAIC, this theme rocks the old one way out the door…
Aaron,
First, Congrats Man on your Anniversary. I completely understand how you’re feeling. You put a TON of hard work into this baby and I am truly happy for you. Look how far you’ve come! That great!
Secondly, I love the new style. Sure I miss my sailing theme, but your content is more important. I have other ideas about minimizing content overload, but that’s an entirely off the record conversation. ;)
This is your day, and should be celebrated. Way to go!
I really like the new theme. Makes me want a custom theme of my own.
As a maritime guy myself, I am going to need just a moment to mourn the passing of the nautical flavor though…
…
…
OK. I’m over it. Sail on!
Looks great! It also looks like you guys know what you are doing; which is always good.
@Scott: we try! Hopefully we’re being effective. Though b5media had nothing to do with this redesign. As this is blog is a b5 blog but still effectively mine, the decisions were effectively made between Lisa and I. More Lisa than I, but yeah. I appreciate it!
@Chris: A small part of me is mourning the nautical departure too, but what can ya do?
@David: Dude! You must be my longest reading reader. How many iterations of this blog have you seen? ;)
I really like it. How’d you manage to tear Lisa away from her book long enough to do it?! :-)
Mark, no idea! Just kept prodding and writing scripts that would send her 1000 emails at a time. :)
Well that depends on which “upgrade” you saw.
Some of them had the special feature in which you could select your default theme (i think there was 4 or 5 in that one) and then you had your first theme, the b5 set and this. I think that makes about 7 LOL I might be forgetting a few in between but close enough :)
Since there have been 7, you must have first started reading during my first month. Happy three year anniversary to you too!
Looks really nice. Well done.
Great new custom theme, Aaron. I like the hot, steaming sexiness coming off of the CSS. BUT… it needs more cowbell! Dammit. I’ve always told you that.
Damn…did I forget the cowbell?
Lisa,
Sigh. Don’t worry, people often forget the cowbell. It’s just a minor annoyance of mine. :(
I’ve got a fever. And the only prescription is more cowbell
Chris,
Bleh.
:) What can I say, it’s 4:30 am right now… okay time to go to sleep. Too much cowbell for today/yesterday.
Hey – looks great Aaron! And I like the way Del.icio.us is integrated and yet its own seperate tab.
Sweet :) Nice job, Lisa!
I’m still procrastinating about my own redesign. Maybe next year :P
@Lisa: Back to the drawing board! I want a cowbell!@
@Brian: I’ve always wanted a linkblog. Now I just need to discipline myself to use del.icio.us more religiously. :)
@vantan: You have a lot more patience than me. Your blog hasn’t changed much in the 3 years since I first noticed you..
I got your cowbell right here.
Lisa, I think that’ll do. Finally!
Whew – tough crowd ;)
LOVE the new look. And your new photo is pretty terrific. ;-)
Congrats!!
This is a razor sharp new design. Kudos to Lisa for all the great work she’s put into it and congratulations to Aaron on 3 years.
I think Lisa did a great job on your site, Aaron! Given your requirements, I think the final product shows a lot of creativity on Lisa’s part. Heck, I am going to have to talk with her about the possibility of working on a theme for a non-profit site that I am putting together.
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