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23 April 2007 32 Comments

Technosailor Version 7 Hits the Street

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! :-)

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Written by Aaron Brazell on April 23, 2007

Popularity: 1% [?]

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32 Responses to “Technosailor Version 7 Hits the Street”

  1. Darren 23 April 2007 at 3:17 am #

    First!

    nice work mate – really nice

  2. Lisa 23 April 2007 at 3:21 am #

    Hmm..I’m kinda partial to it. :) I think I’m done biting my nails now! Happy (early) anniversary!

  3. Chris Garrett 23 April 2007 at 4:42 am #

    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 ;)

  4. Mike 23 April 2007 at 8:01 am #

    Loving the new look, Aaron and Lisa! It’s one of those styles which looks familiar and yet unique, if that makes sense…

  5. Leroy Brown 23 April 2007 at 10:15 am #

    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.

  6. Travis Seitler 23 April 2007 at 10:46 am #

    Ooh… very nice. :)

  7. Shawn Blanc 23 April 2007 at 11:12 am #

    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…

  8. JJT 23 April 2007 at 1:08 pm #

    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. ;-)

  9. Aaron Brazell 23 April 2007 at 2:08 pm #

    Thanks for the love guys. :) AFAIC, this theme rocks the old one way out the door…

  10. David Nick 23 April 2007 at 3:42 pm #

    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!

  11. Chris Cree 23 April 2007 at 4:49 pm #

    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!

  12. Scott Gunsaullus 23 April 2007 at 6:57 pm #

    Looks great! It also looks like you guys know what you are doing; which is always good.

  13. Aaron Brazell 23 April 2007 at 7:18 pm #

    @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? ;)

  14. Mark Jaquith 23 April 2007 at 7:29 pm #

    I really like it. How’d you manage to tear Lisa away from her book long enough to do it?! :-)

  15. Aaron Brazell 23 April 2007 at 7:32 pm #

    Mark, no idea! Just kept prodding and writing scripts that would send her 1000 emails at a time. :)

  16. David Nick 23 April 2007 at 7:36 pm #

    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 :)

  17. Aaron Brazell 23 April 2007 at 8:15 pm #

    Since there have been 7, you must have first started reading during my first month. Happy three year anniversary to you too!

  18. Greg 24 April 2007 at 12:01 am #

    Looks really nice. Well done.

  19. Gary King 24 April 2007 at 1:34 am #

    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.

  20. Lisa Sabin-Wilson 24 April 2007 at 1:41 am #

    Damn…did I forget the cowbell?

  21. Gary King 24 April 2007 at 1:46 am #

    Lisa,

    Sigh. Don’t worry, people often forget the cowbell. It’s just a minor annoyance of mine. :(

  22. Chris Garrett 24 April 2007 at 4:29 am #

    I’ve got a fever. And the only prescription is more cowbell

  23. Gary King 24 April 2007 at 4:33 am #

    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.

  24. Brian Layman 24 April 2007 at 7:40 am #

    Hey – looks great Aaron! And I like the way Del.icio.us is integrated and yet its own seperate tab.

  25. vantan 24 April 2007 at 7:41 am #

    Sweet :) Nice job, Lisa!

    I’m still procrastinating about my own redesign. Maybe next year :P

  26. Aaron Brazell 24 April 2007 at 2:12 pm #

    @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..

  27. Lisa 24 April 2007 at 2:46 pm #

    I got your cowbell right here.

  28. Gary King 24 April 2007 at 4:00 pm #

    Lisa, I think that’ll do. Finally!

  29. Lisa Sabin-Wilson 24 April 2007 at 4:15 pm #

    Whew – tough crowd ;)

  30. Carol 24 April 2007 at 6:51 pm #

    LOVE the new look. And your new photo is pretty terrific. ;-)

    Congrats!!

  31. Jason 3 May 2007 at 9:30 pm #

    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.

  32. Dave J. (Scoop0901) 25 May 2007 at 1:45 pm #

    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.