A new lick of paint
This entry was posted on December 31, 2007
With the new year starting in an hour and a half, I thought it was about time I updated my site. I’ve given it a new layout which has been tested in IE6, IE7, FF2, Flock, and Safari (and whatever browser Hanna uses on Linux). What I love most about this layout is the main navigation. It looks rather plain at first glance, but hover over the links and you get rainbow colours!
I also like the fact that this layout is imageless. I like imageless layouts because they cut down on loading time and can be viewed in all their glory by people who browse the Internet with images turned off. Creating imageless layouts is always a fun challenge for me because it really makes me think about the other aspects of my layout.
I’ve also done some restructuring to the site which I’ll let you discover for yourselves.
Have a good New Year’s; I’m off to bed now.
29 lovely people have commented
Can I ask you what OS / browser combination you’re using? I’m curious to know, because I’ve gone with Vista fonts in this layout (Corbel and Candara) and I’m curious to know whether it looks okay for people who don’t have those fonts on their system.
I’m glad you like the layout and the navigation. When I first put it together I had massive problems in IE. The links wouldn’t sit side by side - they looked like a staircase!
I am using firefox / XP combo and looks really geat. The fonts showing up are tahoma and georgia for me. It’s great you’ve catered for vista and non-vista users like that.
I’m glad you like it! I thought I’d go for Vista-specific fonts first, because I’m using Vista. And if you can’t make your site look great for yourself, then that’s really sad.
The site title looks a bit pixellated for me actually (Firefox/Vista). Perhaps try another font that won’t leave the edges as raggedy?
Happy New Year btw.
It’s lovely I love rainbows 
Happy New Year!
@Amanda - I’m using Firefox on Vista too and the font looks okay. Perhaps it’s something to do with our settings for font smoothing. Which font would you recommend instead? I’m reluctant to put Georgia first because it seems I always use that font, and I wanted to try something different.
@Chien - Thank you.
I tested it out, and my screen gives me a smoother look with Constantia rather than Cambria. Whether or not it’s the same on your system I don’t know…but yeah, other than that, I do like it.
I definitely like this layout, particularly the navigation. The colours really work together.
I had a very, very, very short-lived layout (as in, three hours while site-testing) once with rainbow navigation, but it wasn’t at all like yours.
Sadly, the entire layout was rainbow and it was just way too much. It made me want to scratch out my retinas. But the navigation was cool.
I love the rainbow links! 
Does anyone know if you can download the vista fonts on an xp os? I couldn’t see why not…
Your new-found love of letter-spacing is not attractive 
It makes the text incredibly difficult to read.
@Amanda - Changed the font to Constantia. Is it better now?
@Jem - Took the letter spacing back to 0. I actually prefer it this way too. Whoops! I guess we all make dodgy decisions sometimes.
@V - Rainbow navigation FTW!
@Carly - Try the Microsoft download site; that’s probably the best place.
Yeah I’ve got the same combo as Carly and everything looks great for me. I really like the new look. =D
Are you doing the blogathon challenge? Link: http://blogathon.ecstasymb.org
Thank you, Sarah.
Am I doing the blogathon challenge? Um, it sounds a bit too much like NaBloPoMo, and I didn’t do that, so I don’t think I’ll be doing this either. I don’t like being told when I to blog; I like to blog on my own terms.
I like it. The navigation menu and the colors when links are hovered over make it lovely. I’m without suggestions, so my comment is a bit on the worthless side… but whatever, this layout is one of your bests.
Awh, Chantelle, high praise! Thank you very much. I’ve forever been trying to make things simple. Hopefully this time it kinda worked.
Ooh, I like it! It’s pretty! And the navigation doesn’t look like weird stairs in IE7 anymore! Yay!
Yep, Constantia looks great.
I adore it! Simplicity is awesome and you made the elements work together very nicely. The font in the header (Calm Banana) look a bit scratchy to me though…
Very pretty Rachael! I really like what you achieved to do without images. Love the navigation’s color btw!
I’m using IE/XP and it looks awesome
Your new layout is totally fright. I’m loving it, great job! The navigation blocks changing colour on hover is an awesome touch! Although there is a few things I dislike …
I’m using Windows XP, 800 x 600, and IE 7, just so you know ahead of time. ^^
Okay, so in whole the layout seems a little too ‘wide’ if you know what I mean. There’s only about a one centimeter of grey on either side of the centered main white. However, I guess this is because I insist on using 800 x 600 … So it’s probably not your fault. For the whole of Internet users, only 4% use 800 x 600. Four percent! Crazy, isn’t it?
Also, I’m not sure I’m fond of the font you chose for all the text … It seems to be too … Tall. Like each letter has been stretched in PhotoShop with the Text Height tool, or something. XD;
Third, and lastly, I think ‘Calm Banana - I give free hugs’ should be centered! I just think it’d look more put totgether, I dunno. xD; I love centered headers, I admit it. Not a fan of this lefty garb!
That’s all! No offense meant by my suggestions, and of course you’re free to totally ignore them. ^^;
PS: Listening to Shut Up! by Simple Plan at the moment, I read you’re going to a show of theirs soon … Us Canadians just have amazing bands. This is a fact. xP! Are you a fan of Sum 41 at all?
Sum41 is actually one of the few Canadian bands I dislike actually! I’m currently loving the Midway State, though I’m rather passionate about Billy Talent and partial to bit of Nickelback. And, oh, Michael Buble! He’s to die for.
As for the header, that’s going to be staying on the left. I tried centering it but it looked… odd. I don’t know about you, but my eyes naturally gravitate towards the “top left” when looking for a site total, so that’s where mine’ll be staying.
I wanted a fixed-width layout because I plan on posting more photos in the future and if I stick to 500pixels for the main content column, then I won’t have to worry about resizing my layout every time I change. If I make the sidebar much narrower, the “welcome” paragraph will only have about three words too long. I’m willing to sacrifice your screen width for the sake of readability. If it helps, think of the grey stripes as a “frame” for the site.
Imageless layouts are becoming very popular on the internet recently, I think they look really good. Love the rainbow links. =]
Oh, really?! Damn, that sucks, I’ve just gotten into Sum 41 and I love them heaps. xD;; I agree with Billy Talent though! They’re effin’ brilliant — And is it just me, or can you totally hear a Canadian ‘accent’ in some of the lyrics?
And ahh, that’s a shame it doesn’t look good centered. What if ‘i give free hugs’ was just under ‘Calm Banana’? But whatever, if you like it to the left, then you like it to left. ^^;
And I really need to start getting used to 1024 x 768 … But everything looks so ‘far away’, and I have to squint/lean closer with everything. ><; So much easier on the eyes with 800′! x_x;
Rachaely, I come to visit your site just to make rainbows go across my screen.
The rainbow links up top are so cool!!! I would come back just to play with them. Hehe.
Oh, wow! This layout is really nice. Rarely do I ever see simple+stunning. Wonderful job. (Navigation = awesome, by the way). I browsed through your posts/articles and they are really well written and helpful.
Leave a comment?
·
Yara said:
Wow! I really, really like this layout…I’m really blown away
I love the navigation aswell 
*hovers over them over and over again*