Well I finally redesigned design shard from using a free theme, i tried to keep the structure of the site the same, as I didn’t want to confuse my self and any frequent readers on the blog.
Hopefully this is an improvement on the last theme and makes the blog more enjoyable to read and visit, any feed back would be nice or constructive criticism, please check for any browser bugs that you notice and email me a picture and ill try to fix them as soon as possible.
There are a few new things on the blog that I have listed below.
Find and Add Me
In the header you’ll notice a little “calling card” this is where you can keep up to date with design shard by subscribing to the RSS Feed or adding me on twitter which I use quite a lot but sparingly. I’ll also follow you back if you add me.
You can add my account on various social book marking sites if you want to follow my posts on them, id be more than happy to return and stumbles, floats, bumps etc.
Contribute / Guest Authors
At the top of the site you will see the “Write an Article?” this takes you to the contribute page where you can send me a message if you want to write an article for design shard, any one is welcome you just have to run the idea past me first and ill register you as an author to write further articles if you want to.
Top Contributors / Guest Authors
The top 10 contributing authors will be listed in the footer of the site with a link to there website. So the more you contribute the higher you are on the list, i have a few people that are willing to write some articles for design shard and there ideas are very exciting so you should be seeing them within the next few weeks.
Authors on posts
Every author who posts on the blog will have a bio section at the top of each of there posts with a piece of text about them a Gravatar and a link to their web site.
Comment Luv
The comments now support commentluv so when you leave a comment the last post on your blog will be shown in your comment, so other bloggers can see what your blogging about.
Top Commenters
In the footer you’ll notice that there is now a top commenters box, I decided to put this in so you can see who regularly comments on the blog and you can visit there site by clicking on there name.
Favourite Links
I have listed in the footer a few favourite links that i currently visit and have been in my spotlight, I will add to this list over time so you can check them out and go see what there blogging about.
Save and Bookmark posts
I’ve got a box at the bottom of each post for you to save to social media sites any diggs, floats, bumps, votes, saves and stumbles are always appreciated, so thanks in advance.
Design Resources
Don’t forget to check out the Design Resources on the right to see what there doing.
Future Updates
There are a few things that I am looking in to for a few more updates on the site that will include a Flickr group, I feel that would be really beneficial to every body and showcase work on the blog that is put in the group.
I am also thinking about putting a user link feed on the site where people can submit there posts and create an RSS feed for people to get some more information from the community.
Most of all I hope you’ve all enjoyed this update so far.
38 Comments
im really impress your new redesign on your site.looks grungy:) and some new cool features around here. I might contribute in the future:)also looking forward on some other features like your flickr group and submit link:)
keep up the great work!!!!
Ronald
NaldzGraphics´s lastest blog post..30 Free High Quality .PSD Files to Grab Part:1
Love it Max. Good work all round.
Rick Nunn´s lastest blog post..G&G Motorsport
Loving the New design
nice work
Looks brilliant! Really love the new design. Well done! :D
Michael Martin´s lastest blog post..How Do Cheaters Redesign And Still Win?
It’s come together well. The structures good. : )
Excellent job on the redesign and new features.
Wow. The redesign looks amazing. Really great job.
John Campbell´s lastest blog post..Facebook Want YOUR Feedback on The Redesign… Or Do They?
Dude, I think your redesign came out nice! You’ve added some nifty stuff. I’m on a Mac, 10.5.5, using Safari 3.1.2 and all looks well.
Lookin’ really, REALLY good, nice work! Especially like the header, keep up the great work!
You could try placing full articles in the RSS feed ;) .
Marco´s lastest blog post..The colours of game heroes
Love the new design bud, really looks very well organized. Good luck!
Matt´s lastest blog post..Web Standards can make you rich!
Wow so many comments, Thanks to every one who likes the new design and new features.
@NaldzGraphics - yea feel free to contribute, an article when ever youv got one free.
@aaron - Thanks thats a relief.
@Marco - I might make the rss full, its just that it took a long time to load big articles well see watch out for it tho, ill give a test run.
Love it. Nice neutral shades, good layout and an awesome header graphic. Great job :)
Dmitry´s lastest blog post..A Guide to Choosing Colors for Your Brand
Mental! ;)
styletime´s lastest blog post..Design: Top of the top of the top of the TOP ;)
Awesome new look, Max. Big score on the grey, that’s my favorite color and it doesn’t get enough web recognition! Way to represent!
Robert Bowen´s lastest blog post..Simply Smashing Article!
Looks great, love the colours
Toon´s lastest blog post..NatActive Logo Design - Cosmetic Products, Middlesbrough
Just a quick note, the ‘I’m just creative’ link at the foot has an extra http in it
Toon´s lastest blog post..NatActive Logo Design - Cosmetic Products, Middlesbrough
@ Toon - nice spot all corrected now, thanks for the comments and feed back
Nice work Max! really good mix of features and content, that´s a nice smooth re-design. I noticed you are using Thematic Framework too, good decision! I just installed Thematic on my sandbox and will be using it it for the impending relaunch of clutterlovers and ownage. My abstract for the guest post(s) is almost ready and will be in your mail soon.
countzeero´s lastest blog post..ownage goes splat
eerm - is that a typo or is it meant to be like that because it sounds funny - countzeero´s LA “S” TEST blog post.. (comment luv)
countzeero´s lastest blog post..ownage goes splat
I like the new design, this is a huge improvement!
Janko´s lastest blog post..How to keep your blog alive when you don’t have a time to write
@countzeero - haha its quite funny but it is infact a spelling error ill be changing that. Cool looking forward to it.
@Janko - thanks,
All looks very good mate - have a look at browsershots.org if you’re still worried about any cross browser bugs!
John´s lastest blog post..Getting Your Latest Blog Post In Google Super Quick
Awesome Max! This new design rocks!
Andrew Houle´s lastest blog post..My Interview at Arbenting!
Amazing updates. I also wanted to let you know that I updated your screenshot on my recent post that you were featured in so everyone can see the new look.
~Jeremy Newton
Jeremy Newton´s lastest blog post..Does Your Church Website Appeal to its Visitors?
The Top Commenters and rest of the new footer are def jacked from PSDTUTS.
@ wow - I wouldnt exactly say jacked haha, that is definatly where i got the idea from though, top commenters is a plugin for word press, no code was taken from psd tuts if thats what your implying. generally big footers are layed out in that way.
Hey bro, really digging the new look. Keep up the rockin’ work.
Arron´s lastest blog post..Photoshop Fail
@Wow - Yeah, I don’t know about the term “jacked”, I mean sure there are some similarities between the two sites, but the same could be said for most sites. Finding a truly original layout is next to impossible. Everything has been done in the design world at least twice.
Arron´s lastest blog post..Photoshop Fail
Wow, I did tell you on twitter, but I have to drop by and leave you a comment, this is a definate improvement, so well done on that. The old theme was abit dark for me, I couldn’t read much of the text, but the greys you use is top notch. Well done on a great blog theme, maybe one day I will contribute a post ;)
Craig Farrall´s lastest blog post..Redesign or not to redesign?
Wow nice redesign really liking the header and footer, really sets it apart from other sites
I love what you did with the place ;) This is a great re-design! Congrats! Looking forward to more great content. (I soooo need to re-design as well HAHA!!!)
Karinne´s lastest blog post..Sharkwater
I absolutely love the new design!
Angie Bowen´s lastest blog post..Simply Smashing Article!
Dude. Excellent redesign. Loving it. Cheers.
This is a really nice new look. However, I’m not a big fan of your redesign of the word “their” into “there”. Call me old-fashioned, but I liked the previous design a lot more. All kidding aside, nice job!
Thanks for the comments guys.
@Robert - haha ok i might have to try and retake a literacy test they always confuse me, i hope the site is alot better to read though because sometimes i even found it hard to look at. Thanks for the comment.
I love Your new design! So well thought through header, sidebar - can You tell how much time it took to create this??? Great job, Max, really!
Dainis Graveris´s lastest blog post..300+ Jquery, CSS, MooTools and JS navigation menus
Wow, this is an amazing transformation. Nice work Max, the area at the top is truly a work of art. Loving it all!
Wow nice redesign really liking the header and footer, really sets it apart from other sites