Re-design and new features on Design Shard

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.

Author of this post: Max Stanworth

Iam the creator and editor of Design Shard, I created this blog to post my inspirations, work and free resources that I hope others find interesting too. See all posts by: Max Stanworth

43 Comments (Leave a Comment)

Fuzu

October 28, 2009

Ooh dang i just wrote a long comment and when i hit reply it came up blank! Please tell me it worked properly? I do not want to sumit it again if i dont have to! Either the blog bugged out or i am just stuipd, the second option doesnt surprise me lol.
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Kevin Baker

July 17, 2009

I like the look of this blog. Dark and kind of moody but warm and inviting at the same time.

I think I need to become one of your authors too as i have lots to share and any other platform thats willing to host my work is always welcome.

Thanks.

Kevin

Kevin Baker´s latest blog post..Building Solid Traffic With Backlinks
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harvey

June 16, 2009

Hello Guru, what entice you to post an article. This article was interesting, especially since I was searching for thoughts on this particualr subject.
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Kris

April 5, 2009

I have been following up on this blog for a while and i find it very impressive. I plan to add it to my rss feeds
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Svetainiu kurimas

October 22, 2008

Wow nice redesign really liking the header and footer, really sets it apart from other sites
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liam

October 12, 2008

Wow, this is an amazing transformation. Nice work Max, the area at the top is truly a work of art. Loving it all!
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Dainis Graveris

October 5, 2008

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
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Max | Design Shard

October 3, 2008

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.
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Robert

October 3, 2008

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!
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Ryan

October 2, 2008

Dude. Excellent redesign. Loving it. Cheers.
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Angie Bowen

October 1, 2008

I absolutely love the new design!

Angie Bowen´s lastest blog post..Simply Smashing Article!
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Karinne

October 1, 2008

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
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Jaswinder Virdee

October 1, 2008

Wow nice redesign really liking the header and footer, really sets it apart from other sites
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Craig Farrall

October 1, 2008

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?
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Arron

September 30, 2008

@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
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Arron

September 30, 2008

Hey bro, really digging the new look. Keep up the rockin’ work.

Arron´s lastest blog post..Photoshop Fail
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Max | Design Shard

September 30, 2008

@ 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.
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