You might be wondering why I have been semi-radio silent for the last week. Well, it was a bit of a side-effect of something I have been testing out for a bit... my new "facelift!" Nothing major because I still like my color scheme, fonts, etc., BUT I definitely was in need of a new home page and side bar. Whether you are reading this as a feed or via the website (and can see what I'm talking about already), let me take you on a little tour!
Here is a reminder of my old home page from my last blog redesign in June of last year. Not a particularly interesting and not much of a statement because it just dove right into the most recent posts. Also, the sidebar started off good with a welcome, but just ended up as a long string of widgets without much organization. Lastly, the top menu was just okay, but I like lots of pages and eight wasn't cutting it. All of that has changed now!
P.S. - If you notice that anything is amiss, please let me know so I can fix it right up! Coincidentally, there are 10 major changes, so this isn't a Top 10 list on purpose, just a nice little coincidence!
1. New Pages
2. Lots of Menus!
3. New Slider Widget
6. Tabbed widget #1
Here is a reminder of my old home page from my last blog redesign in June of last year. Not a particularly interesting and not much of a statement because it just dove right into the most recent posts. Also, the sidebar started off good with a welcome, but just ended up as a long string of widgets without much organization. Lastly, the top menu was just okay, but I like lots of pages and eight wasn't cutting it. All of that has changed now!
P.S. - If you notice that anything is amiss, please let me know so I can fix it right up! Coincidentally, there are 10 major changes, so this isn't a Top 10 list on purpose, just a nice little coincidence!
Welcome to the new design!
1. New Pages
- Now that I started woodworking and putting together round-up posts from Do Tell Tuesday, plus the anticipation of the new house and my sister's wedding, I want more pages for all of the new posts!
- By the way, a bunch of the pages are still under construction, but I'm working on indexing my posts soon!
- Here is a quickie list:
- Home Decor
- Woodworking
- Freebies
- Printables
- Adventures: Fun times around SoCal that don't quite count as travel, but exciting nonetheless!
- Round-ups
- Blogging Tips
- Reader Projects: photos and links to readers who have done one of my tutorials!
- Giveaway winners: pictures of winners of any of my giveaways with their prizes!
- Everything Else: Other posts that I've indexed as Thoughts, Stumped on Sunday, or Miscellaneous
2. Lots of Menus!
- Since I have more new pages, I need many more menus of course. :) Also, they look like widgets so they stand out from the background a bit more.
- The important, reference type info is at the top.
- Projects and more are on the bottom two menus, but with even more goodies.
3. New Slider Widget
- Possibly my favorite addition to the homepage. I love it! I get to pick five rotating posts at the top, so it will be fun to see how often I update it. ;)
4. 10 Posts on Home Page
- You can't actually tell, but instead of having 5 super-long post recaps on the front page, I have 10 quick peeks with the top picture and a few lines for much easier browsing
5. Subscribe Options on Top
- Lately, I have had about one person a week ask to subscribe to my mailing list, so I realized that my subscription options were a bit hidden in the sidebar. Now, they're front and center! Or rather front and to the aligned to the right. :)
Now, let's check out more of the sidebar!
- I love this tabbed widget because it hides a few options that some people want to see occasionally but might otherwise be clutter.
- In this one, I put Popular Posts, archives, and Post Tags. See how they're different lengths? Well, it doesn't matter because it's a smart widget that automatically moves everything below it. :)
