Sunday, January 17, 2010

Blog Makeover


Blog Before
Blog Before Picture Click for Larger


Finally! I found some time to work on a makeover of this blog. If you are reading this in your google reader, you won't see much of what was changed, you'll need to hit the blog page to see it.
The most obvious change is the header and the background color. I like a page with some richness, so the background changed to grey and the letters changed to white. For all those who prefer black 'ink' on white, you'll want to keep reading this page in your reader.
So many times images loaded were cutoff at the right side, on both the side bar and the main page. Those had to be expanded.
This meant that the header needed expansion, truthfully it needed a lot of things. Long admiring Susan's collage header at Between Naps on the Porch, I created a photo collage for my header. I used Adobe Fireworks but Susan has a tutorial on how to use Picasa to create a collage.
This rendered the Title less than readable. I changed it to Edwardian Script ITC, blew it up and we have the results you see now.
I added an image description and image citation style, which you can see above on the "old page" image. It's not working out as well as it did on the "Women of our Time" page I created sometime ago, the image of which is below. I am fairly certain that the success of the page from which the image was taken has to do with the table structure which kept everything in line and behaving.



Not all the print could be white. Links were rendered in various shades of green.
So, what do you think? Better? Worse? Not really different? Leave a comment and let me know!

Be sure to head over to Susan's for more Metamorphosis Monday!

8 comments:

Paula Grace Designs said...

I like the changes to the header!
Paula Grace ~

DesignTies said...

This is my first visit to your blog (via Met Monday), so I don't know what your blog looked like before. But I like the grey background, and your mosaic header looks good :-)

We had a blog makeover last summer, so I know how fun it is to have a totally new blog design :-)

Kelly @ DesignTies

Kammy said...

Great job - I am too lazy to do my blog over....
Kammy

vignette design said...

This is my first visit too, but I not only like your title, but your header too. The grey is a nice background. I'm off to explore more of your blog. --Delores

Phyllis @Around the House said...

love the grey with the white writing, love the header, always love lots of pictures and large ones...good job

Lana Kim White Austin said...

I really like the blog header collage and the variousshades of green throughout. Great job! Blessings, L

Angie Holden said...

Nice header!

The Stylish House said...

I have always liked grey blogs and your header is striking and interesting! I like, I like!!! I’m always tinkering with my blog’s design, which is why I prefer blogger and don’t use a web designer. I taught myself how to use Photoshop I was given by a friend who upgraded so I could have more control over the look. I’m sure my blog could be spiffier, but for better or worse it’s my little spot on the internet.
Happy Met Monday and I look forward to following you!
Cathy