Welcome to the brand new Hongkiat.com, guess it’s about time. I’m not sure when was the last time it was revamped but somewhere in February I’ve come to think that the site looks old and it desperately needs a new look; so here we, are after about one month of planning, research, design and coding, I present you Hongkiat.com v3.
The 3-Column Stays
In the process of determining what stays and what goes, here’s what I’ve done.
- Observe the before-and-after of some blogs after they’ve done their revamp.
- Played with few premium wordpress themes
- Visited few nicely design blogs
- Flipping through "Don’t Make Me Think" (one of my fav book) again and again
The final decision - 3 column stays, revamps will be work on top of current layout instead of restructuring it (which might potentially confuse existing users)
Helping old contents get attention
Here’s a problem I see with blogging. Old contents tend to hide into archives as new contents flows in. Yes, we have ‘Related Content‘ plugin, or we can even create a link-back to them but still, I think there’s more we can do. In this new theme, I’m experimenting few ways to help old contents getting some focus.
Category/archive page
Both category and archive can come with or without thumbnails. With thumbnails, it should be able to attract some attention. Column/row-view is an idea I kinda rip from YouTube, also beautifully implemented in Smashing Magazine. I thought they fit in nicely on category page.
After Content
The column next to Related Entries is not a permanent ad column. With help of some php logics and Wordpress tags, it’ll also help push some older content using images.
Few more methods are still undergoing experiments, but for now I’ll have to launch without them.
The Progress
By comparing the items in my to-do list, I’d say the theme is about 65% complete but it has to be live else I’ll spend most of the time doing unnecessary refinement and experimenting new functions, end up procrastinate the launch. The last part of the plan is to release this as a free theme.
What do you think?
Last but not least, your comments/suggestions on this new theme is absolutely welcome. It’ll help me better refine it. Thanks in advance.
There have been some slight updates on the theme, particularly on the sidebar. If you seen weird alignment or images, it’s probably the cache. Try clear cache and reload.
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Posted by hongkiat in Blogosphere , at 04.19.08
Tags: hongkiat, Wordpress Theme |
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Comments
Kay April 19th, 2008
I have few comments:
1. Black color boxes are really eye catchy.
2. Right side bar’s bold texts attract too much attend from contents.
Well done HongKiat!
ReplyKay April 19th, 2008
Sorry. Just realized there is no more top commentators section. :P
ReplyVincent Chow April 19th, 2008
Sorry to say but, I like the old theme better. This one looks too much like those freely available theme out there. Just my two cents though. Keep up the good work :)
ReplyMyo Kyaw Htun April 19th, 2008
Here what I suggest
1. Adjust your header sizes
2. Categories’ color stand out from sidebar. You like it ?
3. Should reduce avatar size.
4. It is more better, if you seperate comments and trackbacks.
5. Date, when your posts was published?
But this new one really great. and glad to know that you will release your theme. By the way, XHTML and CSS valid ?
I’m going to change my theme soon.
Best regards,
Myo Kyaw Htun
Replyskarld April 19th, 2008
Congratulation! Your new theme has a very professional, open style to go with your insightful content. The Popular Content sidebar is a great idea.
Have you considered releasing your theme as a free download?
Replysyamsulariff.com April 19th, 2008
simple and clean web 2.0 style
Replykahpeng April 20th, 2008
I like your coloum/row view the most :D Coll feature. Plan on releasing this theme ? I’ll be there waiting for you, hehe. Anyway, wad do ur msg mean on ur MSN ? Blur… :D
ReplyAdes April 20th, 2008
First of all, congrats on the new theme!
My 2cents… colors black/blue/grey and white somehow don’t work well together. They make your blog look dull. Also there is too much contrast with black (dark grey) boxes and white (light grey) background on the right column (almost hurts the eye).
Replymenghua April 20th, 2008
Great job dude. Looks pro but somehow i still like the old sidebar… keep it up!
ReplySyahid A. April 20th, 2008
I think your theme looks fantastic HK. Nice blend of colors that was easier to the eyes, recent and popular post side by side, sponsors and related contents side by side, standout rss subscription offer (and nice stats!) etc. A very well thought theme, IMHO!
ReplyEdward April 20th, 2008
I still prefer the previous layout, this layout loads slower than the previous one…
Replyhongkiat April 20th, 2008
Thanks for the awesome inputs guys, really appreciate them! Some of you may still like the old one, but I really think it has to go coz I’m really too bored of it :-)
The sidebar - The bright white-grey sidebar was my initial idea, but my testing site has been experimenting a dark one. Looks like the dark sidebar should be appropriate since many feedbacks are regarding sidebars. As I’m writing, the dark sidebar should be uploaded.
Avatar - I like it big, don’t you like a bigger photo of yours when you comment.
Comments/trackbacks - I’m playing with the seperation of these 2 on the test site. Will bring in over when it’s final :-)
Colors - No more fancy web 2.0 colors for me. I’m trying to find a mature/ clear contrast, a little mixture of silver-dark (dull you may say) in this theme.
Theme release: Yes, both this and the previous theme will be release. However, let me do some cleaning in the CSS, codes before I do.
Replyhongkiat April 20th, 2008
@Kay
There’ll be. I’m having some hard time with the current top commenter plugin. Trying some other alternatives.
@Edward
ReplyThe slowness should be caused by the first-load. I’ve implemented caching system. 2nd, and future loads should be better :-)
Eric April 20th, 2008
I admitted that this layout make me quite comfortable when reading your content, but honestly the very old layout (not the previous ones) more better, looks more professional than this ones.
ReplyKay April 20th, 2008
The old theme will be released? I think your old theme sure will give this blogsphere an impact! I might be the one who download it. Haha.
Btw, there is no more Google ads on below of title. Will it affect your earning Hongkiat? Mind to share with us?
ReplyWing Loon April 20th, 2008
It looks better now after you changed the look and feel of your two sidebars, congratulations… :D
Replyari April 21st, 2008
Well, i think black is good. How about your sidebar it looks like a mistery. It likes enter the dark room. For me it ’s not well. However, you can do it. In many monitor blending two colour between black and grey is very disturb. It is not good for sighting, for our eyes healhty.
Over all it’ great.
ReplyShafiq Rehman April 21st, 2008
First of all congratulations for the brand new theme.
Here are my comments/suggestions
- Black color doesn’t really suits. The first thing comes in mind about black is either it is a hacking/cracking blog or a porno blog (sorry to say). White color always suits and attracts people.
- Your link’s color in sidebar and footer has some readability problems because they are mashing up with the background color
- No article’s publishing date
I think the previous one was much better than the new one.
Replyronnie April 21st, 2008
The black is too much, especially around the related entries box, and even more in the bottom of the post (it’s almost all black, the comment form, sidebar without content, and footer with dark font color).
ReplyAlso, that awful “Guaranteed Winner, this is not a joke” banner is a good reason for me to check Hongkiat in Google Reader.
Steve Yu April 22nd, 2008
Too much black make me headache. Might want to reduce the black color.
ReplyAL October 6th, 2008
Did this theme ever get released for download?
Reply