My esteem for Chris was getting higher and higher with every article and every snippet posted. However, it has just taken a rather good beating with the redesign. I understand the impusle to go with something cleaner-looking, but I agree with noah that it feels purchased and not yet refined. Also, there's some wierdness with the front page; the meta div is covered with some white stuff in FF until you hover over it but it looks like a gradient black in IE8 for me, but in both cases it's distracting and wierd (especialy since the white or black gradient partly covers the last line of the article above it; needs a bit more margin).
So though I am NOT a designer and have said so in the past (any designers want to team up with me for occasional contracts? ) I am disappointed with the new look. Hopefully the kinks will be worked out soon!
I am a little disappointed with the new redesign also. the first thing that caught my attention was the Navigation bar, which is a good thing although I don't think that it looks as good as it used too.
that being said, I do love the roll over effect of the article previews that fading in of the lower text is really nice.
What I don't like is that everything feels cramped. Everything feels crammed in, larger than it should, and seems like it's having difficulty fitting.
I like the navigation, I'll say that. Blue/Orange does go well with each other, but I liked the other theme better.
I know Chris probably spent a lot of work on it, and credit to him for making one that doesn't look terrible, but it just doesn't look entirely as I would expect from him, and it doesn't feel that this is CSS-Tricks for me.
I like the new design, as it is very minimalistic and I like that it is designed for larger screens . The sidebar and footer I like most. The navigation on the old one was more to my taste.
I think what is best about it is not just the aesthetics, but the functionality. It seems exceptionally well thought out. Look at how the layout will stretch all the way out to 1200 pixels wide! When you scale the window down, the layout scales down with it. Conventional wisdom is you don't make a page wider than 960px. This layout allows for more screen space for folks with higher res monitors while still accommodating fogies with 1024x768.
I also like the fades over the article excerpts. This is not only a cool looking effect, but seems especially appropriate for a blog which, a few years back, first gained popularity from an article about making fades over the bottom of articles.
Not much of a fan to be honest. Especially the new head navigation menu. Everything seems to big and cluttered might just be me though. One thing i really like though is the 3 boxes on the footer, 'I work for' etc, great effect.
Quick note: The forums, as a part of this redesign, got the short end of the stick. The reason there is that I plan to do a full revamp of these within the next few months and give them the real treatment they need.
Sorry for this one Chris, but I don't like the layout either...
In fact, I've just created an account here (maybe I am crazy, who knows? ) just to tell you that the buttons and boxes on the site in WebKit (Google Chrome, actually - didn't test in Safari) have these weird backgrounds on them - like you can see screen-captured on http://prntscr.com/q93a
Overall, the layout isn't bad - but it just seems a step back from your previous style... Maybe because I've been used to the old CSS-tricks; but definitely - the current design is just not "my cup of tea."
Hey Chris, as always with change people take time to adjust.
Since this is one the sites I frequent the most, I believe changing things up every year, or even after every x amount of months is a great idea. I like the new design personally, sidebar looks great and the jquery effects are getting better (as expected)
I do think it is pretty neat how Chris does some of the animations without jQuery. Like the items in the blog roll or the Wufoo/DintWP/Quotes on Design links at the bottom, or the icons to the left of those.
Well i am no designer, but i quite like it. When there is a re design on here, it always takes me a couple of days to get used to it, then i love it.
Saying that though, i did used to like the personal effect on the other designs, and loved the old nav. But think the blue on this one does look good too.
Plus I always love the footers and this design hasn't let me down
I've got to admit, I also wanted to sign up on the forums to give some input. I've been following the site daily for the last two months, and this seemed like a good opportunity to jump into the mix. The design has definitely lost its previous feel with this new design, and maybe that was the goal? Either way, I think all the design lacks is a bit of refinement. Here's what would improve it in my eyes:
Colour(ignore the Canadian spelling) • The new colours look okay together, but I think the warm colours made the site before.
Navigation • The blue extension after "SNIPPETS" looks like something is missing. I would remove the extension entirely or create more definition between the navigation and whatever you choose to put beside it. • Tabs need more distinction. I wouldn't do anything too predictable like a basic gradient, but a simple texture, divider, or border could help. How about a textured border/fill to go with the background's look?
Layout • The content area is too wide. It creates long lines of content text/descriptions that spread out too far (like this post). Cutting the blank blue nav gap to the right of "SNIPPETS" by 50% would help. Also, below each header I would consider indenting the text by creating a left/right margin of at least 10px. •The "LATEST SCREENCAST" section is a good example of making the width work. The image creates better balance.
After saying all that, I hope Chris is happy with his site's look. I would like to know what he felt about his own design prior to uploading it for the world to see. What reactions were you looking for? What stronger/weak points do you think existed prior to uploading? What do you think about our feedback? The response to those questions could make a cool site review video.
Anyway, thanks for the great coding resource! That is why I come here most importantly.
The new look works for me. It's clean but I'm hoping the trend 'less is more' will soon be over. It's hard to find sites that have a personal touch. The old css-tricks design was cool but the new design is cleaner and easier to read. I like that Chris is re-designing and keeps the site alive. I'm sure the 'look' of this site could be improved with a couple of borders here and there to keep stuff separated. Right now it feels like I'm walking around in a cloudy winter landscape without a fence and I'm afraid that I might fall into a big ice hole.
That being said there are some great parts of the site like the rollovers, and the fades. Two amazing touches! However to me the colors are terrible and take the whole warm feeling away from the site. Also, after reading articles for a few min the white really hurts my eyes even with the screen brightness way down. It does seems cleaner to me, but it def a step back when it comes to the actual design. Especially the navigation bar Once again though I love the footer (nice a quirky).
1) I really like all the new functionality, and the placement feels really good. The fonts are nice, and all the new jquery subtlies are very nice.
2) But that being said, the actual layout itself I'm not a fan unfortunately. I feel like there is not enough color and/or brightness contrast to give the eyes those natural breaking points. The bright colors kind of all blend together. Maybe it'll grow on me but I think I liked the design before last the best
Big fan of the site's content but my favourite design was the orange one 2 iterations ago. The most recent two redesigns feels a bit bland and cold, whereas the orange look felt more hand-crafted and visually rich. The grey/blue colour scheme feels off-brand, given the logo is still the lovely orange.
The Latest Articles Direct Link button/link don't display correctly in Chrome/Webkit. (I believe I'm using the latest one) Displays perfectly in FF4b3.
Edit: Another thing, without AdBlock the forums look terribly small. There should really be an excuse for ads taking up half the screen while the content takes a back seat.
Well this got a bit more response than I had thought it would >.>
Well, after a couple days, the site has grown on me a bit. Things are always a bit weird feeling after a major redesign. Sometimes it's hard to separate the feeling of real disfavor with the redesign and and the feelings of uncomfortability due to the lack of experience with the redesign. Changing something people are used to, for better or for worse, always makes people uncomfortable.
I do like like the larger text, the footer, and the sidebar (although the sidebar has some weird gap issues in firefox, probably place holders for stuff Chris is going to put in later).
Now that I'm a bit used to it, the only thing I would disagree with is the fadeIn, fadeOut on the articles on the home page. It would be nice to see the date and comments and the Read On button without having to hover it.
I love how clean it looks. A couple things are a little sluggish on the home page, but I'm sure he's working on that.
Feels a bit more 'purchased theme' and less original.
Also the blue and gray is a little blinding.
So though I am NOT a designer and have said so in the past (any designers want to team up with me for occasional contracts?
that being said, I do love the roll over effect of the article previews that fading in of the lower text is really nice.
I like the navigation, I'll say that. Blue/Orange does go well with each other, but I liked the other theme better.
I know Chris probably spent a lot of work on it, and credit to him for making one that doesn't look terrible, but it just doesn't look entirely as I would expect from him, and it doesn't feel that this is CSS-Tricks for me.
I think what is best about it is not just the aesthetics, but the functionality. It seems exceptionally well thought out. Look at how the layout will stretch all the way out to 1200 pixels wide! When you scale the window down, the layout scales down with it. Conventional wisdom is you don't make a page wider than 960px. This layout allows for more screen space for folks with higher res monitors while still accommodating fogies with 1024x768.
I also like the fades over the article excerpts. This is not only a cool looking effect, but seems especially appropriate for a blog which, a few years back, first gained popularity from an article about making fades over the bottom of articles.
Nice job, Chris.
In fact, I've just created an account here (maybe I am crazy, who knows?
Overall, the layout isn't bad - but it just seems a step back from your previous style... Maybe because I've been used to the old CSS-tricks; but definitely - the current design is just not "my cup of tea."
Since this is one the sites I frequent the most, I believe changing things up every year, or even after every x amount of months is a great idea. I like the new design personally, sidebar looks great and the jquery effects are getting better (as expected)
Keep on rockin' ..or fidlin'!
Saying that though, i did used to like the personal effect on the other designs, and loved the old nav. But think the blue on this one does look good too.
Plus I always love the footers and this design hasn't let me down
So yeah guess i like it
Colour (ignore the Canadian spelling)
• The new colours look okay together, but I think the warm colours made the site before.
Navigation
• The blue extension after "SNIPPETS" looks like something is missing. I would remove the extension entirely or create more definition between the navigation and whatever you choose to put beside it.
• Tabs need more distinction. I wouldn't do anything too predictable like a basic gradient, but a simple texture, divider, or border could help. How about a textured border/fill to go with the background's look?
Layout
• The content area is too wide. It creates long lines of content text/descriptions that spread out too far (like this post). Cutting the blank blue nav gap to the right of "SNIPPETS" by 50% would help. Also, below each header I would consider indenting the text by creating a left/right margin of at least 10px.
•The "LATEST SCREENCAST" section is a good example of making the width work. The image creates better balance.
After saying all that, I hope Chris is happy with his site's look. I would like to know what he felt about his own design prior to uploading it for the world to see. What reactions were you looking for? What stronger/weak points do you think existed prior to uploading? What do you think about our feedback? The response to those questions could make a cool site review video.
Anyway, thanks for the great coding resource! That is why I come here most importantly.
He's using TypeKit, which doesn't use @font-face.
That being said there are some great parts of the site like the rollovers, and the fades. Two amazing touches! However to me the colors are terrible and take the whole warm feeling away from the site. Also, after reading articles for a few min the white really hurts my eyes even with the screen brightness way down. It does seems cleaner to me, but it def a step back when it comes to the actual design. Especially the navigation bar
1) I really like all the new functionality, and the placement feels really good. The fonts are nice, and all the new jquery subtlies are very nice.
2) But that being said, the actual layout itself I'm not a fan unfortunately. I feel like there is not enough color and/or brightness contrast to give the eyes those natural breaking points. The bright colors kind of all blend together. Maybe it'll grow on me
Edit: Another thing, without AdBlock the forums look terribly small. There should really be an excuse for ads taking up half the screen while the content takes a back seat.
Well, after a couple days, the site has grown on me a bit. Things are always a bit weird feeling after a major redesign. Sometimes it's hard to separate the feeling of real disfavor with the redesign and and the feelings of uncomfortability due to the lack of experience with the redesign. Changing something people are used to, for better or for worse, always makes people uncomfortable.
I do like like the larger text, the footer, and the sidebar (although the sidebar has some weird gap issues in firefox, probably place holders for stuff Chris is going to put in later).
Now that I'm a bit used to it, the only thing I would disagree with is the fadeIn, fadeOut on the articles on the home page. It would be nice to see the date and comments and the Read On button without having to hover it.