I was checking the website today, and I noticed a completely new layout. Personally, I loved the previos layout because of its mere simplicity and its good look. But now it seems that there are so many links at the right that I am never going to click, and there is not enough room for the stories. Is it just me or was the prevoius better?

(Feel free to argue with me )

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Common sense isn't so common

There were a bunch of flaws with the previous design. I'm happy to keep playing around with it to find a nice balance. The problem was that I already had all those links over on the right-hand side, they were just in a big long column, so people couldn't see them all. I'm probably going to widen the main content area a little more to make it fit.

The cool thing with Wordpress is that I can experiment with different designs easily to find something that works. So give me specific complaints, and I'll rectify them.

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Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today - Free space news delivered by email every weekday.

I always vote no on format changes.

I don't like playing hide and seek...hunting and pecking for features that used to be here, but now they are...




gone

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jwj

The Reluctant Cosmologist

I voted No.
Sorry Fraser but i don't like the width of the right column.
And you have some browser compatibility issues.. you must be playing in Internet Explorer .

O well i will help you out with some screenshots in: Firefox, Opera and Konqueror

Firefox:


Opera:


Konqueror:


Operating system (incase you wonder) Fedora 7 with KDE.

edit:://
Oke here you go:
1. The right column is to width and it doesn't look good in any browser (didn't test internet explorer)
2. The background might look better as a fixed position (will stay the same always and won't move out the screen when scrolling)
3. Fixed background might be better but a background that fits the "foreground" would be alot better.. try a lighter blue.
4. Drop the google web search thing or make alot it smaller

don't take it personal

Can we have the previous / next story link back?

Michael.

Here are my suggestions:

You have a lot of wasted space in the upper-right corner. Move the Subsribe and [/i]Podcast[/i] links down to the navigation bar, directly beneath their current location. Now, move the topmost ad to the newly-created extra space to the right of your logo (you may have to make your logo slightly smaller).

The story text is too spacious. Try compacting it a little.

Right now, you have two sidebars ...having only one would look much better. I would get rid of one of the ads (if possible), and have everything else in one single sidebar, in this order, from top to bottom:
-The History Channel, Universe ad
-Google Search (needs a little work, see below*)
-Email signup
-Large Google Ad
-Calendar
-Categories
-Other ad
-Blogroll (P.S. fit "The Skeptics Guide to the Universe" onto one line - or link to the "NESS" instead)
-Google Adsense Badge (possibly move to the bottom-right corner)

* - The Google Search is slightly too wide. Perhaps make the "new" sidebar a little wider.

Also, the page is a bit long. If the new, single sidebar doesn't already go to the bottom of the page, consider putting a few less stories per page.

Of course, I'm not sure if all of these suggestions are realistic or even feasible, and as always, it's your site, so you can do whatever you want.

EDIT: After re-reading your post above, it seems that you may have already tried a single column design. (Unfortunately I can't remember what the past site looked like). ...Have you considered adding one of the ads along the side, to the bottom (horizontally) instead? ...That may lead to a little less clutter, and maybe even free up enough space to place everything in one column.