redesign part 2 / paragiraffe is a blog by maura

I am going to be self-indulgent for a bit and talk about my new design. It was a pretty big deal for me, and hopefully you thought it was significant, too. When contemplating an actual design, I considered the following things:

I wanted a random, rotating image. I like this as a design element because it showcases my own pictures, and it gives me the option to change the images and slightly the design.
The design had to be CSS-based (duh).
My text area had to be 350 pixels wide and on white. My blog and inline photos have always been 350 pixels wide, and black text on a white background just works, end of story.
I wanted a larger, usable sidebar, including a side blog for quick links.
I wanted some sort of active choice for users, either in choosing pictures or choosing a color or skin.

So, this is what I came up with. I love it. It is better than the old design, and I hope you agree. I have a few more small things to tweak, and in addition I am planning a revamp of the photos section, including recent (gasp!) pictures.

emersongeek / 30 sep 2004 / 10:47 p.m.

I love it! I recently redesigned too, and it’s great fun to figure out all the fun new things that one can do with the design.

Your Boomsday pictures make me miss Knoxville. :)

teresa / 30 sep 2004 / 11:02 p.m.

I totally love your new layout. I’ve always wanted to have a simple, yet mature web design. You’ve definitely achieved it. I like the different color themes as well. :)

Lauren / 30 sep 2004 / 11:26 p.m.

I LOVE this! Very, very impressive. Awesome job, love the colors (all of them! hee), and beautiful picture! In conclusion: soooo pretty. :D

Rosie / 01 oct 2004 / 2:03 a.m.

This new design is great. I love when you change the colour of the side bar it tints the photos at the top as well.

Quoting Weiss is always an A+ in my book.

Still a very nice deisgn. I like it.

Jason / 01 oct 2004 / 6:24 a.m.

Hurray! for CSS and rotating pitcures. You make me wish I knew a computer language other than DOS.

Maria / 01 oct 2004 / 6:55 a.m.

i think this layout is so fun! i’ve probably switched colors 3590375923579 times now and dragged the mouse over the navigation equally many times. so yeah, this is very WOHO :)

deb / 01 oct 2004 / 12:13 p.m.

I just noticed the picture-tint thing. I thought at first it was the exceptional amount of sake I drank last night, but now that it has been verified by other commenters I just want to say that it is SO COOL.

Chris / 01 oct 2004 / 8:04 p.m.

Lovely. =)

filmmaker / 02 oct 2004 / 1:19 p.m.

I really like the way the sidebar is done. It’s a much better way of doing things then the way I have mine set up. It allows for some personal opinions to show through, which I tried to do, but gave up. Might be something I revisit.

bryan / 02 oct 2004 / 2:20 p.m.

friggin awesome. bravo, maura.

Autumn / 03 oct 2004 / 8:53 p.m.

Wow. I’m amazed. I have never ever seen you w/ a different design since I’ve stumbled upon your website a long time ago!

Looks great!

Eric / 04 oct 2004 / 1:17 a.m.

Once again, the new design rules. Are you using MT for the sideblog as well?

Chetan / 04 oct 2004 / 10:05 a.m.

The new look rocks!