Friday, January 23, 2009

That's more like it

(If you're reading this in a feed reader you should click through for this one, there have been a few changes around the old island.)

First and foremost, a HUGE thank you to Sara Bonds from Subjective Beauty for doing such a fantastic job on the redesign! Sara was a pleasure to work with - she's got a great eye, terrific ideas, she's prompt and very responsive, and has the patience of a saint to work with me through the myriad nitpicky little changes I kept requesting. She's just decided to put her 15 years of graphic design experience to good use and has opened a web design business that I'm sure is going to be a tremendous success. If you're in the market for a new you head over there and take a look.

Next order of business - blogrolls. I've finally moved over to one of those funky (no longer so) new smart blogrolls that display not only your link but also your most recent post. Since that extra line makes the blogroll a lot longer I've done a bit of pruning - you don't need me to tell you how to find Dooce. I had to import all the links from the old blogroll manually, so if I've missed yours out please let me know so that I can add it back in. Also, the new list only shows the 25 most recent posts, so if you're someone *cough* Mel *cough* who hasn't been posting lately you'll have to click on "see all" to find your link - or better yet, post more often!

Anything else I've missed? No? Then welcome to the new and improved Around the Island. Kick off your shoes, grab a chair, and make yourself at home.

32 comments:

A Gilmore Girls Fan said...

Thank you for the shout out Robin. I see you figured out the right column. I am so happy you are happy with your new blog.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

I like it, lady!

Robin said...

Pretty sexy Robin, great looking blog...I'm a blog neophyte...I do good to post from time to time but beyond that? Well, what do you expect from a butt slappin' trucker ho? LOL...I like this, glad I found you and your unique voice! The name however, is apparently not so unique!
~The other Robin

Nancy said...

Very Nice ... makes me want to do some changes and cleaning up! And is your kitchen always looking like that? [smiles]

cherish.photography said...

Your new blog looks great!

Anonymous said...

Love the new look.

Anonymous said...

How fun to have a new look!

Robin said...

Oh yes Nancy, it's absolutely always that clean.

Bwahahahahahaha...

(I just won't mention how long it took me to clean it before taking that photo last week.)

Phyllis Sommer said...

it looks awesome. i keep considering a blog makeover but i think it's like cleaning up the kitchen - i just don't have the time/energy:-)

mazel tov!!!!!!

Jan said...

I love it. Great collaboration. My daughter helps me with mine blogs, I really lucky.

Anonymous said...

Nice new look!

Mel said...

It looks fabulous Robin!

And I get the hint....

Maribeth said...

Oh this is so cool! I love it!!!

Unknown said...

Looks fabulous. And I love your kitchenaid in red. Mine is in black. Kinda boring.

Anonymous said...

Awesome!! I really liked the new look!!

Anonymous said...

SWEEEET! I thought I had come to the wrong place for a minute. This is a beautiful job, darlin'. Sarah really spruced it up.
Do you feel "at home" here? You darned sure should.
Shoot. I'm having blog envy, now...and it's all your fault!

Twisted Sister said...

Very nice job - kudos to Sarah and to you for having such an interesting blog!!!

Cheryl Pitt said...

Woo Hoo, lookin' good!

4 Lettre Words said...

Looks great! I really love the colors.

Sara rocks, huh!?! :o)

Anonymous said...

It does not fit on my laptop. That huge top graphic -- 1024 pixels wide -- requires me to change my screen resolution, which then makes the text too small to read comfortably.

I can view it at the intended size, but I have to scroll to see the right-hand column.

Jientje said...

It looks great! I love it!

Robin said...

Is anyone else having a problem with the width? I'm okay with my laptop, what about you guys? The header graphic is wider but I don't think the overall blog is any wider than it was before.

Linda, can you just move right a bit so that the stripes are off-screen, since they have no content anyway?

Robin said...

Linda, I just checked with Sara and she confirmed that the dimensions are the same as the were previously, the blog is no wider now than it was before. The 1024 width is actually even considered a bit narrow these days, a lot of designers are starting to go even wider as wider screens proliferate, so unfortunately I'd guess you're going to have this problem on more and more blogs as time goes on and will just have to scroll over to see what's in the far sidebar.

Anonymous said...

The blog design is a WOW and so is that immaculately clean kitchen!! Great blog makeover Robin!

No problem here with viewing, just to let you know.

Dawn Fortune said...

Marvelous new look! I am much impressed! And look! There's my blog over there on the left! Surrounded by all the respectable blogs! Very cool indeed!

maryt/theteach said...

Robin, I love your new look! Wow! :)

Tina - omme i London said...

I love the new look. I often think about getting a nice layout, but have yet to do something about it!
I love your kitchen, by the way.

Gilit Frank said...

Funny, I've been recovering from eye surgery and when I entered your blog, I really thought there was something wrong with my eyes....until I read your explanation about the blog shiputz (shiputz is renovation in Hebrew, for those who wonder what strange word I am using...)

Lea said...

It looks great Robin! I'm right there, sitting at your counter! Do you see me??? XO

Anonymous said...

This looks fantastic! :) Nice job all around! :)

Janet said...

I have kitchen envy!!!

Anonymous said...

I beg to differ...I had no problem viewing your blog before, and now it's cut off and I either have to scroll or shrink. So *something's* changed...

As to design, well...there are currently only two blogs for which I have to scroll, yours and Dooce's. Good job I love both of them. ;)

The rest fit...I have been building websites since 1996 and prefer to build to the lower end of what's normal, not what's the higher, to ensure maximum compatibility. For example, it used to be 640 pixels wide that was the lower end of the norm; now, it's 800, and that's what I try to build to. One day 1024 really will be lower-end, but that day is not now.

Everyone, however, has their own tolerance for such things: There are no hard and fast rules.

I also wonder about the tiny devices like smartphones -- how do these blogs look on those? I don't know how those work, but it's an interesting project to view your site in many different devices and see how it works.

Not to worry. I have options like turning off the graphics, and am happy to be one of your regulars. :)