Shooting at Bubbles - Latest Comments in Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

WebServ — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:40:29 -0000

Love this post. You make a LOT of sense, and I hope that you rekindle the blogosphere's love for great design that's NOT magazine style.

It's highly overrated.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

StevenHodson — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:50:58 -0000

glad the post was of help Mark and thanks for the good words

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Mark Krynsky — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:51:50 -0000

Good post Steven and timely for me. I'm currently working on an overhaul for 2 of my sites and really have done some thorough research on new themes to use. I'm assuming this post is when you switched to the Statement theme from BlogOhBlog. This is an awesome theme that also has made my shortlist and might be used as well. It works very well for your site.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

StevenHodson — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:14:17 -0000

you're more than welcome Bill. If even one blogger stops and really thinks twice about it before trying out a magazine style then my experience will have been worth it.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

StevenHodson — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:13:03 -0000

I'm sorry Denise I'll try and do better with these helpful posts in the future :)

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

StevenHodson — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:12:07 -0000

thanks Brett :)

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Bill Sanders (@technacea) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:33:58 -0000

So few people actual pay attention to what is driving their success (or failure) and even fewer are willing to share the lessons - especially the painful ones. Thanks for sharing the lesson Steve.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Denise — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:16:25 -0000

Geez, you tell me this after I spent the weekend updating my blog to a magazine style? Well you couldn't have known that I'd be so foolish:)

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Guest — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:59:11 -0000

Steve, I agree with your assessment of the magazine style theme. I've considered using it as well so your post was timely. I enjoy the simplicity of your current setup. There's something fresh each day I come to your blog. The Magazine style does look nice but it's not as reader friendly. Excellent post.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Rohit — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:51:33 -0000

I think they are meant for team of bloggers because for an individual it becomes a difficult task to manage it. Nice tip.. thanks

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Gorgeous — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:38:47 -0000

Being a Cat, my attention span sucks at the best of times.

The Magazine Style theme confused me (not hard to do) so I am glad of the changes you've made.

Keep up the good work. :)

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Gary Mintchell — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:22:44 -0000

My compete.com numbers for November took an unexplained dive, too. That despite another metric internal to my blog provider showed some unusually large numbers on some days. Compete may be the new alexa. I don't trust any of them.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Barry Welford — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:51:53 -0000

I'm not sure magazine style themes even work well for magazines.

I think newspaper people have been producing printed newspapers for so long they think that automatically that's the right layout for online newspapers. If you watch the progression of their several redesigns, you'll see them simplifying and simplifying and simplifying.

I think they should all re-examine how people look at web pages and what works best in usability terms. As more effort goes into what is required for the mobile Web and smart devices, I think we'll see some interesting rethinking on all this as time goes on.

Good post, I enjoyed reading this.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Webomatica — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:51:30 -0000

Gee Steven a few days ago I was about to fire you an email. I usually check out your posts via Google Reader (and hence the RSS feed) but I did check out WinExtra proper and found the front page kind of confusing. I was trying to find an old post you wrote and it was hard to do. So perhaps another problem with the magazine style also came down to basic usability.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

StevenHodson — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:14:26 -0000

thanks for kind words Adam - they are appreciated

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

StevenHodson — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:13:52 -0000

thanks Shey

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

StevenHodson — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:13:24 -0000

if my experience even benefits one blogger then it was worth it - thanks

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

StevenHodson — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:12:30 -0000

glad to be of help :)

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

AdamSinger — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:21:17 -0000

I like this new theme much more - the magazine style themes don't work well for single-author blogs. Your content always shines though Steve regardless of theme.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Shey — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:39:59 -0000

I think this theme works well for you Steven, looks great

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

robdiana — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:33:00 -0000

Wow, now that I see your new theme, I realize how much was really changed. I like the new look better. I also think you are right about frequent updates and magazine-style themes. Thanks for doing the leg work for the rest of us.

Re: Think twice about using magazine style blog themes

Jonathan Nguyen — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:25:54 -0000

Hi Steve, thanks for the tip. I was exploring magazine style themes and was hesitating. You've answered my question. :)