Testing New Theme

You wouldn't have any of these problems, had you hired me for the job! =)

Oww, I didn't get to see it :( That sucks :p.

Looks like I missed it as well...Screenshot?

I didn't get a chance to see the new theme...darn! I was in San Francisco all weekend and Monday.

Anyone have a screenshot of the theme we're talking about here?

Allen.H

John, I don't mean to sound like a jerk but I'm curious why you'd have someone design a theme for you that isn't very good at... well, designing?

The treatment of type for your name was lackluster at best and from the screenshots I saw, it seems like the designer took his layout and just added some different graphics to make it "yours." Not very original and I hope you didn't have to pay for that.

@Ali - I didn't see the theme implemented but the coding wasn't the problem with the proposed theme from what I could see from the screenshots, a lot of it was the design itself.

I didn't really like the new theme.

After looking at some of the screenshots and then coming back here I think I prefer the newer version. The car at the top do make it look a little old fashioned but in general I liked the wider layout. If the coder can get the site to look like the designs then you should go for it John.

I missed it. Screenshot anyone?

Good choice John !! looks good again

yup..I prefer the original theme, nice to see it back...

John, you should setup a mirror blog to test themes so you don't have to change it on your live blog.

Where's the theme....I think the theme / product wil be a good one knowing your effort...and commitment..

Can anyone help me out. Im using the same theme as john chow but my site seems to load reaaaaaaly slow.

I missed it, can i see it???

I missed the new theme, but I'd be curious to see a mirror or screenshot.

Your site has great information, but no offense... it could use a little design help. :)

I guess i missed the theme test? I see the same layout as before. From the looks of the comments I can see why. As a designer I would have liked to see it. I think I smell another contest. Design a theme for John Chow Dot Com! Just an idea.

Nothing says "Look at yourself, you have a blue car!" more than a set of two blue cars, facing each other.
Hint: reflection.

the layout looks the same?

Well, that was a fun little experiment. :)

I've completely missed the design. Can someone post a screenshot or something?

Thanks

John,

I'd pretty much agree with most of the other comments.

The new design is not bad but I think the old design looked much cleaner. I also liked the old header a lot better. Because of the three columns, the post content looks to squeezed. I think with some tweaking though it could work.

I have to agree with everyone else, the old theme was much easier on the eyes. The layout of the content and "integration" of ads on the new homepage make it difficult to find a focal point and visually separate each element from one another.

The IT colour palette and uncertainty in direction make for a confusing style as well.

Sorry John. Just not a fan.

Stick with original, this one is too cluttered

No offense John, but I think you're taking your blog a step backwards. The white haze around the navy 1px border looks like really bad web2.0. Why is the top border a different color than the other borders? And why are the tabs aligned to the right?

I miss the old one. Bring it back? :)

One of the things I liked about the old theme ws how clean it was. In fact, I was just in a coffee shop with a marketing client and I was trying to get the idea of "clean" across and I pulled up John Chow.com (post theme change).

I almost choked on my Latte. Luckily, I changed the subject and the client did not notice.

ya i would keep the old design...this does look too old-skool. too cluttered also, thats why i liked the old site, keep it simple and let the content speak for itself.

I preferred the old design just because the cars at the top were much cooler!!

I think all the arguing over total site design is irrelevant. Most people seem to agree that a site's content is paramount and more important than most other factors. Yet people still argue about one long sidebar versus two short ones. Who cares?? Obviously the success of http://maddox.xmission.com says that nobody cares about design!!

Kumiko

What's the name of this new theme? I'd call it "Too much":
- looks too pro-advertising, too commercial
- too many links
- navigation buttons are too big
- too many rounded corners
- too overwhelming

...sorry for being too honest ;-)

Personally, I'd put one of the sidebars to the left of the main content. Then it's just shy from perfect.

I don't like the top part of the design, nor do I like the colors.

Hopefully you'll keep tweaking it as time goes on.

I'm also not a big fan of the double wide themes, though it seems to work ok here.

My biggest issue is that it doesn't look as clean as the other one. The obvious issues aside, the colors/fonts don't look like something from a dot com mogul ... but hey you know best. ;)

What I really don't like is how the smilies are in a little box in your main post. :D

Very nice... I like it! Is that a Vette in the header pic? I haven't seen very many blogs with two columns on one side; curious to see how it works out for ya.

http://www.shawn-knight.net

I'm not a fan of the "double-wide" sidebar.

Believe it or not, I just completed a major site redesign of my blog! The old version is still sitting at http://www.hmtk.com/blog but the new one drops the /blog and is right off my main URL.

Please go back to the old one. This is too wide, takes too long to load and the background is dark so body text is not legible while the page is loading.

Sometimes simpler is better.

No offense too, John. I like the previous one better. But after all, this is your blog. :-)

I like the old one a bit more. Maybe giving the users a choice to pick between the themes would be a cool idea.