After more than two years with the same theme, and about a year and a half of talking about changing it, I finally got my act together and spent some time working on it. I know, some bloggers switch themes every time they change their clothes, but I’m, um, especially challenged when it comes to tinkering with the innards of the site, so the fact that I got around to updating it at all is a pretty big accomplishment. Plus, I had a header graphic that I’ve been sitting on for, oh, nine months, and thought I should use it while my designer friend, Patty, is still alive.
If you’re reading this from an RSS feed and have no idea what I’m talking about, click on over and check out the main site. And if you see any problems, let me know (include what browser you’re using; not that it’ll help me fix the problem, but it will help me shift the blame elsewhere).
Very nice! It’s crisp and clean — a 4:1 website martini, so to speak. I just hope it inspires you to post more often… ;P
looks good, but, for technical reasons, i’d recommend you use .gif or a .png for the banner. instructions: open the _original file_ (not the jpeg) in a photo/image editing programme, and save a copy as a .gif or .png. if saving as a .gif, don’t “dither” the image.
tonight’s cocktail: gibson w/ orange bitters, followed by a green salad & chicken & penne pasta w/ gorgonzola cream sauce.
good luck,
–cz
Nice work! I like the idea of anyone with a cocktail on each side of them.
Like the new look! It’s nice to shake up the visuals every now and then. Keeps things fresh.
Chris — got it! I’m now png’d up.
The new site looks great; having redone my own recently, I know what a pain it can be to find the time to do this. I really think the clean look will help photos pop as well. Awesome job!
Great looking new site, Paul.
BTW, the link for the Museum of the American Cocktail in the “other sites” column is not quite right. It’s “.org” or “.com”
Keep up the great posts.
Hey, nice. Now we’re not WordPress template twins. 😀
This look so nice, and so easy to read.
Spiffy!
It has the late 40’s – early 60’s cocktail book look.
Paul,
The new site is beautiful. It’s elegant, easy to read, and definitely stands out. Well done!
Well, I’ll have you know that for the last month, the score is as follows….
Tinkered with blog layout: 11
Changed clothing: 43
Like the uncluttered look. Very clean and easy to read. Completely unlike mine. I wholly approve!!
ahhh … .png much better. now try this on your main style sheet:
body{
margin: 0;
font-family: Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif;
font-size: 13px;
text-align: center;
vertical-align: top;
background: #BCBDC0;
color: #333;
}
that’ll add a grey background (same colour as used in the banner) behind the white content container and define the edges of the content area (right now they’re both white).
& don’t worry, it won’t hurt my feelings if you decide not to do this!
only 3 hours & 45 mins. till cocktail hour!
–cz
Thanks for the nice comments–
Chris: I tried the new background, but it looked relatively dark and made the text more difficult to read, so I changed it back. Though I did place it in the navigation bar beneath the header–thanks for suggesting that!
And I do very much appreciate the tips–I’m very ham-handed at this design thing, and the suggestions are what help me get through it.
Looks great, Paul! Except now I think about how I haven’t changed the look of my blog since, um, 1999 … sheesh.
Looks great, Paul! Patty did a nice job with that header image.
Very nice, Paul. Looks great!
Paul,
I like the new site. I especially like the new header graphic.
I’d love to grab it and crop it to a thumbnail to use for you on my blogroll, but I can’t seem to grab it! Is it a background image?
I think this design is very good. The logo is very stylish, the blog have real lounge aura 🙂