I decided to go with a very minimalist approach when I redesigned my blog, and I’ve been very happy with that decision. The new design is easier to read, easier to modify, and loads a lot faster to boot. However, I felt there were some minor improvements I could make, here’s a few things I’ve added, that I hope improve the appearance and functionality of the site, without detracting from the simplicity:
- Related posts: I’d thought about this before I redesigned, but then forgot to put it in. I’ve added a simple plugin (Yet Another Related Posts Plugin) that pulls in related posts by category and tags. It’s capable of comparing title and body text, but I’ve opted against using that. The related posts on this site show at the bottom of a post, just before the comments. I thought it would be handy for articles like the HAProxy load balancing guide, or for finding all my posts about scaling.
- Bordered content: When I first put this design live, the content was on a white background, inset straight into the blue of the overall page background. Whilst that was fine, I thought it could use a little further visual separation, so I’ve added a deeper blue border, which I feel gives it a nice little lift.
- Highlighted comments: Just as a little added extra, I discovered that Wordpress 2.9 makes it incredibly easy to highlight comments written by the post author, so I’ve thrown in a highlight for my comments on the blog. Perhaps best for those who want to quickly scroll past everything I say.
- Archive pages no longer have a full post at the top: They’re now simply a list of posts, no featured entry, etc. – except on the home page.
- Previous / Next are now buttons: Restyled the links as buttons.
- Consolidated CSS: Rolled reset.css into dancryer.css, to drop the number of hits to the server by one.
I realise these are all very tiny changes, none of which are likely to make a difference to your reading of the site, or not doing so – whichever the case may be. I set out aiming to improve the site iteratively, changing little bits at a time and gradually improving it, I’m hoping these little changes will eventually build up and make it a great design.
I’d really appreciate any feedback you may have, no matter how big or small, whether it’s to say you’re not fond of the colour of the links, or that you simply like the site. Either is great, drop me a comment below.
