Feb 10, 2013 / Community Pool

Community Pool: Design

Community Pool

The Community Pool is for those of you looking for input, whether on post ideas, writing, blog design and layout, or anything else. If you have a post, page, or idea you want to bounce off someone, leave a comment. Your fellow bloggers can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

This week, we’ll try a focused Community Pool: bring questions about your theme, layout, or design. It’s all up for grabs — widget placement, custom backgrounds, font choices, you name it.

Read on for the ground rules and to leave a comment . . .

  • You’ll get the best feedback if you can be as specific as possible about what you’d like people to respond to or where you’re struggling.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. We’re here to help and support one another, not to beat anyone down.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • To keep from losing your place in the comment thread, right-click on a link to open it in a new tab or window.
  • No running on the deck.

Photo by t_a_i_s.

Show Comments

394 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

  1. It seems as though the Welcome to Wiener World menu item could be the About menu item. As it is, there is the Welcome TWW menu link, the About link, and then the About sticker at the bottom. I would consolidate these, call it About in the menu using the text from the Welcome link and a photo. Let us find you, and the wieners of course, in one place. What do you think?

    Like

  2. Hi!

    I use the WordPress theme (so of course it is great!) “A Simpler Time” out of the box, because I really do not like all the facebook-blue sites; the backlighting tires my eyes after a while.

    Anyway, I also love it because it is sort of cute and reminiscent of old-fashioned things. Some tell me it looks too “Christmas-y” but the thought never occured to me before someone said it. I view it more as a comely combo of two complementary colors and nothing more. I need more feedback on that idea.

    Also, I wonder if it seems welcoming on first look. I want it to give the reader a feeling of being safe to relax and feel at home.

    Also (and this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT) when I look at my site, the widget I’ve entitled “Cool Faves” has begun showing ten copies of one of my headshots, instead of the ten different well-received weekly-photo-challenge shots that it used to show. This happens also on my other site and on the sites of some friends. I HOPE it is just my slow Internet failing to fully load the page or something, and that no one else sees this widget as a boring display of my unsmiling face!!!

    Let me know!

    Thanks so much.

    Like

    1. I like the large graphics and fonts of your site and how each post has its own “page”. The photo issue under Cool Faves seems to be okay now. I have a slow connection, too, and photo uploading is always a problem. The green color is ever so slightly Christmas-y, but I might not have thought that if you hadn’t suggested it.

      Like

  3. I changed the layout and theme of my blog recently and would just like some feedback on it, if it gets the job done. Also, I’m not sure if any of you would actually know, but I don’t like how on my main page the date and what not of my posts are off to the left side by themselves and taking up space. I’d like to fix that if I can. Thanks!

    Like

      1. You can control your widgets and remove some, if what bothers you is how many there are. If you don`t like seeing them on the left, you`d have to change theme again to get them on the right side. If you`d rather have them in a page besides the main page, you can do that too, though I`ll admit I don`t know much about that particular function.

        Like

  4. I like my theme, Runo Lite, because I have a poetry blog, but I would like some feedback on my background and widget placement. If any of you know how to make Runo Lite have two sidebars (not counting the bottom sidebars) Thanks!

    Like

    1. Hi, in my eyes, the background is very good. The order of the widgets does the job for me: First thing I’d like to know is about the author. Offering a search option quite a the top is not necessary for me but it’s still fine. The the “Hot off the Press” and “Back to Once Upon a Time” makes perfect sense to me – and the captions are fantastic! Maybe the “Main Ideas” should be further up? But that is nothing but a detail.
      As for a second menu, I do not know if the theme offers it (I think they either come with the theme or they don’t) – personally, I am not a big fan of multiple navigation bars… I sure hope this helps you a bit.

      Like

    2. How come I only see the left side bar?I like 2 side bars. mine only has right one. 21theme? Sorry. I am new and have not a clue can’t offer any good advice as I don’t know much about wordpress or any social medias

      Like

      1. Thanks for your comment anyway! I know, I would prefer it with 2 sidebars, but I guess it’s not possible with this theme, and I don’t want to sacrifice this theme for the widgets. 🙂

        Like

  5. First of all, thank you, Michelle W., for the focus. I think it is a good idea.
    I started commenting without having a question; reading through a lot of questions and answers here – and trying to come up with a couple of answers – made me think about my own blog a little: On several occasions, C.R. pointed out that a more static landing page might be a good idea. And made me wonder: Would it do for me? Would a first page in the general form of my “Projects / Series” page be a good idea? Since my blog is mostly about pictures, that first page could be “wordless”. And the blog would still be accessible from the main menu.
    Good idea? What do you think?

    Like

  6. Thank you Michelle. I am certainly not happy with the look of my blog and def. need help, also not sure about content. Thanks for your suggestion/advice.

    http://mabel8ble.wordpress.com/

    1. my sidebar (?): Besides of my short picture profile, it is very busy crowded not professional looking. How do I put more pictures as thumbnail to click on to my youtube and other media links. Also like to feature some of my post posts neatly.
    2. what is index, would it help
    3. basically I’d like to use picture thumbnails to sum up all of my post on 1 page when you click on my URL. Have no clue as to where to start.
    4. my content, too long, too short, too boring, or something else? I like it more and more with good quality pictures, however, traffic is reduced. sob sob, sob.

    Have a good day. All in all, hope you all have fun. Thanks

    Like

    1. oh, I have got the time to finish my ABOUT, which is very important. I am not sure what’s the appropriate length. so far I already have 3/4 page and not half way done, is it too much?

      Like

  7. Okay, let’s try again. I think my blog might be too plain, too white, visually boring. I am thinking of changing to a magazine style theme, so that each post beginning would be a teaser. Does it need more pizazz?

    Like

    1. First, thanks for stopping by my blog…Second I think your blog needs a few pictures…try adding a widget the shows the pics of your followers or your community…It will add a little color and texture. Best of luck!

      Like

    2. I like using themes that are more colorful and playful overall (like Balloons), though you seem to like the more professional types of theme. In that case, Blissful Blog, Hum, Skylark, and Bouquet have a more minimalist approach, but are also a tad more interesting and lively than your current theme.

      Like

  10. what do you think about the distribution? I’d like to read your opinion about it, since I’m thinking to make some changes on my blog.
    http://mundoretorcido.wordpress.com/
    Also, I’ve been trying to write some post in English and Spanish, sometimes I have some problems with grammar as you can read but I’m doing my best. What do you think about this “feature”?

    Like

  11. There are three things I still have not figured out. 1) The “leave a comment” link is lost at the bottom of my posts with the category/tag list. Is there a way to make it more obvious, short of changing themes? (I tried testing different themes but ended up losing pages and widgets and had to reconstruct my sidebar after I went back to my original theme.) 2) How does one attach a PDF document? I’ve seen explanations to post it as an image. When I try, it even says PDFs are valid image types. The image, though, doesn’t show. 3) How does one make a link that instead of showing http://blahblahblah.com/doodedoo says Click Here or gives a title to the page to where the link leads? I have looked and looked for these answers without success. Can someone here help? My blog is myprovidentjourney.wordpress.com if you need to see examples. Thanks for any help!

    Like

    1. To make a link that doesn`t have all of the annoying url information, you have to go into your post editing page. When you are making a post, you write out the word you want to appear. You then select/highlight those word/s and click the link icon in the toolbar. Paste the actual url there, and you`ll have a pretty word that is a linked to the ugly url!

      Like

  13. Hi all,
    I’d love some feedback on my blog, whilst I’ve been blogging for a while I’m not very savvy when it comes to deisgn and layout. How do I add posts to a specific menu category e.g. food reviews so they are all in one place?

    Also I’ve keen to learn about monetising your blog but haven’t been able to add any Nuffnag ads correctly. Any tips and feedback very very welcome 🙂

    http://www.ramblingsofanorthenlass.com

    Like

    1. Under the posts tab, you can select categories. When you are in categories, you can add a new one in the section on the left side that says “add new category”. To add individual posts to the categories, you just look are the bar on the right within the post editing page. There will be a drop down menu that lists the categories you have, and you can simply check the box next to the category you want it in (you`ll also want to uncheck the uncategorized category`s box.)

      To monetize your blog, you have to buy your domain. (This is in the upgrades area) Once you`ve done that, you have to go to WordAds and select that upgrade. You can`t use any other type of advertising system besides WordPress`s. You can`t advertise unless you have your own domain. Hope that helps!

      Like

  15. I am totally unhappy with the theme I have chosen. It’s not necessarily the theme. It could be me. This is the third theme I have chose (previously used Bueno and Blogum). The idea with choosing the Publish theme was to find a simple theme that focuses on my content. I deliberately did not use a them with a large picture on the header as I desired readers to be drawn right to my posts. However, the more I look at my blog, the more I hate the look of it. Any thoughts on a better theme or tweaks I can make to Publish so it is more visually appealing?

    Like

    2. It looks as though you have at least one medium size picture with every post. Since this is kind of a travel/eating out style blog, maybe one of the magazine style themes would work. Your opening page would feature a photo and the beginning of each post, then a reader would click to continue reading. See what you think. At the theme library, search for magazine.

      Like

      2. This is FABULOUS! What a transformation. It looks like what you meant to do the first time. The rotating photos – great idea – are just the right size and are all different enough that you want to keep watching. The fonts are even perfect. Your layout is full but not overwhelming, everything draws you in, and it is all intuitive and user friendly. Honestly, this looks like something you make your living doing. Thanks so much for inviting me to look again.

        Like

    3. I have gone through a bunch of themes and I think I finally settled on the one for me — Skeptical. I also like Mystique, which I used for a long time. I agree with Joy — it is more visually appealing to have your widgets to the right. For some reason and I can’t remember the science behind it our eyes/brains naturally start looking to the right of a page or screen. So when I see big things off to the left of the screen I’m confused and it takes me a minute to focus, but most often I don’t get that far. The cool thing about the Mystique theme is that you’ve got six themes to choose from.

      Like

  16. Hey guys – would love some feedback on my photography blog – http://lensaddiction.wordpress.com/

    I use Twenty Ten, have played with a few other themes but I like a fairly simple clean design, capablity for a few useful widgets. Some of the photography specific themes I have found frustrating because you cannot change the text or background colours and so they are difficult to read. Also using Featured Images means they get cropped oddly and don’t look at all nice.

    Should I add some more pages relevant to discussion ie Technical Tips, Reviews etc (i find the whole page thing rather confusing)

    All feedback welcomed!

    Like

    1. Hi Joy, in a photography blog I would try to give the pictures as much space as possible. Within your theme, I’d try to go for “full size”, using all the horizontal space there is.
      In my eyes the header – which I think comes with the theme – is a bit distractung (for me, it does not shout out “Hey, I am a photo blog!”). But that might just be me.
      Over all, you’re doing good though!

      Like

      2. I am not sure what’s possible within your theme. Can you feature one of your own pictures in the header? (The dashboard should have the option under “Appearance”/”Header”.) How would that look?

        Like

    2. I was given some advice on my blog to search under themes for “magazine” due to the content of my writing. The same could be said for yours. WordPress has some great themes for photography that will place your visuals front and center. I’d recommend doing a search.

      Like

  18. Hi again everyone! I’ve already gotten some help from Tara R. but I was wondering if I could have some feedback on my blog. Is there anything I can change to make it look better? Thanks!

    Like

    1. Hi, your blog looks fine to me. You could spruce it up with a couple of pictures if you like (and if you do not find pictures too distracting). Pictures can sort of guide your readers’ eyes and grab attention. Other than that, I think it is always a good idea to ask myself what the widgets can do for me: What do I need them for? I do not really understand the function of the calendar for instance. But that is just my taste … it may make more sense to other readers. Keep up the work! Cheers!

      Like

  22. After discussing design here, I thought I’d give it a try and reorganize my blog. The new design is up and running – and I’d be happy to learn if it is appealing.

    Like

    1. Hi Janaline, as far as I can see, your theme is fine. Since your focus seems to be on pictures rather than text, I wonder if there would be a way of giving the photographs a bis more space. Can you get rid of one of the widget areas on the sides? I would try that – but that’s just my 2 cents.

      Like

      1. Tried getting rid of one side of widgets but it didnt give the photos more space, it just left a big empty space so went back to them…will maybe have to look at a different theme, thanks

        Like

    2. This is a theme that is meant for writing more than photos. As your blog is focused on the photography, with the words merely cataloging the photos, I think you should switch to a photography layout.

      Like

  24. Hi bloggers, I am very green in the world of WordPress and although I don’t have a question about design at this time, I do have a question about copyright pictures. I am wondering if the pictures I have placed in my blog are legal? I have cited sources of where the content is coming from and I think I have done linking properly. I do believe in giving credit where credit is due so what to make sure everything is on the up and up.

    I did search the Community Pool to place this question in the appropriate topic other than Design, but comments had been closed on most topics,from what I could see., If I have posted my question in error, my mistake and I’ll search better next time. .

    Here is the blog in question http://niftybitsblog.wordpress.com and Thanks for listening.

    Like

    1. I think that including more detailed credits with the picture is good. For example, for the picture on your blog from Alice in Wonderland, you could have also said the movie title and the company (Disney). I`ll admit I have that problem too, but I was thinking that it is something most of us need to up the game on.

      Like

      2. No problem! How do you feel about my blog`s layout? I`m not sure that it is quite the style I want. I like that it is cute, but my posts are all more magazine themed, so I think it may work better. What do you think?

        Like

  25. I write a variety blog at http://thegreatzambini.wordpress.com/ and readership has really gone down in the last week or two. I`m not sure if it is the post`s subject matter, or the fact that the blog setup is a little awkward. I have some category menus that divide my posts into newspaper categories (the arts, editorials, etc) and I was thinking putting them into separate tabs at the top of the page as different pages would work better, but I`m not sure how to do that so that each new post that fits the category gets moved there. My posts have moved focus in the last month or so from a lot of diy type information to more article type posts, and I wasn`t sure if that is what is to blame for the problem.

    Like