The new layout’s up! I tested it in Safari, Opera, and Firefox in OS X along with Firefox and IE 6 in Ubuntu. Please let me know if something looks funny in your particular browser; I’m particularly interested in how IE 7 renders everything, since I don’t have access to it. I’d love any other feedback, too. :)
The main image was made in Photoshop and Illustrator using two photos I took at the arboretum: this one of the slats and vines and this one of a cloudy sky. I used this tutorial to create the lightning. The images are pretty hefty, since they’re high-quality PNG’s, so I’m considering putting up a low-bandwidth version as an alternative for those on slower connections.
Besides the appearance update, there are also some functionality changes that will hopefully prove useful. The sidebar now changes, or disappears completely, depending on what page you’re on. For example, the ‘Links’ sidebar has a short list of my frequently used del.icio.us tags while ‘Sarah’ has songs I’ve listened to recently. Sections like ‘Techy’ and ‘Qbee’ don’t have a sidebar at all because it isn’t necessary.
Thanks to Squidfingers for the background pattern and Brand Spanking New for the little icons.
New layouts everywhere I look! There must be some conspiracy going on!
But you did a great job, it’s very very beautiful :)
When you first said your layout reminded you of mine, I thought I’d come here and see a 747 or something :D I don’t think it’s all that similar to mine and that’s good because I love this! This is one of my favorites of yours in awhile.
Forgot to include one comment. I think I’d like this even better if the entry titles and horizontal nav links weren’t underlined.
Thanks guys. :)
Trin: removed the underlines on those links–it does look better this way.
Yes, it does. To quote McDonalds, I’m lovin’ it!
It looks gorgeous in IE 7. :)