New look here. Playing around with some TypePad stuff that I haven’t played with before, just so that I can stay on top of one of the market leaders in the blogging space. The other guiding principle is that I am looking to simplify my life by migrating my blog back to something that I originally intended it to be – more of my version of an electronic newsletter and a way for people to get info about me and for me to share info in niche areas. This is in contrast to something where I am trying to both grow the reader base (which has stalled out somewhat) and follow cultural norms on blog format. Going to a stock template so there less technical stuff to mess with, and this may be at the expense of readability. If it hurts readability too much, I may move to 2-column format instead of 3-column. This may mean ditching some of the sidebar stuff that is traditional to blogs – my visible blogroll links have already disappeared.
With the new look, I am also trying to make some adjustments in my professional life (no plans to leave 21Publish). Not comfortable with disclosing specifics here, but all of my clients now know that I am transitioning out of certain projects in hopes of concentrating on new things which have not yet been determined. Could be non-profit, commercial, consulting, or venture-related. The future isn’t written yet, but I need to consolidate my efforts. Feel free to contact me if you have thoughts.
I like it!
Hi Steve,
I like the look but do find it a bit harder to read. Is there any way to stretch the screen horizontally?
On my screen there is about a half to a full inch on either side that is not used and probably could be used to expand the reading pane of your blog.
Yeah. I’ve alresdy gotten some feedback that it is harder to read. I can’t seem to adjust some of the margins using a pure stock template. What I’m probably going to do near-term is just go to a 2-column format. Give priority to my bio and contact info and the categories navigator. To some extent, regular bloggers and blog readers know that there is a tradeoff between real estate on a website and what gets clicked on. I figure these people know that they might have to look around for the other stuff anyway. Will leave the 3-column format in place a little longer in case others want to weigh in.
The other thing I have been toying around with in my mind is exploring a different platform like WordPress. I know that that type of solution requires more work on my part, but it would give me a better hands-on appreciation for the non-hosted environment and some of the domain mapping issues prospective 21Publish customers always seem to ask about. If anyone wants to share their thoughts on WordPress, please let me know.
I don’t know if I’d go with a self-maintained platform lightly; it can turn into a lot of work if an avalanche of comment spam shows up, security issues happen, databases need to be backed up, etc. Meanwhile, you could give WordPress.com a shot if you want to try out that platform.