For the past two weeks, I have been working on creating the new look for Kikolani.com. I wanted to make the layout easier to follow, while adding more features, such as the email subscription option, recent posts & comments, plus an informative footer. I hope everyone enjoys the new look! Please feel free to leave any feedback or suggestions in the comments, or email me at webmaster at kikolani.com.
Credits:
Arthemia theme by Michael Jubel
RSS Icon by Matt Forsythe
Social media icons by Web Took Kit 4 Me.
This post brought to you by Kristi Hines
Kristi Hines is creator of Kikolani which focuses on blogging tips and social networking. Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Kristi has written 310 awesome article(s) for Kikolani.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I do like the new layout! More spread out and not so squished together. But I did like that header background in the old layout. But cheers to you!
I really like your new look. Your footer is unique. I also like the subscribe section on the right. In the near future, I need to make a few changes. I always enjoy your posts and especially your photography and poetry.
Hi Kristi, I like the simplicity of your design, but I’m a bit surprised by the lack of color compared to what you had before. I’d like to see a nice subtle color around the perimeter of the body of the blog that matches the black and the orange on the inside. I’d also give priority to the Subscribe and About kikolani boxes in the right column over the Sponsors box. They deserve more attention, I think. I love the butterfly icon and I very much like how you’ve labelled the content on your site in the secondary menu bar. Other than that, I think your site has a lot to offer
Christopher
Clean, elegant, expansive, inviting !!!
You make the following statement visually true with the new design: “This blog was created to share with others my creativity…”
And, since we’re both poets, I’ll share the “header-poem” from my book:
My Bread is
Cast; They’ll
Eat who do…
Yet, knowing how their
Belly
Feels–a
Poet’s
Golden
Rule.
~ Alex from Our Evolution
Definitely a clean, functional look, and the colors and fonts work well.
@MikeC: I miss the header from the other layout too. But the extra space and layout on this one make up for it.
@Debbie: Thanks. I wanted to do a good footer because a lot of times, I read posts on other sites, and when I get to the bottom, I would want to subscribe, contact, etc. and have to scroll up and around to find the info I was looking for.
@Christopher: There are still several tweaks that I am going to work on with this layout, including moving some things around and finding a colorful texture to replace the gray area. I was quite fond of the secondary menu to highlight the sections I think are most important on the site. Thanks for the feedback!
@Alexander: Thanks, and great writing.
@Ashok: Thanks. I was looking for a cleaner, easier to read look.
Great new look, I like the butterfly icon in the header and I really like the footer too! Please let me know what software program you are using. I am using wordpress for some of my sites and really like their flexibility and extensibility via themes, plug-ins, etc.
-Tim
@Tim: It is Wordpress. I did a lot of modification of the theme, in terms of moving the plugin output to different areas of the layout, some resizing, and removal of sections I didn’t need. I used an asp.net blog previously, and I agree – Wordpress is a million times better in terms of flexibility.
Great job! I like the tag cloud at the bottom-right, the contrast on it especially.
I redesigned my blog last month too. It’s a lot of work, but worth it once it’s done because everything looks much nicer.
Great new look….
can I have a copy ?
@Richard: I agree. Once it’s finished, it is well worth all the effort!
@Djarod: If you are using wordpress, you can download this theme for free at http://www.michaeljubel.com/2008/05/arthemia-magazine-blog-wordpress-theme-released/. I did a lot of modification on mine, but the theme is great right out of the box, or zip file in this case. I’m always willing to share my editing tips as well.
i like this layout a lot, very clean and easy to navigate
@JazeVox: Thanks. That is exactly what I was going for with this layout.