Blog layout

[Mentor]

I started hacking together this wordpress theme earlier today, so theres little plan or vision behind it other than i want a clean look.

At the moment im still just tweeking the general look and feel around trying to see what works so only the index page is properly themed right now.

For as it is, are there any comments, criticisms, complains or ideas on what could be added or changed? I've never been much of a designer so all feedback is good feedback, the more brutal the better :)

http://userbag.co.uk/

[Meti]

I find it to simple.
Try making it modern and web 2.0 and make it look good :P

[MrPinkPanther]

It's not awful but it's not great either in my opinion. I like the way its all layed out but the banner at the top is awful and thats what seems to be the focus when you load up the page. If you fiddle around with that then I think you could end up with a pretty nice layout.

Anyway. Great to see you back.

[Johno]

I find it to simple.
Try making it modern and web 2.0 and make it look good :P
Snazzyness isn't everything :)

The only thing I don't like about it is the colours, I find the dark blue and light blue too dominant, perhaps less of a strong colour in both places.

But pretty nice, and like Oli said - great to see you back!

[Mentor]

Thanks for the feedback :)

Main points im taking away from this our, to fiddle with the colours to make the blues a little less imposeing and work on creating a proper banner image in place of the solid colour.

@meti, the modern 2.0esk look was kinda what i was going for with the big solid colours and minimal image approach. What do you think would help towards a more 2.0ish look?

[MrPinkPanther]

For the banner try a gradient from:
#0099FF to #016BB1

Big black Futura Hv text with a 1px white drop shadow at 90 degrees with no blur.

Heres a quick mockup of what I mean:
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7164/thybag.png

[Mentor]

Ok, ive revised the template a bit, adding proper pages for comments/archive etc.

I also went with FlyDuo's colour suggestion (thanks for that :p) and recagiggled everything a bit.

http://userbag.co.uk/

What do you lot make of the new version? and futher critisims comments or ideas.

[Kyle!]

You still haven't executed it properly, the gradient curve is way too strong.

[Jahova]

You still haven't executed it properly, the gradient curve is way too strong.
Agree, just too harsh.

[Mentor]

You still haven't executed it properly, the gradient curve is way too strong.

Agree, just too harsh.

Thanks for the input, which of these do you think is more along the right lines?
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8962/swatch.jpg

[CANNIBALEX]

Thanks for the input, which of these do you think is more along the right lines?
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8962/swatch.jpg

Second one. Also the Black Arial archives over the flat blue look horrific. Also that blue on the archive is different from the blue in the rest of the design so its out of place

[Mentor]

Second one. Also the Black Arial archives over the flat blue look horrific. Also that blue on the archive is different from the blue in the rest of the design so its out of place

Thanks for the feedback, the archives being a different colour is probably just a minor optical illusion as aside from the gradient in the banner i only use two blues in the entire design and one of them is so far exclusive to the unactivated tabs.

I'll have a play around with the archives colouring, possibly make em white to fit with the other design elements.

[Johno]

The sidebar looked much better when it was white in my opinion, the colours are starting to flood the page :)

[Mentor]

The sidebar looked much better when it was white in my opinion, the colours are starting to flood the page :)

I think you have a point there :p I removed the lot and it looks a lot better right off the bat :) Also solves the problem of font colours being used on top of it :p

http://userbag.co.uk/

[Johno]

Yeah I think it looks much better now :)