Lst week I hired the fine folks at jtkconsulting.com to redesign Candy Addict. The site really needs some professional help – it looks like I hacked it together (and I did).
Many people say they like that the site looks like they just walked into a candy store and I want to keep that look/feeling and I’m hoping jtkconsulting.com will be able to keep that feel for me. Even though it should be done way before this, I plan on unveiling the new site on the one year anniversary of the site (October 2nd). I may post a preview of the new design at some point just to get some reader feedback too.
Is there anything you like or dislike about the site’s current layout, design, or look? I have a long list I gave them already about things I like and don’t like about the current design, but it would be nice to hear from the readers. Leave a comment and let us know!
Thanks!
Brian
thank goodness you’re gertting professional help–i love the content of the site but the layout drives me completely insane!
the biggest ish: the site is IMPOSSIBLE to read. literally. at least in safari, all of the text except for the links disappear if my cursor is on the page. also, having everything underlined looks awful and it hard to read.
good luck!
RESPONSE: yeah – Safari is a known issue but I wasn’t too concerned since nobody uses it (ducks) :) Hopefully the redesign will fix it. For now, read the site via an RSS reader like Bloglines :)
August 29th, 2006 at 9:49 pm–Brian
I agree that it doesn’t work in Safari (of course, everybody SHOULD be using Firefox…). I think the yellow catergories is too bright and a little plain looking. I think graphics would be nice, and it would be especially neat if they were all different colors to go along with the multicolored candy theme (which I like, by the way). Show previews along the way!
RESPONSE: Yeah – I picked that yellow – trying to make it bright and chery :)
August 29th, 2006 at 10:13 pm–Brian
I think an overhaul will be great! The great content will be helped a lot by a cleaner look. For me, the area where your posts/comments are is way too narrow. I would also remove the background candy motif thing.
RESPONSE: Hmmm…that was one of the things I liked (the candy background)! :(
August 30th, 2006 at 11:47 am–Brian
No offense, but saw jtk’s samples and it looks like they are using a standard template design (which you can get free from dozens of sites) and are just changing out the graphics/repositioning the frames. Hope they do a good job for the new site though!
RESPONSE: I don’t care where he gets the templates as long as the site he delivers is good – saves me from having to do it :)
August 30th, 2006 at 1:48 pm–Brian
As for your current site- way way too busy- the site renders horribly in Firefox- your frames shrink and text merges if a user has their firefox sidebar open. But my biggest gripe is the “business” of the site- too much everywhere. Maybe drop down/expanding/rollover boxes or a way to really organize everything? Also dont like the fact that i have to deal with ads on the left bar- would have preferred the links nav bar on the right swapped with the ads bar. Other than that, content is A+!
RESPONSE: Thanks for the feedback! I use FF and I never have the sidebar open – yeah – that will squeeze it up a bit – not sure of a way around that. Unfortunately, the ads in the left must stay – they pay the bills :)
August 30th, 2006 at 1:54 pm–Brian
I like the candy back ground! As someone who found your site more recently and thus backtracked through the archives so I wouldn’t miss a bit of CandyAddict-edness I wish the archives were a little more convenient. It would be nice to have an entire month’s headlines on one page. I would pull up say April’s archive and have to backtrack to find the oldest entries first. Also it would be nice to switch the menu (yellow boxes) side and the ad side so the menus are on the left side and the ads are on the right…I guess it’s a “reading from left to right” kind of thing for me. Also the font seems to be all one size (unless my system is one of those that does wonky things to the page) so it would be nice to see some font variation in type and size. I also like the idea of drop down menus to clean up the yellow boxes…the menu column seems a bit cluttered. The yellow is definitely bright and cheery, but yellow is one of those colors that is so bright it is a bit hard on the eyes sometimes.
Hope these are helpful! I really enjoy your site!
August 30th, 2006 at 4:33 pmDon’t be sad, Brian. I think the candy background would work well if you toned down some of the other busy-ness, as other commenters have said, too. Looking forward to your new look!
August 31st, 2006 at 10:40 amI like the candy motif. I basically like the whole site. Period. I also realize that some might feel it is time for a change. I just hope it doesnt get all fancy and technical with me having to look all over the site for one specific thing. Don\’t worry I\’m sure it will be fine. I just don\’t do well with change.
RESPONSE: I\’m hoping we can make everyone happy! It will probably be a big change, but for the better!
September 1st, 2006 at 7:01 pm–Brian