Feedback on my blog

[Slothie]

http://blog.bluefrogx.com/

What do you think? Honest opinions please, I can take criticism

For those wordpress junkies out there, what good plugins are there to install, its been awhile since I last used wordpress and it seems like I'm rather outdated

 

[tam-iam]

I really like it. It has a very professonal look to it. You could maybe add a custom header banner or logo.

 

[Slothie]

I'm currently looking for someone who can create some Somehow I just can't create one that fits in with the theme of the site (I'm bluefrog btw )

 

[satbir]

Here are my two cents:
+ Simple
+ Sober design
+ Good colour pattern
+ Really nice icon pattern in footer - Home/RSS > Getting bigger on hovering

- Lot of space is wasted (Space is real estate, very scarce and should be utlized very optimally)
- Unsymmetrical columns > Blog column is too long and right side bar looks very odd in its compare. Because of design, it glaring stang out.
- Too many icons, nearly clutterd in bottom of each item.
- Search bar is too up, can be nearer to right side bar.
- Slogan - black on blue is not coming out as required.
Hope this helps.

 

[Slothie]

Thanks for the comments

- Lot of space is wasted (Space is real estate, very scarce and should be utlized very optimally)

Its actually optimized for lower resolutions, I have yet to figure out a way for CSS to play nice with percentages.

- Unsymmetrical columns > Blog column is too long and right side bar looks very odd in its compare. Because of design, it glaring stang out.

Its because of one long article I didn't want to use the more tag too soon on it cause I wanted people to be able to get the front page text in RSS

- Too many icons, nearly clutterd in bottom of each item.

Those are social networking bookmarks, like digg and technocrati

- Search bar is too up, can be nearer to right side bar.

Perhaps I'll add on in the sidebar as well.

- Slogan - black on blue is not coming out as required.

I'm aware of this, its a placeholder for when I actually design my header.

Hope this helps.

Yeah it did, first constructive post

 

[dyfuse]

I think the theme has a very clean, and relatively bright layout... exceptionally easy on the eyes. And I love the little hover icons at the foot of the page

No major criticisms come to mind at this point of time, but I can suggest to you some plugins that may be of help (both admin and viewer-related):
- Advanced Admin Drop Menus (http://www.stuff.yellowswordfish.com/admin-drop-down-menus/)
- Exec-PHP: Executes PHP code in posts, pages and text widgets (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exec-php/)
- Guestbook Generator: Instantly generates a guestbook for Wordpress blogs based on the active theme. (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/guestbook-generator/)
- Maintenance Mode: Adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors know your blog is down for maintenance. (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/maintenance-mode/)
- Peter's Custom Anti-Spam: Stop a lot of spambots from polluting your site by making visitors identify a custom word displayed as an image before commenting. (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/peters-custom-anti-spam-image/)
- Smarter Archives: Presents archive navigation in a unique way. (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/smarter-archives/)


I'm sure there's plenty more excellent plugins out there, but these are some that I've used before!

All-bar-one of these were pulled of the WordPress Plugins site: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

 

[Slothie]

Thanks, I think I'll take the guestbook

I'm already using akismet for the antispam and I've got a different plugin for using PHP

I'm talking a look at the Admin drop menus now

Wow, really love the admin drop menus... +1 Rep to ya XD

 

[munim]

the content is good.. and from the dates I can make out that you update it frequently.. good. keep updating your blog with the same frequency!
i don't mind the design.. looks okay... but in the tag cloud, Symbian is really huge whereas everything else is the same small size.. that doesn't look good.
why do you have testimonials in your blog? usually comments are enough.
and don't use small and big alternating caps in your blog title... its looks a bit immature and silly..
overall.. pretty good.. wouldn't mind a link exchange with my blog!

 

[Slothie]

I've got testimonials cause I'm a fulltime freelancer as well (I like clients to leave comments as references). the tags are bit screwed up now cause so far I've been blogging bout multiple topics, so the tags aren't quite sorted out yet.

@munim: What's your blog about?

 

[alfren]

wow nice layout!

 

[dyfuse]

Thanks, I think I'll take the guestbook

I'm already using akismet for the antispam and I've got a different plugin for using PHP

I'm talking a look at the Admin drop menus now

Wow, really love the admin drop menus... +1 Rep to ya XD

Hey thanks!

If I find anymore good plugins in the future, I'll make sure I let you know!

( But to tell you the truth, I haven't been keeping up with all these new plugins for a while either )

 

[Slothie]

Neither have I, I don't mean to install everything, just the ones that are actually useful...

 

[A12Alex]

to tell you the truth... I LOVE IT. it looks great it has that look to it that makes you think i should read this, it's going to be good

 

[Slothie]

Upgraded(?) to a 3 column layout

 

[rickle42]

Background looks nice. Interesting content. Cool features. Good colors.
I am using IE and moving those boxes around crashes my browser sometimes. Havent tried with firefox.
As for css percentages, maybe you could get the users resolution with javascript and set the font smaller for 800x600. I have thought of doing that sort of thing but have not gotten around to it yet. One of these days I will stop learning and find time to be innovative....

 

[Slothie]

Yeah I suppose I could set the font smaller for those in 800x600 resolution, but hey... How many of my readers have that

I haven't tried actually using anything other than IE7 to move around the boxes but that's just pure proof of concept. The boxes are unable to be moved into another column(yet) but its a nice feature to have. Eventually I'd like the entire site to movable (you place what you want, WHERE you want it )