What are Your Goals?

Whether you do it yourself or outsource your blog integration, the first thing you need to do is to write a program that clearly expresses:

1. the mood you wish to create, the style you aim for
2. where you wish to bring your brand (a blog is brand). I believe that you must design for the future, not the past
3. and to define your needs and the features you wish to have. Do not forget to specify the maximum width of your layout and other technical issues.

This long and hard process is crucial. While reading the comments I received about the new AHWKV look, I was proud that my readers spot my goals as something they like about the new design. It proves that we were successful. To stay focus the entire time, we considered my program over the whole design and implementation stages.

What Design Problems Do You Wish to Solve?

This is more and less a part of the mock-up step. I include it separately as people often get hooked on the problems. I have 15 years of quality software assurance to support this claim. Writing them down permit you to pass to something else.

For At Home with Kim Vallee, I wanted to solve the fact that my sidebar could not fit the Medium Rectangle ads (300×250 IMU). It was the trigger point for the new layout. But many other factors led to the fact that I switched to a 2-column layout.

Start with a Mock-Up

Illustrating your need with a mock-up is more efficient than writing everything down. You indicate what goes where. You validate and must take into account usability from a reader’s point of view.

If you are an interior designer, imagine this step as your initial space planning. You must take into account the actual size of things. Therefore, use Photoshop or a paper montage where you put what plugins and in what order do they will appear on your sidebar.

If it easy to be carried away with all the Wordpress plugins that exist. Doing this exercise, allow you to validate their purpose. I always asked myself if a plugin adds value to my readers.

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Here are my Top 5 trends. They are the ones I prefer.

1. Magazine Layout

I talked about it before: The magazine layout has invaded the blogosphere. We see the Web borrowing for the print media practices at a time where the newspapers are in crisis. I am thinking of moving to this format for At Home with Kim Vallee. I feel it will fit better my content.

2. Featured Post Carousels

This is on my must-have list for my blog revamp. I like them for my featured stories, especially when used with transparency effects. The carousel is cool because they highlight well the content. Moreover, a simple click brings your users to the story. I will tell more on how to create one once I implemented mine.

3. Letterpress

The letterpress writing is hot for logo and menu. With the revival of letterpress printing for stationery, it makes that at some times it will invade the Web. I am simply amazed that it took so long for this trend to catch up online.

4. Embellishments

I gather all embellishments together. I saw pretty grungy Web design over 2008. Ideal for the crafting world and the artists are the collage effect. I still like  the vintage/retro look, although it has been around for a while now. I guess people likes the comforting vibe they infuse. The wood background was also present on many blogs in 2008. Before you opt for any embellishments, make sure they support your branding.

5. Playing Out with the Typography

The large font trend continues. This is something that you can easily integrate in any blog.

Typography makes a huge impact on a document. Some designers experiment with new technology for font replacement but it is not full proof yet. So I will stay away until then. If you are interested by the subject, read this informative post by Mike Davidson on sIFR.

Read more trends for 2009 in the excellent Smashing magazine.

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I decided to add personality with an image. I first found a free pattern on Squidfingers. I twinkled it a little on Photoshop. I enlarged the size of the pattern and changed the color from orange to aqua blue.

A new feature in Wordpress simplifies the process. I uploaded the background image using the Media menu. I then viewed the image on my browser and opened the image property (control-click on the MAC or right-mouse button for Windows) to find the exact Image Location. Copy (Command/Control C)  it since the path is long.

Then, you open the Editor of your Theme (Apparence menu). Click on Stylesheet (style.css) to edit it. Add url(exact Image Location you copied) repeat to the background element of body.

Mine reads body { font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, ‘Lucida Grande’,  Sans-Serif; background:#e4e4e4 url(http://ontheweb.kimvallee.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/bgrnd4ontheweb.png) repeat;color: #555;    }

Save your changes and your blog should have a background that reflects your style. My blog went from this

to this in a matter of a few minutes.

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Why a Blog Revamp?

In short, my wish list for the new blog can be resumed in those terms:

• Increase the time my readers pass on my blog
• Make it easier to navigate between categories
• Migrate to a Wordpress platform
• More flexibility on ad placements while keeping as much as possible the ads separated from the content

As we worked on the blog mock-up, it became evident that I need a new logo and the color palette. We did those first and we are back working on the mock-up. I aim for a unique look. One solution can be to customize a Wordpress theme. We could tailor it to fit the look and feels I am looking for. Therefore, I am looking at Wordpress themes available on the Web.

We see more and more magazine style blogs. At first glance, the magazine style looks impressive and more polished. I particularly like the magazine themes of Woo Themes. I am leaning towards News Press or Flash News.

News Press by Woo Themes

I also like Arthemia; they have a free version. Mom2Mom Lounge started using this theme a few months ago.

Mom2Mom Lounge

The technical aspect of the implementation and the maintenance is not an issue for me. I have access to an experienced programmer (my husband). I hired a graphic designer. Plus I can discuss the new design with my mentor.

I keep current on the experience of other bloggers who made the switch. Some bloggers reported that they lost readers after they switched to the magazine style. I suspect the effectiveness of the magazine style to be linked to a blog niche and particular readership. In any case, this fact is a cause for worries. Since we can achieve my requirements with either style, the real question is: Which style my readers will like better?  I ask you to vote for your blog layout preference

My Reflections So Far

If you are not familiar with the pros and cons of the magazine style, read this excellent article by Smashing Magazine. With a target of 4 daily posts on weekdays, I feel I can reasonably fill the homepage with fresh content. Magazine style is appropriate for blogs with the several categories. At Home with Kim Vallee is split in 7 main categories surrounding entertaining and home decor.

One problem with the magazine style is that you lose the friendly feeling that comes with the traditional blog style. Some users can be confused since At Home with Kim Vallee is not a print publication. There is nothing wrong with being a blogger. My mentor told me that the key factor is credibility and credibility comes from great, unique content.

Need for Intelligent Excerpts

I hate the short excerpts of the magazine style. I used long excerpts (at least 500 characters) on At Home with Kim Vallee. I already acknowledged the needs for a shorter home page but I wish to keep it simple for my readers.

My programmer created a sophisticated excerpt function for me. As a past software designer, I am used to the benefit of intelligent automatism. The excerpt I used is dynamic; this means that if I change my text, the excerpt will automatically be updated. The program cuts after the first 500 characters but always terminated the paragraph. Since I use subtitles in my posts (better for usability and SEO), the function will add the first paragraph after the subtitle (or split before the subtitle, I cannot recall which one). I wish to migrate that function to Wordpress. I am delighted to have an easy access to a brilliant programmer.

I contemplate the option to feature my long excerpts for the first 4 posts and then, to have short excerpts like we see on the Fresh News Press Theme.

Fresh News Press

I explore only the tip of the iceberg. But so far, what do you think? Do you have a preference for At Home with Kim Vallee?

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