BittBox V4 Launched!
I’ve needed to re-design the Box for a while now and I finally buckled down and got it done. It’s not perfect by any means, but I think it’s a huge improvement from V3. I still have some work to do, but I was happy enough with the theme to go live. I’ve had a few problems with the comment form, which I plan on fixing, as well as a new “About page” and a few other additions that you might notice in the near future. More after the jump.
I hope everyone likes the new design. I put a ton of work into it and I’m pretty happy with the outcome. The main thing I think everyone will like is the big Google ad is no longer at the top of any of the single post pages, woohoo! I don’t sell anything here on BittBox, but I’m going to bite-the-bullet and get rid of that big ad (my best performing Google ad), not only because my readers don’t like it, but I don’t either.
What’s new in BBv4? – Here’s a quick overview:
- No Google ad at the top of posts.
- Cleaner, (hopefully) easier to use design.
- Gravatars now display in Comments
- Better search feature. (wordpress default search kinda blows, now using Google)
- Tag Cloud Browsing (*note, I haven’t tagged everything yet)
- Twitter updates :) In the Sidebar
- Added Most Popular content in the sidebar.
- Footer Navigation
- No Google ad at the top of posts. ha ;)
I’m also working on an ‘FAQ’ and ‘About’ page for everyone. I’m hoping the FAQ will save me a few emails, and I think it’s time I came out of my shell and went un-anonymous. I’m just glad that I got the new theme up and running. Please feel free to let me know if there are any issues with the new theme by using my contact form. Otherwise, feel free to leave your feedback in the comments!
Congratulations!
The older one was good, but this is cleaner and neat.
Nice idea to remove google ads from posts.
Cheers!
Nice redesign, i like it. More useful, well arranged.
I sure got used to the old grungy look, but I can see that this is more user-friendly. It really is a great re-design! way to go bitt!
A change is as good as a holiday… and I’m liking this holiday!i
so similar to WP! same “fresh” color…
Better, way better than the previous one. I love things that are clean and direct.
I’m only dubious about the all caps of the post titles. I’ve would stick to title case and maybe add more space between a post and another on the home page.
Good stuff, although the ads on the right hand side are really messed up in FF 3
Hmmm. I loved the grungy template! This is more userfriendly, but we could use some more artwork :)
The sponsors’ image ads do not display well in FF3.
@Albert,
Are you on a PC or Mac?
~Bitt
nice! clean and simple. but as others said – i would work on the top banner where the logo is – some very fancy graphics in that 100px height bar would really make a cherry on a cake :) anyway – good job!
I’ve been Bittboxer for a little while now, and I instantly fell in love with the old theme when I stumbled across it. It was all so… great!
To be totally honest, I feel the new theme is a bit plain and empty, even if it is more user-friendly. (I didn’t have any trouble navigating the old site).
Any chance you could fancy up this theme a bit? We all loved the grungy bittbox. :)
I like the new design, very fresh with some nice little touches such as the icons.
Looking forwards to the future posts.
Wow, so much different :) congrats!
I like both of them. Both have their own style. This is more organized and user friendly. The previous one can consider easier to recognize :)
Anyway, congrats! I think I need to redesign my site soon :) What do you think?
NOOOOOOOOO!!!! I prefer the old version design…it was more personal!!!!
Very cool and clean design!congratulations!!!
Awesome! Looks effin’ great mate :) Congrats on the relaunch!
As ever, feel free to shout me on Skype if WordPress is being a dick about anything ;)
Hmmm, your right hand sidebar is messed up in Firefox 3, tut tut…
Much better and very clean, congratulation !
William, are you on Mac or PC? Also, would be handy if you said what is messed up about it, rather than just the fact that it is :)
I’m on Win Firefox 3 and it looks fine to me, although this isn’t the first Firefox bug report.. Strange..
Looks clean and sweeeeeet on a Linux box too … FYI
I really like the new design :D
Congratulations! It certainly looks good… so much like WordPress… clean and fresh! :)
i’m in ff3 on a pc and it looks fine to me… must be mac ff3 users who are experiencing trouble?
anyway, i like a cleaner look, personally… grungy sites are great for personal use, but i think the more professional sites look better without it. (however, i wouldn’t be against seeing a ‘bitt’ more personalization here…)
nice work! i know how hard it is to do a re-design, as my site just went through one, and it is way less involved than this one!
I am on a mac using FF3 and it looks perfect. Great job on the redesign. Really clean and usable interface.
I’m on a mac using FF3, and the Sponsors images are messed up. Here’s a screen cap of the area: http://www.monogodo.com/images/jpegs/bittboxsponsors.jpg
Bitt, I think I know what the problem is.. Shout me on Skype if you haven’t caught it already :)
Thanks for that monogodo!
Honestly, I hated when people told me this, but I liked the old design much better. It definitely had more personality. The first thing I thought when I saw this was ‘Smashing Magazine’ .
Whatever was done, it’s fixed now. Looks Great!
Got it.. Don’t worry about it guys.. The old ads were 160×160, the new ones are 125×125.. Your browser was showing the old version it had cached.. Refresh a couple times and you should be good :)
Gotta miss the grunge. but this one on pretty neat. Can’t wait for more of your stuff.
I simply feel this is too plain. if I was websurfing looking for tuts, resources, etc I’d be much less likely to give this theme a second glance than the old one (which got my attention instantly!)
Clean. Very Clean. The Grunge will be missed, but as a trend it may has assimilated into the web far enough to make the change. Clean/simple is the new black.
Nice and clean, but oh so typical. What I liked about the old site was that it was different; stood out from the crowd. Now, you’re sort of blending in with everyone else. I prefer the old design.
Clean lines. Slick interface. Gotta love it. There were a few things that I liked about the previous version, though. Mainly that it had a more personal feel to it. It’s not the theme, but the content that keeps me coming back.
L’ancien site était graphiquement plus intéressant, moins commun. J’aimerais bien retrouver la personnalité de l’ancien design :)
Cleaner, but I like the old template better! I’m not a fan of change.
Your sponsors are kind of piled on top of each other in FireFox 3, on PC.
Wow bitt. great job. Like the clean look and feel. I’d say it’s an improvement. Nice work!
J.Gardner.
Yeah…your ads are messed up in FF3 on Mac.
Nice improvement, really like your blog and resources you collect!
Nice work, and I love the Categories section – Very good!
I like the layout of this one, it seems a lot cleaner in terms of navigation and such. However I do miss the grunge elements from your old header, this new header seems somehow… default.
I’m on Safari 3.1.2 on a Mac and the sponsor logos are off for me as well.
For all of you people with Firefox 3 issues. Update your browser.
This theme is better than previous.
Good choice!
I agree with some of the posters, that for a design site is very um… minimalist. Yes it is clean and you can breathe well, but I loved the old site – I felt that I should read on and learn your tricks because I had automatic respect for you after seeing your design. I am glad that you are done with the re-design as I know how that can be – but try to snazz a little here and there. Keep it up bitt.
Great use of whitespace to keep everything organized. I like the color palette you’ve used for different links; they contrast well with the grey body text, and after using the site a bit, it becomes second-nature which color links to what.
What plugin are you using for your Flickr display in the right sidebar?
Looks great!
hmmm,
sorry don’t like it, previous design was better, this one looks more like a standard template…
Yeah I agree with what seems to be the minority. This new look is great because it’s clean, but it sooooo standard. I’m all for change, but there is nothing exciting about this layout and definitely nothing that suggests this site is related to art and design.
Maybe give the header a bit more of an organic look. I also personally think blue is too I.T. What about more earthy tones?
I also think you should set up a poll to see what peoples thoughts are overall on the new look.
Lastly I think your titles should be Title Case and no underline… IMO.
I hope that didn’t hurt too much, I totally understand how much effort you have put in to the new design and certainly don’t want to seem disrespectful. Keep up the good work Bitt!
Woah! I love the new site. Nice work.
All the icons are great.
And the white is much easier to look at.
Great job!
I’ll miss the old woody look, this one looks so bland…
This redesign is refreshing and stunning.
I have been reading BB for quite some time and I love the content, but the new design looks like my mom’s blog.
I am all for changes from time to time, but where is the art and the character. I will say big plus on losing the google ad stuff, but the white burns my eyes.
Keep the content coming, I will continue reading.
Congrats! but for me the first one is the best, its more unique, this one is like general blog design
I don’t know why but the images doesn’t appear in RSS page.
Beautiful new version !
Congrats on the redesign! i really liked the old one but I do agree, this is much cleaner. Hurray for the end of the giant google ad!
er, this might sound stupid but what’s twitter?
…I like the fact it is clean and direct, but I think it’s tooo much plain for my taste…some swirly curls in the corners?
MAtt
I’m a big fan of the bitts that flow my way on the RSS. Also a big fan of the tutorials, the interesting links you share, and the occasional freebies. As to the redesig, you have to go with your soul, bitt, and if it is saying tidy and no clutter, then so it is. I am thinking that your soul might have a bitt more going on than just tidy, though? I could go for some texture somewhere. Not that I am suggesting you should contradict your soul!
Thanks for all your help and bitts. Love them.
Really good job! The theme is clean and easy to browse. I love the small icons associated with the categories etc.
Nice!
Hi.
Your page is really really beautiful!!
In my opinion you run the best private psp/design blog!
Keep it up =)
Con el nuevo diseño el blog deja de mostrar tu lado personal y demuestra por fin en lo que se ha convertido: el blog de diseño mas influyente de toooda la red.
Muy funcional todo.
Gracias.
Congrats on the re-design; it’s obvious you put a lot of thought into it. Here is my constructive criticism:
1. The site in its current incarnation is too text heavy. This is supposed to be a creative person’s blog, but it doesn’t look it. Something “bittbox-y” that reflects your personal style should be added to the banner and footer.
2. The second and third columns — although nicely organized — seem crowded, smoooshed together, and again, too text heavy. The middle column especially seems crammed into too tight of a space. And because the type is the same weight as the articles, it is competing for attention. This is tiring to the eyes.
3. That one lone animated ad for Splat Print is really annoying; especially in the context of this blog’s new, cleaner look. The ad should either be static, like the others, or the animation slowed down to a less irritating speed.
4. I think the graphics that accompany your posts should be much larger, but that might just be my personal preference. When I’m on a creative blog, I like to see lots of big, juicy images. It’s a refreshing change from all of the other blogs I read.
5. Someone already mentioned that the new style resembles Smashing Magazine — I totally agree. They have pretty much co-opted these colors on a white background, so unless you want to look like an unoriginal copycat — which we all know is not true, your content and talent speaks for itself — you should probably change that. Personally, I’m sick to death of white themes.
6. “Bittbox User Designs” should have a graphic or a flickr feed box highlighting some of the best images from the group.
7. The login/register link still displays a graphic with the old grunge style. I don’t dislike it, but it seems slightly out of place now.
8. For the users that prefer a darker theme, perhaps you could allow them to choose, like chromasia does (Hover over the current image or the title bar, next to the word “new”, click on “b” or “w” to change the theme from black to white or vice versa):
http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/archives/0806061030.php
Overall, I think this is a successful redesign if what you were trying to achieve is a new, cleaner look, but, imho you have sacrificed your blog’s personality. The content of your posts will have to be really unique to make you stand out from the crowd and keep visitors coming back.
Best wishes.
I actually like the older one because of the theme it had which was very rugged. All the same though this looks good too in terms of being neat and easy to view the latest posts :). Keep it coming man.
Ok I’ve been lurking for a long time but I had to say something about this. I like the new design but honestly your old design was my #1 favorite website design on the web. You must go back!
Very sleek new design. Love the light theme rather than the previous, much darker version. Keep up the great work, we need more resources :)
I still have tho opinion, that the original website design was the best one yet. It made bittbox special and unique.
Now you look like a copy to smashingmagazine. The typical orange color scheme is completely lost.
:..(
Very nice redesign, i like it.
Good choice for the icons.
Periodically i check up on the list of blogs bookmarked and Bittbox was a straight forward design blog that was focused on the content. The focus is shifting to make the maximum dollar. My eye starts at the top of the page and doesn’t know where to go, content gets lost with the plethora of ads and archive lists. It shows you work hard on this blog, just don’t steer to be corporate.
@Dallas Web Designer,
I don’t think I’ve ever chimed in to respond to a bully comment, but you’re completely wrong.
I took away my best performing Google ad, and reduced the size of all the other ads. And I don’t make money from the archives. That’s for people to use.
Jay
I apologize if my demeanor was outspoken. Archive are obviously not money makers, i just liked to see your creativity in your design as well as your posting. Your doing a great job once again apologies for being straight forward.
A big improvement, Jay. Excellent job, and great to finally ‘meet’ you (if that’s applicable). ;)
I don’t know dude, I do like the fresh look and all, but then again, its just like all the other ‘facebook type’ of websites, clean, lined up, minimum images, organised but lacking personality.