Welcome to BittBox V2!
Ive worked long and hard to bring you the latest version of BittBox. I would have been able to launch the redesign weeks earlier if it weren’t for Internet Explorer’s refusal to conform to web standards. (thanks, Microsoft) But anyway, I normally would see no reason to post about a design change, but BittBox IS a design blog, and I realize a lot of you might want to comment on the new design. Read more about the changes and upcoming new features below.
More Features Soon!
The biggest change is obviously the move from 2 columns to 3. This gives BittBox a little room to grow.
Soon, I will be adding a “Featured Artist” section to BittBox. This section will feature a single artist from the BittBox User Showcase at Flickr once a month, with 5-10 selected artworks from that artist, along with an interview. This is a good way to give my readers exposure to all of the traffic BittBox receives. Just another way BittBox is trying to give back to the design community. Helping artists get their name out there.
It was extremely difficult for me to decide on a background image for the new design, so I’ve decided to change it once a month, if not more often.
I also have plans for many more features for your convenience, like an online contact form. Expect more updates very soon!
Please feel free to leave your feedback, and please let me know if you encounter any bugs!
looks good. organized well. easy to navigate.
but the little buttons on the top left that scrolled with the page were soooo nice :P anyway i like the design…i’ve used your tips in my design too. even if only to get me more interested in illustrator, the tips helped :) thanks\
http://www.renob.org
I’m not totally enthused with the new design. There’s SO much more visual noise on the page, which isn’t helped by the great deal of orange-coloured text. There also seem to be a ton of ads, which is a little annoying, as they’re prominently placed, and once again, orange. I liked the previous layout much better — it was clean, visually pretty quiet, and just generally better. Also, the rounded corners at the bottom left and right…aren’t. They still have this colour where there should be nothing. Sorry, don’t know how to express that. I humbly suggest a serious layout redesign and colour palette change.
Looks fantastic! I love the opacity effects in the header. Your work is brilliant!
It is a little busy, but i like it. Sherrod, ads generate revenue, which motivate bittbox to feed us more bitts :) … so they’re a good thing!
I love ads as much as the next person, and I like revenue more than the next person, but it’s the placement and scale that’s killing me. Notice right after the post title there’s a rather large set of text ads. This is what I mean by placement — it totally disrupts the reader’s flow, and can be off-putting. As for scale, have a look at the two square ads under “Sponsors.” Pretty as they may be, they’re quite hulking and the reader is forced to look at them. I know the goal of ads is to get the reader to look at, then click them, but if the site has no readers, are the poorly placed and scaled ads worth it? Just some design gum to chew on.
i dont like the extra column for ads. but i do like the new background. its definetely well done.
nice work man, I’m loving the new face of BB :D
Sorry, everyone seems to be hung up on the ads for some reason.
There are exactly the same number of ads as the previous design.
In fact, the (sponsored) ads are 40px smaller than before.
Ad revenue is what enables me to give away all of my freebies!
~Bitt
Hey, sorry to bring bad news but I am viewing on a 24″ screen and your header isn’t aligned with the body. Actually, it also looks like that on my 17″ screen
[...] BittBox gets a makeover. [...]
@elbandido
What OS and Browser are you using?
~Bitt
I like the new site, it looks nice, good work
I was gonna say something about the adverts as well but my job has already been done
good work, love the site, keep it up
.zane
Really COOL! Love the graffiti style..
Greta new version. Very good work.
I prefer it like this
well Bitt i like the new look but it’s not much different than the first version.
I really like the new design! I’ve been visiting Bittbox for like a month and I really learned a lot and i got a lot of inspiratione.
But I’ve a little comment about your site. Maybe it is helpful to make your external links open in a new page. I always get the problem not to remember where I was left on your site because I clicked on a link to another site but it opened in the original window.
Gayet güzel. Ellerine sa?l?k. Ba?ar?lar?n?z?n devam?n? dilerim.
I use Vista with my laptop and I have some problems with the font.. in the 2 columns is too big and I cannot see the words properly.. And I don’t get why the font size for the text is smaller than the font size for the comments (that is the same of the two columns)..
For the rest it’s amazing!!!
Thank You for your tips and freebies, I improved so much in my illustrator skills since I found You on the Internet!!
Awesome!
Sweet look! love it!
Hi bitbox, I really like the new header, but to be honest the dark background is a bit too much.. at least for readability.
Maybe I would also try to make your header smaller, moving the links to the right.
About your footer: I would maybe try to come back with a similar grunge texture to bring it to a visual close. Oh, and check out your rounded corners at the bottom; something is not right there colourwise.
Otherwise, nice, keep the content coming;-)
I like it. I like the header and I like the black. Orange is one of my favourite colours, so I definitely like the orange (wasn’t there a lot of orange before?)
I agree on the rounded corners on the bottom, they aren’t rounded, you can see a bit of whatever it is behind them.
I don’t even see the ads, I have ad blindness!
Nice. I like it a lot.
If any of you that have issues with the ads, why not click that little button on the top right named: Donate to PayPal or just keep quite about it.
It costs money to run sites (just in case you didn’t know)
Bittbox;
Very nice work and very clean layout.
Cheers
-C
The background image is very nice – congratulations.
I’m underwhelmed.
I Love the new look. Thanks for all the freebies, I check your site regularly. Alot of inspiration.
Thanks
Very, very cool and inspiring. Keep up the good work and cool posts. thanks
I’ve got font issues when viewing in IE 7.0 on Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600 SP2 with 1024×768 resolution. The font for your entry is small/normal where the comments and nav are large/xlarge. The size of the font means that for the nav, the bottom half of the letters are cut off. While my perception of the site is thrown by the font issue, I do think I liked the two column layout better. It was less busy. Your posts and comments are always lengthy (a good thing) which gives room for all your your links and ads to appear in column 2 without having empty space in column 1. Regardless, I’ll be back with every post. Your content outweighs your container every time.
Looks professional! nice job!
both corner images in footer are little fuzzy.
i like, looks very web 2.0 :D
it looks not to strange to the other style, but it is different enough to see what you changed.
nice work
I love the background and I like the header. I don’t find the ads to be a problem. I don’t like the font on the nav buttons (freebies, paypal) – it’s hard to read. I agree that the background image should be integrated into the footer to close the visual concept. Finally, I would have swapped the columns so that the ads are to the far right and the longer column is between the content and the ads.
I got kicked out of word press and its taken me for ever to remember my password but none the less I have arrived back into the box realm. Great work with the new look, I have no real complaints just vast amounts of compliments. I know that all the kinks will get weaned out I’ve been a visitor/commenter since the very beginning of this wonderful design “tool” Its more than just a blog for me) and can state that this site has come a long way in just a short amount of time. So congratulations bitt, keep up the great site. Also I think the whole featured artist and background change think is a smart idea. Had a buddy in college make his site have a clickable header background for his graduating site, it turned out pretty cool, its an idea you could possibly use if you can’t decide on just one.
Very nice v2 ! clap²
oh…….one more thing, where did the flickr link go?
I like the new site design – very clean. I’m a fan of the 3 column layout. I also don’t mind the ads and don’t blame you for putting them on there. You’ve got bills and bandwidth to pay.
However, I’d prefer to see a shorter ad under the title of this page. Its effective ad placement, but you’ve got a lot of loyal readers too. Maybe try to split the difference.
I’m looking forward to seeing different backgrounds throughout the year also. Good thinking.
[...] novo Bittbox para todos os fãs do site e do que ele [...]
Too much visual noise? How about: awesome.
The kick ass background in no way distracts from the text, what with the proper margins and classic white background.
Not to mention, tempting ads ;)
Looks great!
One question about the ads… how are you getting them embedded into your posts? I have looked around at a couple different widgets, but they all seem to have some sort of bug, maybe just a bug with my site, or I am not doing it correctly. Could you maybe put a post on the widgets you use and how you get your ads up there? Just a thought!
http://www.couchpocket.com
Amazing Design , Awesome background .
wow. Something went terribly wrong with my IE stylesheet. Bare with me I must wait until I get home to fix it. Thanks for all the feedback!
Bittbox
Looks great man… Nice work :)
sorry I never got round to helping you out with this, although it seems that you didn’t need my help anyway!
As always, feel free to give me a shout if you need a hand with anything else :)
I don’t like the 70dpi JPEGs
I agree actually, about the ads. Not saying they are different size from the last layout, but I didn’t like them on the last layout either. Even if they give you money to motivate you to post giveaways, they are still in lame positions. I hate scrolling through them to see your content. It seems like too much.
Aside from the ads and the third column (which crowds the layout, IMHO) I like your new layout though, it looks less web 2.0. Always a good thing. ;-)
Keep it up! :D
Love the new design, I read this blog every time it is updated! Keep up the good work!
GREAT JOB
Very Cool!
Like the new site! Dont worry about the negative comments… when you provide free content ads are necessary.
Looks fantastic! !
Killer new graphics. I really like the new look.
Very good! Wow- a breath of fresh air is here. Very good stuff. I just re did my site as well. Oh, i wanted to let you know, you have it as Graphic Design minute on your friends sidebar. It’s now Daily Photoshop Daily Tutorials.
Thanks Bitt!
I’m using Firefox on XP and your h4 text is extremely difficult for me to read. I’ve got Lucida Sans Unicode installed and, if it helps, your screenshot looks much better than what I’m actually seeing.
Hey.. I really like the new look and the blog in general, ive been subscribed for a few months now.
One thing though, the file size of the top background image. Its over 100kb and took a while to load. Not really a huge problem for me but might be when it comes to paying your hosting fees! Keep up the great work!
I love it! Keep up the great work.
i LOVE IT!
I’ve always been so fascinated with your choice of colors.
it’s quite lovely.
yea i hate trying to making my things conform with IE as well. It feels like I am forever forced to make my CSS very strange in order to make it function correctly.
to cut down on loading time, why not make the the header a series of floating divs and slice up the top image into a few parts? It will cut down on loading time.
Looks fantastic though!
-sin
The site looks great on Mac OSX on the 24inch iMac.
XP: Not so good.
In XP, the lettering on the right side has the bottoms cut off from each line. The ad’s are also too high, the black background is dark charcoal.
XP is running IE7 (using paralells on iMac)
iMac is runniing Safari 2.0.4
I love the flairs at the top of the page- adds just enough color out in the black area.
Like the design, love the header image (particularly the right half) not a fan of ads…maybe a page for “Sponsors” would calm the villagers a bit? :)
I wish web designers would revolt against IE and stop making adjustments for it. Compared to nearly every other browser it is a slow, ugly child’s toy. Until IE is compliant with web standards, NO MORE SPECIAL CODING FOR IE!
heh. It’s hot & humid where I live and it made me ranty. :)
Even if it was nicer thought, I would still loathe IE. It’s the Comic Sans of browsers. In purple, on a yellow background. Badly scaled.
Follow-up: in Firefox & Safari I’m noticing that the bottom corners of the white field each have what looks like a little bit of shading – making them look folded under a tiny bit.
Is that intentional, or an oops?
Nice work! I really like the new design, especially the header. I have no problem with the ads – they are not obtrusive at all.
I am having a couple of small rendering problems with IE 7 on XP Pro. As another commenter mentioned, the header and body don’t line up. If you like I can email you a screen shot. Just send me an email.
Hey Bittbox,
I use MacOS X with Opera 9.21.
Your site looks great, but when I resize the browser window suddenly a black filled rect as big as the header displays between the header and the body
Overall a nice new layout, but I must agree with those who have problems with the ads. The adsense kills the readers flow. And as much as it disrupts the flow I understand the need for ads in a prominent place. So…paradox.
Bottom corner problem is there in Firefox 2 on XP. Looks like they have a gray background colour in them rather than being transparent.
In my opinion the noise on the home page isn’t coming from the ads (they were always there), is the overuse of bold text everywhere. Everything is designed to grab your attention so you suffer from focus overload. Hard to know where to start. Try varying the use of bold and normal weighted text to guide the user where to look.
Hey there! I like the website! And besides, with the kind of resources and tips and links that you provide, how the site looks isn’t such a big deal. But it does look, and is easy to navigate.
To all those that complain, I hope you make some kind of donation to make up for your comments! ;o)
Using Win XP / IE 7.0 on a 24″ Dell at 1920×1200
Looks good in FireFox, except that your type looks aliased, whereas in IE7 it looks anti-aliased……..Actually, you must have done something in IE because it looks better now (but not perfect, the ‘copyright’ and ‘notify me of f/up comments’ in footer overlap.
I like the transparency on the right of the header. Connects the great background with the content.
elements of the layout look fine but in a whole it is quite unbalanced. Wrapper is too low, quite empty header, and then left column is also have a big chunk of empty white space.
I’ve made screenshot of what i see on a laptop:
http://lmn275.googlepages.com/2007-08-28_100030.jpg
you’d know what i mean.
yesterday the fonts were too big; today they show fine, did you change anything?
the site looks greate now! and about those ads, if that’s what keeps this site and the freebies running? by all means keep them, they are worth scrolling past.
I realy like the new design!! Good job, i’m following this website for over a month now! Keep up the good work!
The problems with the font size are fixed!!
It looks fantastic!!
Can you make a tutorial about the background image?
Anyway again good job!!
The new design is fabualous, i Like it. However, the two sidebars are a bit uneven. Perhaps change that a bit?
Still, nice job :)
And i forgot to say – we love you always :D
Yea, you got it fixed for the XP IE7. Looks good.
Got to like it when you ask a bunch of artists their opinions on how somethings looks… bit dangerous, but you get responses!
Glad you got rid of the wet floor look on the BB logo. :)
Keep up the awesome tips and inspiration. You rock Bit!
If you cant decide on a background, just make a bunch of your favorites and drop in a random() call on the page load for a total fresh look each refresh
This site is really cool… nice work and tips… freabies too.
I don’t know what that font is supposed to be, but it is ooooogly in Firefox on Windows XP. Very jagged edges, and hard to read. Perhaps it’s the bold typeface, because the regular version is not bad at all.
@bittmonkey
Do you mean the paragraph text or the headings?
~Bitt
I like the header look ;) seems like there is a lighting effect behind it… I use small screen monitor, and maybe u want to know that your Bittbox Freebies button borderpasses your body template. Perhaps you need to set your css lil bit.
Anyhow, congrats for your new theme. Three columns surely will have more advantage than your previous design template.. BITTBOX RULE!!!
I like the header look ;) seems like there is a lighting effect behind it… I use small screen monitor, and maybe u want to know that your Bittbox Freebies button borderpasses your body template. Perhaps you need to set your css lil bit.
Anyhow, congrats for your new theme. Three columns surely will have more advantage than your previous design template.. BITTBOX RULE!!!
What about placing adsense right before the comments starts? Just my two cents.
And thank you for the cool freebies, amazing work.
i mean the bold paragraph text that you see on the mainpage. the text you see when you link to the full article is much better, but the bold version is hard on the eyebones.
let me add a couple of points to clarify: the descenders are small, which makes character recognition hard. the typeface looks slightly stretched in the horizontal plane, the tracking is a little wide overall, which makes the words feel disjointed, and the character widths are inconsistent. notice the kerning in the “ig” character pair, e.g. additionally, italicized text is really fragmented, and the font overall has a pixelated look. none of this is present in the regular, non-bold typeface.
Nice!!! Love the new layout.
It’s a really beautiful design in my opinion, good job.
I found bittbox on Digg a couple months ago, and I remember seeing your page back then and being impressed.
I’m getting a new Mac just as soon as these new iPods comes out Wednesday (assuming student rebate applies to them too), and so I was trying to go through all my bookmarks to see what to add to my new significant other.
Once again, really impressed!
I love the new look! But it would so much cooler if you had an alternate stylesheet with less contrast (kind of like the one on phil renaud’s site)
Graphic discussion rules!
-ri
customizegfx.com