Ok, so the eagle eyed regular readers probably noticed that this actually happened in the middle of December, but it was too busy a time of year for me to fanfare about it then! I didn’t think it should pass us by being completely ignored though, so here it is; my new blog design!
The last time I gave this blog a redesign and overhaul was back in March 2016 when I decided to really shake things up a bit, and even changed the name! When I started this blog, it was originally called WickedFaerie – simply because I’d picked that word out to be my e-mail address several years earlier, and I tended to use it on message boards as my nickname. Anyway, I wanted to take this whole blogging thing a bit more seriously, and think of a name that reflected what this blog is all about, and that is how When I Grow up became my blog name. (If you’ve read the blurb at the top of the page you’ll know it’s because I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up, so this is a place where you can join me while I figure it all out and keep a bit of child-like creativity alive along the way!)
I do like the old-school blog format of simply listing blog posts in date order, usually with an accompanying photo to go with it. Some modern blogs look amazing, slick, polished and full of clever design details, but I often find them confusing to navigate and often work out what the blog is actually about! However, my blog is a typical lifestyle blog that covers several topics, and I was concerned that a new visitor to my blog would have to keep scrolling a long way to see my variety of posts and if any appeal to them. So I decided to scrap the large picture and first paragraph format, and instead give my photography a bit more of a shining light, by simply showing a thumbnail photo for each post along with the title. Chris managed to get it to show the first few lines of the blog post when you hover your mouse over it – I love this feature!
I also lost the side-bar on the main page, but have kept it when you click on any of the posts. And my list of categories and sub-categories had got a bit out of hand! So I spent all hours of a weekend re-categorising all of the posts to their new ones! Phew! I’m still amazed I managed that without going slightly bat-sh*t crazy. (Or maybe I have?!) I show you a bit more of what that involved in my December vlog if you’d like to have a watch.
Anyway, here it is. Here’s the new When I Grow Up blog design. I hope you like it! Any feedback would be appreciated. I’ve recently been advised that the titles don’t show up enough; the picture of me at the top is too big, and that I should put my instagram pictures (currently at the bottom of the page) nearer the top. What do you think?