My new blog has been up for over 24 hours now, and the verdict is in!
Visitors to this site overwhelmingly approve of the look and feel of the new JoelComm.com.
In fact, many people are asking me questions as they want to know how I put this new site together.
Well, I've got nothing to hide and I will tell all...
First of all, you need to know that my blog is built upon the Movable Type platform. I've been using MT since Summer 2003 and am very pleased with its publishing power.
I had no plans on converting the blog to a different format, so I knew that whatever we came up with it had to be plugged into MT.
So, with that in mind, I contacted two of the most talented, young designers I have had the pleasure to know... Robert Secades and Daniel Arzuaga of Graphic Mavericks.
I showed them my old design and asked them to create something fresh... new... professional, yet stylish with a Web 2.0 feel.
And they delivered!
As Robert and Daniel designed the new look, they built it around a Wordpress Premium News Theme which they had purchased.
You'll notice that my site is simply a plug and play design based on the referenced theme.
However, the theme is made for Wordpress, and I am using Movable Type.
So my in-house developer was able to take the HTML designed for Wordpress and customize it to work with my blog platform. He did a great job, didn't he?
So there you have it.
There's no real secret sauce.
The secret to a great design is to hire out your graphics, find a template that works for you and combine the two.
If you are looking for top-notch design work, I highly recommend Robert and Daniel from Graphic Mavericks. Be sure to tell them I sent you!
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
February 14, 2008 11:11 PM
I hope the new site makes it easier for people to comment, and interact, something that the older website Lacked.
February 15, 2008 12:26 AM
Hey Joel,
I think your blog looks great... a lot better than previous version in my opinion. I was pretty sure it was MT, after poking around on the site a while.
I noticed there were a couple of comments about the time it was taking the new blog to load for some users in the post "New Blog Design". I think what surprised me was that these comments were coming from people with DSL/Cable modem connections.
There is a tool I use in Firefox, that may help you or Robert/Daniel or your in-house developer to narrow down some of the speed issues, if there are indeed any that need to be resolved. That free tool can be found here: Yslow
MT also has a Cache plugin like WordPress that you might want to look into as well. Lastly, since it looks like your using Apache 2.0, you might look into "mod_deflate" as an alternative to Apache 1.3's Gzip.
For your blog readers that use WordPress, which is what I currently use, I might eventually write up a post on my blog about various ways to speed up WordPress. I'm just about done with a couple of large scale websites I'm getting ready to launch that I've been developing for quite some time, so as time allows, I'll put the WordPress info on my blog... for anyone thats interested.
Out of curiosity, any plans on integrating Google's Video Units into this blog or any of your other sites? Okies, well I've rambled on long enough... and its getting late... so I'm gonna wrap this up.
Keep up the great work Joel and I'll cya around.
Jason Counts
JasonCounts.Com
February 15, 2008 02:00 AM
So that would be a yes :) Good stuff
February 15, 2008 07:45 AM
Hey Joel,
Your blog looks great and I will be getting hold of Robert and Daniel to tweak out my new blog.
Joel I lost your card but have been meaning to get in touch to ask if you want to contribute your commentary about using adsense to monetize a blog/website in a viral report I have written. Please use the address submitted here to get in touch.
I am speaking at Affiliate Summit, if you are there would love to treat you to lunch one day :- )
Colin
February 15, 2008 07:48 AM
Would be great if you could turn this type of blog development into a course! Looking good!
February 15, 2008 08:01 AM
Hey Joel, looks nice! and I like it :) and especially your new banner! I am going to use your adsense secrets and build my virtual empire!
February 15, 2008 09:25 AM
Great new layout.. infact, I was looking at the exact premium news layout for a few of my blogs that were more newletter driven(http://www.inflix.com).
In any event, I like this one MUCH better... the only thing about this design is it isn't optimized for Adsense on the main page..
February 15, 2008 10:12 AM
Great Blog Joel, I would like to get that template, is it in the cards?
February 15, 2008 10:54 AM
What I like most, Joel, was the way your name just jumps right off the page! Way Cool,dude. You're an inspiraion to many. Keep on doin' it.
February 15, 2008 11:09 AM
Hey Joel!
I noticed the siwtch late in the day a couple days ago when I was showing Carrie something on your blog. It really blew me away to see the radical shift in the layout.
I LIKE IT!
I, too, am a BIG fan of Movable Type. Have considered switching to Wordpress on a couple of occasions, but just love the ability to publish to multiple sites from within one installation of the CMS.
A big thanks to our friend Dave Taylor for introducing me to the software. (Did he introduce you too?)
For the people who are looking to have it installed, if you have a programming background, you can install it. Otherwise, you can pay someone $50 on Elance and they will install it for you.
Great look Joel!
Jonathan
February 15, 2008 11:15 AM
Thanks for the great feedback everyone!
February 15, 2008 12:38 PM
Will we have a course from you om "how to create effective blog sites " soon :)
February 17, 2008 10:03 PM
I love your new blog Joel...I am always learning from you...as one of your JVAdsense Community. I rely on your judgement and talent at finding the best I am going to look into every one of your suggestions...as I am new and very frustrated with what is out there...it is like shooting in to the dark....you have shed some light on things for me.
Thanks! God Bless!