20060402

yay or nay?

old template or new template? discuss.

update 04.02.06: okay, a not-a-lot-but-still-obnoxious amount of spammed comments have come in, which only confirms my dependence to word verification commenting. had to change the template to something which would allow this; i think it still maintains a lot of the cleanliness and whiteness (sorry, tg!) that i'm looking for.

still working on a masthead.

33 comments:

Not sure - I like the look, but I need to adjust to stuff being on the right. Also the comments are a little disconcerting - what are those strings in the name and website fields?

ooh. you have strings? i don't have strings.

Hrrumph! My comment was eaten - maybe because I checked remember me?

Anyway, I was saying... I like the look, but need to adjust to stuff being on the right. Also the comments are a little funny (though the problem goes away after you're remembered) - there is a long string that appears in both the name and website fields.

Oops - guess there's a little delay. Yes - if you look at Rabbit's first comment on the earlier post, you'll see the string.

string of numbers? yarn? lines? hm. i'll have to find a pc to see what's up. yeah, i'm not thrilled with this comments system, but maybe i can do a mash up of the two templates. i'm not used to having everything on the right hand side, either. it just looks wrong to me, for me.

ooh. that's not good.

Sorry if this is reposted. I did't noticed that I had to input my name because of the odd characters just chillin' in the input box. Anyway, I like it. It has a lot of the same features as a wordpress template. Great job!

hi toni! not my doing. i got it from blogger templates. i love the design, theoretically. on others. really not loving the comments problems though. do you know of anyone who can help me with this?

Everything looks fab to me! No strings or whatev. I think it is cute. :D

It's clean and crisp! I miss the hibiscus though.

hi, new reader..just popping in to say that i like the new design. take care :)

Hey Santos, I took a look at your code and it could be that javascript could be pulling hex codes, probably from your style sheet. Try removing the styling for the comments area and see if that fixes it. If so, just see if you can debug your styling for the comments area. I hope that helps.

I preferred the old template.

the banner at the top in its current iteration is high-larious. there's definitely a lot of white space. but i admire you immensely for initiating a new design. (a coupla my fave blogs all did same this wk; did i miss the memo??) i do miss the old deal, but i think that probably has more to do w/ the terrifying specter of change, and getting adjusted to it. (and p.s., i've tried to leave comments twice but they've gotten eaten. no complainin', just fyi-in')

i like this one. except i want to see some bananas.

im having fun trying to transfer my blog over to wordpress (actually much easier with an easy import tool now and help of a fellow food blogger) and now playing with the template.

weird. not seeing names on the main page. crap.

Hi Santos! Throwing my 2 cents in. It's very..clean? I definately agree that you should have more of an island feel to it! Hibiscus, bananas - maybe even carmen miranda's headgear? Although your fan-tabulous food pics convey a true sense of 'island-ness' already. I say anything goes as long the content is there! Packaging only counts for food stuffs like laughing cow cheese...

The new appearance? Can you judge a banana by looking at it's peel?

Oh apparently you can. Never mind.

oh honey i'm down w/ the white space - and i see you've improved the comments situation, too (not to mention the banner etc). you're also cool to post an entry soliciting input from your fans. keep up the good work! (and p.s. i gave in to the word verification deal as well - i was getting pelted. it feels weird at first, duzn't it? my word verification today?: snkico)

ah tg, after all this fussing, i'm beginning to love the old template more and more. i'm not sure the photos are properly showcased.

eh. whatevs. i'll probably change it back to the old one next year, when it will seem new again.

Love the new layout..!

hi mamabok, haven't heard from you in awhile, hope you and familybok are well. i'll add your vote to the 'marked approved' column!

Okay I love it now!!! :)

i added the flower for you! (i'll swap it out with others on a regular basis)

i like new!

Oh my gosh! I hardly recognized you. I love the new look. Nice and clean.

hi yoony! thanks for your vote of confidence. it's still got some tweaking to be done on it, but i rather like it.

hi jennifer, it's quite clean, isn't it? i rather like that myself. although, i really do prefer all the stuffies on the side to be on the left. i have no idea how to do that, so i guess i'll just fiddle a bit with it some time.

i like the "clean-ness" of the look ;P white space is in! ... but really, santos, i want the hibiscus back! and are those bananas up there? i feel a little lost ... waaahhh ...

Hafa Adai Santos,

Your old banner was really nice. Your new banner in its current state looks like the banana leaves don't want anything to do with the title. Each is very nice on its own, the leaves look funky, the title is still wonderful, but they look like two separate entities - there is no cohesiveness. Maybe reducing the size of the banana leaves might help. Good Luck.

Guahan Angel

hi aloi--that is a hibiscus, well at least from the hibiscus family. i'll swap out the flowers on a regular basis, so maybe another flower you'll like will come up!

hi guahan angel--i didn't have a banner on the previous template, do you mean the standard blogger banner from the very first incarnation? the banner definitely needs work, i agree. those aren't banana leaves, but there probably won't ever be banana leaves, bananas, or noses for that matter :) i don't take the name of the blog literally, and i don't plan on taking it literally either. however, i do think it needs to be more regionalized, if not outright localized.

thanks for the critique! it was very helpful.

>i don't take the name of the blog literally, and i don't plan on taking it literally either.

whoops, i meant "i don't take the name of the blog literally, and i don't plan on taking it figuratively either." sorry!

Hi Santos. No apologies needed. Yes, I meant the standard blogger template.
Ah...not banana leaves...sorta looks like banana leaves torn into strips :-). On another note, you could pick up this chartreuse hue in the leaves and carry it a bit further. It's a "cool" color and will aid in achieving "white space" if not cluttered otherwise. You could always throw in some "stressed" calamansies. What exactly is it you are looking for or want to express? Cheerio.