Please review my blog Minterest's new design

Hi,

My blog's theme was obsolete and I never cared about that... But some friends suggested that I have good content but the layout needs to be changed to make it more readable.

So I finally changed my mind and decided to switch to Genesis or Thesis Framework from Colorlabs.

So.. I tweaked the site a lot and now the blog loads in 1-2 seconds, improved navigation, implemented Google Webfonts, Added more colors, etc.

So please review my blog http://www.minterest.com/ and give your feedback.

~ Minterest

 

In my opinion your blog overall is good design...
But, my inputs to your blog are:
1. Give different color to link hover in menu navigation
2. I prefer move the 'search form' to the top of sidebar
3. It's interesting to give appropriate link hover color to each social media button on sidebar.
4. Fix the content in category list, example url: http://www.minterest.com/category/internet-marketing/affiliate-marketing/. There are two blank space in the list number 3 and 4...

 

Hi,

Thanks a ton for your feedback...

Regarding the issues...

1. I wanted to give a different color for link hover in manu navigation... but had to remove it.. becuasse when i gave the hover color.. the "HOME" button color became hover color when we visit home page.. So.. needs some coding for that.. which i will try...

2. I will move the search bar to top once I add more content... coz right now... users are not using the search much... coz i dont update frequently... and i dont have loyal readership... as its not a niche blog...

3. Social media button color.. I dont think that i can do it myself... coz.. I used a plugin called Simple Social Icons and its not a part of the theme...

4. I didnt get the 4th point... Can you explain 'coz I dont see any format problem here?

Once again I appreicate your honest feedback...

 

Hello,

I have to be honest here about your design, it looks kinda old.
I would have liked to see a hover on the buttons, they look to plain as they are right now.
I also have the feeling that there's not too much design, a lot of things can be improved, HOWEVER, at the moment is really easy to read the articles. It's REALLY easy to understand which makes me feel that the design is not the best, but the content is really well displayed.

 

Great! Yeah, I am working on HOVER issue. And regarding design.. why do you feel that its kind of old? Any tips to tweak it?

And btw.. am happy that content is displayed well now.. coz that was my primary goal as people told me earlier that my content was not readable..

 

Well it looks old because of the colors, I'd use something more fresh, maybe another type of blue. That blue isn't the best blue from the palette.
Another thing, the social media icons, I like the minimalism of those, but again, I'm not really feeling that blue. They are also really big, and the corners are TOO rounded imo.

For the background I'd try something like a good color with a pattern or something, the current background's color is really boring, looks like the old colors from Windows, definitely I'd use a different background. If you change that background, you may improve the design itself without changing anything else.

Hope you understand what I mean

 

Hi,

Yeah, I got it.... I think I will find a designer to help me choose better colors...

Thanks for the feedback.

 

The good
The name is a KILLER!

Content was solid

You have avoided the cliche of making it derivative of Pinterest and made it a site in its own right - well done!

It was easy to read and looked good on PC and iPad

Reviews were well laid out

The not-so-good
Honestly I wasn't so worried about the colours as much as I would have liked a change on mouse-over. I'm not looking as a designer, I'm looking as a potential user of the site and found it distracting to not know if I was on the correct link in the drop-downs. I imagine this is a simple CSS fix

Try wrapping the header graphics so they feel integrated with the content instead of tacked on at the top.

Try wrapping content around the ads too - it was distracting the way it was laid out - then a big break in the content and back to the content again.

Good luck, I'll be watching you

 

Hi,

Thanks for that... By the way.. The name "Minterest" is not a derivative of Pinterest... My blog is almost 7 years old and Pinterest is just 3 year old.

And yeah, I will fix the HOVER issue soon.. I have already asked for help on the theme support forum...

And regarding the ads...

To not break content then I think I will have to place an ad unit above the first para itself.. or else have to stick with one ad unit per page (apart from header banner).

Right now.. am not showing too much ads.. its limted to 3 per page without any annoying sidebar banners or forced social media popups.

Can you please be specific about ad placement as am a bit confused?

Thanks!

 

Haha I didn't say the name was a derivative
I was loosely referring to the fact that as you are relaunching, that your avoidance of derivation you got a thumbs-up
(I was expecting to see a site with the Pinterest style layout or something Pinteresty and it was a pleasant surprise to see that's not the case )

Re: Ads; I was very specific, actually
I said wrap the ads in the text - i.e. make them feel part of the site.

No idea where the topic of popups came from

Cheers

 

Oh no.. I didnt mean that you said popups or like that.. i was just telling that... the site is free from ugly sidebar banner ads or social media popups.. regarding ads... need to tweak its alignment i think...

I believed that teh ads was almost integrated with content.. anyways let me ask few more people and get their feedback about ads.

And hey.. I have another Minterest too here http://minterest.co/ (it's a Tumblr style WordPress blog) do check and give your feedback.

And do let me know if you need any help from me..

Thanks!

 

Agree, Minterest is a good and nice design..
I just post on review subforum, that if you have a good content then you need a nice layout (as you said, readable)..
I believe you do some marketing till got a PR 3..

congrats for your new layout..

 

Thanks for that!

And yeah, I got a PR3 naturally sometime back.. I used to build some links some 3-4 years back.. and then stopped all those things.. now all I do is organically building links.. like I posted here.... and on other forums, scoial media, etc.

 

Okay guys, I added HOVER colors to navigation. Check out http://www.minterest.com/

 

Looks great, you should add hover to the search button and the page counter on the bottom

 

Alirght.. Will try...

And regarding the blue you said... are you suree that the background blue you're seeing is this http://www.minterest.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/blue-bg.png ?

 

Yes, that background is not the best for the design imo... but it's just my opinion, if more people keep telling you that the background is not the best you may consider to change it

 

Alright. But tell me which looks good? A darkish background or another light one like the current one...?

 

And I've done that... )

Check out Search button and the page navigation at bottom here http://www.minterest.com/ and also the REPLY and POST COMMENT button here http://www.minterest.com/how-much-traffic-do-you-need-to-make-money/

 

I'd definitely go for a darkish background, why don't you try the following color?
#2e3539

You don't lose anything by trying

I don't see any hover on those buttons :/