new year, new bloglooks

by D.O.

[Seeing this in an RSS reader? Mix it up and click on through. It'll make more sense]

Depending on when you jumped on the proverbial party bus that is online diary for the masses, it may have looked a number of different ways. Some of you, upon your first visit to these parts, were greeted by a brick wall with photoshopped spray paint welcoming you to the blog that none of your friends were talking about. Others of you found a blue floraly mix, others still a earth-toned canvassy combo, and some of you (precious souls that you are) have been around from the beginning, with the plain ol’ tan-and-brown Reese’s peanut butter theme.

As you’ve no doubt noticed by now, the layout in which you’re currently reading these words is different from any you’ve seen before (unless you’re still in your reader, in which case I need you to man up and click through). What you’re looking at is the new, simplified odfm. It includes such breathtaking features as:

  • No support for Internet Explorer 6 – this may seem like a lack of a feature, but in my endless effort to get people to upgrade to more appropriate and capable web browsers, I saw it fit to cease support for the lousiest browser of them all. If you’re using IE6, you’ll still see all the content, only without the styling. Not sure if you’re using IE6 or not? Do you see a red banner at the top of the page poking fun at you? Well do yourself a favor and upgrade. Get Firefox, Chrome, Opera, or Safari. Please.
  • Single column design; New “archives” page – for the sake of simplicity, I’ve tossed the sidebar which housed my links and archives, and in its place created an archives page. And until I get it looking how I want it to (which may be never) I’ll not tell you about the links page…
  • Revised “about” page – It stood to reason that a new, elegant website deserved a new, elegant about page. So I gave it one.
  • Classy splash page – Honestly, it might even be sexy. I was just afraid to make the word “sexy” be bold on my classy site.

And as if those weren’t enough, there are a few things that are still to come, including a bad-to-the-bone header image, and an even badder-to-the-bone photography portfolio.

So there you have it. The new odfm. I’m willing to bet your friends will continue to not talk about it, but I didn’t do this for your friends. I did it for you. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. The new layout has one of those too, after all.