My wife Emily and I painted our apartment a few months back. When we got to the bedroom, we chose a pale green. “Green is a tricky color,” my mother said, and sure enough when we stared slapping it on the walls, we realized we had made a mistake.
Lesson: Never buy a color called “Impetuous.” So we tried another shade of green, which we liked…until the sun went down and our room turned into something out of Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
Wait til we put the pictures back, then it will look better. Emily gave in. The thought of re-painting was worse than living in a Fun House. And eventually, with the pictures back on the wall, it did start to feel like home.
The new site here doesn’t feel like home yet. It has that new car vibe. The technology is new, there are two new contributors, and a bunch of issues to address–the archives, the comment section, the links. It has been overwhelming. Exciting, but strange and new.
I’m amped about where we are headed. I just wanted to let you know, that I empathize with some of your reactions to the change and appreciate all of the feedback you’ve provided. It’s going to take a minute, and things will continue to be tweaked over the next couple of months, but we’re working on it, and you aren’t alone in getting used to the new digs.
Thanks for coming back.
It is what has to be among the best Yankee Blogs around. This and RAB are my the first to places I hit up when I get to work. The new site looks good, the new digs look good. Everything else will soon work itself out. By the time the season gets here, it will be a well oiled machine.
You have done a great Job Alex/Cliff, and while change is difficult, this move seems to be for the better. Internet technology is moving fast and quality blogs need to keep up. As one of the promiere baseball blogs on the Net, I'm glad to see yuz guys 'movin on up'.
While PeteAbe is an absolutely indispensible insider information source, and considering he has the (multi million dollar?) power of a NY newspaper behind him, it's terrible what a featureless site he has. People who do this for free look to improve, while a corporation that could pay for a high quality site out of lunch money change, can't be bothered. Go figure. Corporate America again at it's finest.
I wonder if you guys could add a 'Commenter Profiles' area, so we could (optionally) get info on one another. I know for a fact that theAlarmist wants drums tips from me and William wants to run his opinions by me before he posts them. A user could control who gets access to their info to keep everyone happy, as I know William will want to hide his info from me, because if he suggests getting Manny one more time, I will have to hunt him down and break his typing fingers.
Just a thought.... but as I think we have a 'close family' here, it might be nice to do something like that for our community.
Alex,
I love the color you painted the blog. Everything I have is Yankee Blue.
Alex - good to hear from ya, man! i remember your PAINting woes from earlier in the year. glad to hear you're used to it and happy about it now. congrats on the big move. it's not just us readers/commenters that have to get used to the new digs - this is your baby and so much your time and life is vested here, so youze needs to be happy, too!
cliff has been around the new place constantly taking in our feedback and affecting incredibly quick changes. you guys RULE!!!
as far as coming back -- man, you've created the BEST Yankees site on the interweb. who in their right mind wouldn't come back?! : )
[2] ooh, if you keep calling me The Alarmist, i'll never want drum tips from you!!! i would inundate your profile with how my stage name is NOT: The Alarmist or The Larmis or The Anything of the sort!!!! it's a one-word name, simply: Thelarmis. the full name is actually Thelarmis J. Younkin. i guess the "the" part in the front throws people off, but it's not like a title or something. the "the" in the beginning is pronounced, like "thu" i guess. think, "thermal". "thelarmis" period, end of!!! : )
i'm a pretty private guy, so i wouldn't do any profile. then again, it's definitely hindered my career and when i release this solo record next year, i'm gonna have to bite the bullet and put up a website and "necessary evil" myspace page. guess i can't hide forever...
so, tell me, what time signature is Cobham's Spanish Moss Suite in?! ; )
ooh, Cliff had a great comment - #6 - at dianagramr's news of the day. all about being able to link #'ered posts, bold/italicize, and what i've always wanted to be able to do on the computer - strikethrough a word. he speaks of the banter putting up a FAQ w/ directions on how to do this sorta stuff. good, 'coz dummies like me need A LOT of detailed help on this stuff!!!
i am also liking the blue coloring here and getting a bit used to seeing sidebars on both the left and right. the thinner area for authored posts sometimes makes a long essay seem longer and more daunting to read, but that's a fair trade off. i like Todd Drew's human interest stories and that they're short 'n sweet...
yeah, this preview is much nicer than at the toaster. : )
Don't sweat the new layout and the growing pains — if the content continues to be top-notch, people will keep coming back...
I was worried that someone would steal my username, but now I can see that is a mute point. Ha!
Things on the margins feel a bit crowded or claustrophobic, perhaps because the colors are so strong.
The old margins were the lighter tan color, and only the right side contained textual content.
The new page has text content in all three columns. It feels like words are coming at me from everywhere.
I know this is probably because of the ads, but the old site was able to keep everything off to one side.
I hope eventually the old layout and color scheme can be adopted here too.
I have patience, and know you guys will make the user experience as enjoyable as possible.
I agree with Taco - too many words coming at me from all sides, and Yankee blue enhances the claustrophobic effect. The old site just seemed cleaner with the beige and only one side bar.
I guess it wouldn't be so bad if you could expand the size of the middle column. I'm on a laptop (widescreen) and I have one wide column of grey, one narrow column of blue, one wide column of white, one narrow column of blue, and one wide column of grey. Those grey borders are a lot of wasted space.