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How's it doing?

Tuesday November 16, 2004

It seems inevitable that because I am rebuilding this site live it is going to be a bit of a blog about a blog, sorry about that. Maybe when I have finished up I can get on with the important job of littering the web with my own special kind of junk instead of talk about me, me, me and my bloody boring blog.

Interlude

Before I get to the heart of this post I want to share a little tale from the home office. If you were here when this site was all tomato'd up you may remember a post about smells, in particular a synchronized farting incident that caused me many years on anguish. Well fuck me if it hasn't happened again, only this time said farts were quite vocal about their arrival.

If you are in an in a long term relationship it will come as no shock to you to learn that it was my missus who, whilst quietly sitting at the iBook doing the books, let one rip. I have never quite come to terms with the fact that my partner farts, I am quite sure that for the first 3 years of our relationship she never passed wind, not even in her sleep. But now with all chances of me eloping with Kylie long gone (who I might add has never passed wind to my knowledge) my missus seems totally relaxed about a bit of bottom burping once in a while. Anyway, I drivel on, she let one go exactly as I did and I made my disgust clear, to which she replied: "the one difference between my farts and yours is that yours fucking stink and mine don't". Once again it confirms my theory that everyone likes the smell of their own poo postcards.

Back to the matter at hand

But that isn't what this post is about at all. What I really wanted to ask was if you as a visitor to this site could tell me how you think it's doing in terms of usability and all that. Seriously, I am not after a pat on the back or compliments; what I need is what you don't like, where you think it isn't working etc. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

  1. Hayo

    1479 days ago

    charset=utf-8 should be a header, not meta. Other then that, I like it. Like it a lot.

  2. John Oxton

    1479 days ago

    Hi Hayo,
    Can you expand a little on that?

  3. Hayo

    1479 days ago

    anne van kesteren writes about it here: http://annevankesteren.nl/archives/2004/06/utf-8

    He can probably explain it a lot better then i can :-)

    I use the php header function to make my site application/xhtml+xml and thus a ‘true’ xml application aswell. I can give you the code I use if you like.

  4. John Oxton

    1479 days ago

    Ahh right, now that is interesting though the application/xhtml+xml thing is one I am still crunching around in my head! I know where to find you though! :)

  5. Jeremy Keith

    1479 days ago

    Although my monitor’s resolution is set at 1440×900 pixels, I like to surf with my browser window at 800 pixels wide. I’m getting a horizontal scrollbar at this site.

    You’re in good company: Dunstan’s site does the same.

    Still, ever thought about a nice liquid layout? Failing that, how about bringing the fixed width down a notch or two?

    Apart from that little niggle, I love the way this blog is looking/feeling.

  6. Rob Mientjes

    1479 days ago

    The comments take up a lot of space. I have Gravatars too, and I’ve floated them so there are still some comments per scroll. Now I have to scroll a lot.

    That’s actually all. I just like this.

  7. Ed Merritt

    1479 days ago

    The navigation column can tend to merge into one. Perhaps a bit of a margin below each section would help space things out a little.

    I also agree with Rob, the comments might be over-spaced.

    Other than that I think it’s looking great.

  8. Patrick Haney

    1479 days ago

    I just discovered this site last week and I really enjoy the minimalistic design. Your header works perfectly with the amount of white space and the subtle touches here and there go a long way.

    I agree with some of the other comments here. For example, the sidebar seems a little squished together. Perhaps a bit more separation between categories would be good. The comments are also quite large. Rob’s comment about the gravatars makes sense to me.

    Otherwise I find it pretty easy to navigate, though the “Side Salad” term eluded me for about 10 seconds. I’m not sure everyone will “get” that without some sort of explanation.

  9. Andrew Hume

    1478 days ago

    Hi John,

    Just come across your site via Rich, so I’m perusing your blog.

    I love the design. The contrast between the fresh/cold whitespace and the warm color of the leaves is really effective.

    I don’t know if you are aware of this problem in Opera: The ‘Site Navigation’ bar has dropped below and to the left of the “content” div, which in turn has jumped up alongside the “pagehead”.

    Most likely you are aware (although I could pop some screenshots if you like).

    Nice to meet you (and your site), John

  10. John Oxton

    1478 days ago

    Hi Andrew,
    I think the Opera problem is due to a display:table-cell “hack” applied to try and make Safari do the min-height thing… A bug I will need to think about! :( Thanks for the heads up though! :)

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