Feedback on the new look

Thought it was about time I changed the appearance of the blog to try and freshen it up a bit and am trying the Museum theme, previously the Untitled theme was used.

Be interested to know what you all think of the change.

I settled on the Museum theme as it is free and seemed quite good for a largely image based blog. However, there are a few things that I am finding that I don’t like:

  1. It stretches the images on the home portfolio of posts page, notably vertical images
  2. While there are likes for posts, there are no likes for pages, comments only
  3. No sidebar or top widget areas, all widgets have to be at the bottom – for search and follow boxes I think this is quite a let down.
  4. In practise a featured image is required for each post for the front portfolio page, but this then means this same image appears above the main content of the post. I don’t always want this.

On balance I think the theme is less likely to encourage interaction with a viewer and it seems to have relatively few options in the ‘free’ version. Will give it a few weeks, but think I will return to the good old Untitled Theme. Of course you are the people that count, so what are your views? Any suggestions?

 As for the image that I have used as the ‘featured image’ of this post, this is just one pulled from the archives and taken in West Cork.

31 thoughts on “Feedback on the new look”

      1. Hmm, I need to get used to doing that… On the mobile though, it’s a bit more fiddly. And that’s where I seem to do most of my reading lately…

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      2. On a separate note, actually I think the new look looks great. It’s just a pity there is no side widget area and that you *have* to use the featured image. I’ve been playing around with other themes for my own blog but can’t quite find the kind of thing I want.

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  6. I’ve been considering a switch to Museum but haven’t made it official yet, now I may wait thanks to your feedback here. I want to make a change from Ubud and it’s lack of side widgets but really like a grid style home page. The hardest thing seems to be finding a theme that has this feature without oddly cropped or stretched featured images… I’m looking forward to seeing which way you decide to go. 🙂

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    1. Thanks RMW, I think we have a pretty clear conclusion here. I think if there is zero interaction and not user friendly ion terms of use then it does not work as a blog. Comments appreciated, MM 🍀

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    1. The dog is having another walk, this tome with the wife. He is flying it, but may not be so happy when we leave him behind to head off to Scotland – even though he will be out in the country with people he knows…..Thank you for the feedback Dannie, really appreciated. MM / John 🍀

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  11. As mentioned on your previous post, It has a clean, spare look to it. Makes your image pop, though. We’re so used to seeing sidebars that this one looks very empty. Well of course it looks empty, it IS empty! 😉 You know what I mean…
    If it stretches out your images though, I would think that would be a caveat…

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    1. Thanks Dale, appreciated – I think the lack of top and side bar is a negative as everything gets shoved down to the bottom and not everyone will want to scroll all the way down there. I agree that stretching is a big no. As it stands It looks like the Untitled theme may make a comeback…….Hope all is well in Canada, MM 💚

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      1. Always, my friend! I officially launched my Mary Kay Cosmetics career last night with about 14 ladies. I don’t know what was more successful, the bites I served or the presentation! 😉

        I needed to get out into the world and, much as I love cooking, it is a tad too solitary for my personality. The thought of returning to a 9-5 office job makes me gag so… I figured I’d try my hand at this!

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  12. I like the picture in the header, especially that it is black and white and stands out against the background. I am so new to this blogging experience that I am not qualified to respond other than I have found it frustrating when visiting blogs and being unable to find comment box. I am interested to read other responses on this matter.

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    1. Thanks for your feedback, the black and white image is just the one I used for this post so that will change. Comments below are echoing my thoughts on the navigation and that a sidebar is useful for widgets. I think not having a top or a side widget area is a big negative – one has to scroll all the way to the bottom to see the widgets. Hopefully you will gain something from this post too Ms Trautz, 😎

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