Those of you who came by the site this weekend may have noticed a new look on Cranky. I tried to do it on Friday night when traffic was lower so that if it blew up in my face, I wouldn’t anger too many people. Fortunately within an hour of it launching, it was in good shape.
It’s a pretty subtle change, but I think it’s a good one. I’m hoping that you’ll take a look around and let me know what you like and what you don’t. Here are some of the bigger changes:
- The new look is cleaner overall with less clutter and clearer distinctions between areas. It’s also now grown beyond its previous 800 pixel width to about 950 pixels.
- I’ve taken a lot out of the sidebar and put key links into a navigation bar at the top to make it easier to find what you need
- The post area is now 20 pixels wider and it’s been slightly tweaked to make it easier to read
- Post categories have been moved from the bottom to the top of the post to make it easier to find related pieces
- The comment areas should be easier to read and use of avatars is encouraged
- I’ve added a directory which will grow to include all sorts of travel resources. Right now, it only has airlines, but I will add more soon. Click here to see how to get your site listed.
- I’ve added a second sidebar to accommodate more prominent advertising. I’m trying not to interfere with the content itself, but, honestly, I did want to at least make the ad positions more attractive to advertisers. If you are interested in advertising yourself, I now have more options available than before. Look here for more details.
I hope you like the changes. As I said, hit the comments below with your thoughts.
