Design Note

I’m pretty much done fiddling with the design of the Whatever for a while, so I hope you like the new design, which is clearly inspired by the artwork and color palette of Old Man’s War. I had liked the previous design quite a bit, but eventually the gray design got to me — I think it was it being winter and all. The new color scheme is a bit more colorful, although hopefully without being obnoxiously so. However, love it or hate it, you’re stuck with it for at least several months, because doing design work is a pain.

Have a great weekend — I’ll see you Monday.

18 Comments on “Design Note”

  1. I actually like it better than the old one, because if I happen to click over with images on, at least I don’t get wavy designs behind the text itself, which is a pain to read.

  2. EEEIEIIIIEE!!! My eyes! My eyes!

    Actually, I like it. :-) The background just caught me by surprise when it flash-filled the screen, before the overlay filled in and toned it down a bit. Whew. That was not what I was expecting at aaaallll.

  3. I like it. Of course, now visitors to your site are liable to think you look like a 60 year old man with bushy eyebrows, and that you are narcicistic(sp?) enough to put a painting of yourself on your own website, but that’s no problem. It’ll be interesting to see what the child-free folk think of “you” with a 6-year-old child. (“Look at that selfish #$#$%%, having a child when he’s too old to even pick her up.”) Could be fun.

    K

  4. Soni writes:

    “That was not what I was expecting at aaaallll.”

    Heh. Well, the interim background I had up wasn’t doing it, and I thought I’d try a checkerboard design, but that ended up looking a bit busy. This background is topographically the same as a checkerboard design, actually, but is a little easier on the eyes. Also, I think, a cooler design.

  5. The only issue I can see is that random visitors are going to assume the old guy is a picture of you. If you’re fine with that, it works. I find the color scheme refreshing.

  6. I do have a small picture of Old Man’s War in the sidebar — hopefully people will make the association.

    If not, there are worse things than being thought to be an older man. After all, given enough time, I will *be* an older man. Indeed, I aspire to it, as the alternative is fairly grim.

  7. I can’t help it. I was born to stare at the empty half of the glass and imagine how much more sweet tea I could be drinking.

    (Imagine there’s a paragraph break here–the preview window is telling me I won’t get one.)

    While I’m being a critic: “The online home of writer John Scalzi. Taunting the Tauntable Since 1998” is difficult to read with the new background colors.

  8. The bit at the top is cool. Neat.

    The left and right hand patterns, *however*, remind me of a pair of curtains in that awful “geometric 70’s” fashion. You know, when everything was brown and orange and p-a-i-n-f-u-l-l-y geometric!

    On second thoughts, they look like an army of Rorschach gnomes, with jester-style hats and shoes that curl up at the ends.

    Whatever: It’s unique!

  9. I’m pretty much done fiddling with the design of the Whatever for a while

    Yeah, right. That’s what I said about my site, about 3,000 designs ago. Heh…

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