This design has been up for a year? Sheesh. That means I've been reading this blog for a year. I remember when this look was new.

Anyway, I like the minor revision. The second one has a lot of dead space up top to my eyes, and the first was classy, but a little plain.

My two cents, anyway.

I really like the fairly clean one, minimalistic, yet rich, and I also like the minor revision one, nice clean layouts both of them. The blue colour on the tweak bothers me a bit, but the overall layout looks really nice. I'll cast my vote on #1.
By the way, have you been able to use any PHP on your mt-search.cgi page, such as the include-function? I have been trying to make it work, but I havent' managed so far, maybe you've got the skinny on how to make it work?
Oh, a final note, when typing in the comments textarea with Chimera, letters are white, on a white background, had to write this comment on a Stickie and copy/paste it into the comments. Maybe it's a browser thing.

Oh, a final note, when typing in the comments textarea with Chimera, letters are white, on a white background, had to write this comment on a Stickie and copy/paste it into the comments. Maybe it's a browser thing.

Sadly, it is. I use Chimera almost exclusively now and the textfield bug is a real pain. I've filed a bug with bugzilla; hopefully it's fixed soon.

As for PHP in the search page - the problem is that the server isn't sending .cgi files through PHP - most probably because your server is configured to only parse .php or .php4 file extensions as PHP. I'm not sure if you can have a file parsed twice (i.e. once for perl, once for PHP)... google might be your friend here. Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I'm not going to change the site just yet (I am the TweakMaster!), but feedback is always very helpful!

webdesign feedback:

I agree if you're going to re-code, why not repaint. I've looked at your layouts and I think you're on track, however I think you're trying to change too many things. Your site is great, how it is-just change the code and drop the grey background basically.

Picasso once said ( and I'm paraphrasing: genious isn't going from here all the way over there...it's a small step from the same place) With that in mind and too many years as a cd and art director, here's my perspective detailed below.

( for what it's worth)

1) LOGOTYPE+BRANDING: keep your existing logotype for beatnikpad. It's identifiable, and it's classic, don't change typefaces. it's your indentity. Change the color to that face perhaps. Or go to grey, like you've done with the white background layouts. But don't change the face. boldface it maybe-just keep that font.

2) BACKGROUND: Drop the grey background and go to white like you've done. yes, yes! looks good, enhances photography and type. brighter, easier to view.

3) ART: Keep your art the same, the posterized babe stuff looks great. Again, - it's part of your branding and imaging. I wouldn't change it except to drop the grey background and maybe add some subtle detailing... a postal wave or cancel or collage the lady and the postage stamp area into some sort of illustrative imagery.

4) OVERALL : less is more. Format / typefaces in the body could be tweaked to your liking, Maybe change the category typefaces and the body copy. I like italics for breaking out the body copy. The rest is very subtle. Your site works. Don't change it too much.

• God is in the details, as they say- (simplify and enhance simultaneously if that makes sense to you)

I really like the minor revision. But it's also true that you better keep the logo the same way. Go for it! Cheers.

BTW, the "make changes" button doesn't work properly on the comment page when previewing. It erases the just-typed-in comment and info fields. And I wish you would accept anti-spam forms of e-mails, with [at] and [dot] instead of @ and . .

I like the first one best. It's gorgeously simple.

I'm going to vote for the second attempt. Nice and clean, and nothing obstructing the random photo. Nice. I'm happy to see the white background come back -- makes for easier reading.

Neil,

I'm not sure if I'm happy that you are wanting to redesign or not. I absolutely love the present layout. It is so wonderfully done and it just screams that it's you.

But I do know what it's like to get the itch and just have to scratch it. So here's my two cents on the three layouts you presented us with.

Upon clicking the first option, I was really pleased with the overall appearance. I agree with what has been said already in that the only possible improvement that could be made to this current layout is dropping the gray background. And the first option definitely does that with a white and clean and crisp appearance.

The second option just doesn't fair well with me. The blue definitely does not work at all. I'm a huge fan of blue but it just doesn't do anything for that particular look. It's ... too much.

At first glance, I would have chosen the third layout. It's very appealing to the eye upon first glance. There's no distracting blue. You kept in some of the things that visitors associate with BeatnikPad.

Looking through all of them a second time in order to reassure myself that I am sharing my genuinely honest opinion, I must say that the first one would be my choice. The third would be my second choice and the second option my last. As silly as it may sound, the thing that changed my mind is the girl. While you used her in both the first and third, I really like the way she looks in the first layout best.

There you have it. My two cents. I can't wait to see what you come up with. Either way, I'll still visit on a regular basis and continue to bombard you with my opinions when asked to do so. :)

Good luck.

Again - thanks everyone, for the really helpful (and thoughtful!) feedback. I think I'm going to go back to the drawing board for a bit to tweak, and also to let the redesign ferment for a bit. You've given me some good ideas, and helped me clarify some stuff in my head. Nothing like some public discourse to get the creative juices flowing!

PS. Duck, the entered e-mail address is only visible on the site if you leave out a Web address. It's more for me than for anything else... so no worries, right?

> Think they all suck?

no, really ;-) i agree with andrea! the first one has a kind of "clarity" to it that i like. i was/am fighting myself with the design of my own site. i dropped the logo (at least for now) and changed the color scheme from light blue to yellow, but there's still something missing! some time ago i used DIV tags instead of tables, then i changed everything, and now i would like to change it back, but i don't know the exact code for using DIV tags anymore! erkhh!!! my tutorial didn't help me there, too. maybe i will find it out myself! p.s.: here in germany, it's cold too :-( - cold & raining!