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Changes – Less Clutter, More Blog
Hey guys, John here.
Ok, as you can see I’m in the middle of updating some stuff… big changes. I’m making this place more like a true blog. Less cluttered, much more simple, much more focus on content and it should load a lot faster. Anyway, give me a couple of hours to get everything up and running properly. Be back in a bit.
UPDATE – Hey guys. I’m not nearly done yet, but after 13 hours I’m having a very hard time getting the design to do what I want it to do… I’m just not well versed in PHP. I may be calling out for help soon. I’ll pick up with it tomorrow.
Went to go check the site today and found a word press site. Hope to see the site up again soon…what will I do at work without it?
Holy freaking different, Batman!
eeee…
it’s hard to adapt to change.
didn’t you just have a remodel a few months ago?
I’m having a serious flashback to 2005 for some reason.
to quote Star Trek 4:
“To much “LDS” in the sixties”
(Yes they said LSD wrong on purpose)
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, it was perfect how it was.
Ok let’s see how this works out. Maybe good – maybe bad.
Hey daniel,
Yes, I made a change a while ago… but it was the wrong change. It was great, but it took away the “BLOG” feel of the page and so I quickly reverted back to the regular design.
Now though, I really want to get back to basics. I want to get back the the blog feel of the site. Cleaner, faster, and with a much bigger emphasis on content rather than design. I hope this will do it.
BOO!
i don’t think anything was wrong with the other design. everyone who visits here knows it’s a blog. it says it right on the url.
the only thing i would change is getting rid of those ads, but i realize you need them.
I like it.
I understabd wanting to constantly be looking for ways to improve the site, but seriously, if it aint broke…dont fix it.
The original site is the best format, every time it gets changed its never an improvement, in my opinion.
But its your site John, do with it what you will, but I will continue to maintain that you leave well enough alone…
Well you sure as hell got the blog feel you were going for. This is fucking with my head. Not sure if it is gonna satisfy my OCD.
I am pretty surprised that how you integrated the old database into WP database structure: unsure of your previous site engine but there aren’t many noticeable glitches. However it seems the images are gone or shrunk into smaller ones. I think the size and amount of images in the old design were better; currently it looks a little too blank.
Hey Vincent,
Not done updating yet… still need a couple of hours. Hang in there with me. :P
My gosh John..
TheMovieBlog has become more than a blog to me. It has come to be a true news site for me just like TMZ or something to that nature. I loved how the site was in “any” of the previous design changes. But this one, I can’t say was a good choice. I dont mind Wordpress. There are some fantastic blogs using Wordpress. But this theme John it looks horrible. I even understand people wanting to have a clean, non-bloated site. But this is just taking it way to far. It doesn’t look at all what a Movie site should look like. You don’t see ComingSoon deleting all their design and resorting to a plain white site without any character whatsoever.
I think when you have a site that has anything to do with the Movie business or Hollywood, design matters. A Movie news/review site needs both design and content. They should go hand in hand, not sacrifice design for content.
I never thought the site was cluttered. The last design you did that you took down the next day or whenever you did it. Was the best one yet IMHO. Anyway, Ill stop ranting..
Please reconsider this new design John..
I am always excited to see something new. Thanks John, you have destroyed my sense of productivity.
Ok, maybe TMZ was a bad comparsion. But hopefully you know what I meant.
i don’t understand…THIS is the new look?
fuck, let’s hope not. i don’t think it is.
the (shortlived) black and the one two changes ago were the best.
give us news on your big weekend in san diego already.
hopefully the new one will make all of the different thigns more acceessible…it always bugged me that thigsn i wanted were not plainly linked….OH WELL. free entertainment and all that jazz.
I quite like it, as it’s wordpress, does that save you cash money? Being a free blog ‘n all? If so, if so, could be a good move.
(checks date) What? It’s not April first?
Ok, I know you’re still working on it, so I’ll lay off for now.
Let’s all calm down a bit and let John finish things up before deciding if it sucks or not.
I mean I think it looks like crap now too but it definitely seems like he’s just loaded some WP template and is still customizing it so it might end up awesome when he’s done.
I just hope he has the authors show up.
Not as good as the old design, imho. More confused and the individual posts are much less defined. Of the blogs I read, every one I can think of has a better and easier-to-read design than this. If you want to speed things up, you could remove some of the crap from the top of the old design, but keep the general colour scheme and layout
John, as others have said, this is your blog and you can make it look however you want. You have every right to delete every comment and criticsm here. On the other hand, if you don’t mind the critiquing..
I’m all for a less-cluttered, more streamline look, but this may be going overboard. As for making it look more like a blog, this is a little *too* bloglike. In other words, without at least a few bells & whistles, it comes off as plain and less professional.
This is an award-winning blog with a lot of fans. There are often multiple entries per day. You have an accompanying podcast in Uncut and a spinoff site in TheTVShowBlog.com. You’ve directed your own film, and you’ve met a lot of stars. This is more than just a blog. You’re running your own little entertainment commentary empire here. ;) It warrants a little fanciness.
Wow. I love XHTML
I couldn’t help but notice that The Movie Blog Community is down for the time being as well. If for some reason it went bye bye, a brief rundown of recent movie news in the last few days not covered on the main page:
* Rumors of Karl Urban as a Romulan in the new Star Trek flick;
* Life and Death filmmaking with Sly Stallone;
* Live action Dragonball Z on the way;
AND Today’s big news story…which I’m surprised you haven’t covered yet (perhaps discussed on the Live LA later today?):
Indiana Jones, with help with some bloggers, helped the FBI sting a bunch of Lucasfilm/Spielberg laptop crooks:
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=ed716a69-2716-4dd9-a606-f1fee3fd5a26&sid=fd-news
May they feel the futy of the Jones’ whip.
(In Darth Vader voice) NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I think the site looks to generic now, i like the way you can read posts easier but make sure you add some of your own spice to the design. Themovieblog had a page banner with movie stills and lots of color red. That identified it for me, make sure you don’t lose too much of that.
Can I just say – in a very Mr Burns kind of tone -”eeexcellent”. I’ve been having trouble viewing your site for some time now and was just about to write you about it, but now I don’t have to!
The “new” site looks great! It looks…professional!
I agree with Umberhaven:
John, you’ve done a great job of making this site much more than some bloke’s blog where he screams his uninteresting opinion to an uninterested public.
You build something good and successful here and I agree, change is good, but it has to be a change forward not back.
You got an article in TIME magazine for christ sake!
You earned a well deserved reputation and I think by going back to basics you diminish this site more than you enhance it.
Don’t make your site look deliberately unprofessional!
This design is just too plain and leaves no visual impression.
In Internetland you gotta stick out, be something outrages and impressive. Go that way, not the other direction.
wow, i really like the new look of your blog. MUCH much better, less visual confusion etc. :)
props to the designer. (who apparently is Benedikt Rieke-Benninghaus
Oh and another thing, I’ve you want to change things for the better, find a way for the people who comment to edit their comments after posting. That would make things much easier and user-friendly.
Website doesnt have to look like some legal document to be fast and readable. I hate these so called “web 2.0″ designs. Theres no soul..
i say my previous comment knowing that details will be filled in, as right now its just the blank wordpress/theme canvas.
I’ve modified the shit out of ponderplace.com (which uses wordpress and a theme) and now that i need to change hosting, I’m afraid to do so as all my changes are so precious to me, and it’d take hours to restore the look from scratch…though I’ll eventually do that.
This design is abhorrent.
Who stole my moniker?
To be honest I don’t like it. The last look was perfect. It screamed blog, but had it’s own feel too. This look is too plain and doesn’t catch my eye. Just feels like there is no life with this design, no love and no color.
I have to be honest, this is just pure crap, not professional looking at all. It looks like something I put together in half an hour. Go back to the way it was, PLEASE John, I beg you!
JOHN HERE,
Ok, everyone needs to calm down. I’m not even done yet…I’m still importing old posts… I still haven’t gotten around to the header… yadda yadda yadda.
But let me address a few things.
1) Not professional. I don’t want to look professional.
2) Some suggest studios won’t pay attention to me with this design. Well, I first got the studios attention when I was using the MT default template, so there you go.
3) THE OLD DESIGN WAS NOT PERFECT. It was riddled with bugs and flaws that we couldn’t fix for the life of us. I would get complaints everyday. I liked the look of it too, but it had to go.
So hang in there… I still need a few more hours.
I welcome this, cause i ‘ve been having some issues with the site for a month now, it wouldn’t load properly and got cut off midpost
i’ll support any look or change you decide on, just as long as you don’t revert, john.
The old way was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better. and actually LESS confusing. DON’T LIKE IT. sorry. You guys at the movie blog are still great, but this way looks real amateur where as the other way was more professional, and one could take it more seriously.
The only thing I think people mean by saying the last design was perfect was “visually” it was close to perfect. Barring whether it had bugs or not it “looked” fine to me.
However this designs turns out to be. I hope you give it “something” to make it stand out. This new design might keep its existing readers. But you have to think will this lighter, less cluttered design help me retain new readers.
I dunno…I dug the only design way more. I didn’t find it too busy or anything. I guess going to basically the same site for two years can do that. Of course it’s your blog and you do what you feel it right.
Wordpress: Good! This theme: Not so good! Come on John, I know you really are intent to keep this a blog, and that’s cool, it doesn’t need to expand beyond just a personal effort. But at least give The Movie Blog its own identity… and as always I’d be glad to hook you up. For example… this? http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7312/tmboj6.png
That screen shot looks awesome. The current theme looks like a template…like anyone could have created this. There still is a shit load of clutter on the right hand side of this page.
GREAT work john, don’t listen to your minions, they are after all …your minions. The site will be a much better one once your finished. Clean, readable, useable.
Nice work and looking forward to the finshed product.
booooooooo!
Nope … Not a fan … Sorry
Awesome I dig it. I love so much that this the first post I’ve written since I started working ten hour days.
You’ve crossed over to the WordPress world! Hopefully you’ll be adding more TMB elements to this theme as time goes on.
Will you be able to get your permalinks properly redirected?
Hey John! Welcome to the WP World. =) I hope WP is not giving you too much trouble, but yeah, don’t forget to redirect your permalinks from MT to WP … otherwise all those search engine results are going to lead nowhere.
Ok, I checked back like 8 hours later. Now my OCD is shaking my head on the inside. Maybe this is a wake up call for me. I was spoiled by the old blog and the convenient looks of the internet in general. MAYBE THIS IS A CURE FOR MY OCD! No pictures, just…….WORDS. NONONO man, this is not working. But I can’t help to respect Mr. Campea for going the other route. FUCK THE MACHINE! Good job John. Atleast throw a Decepticon symbol in there, or, shit, even a pot leaf will do.
what about your ad revenue? right now, they’ve all gone away. we want you to make money, john! :)
get a snazzier looking logo running across the top and then this design will be almighty.
I don’t like this new look all to much but I guess I will get used to it soon. I did prefer the old look though but I am sure I will like this new design but I hope you go back to the last design of the site John.
if you really wanted to change this site for the better, dont let serena post here ever again
It’s a lot cleaner, but I like the old site better.
Ahh. The new re-vamp looks a lot better now that you have new title graphic, icons, and post pics included. The splashes of color here and there help a lot. I think the new look has more potential to please now. Good job, John.
Well, it did look better two minutes ago. After I left my last comment, I went back to the main page, and it’s back to looking plain again. What happened?
this seriously sucks. i actually dont feel like coming here as often. its harder on the eyes, and less “movie” looking. its looks too “high school”
Not cool, dont like the change, way too plain… I actually liked the original one and didn’t mind the first change. I think you messing with it too much.
hate to join in with the naysayers but this is way wwwwaaaayyyy too amateur looking.
I know you don’t consider yourself “professional” and that is just a “blog” but surely there is a better balance than this between pro and amatuer?
i am just saying it as a fan of the site….
oh and as for your whole dismissal of being pro….in the world of sports, and i know you love you sports analogies, when you are an amateur you don’t make your living from your sport right?. what do they call you once the sport provides you with your living??
thats when you are a professional.
time to face facts john…your site is more than just a blog now. just from its success it changes the perception…
but i seriously believe you are jeopardising any further expansion with this new look.
it is going to be a real turn off to new readers.
I like it John. FYI your RSS feed is showing news from March 2006. Its like a movie time capsule. :)
Didnt John say it wasnt finished, you shouldnt be commeting on a work in progress, it isnt fair. Saying that if this is how it is going to look then yes it is pretty bad
I like the change. Lately the site has become to “big” for my computer. It took a long time to open the pages. Now, it is much better. As long as the content in the blogs are as good as they have been (for the last six months I have been reading it) I will keep coming back for more.
Change may be good or bad but it’s still hard…to accept.. haaha! It’s hard for me to adapt to the new look and now the content’s on the left side but hopefully I’ll get used to it!! it loads faster though =)
Heads up, Gio!
I noticed on the “about” section, it says that Sharon is “the lone female voice” on The Movie Blog. As lovely as Sharon DeWitt may be…right now I’m thinking of another talented lass whose name begins with an S.
Or perhaps you didn’t like her recent top ten overhype list?
:(
Hey let’s try that again
:) :( :p :D :8
I basically agree with Alfie 100%
i also agree with alfie.
i don’t consider you an amateur at all.
this is my preferred movie site…but honestly man, this is a huge turn off.
if you ask me you should get a competent design company to come in…you got help editing your film, why not get help editing your site?
i understand your policy of ‘don’t like it then leave’ but i’m just trying to offer some constructive criticism.
Saw the PHP comment, I’d be happy to help.
I’ve been coding for 6 years and was just tweaking and playing with Wordpress over the last couple of weeks.
So wait. I don’t have to type Optimus anymore? Not only that, when I press the tab button, the cursor actually goes to the correct field. I am shocked and beside myself. Way to go John. It’s actually becoming user friendly.
-Calviin
Whatever change you make, I trust you. As long as the contens is great I’ll be there
Change can be good. I was a HUGE fan of the OTHER recent redesign, but it seemed it was only used for a few weeks and then you reverted back to more like the “original” design.
Personally, this design is a little to “bare” for my tastes. (Just my opinion.) I feel like i am reading some 19 year old art student’s blog.
But, TMB will always remain a fave of mine!
John, i LOVE the new look…..the older version was really slow and when i tried to load the page only the first two post would show and sometimes not even that, it got to a point where i stopped coming to TMB…….but thank you for changing it, it looks a thousand time better…..
Alas…The Movie Blog Community…..still redirects here.
Hmph.
If you need help with this theme, write me an email ;)
It’s really coming together now. I really like it!! It’s clean and combines the great multi-movie banner on top. Keep on innovating!