As I mentioned before, our previous theme got borked in the latest upgrade, so we had to make a switch. I chang0ed the K2 theme out, for the Sandbox theme, with the Oriole stylesheet. Unfortunately, Ender came back and told me that the new theme was fugly, and Sea Slugs! looked like “one of those throw-away sites” now. I consulted my lady, and she had an extremely similar (and independent) reaction, stating that the theme was too blocky and looked like one of those sites that is really just an advertisement for the webspace or domain name.
So I figured I’d throw out a vote to the readers: Is the new theme really that bad?
What do you think of the new theme?
- It looks like someone beat Undine with an ugly stick! (59%, 85 Votes)
- Meh... about the same (21%, 30 Votes)
- The new version looks great! (20%, 30 Votes)
Total Voters: 145
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Here are two comparison shots for reference. I didn’t have a very good shot of the K2 version, but hopefully everyone remembers what it used to look like. The new site is definitely plainer, but it also loads quite a bit faster. However, I won’t deny that K2 was very slick. Below are some of new features that I’ve implemented since upgrading to WP 2.2.2.
- Comment Quicktags: Gives the comments the same quicktags available as in the admin area. Once I figure what is going wrong with the
hrefattributes being stripped from the link tags, I think this plugin will be super-useful. I was able to easily add a button for thespoilertags as well. - Header Image Rotator: There are a number of chibis rotating above, thanks to this plugin. Quite simple to use, and the plugin lets you set the update frequency.
- Widgets: The one good thing about upgrading to WP 2.2.2. is the native support for widgets. They really are handy for customizing the sidebar. However, if I had it to do again, I’d probably wait for WP 2.3 (with native tag support) before upgrading.
- AdSense Manager: I was really surprised with how polished this plugin is. It had all the adsense code right there, and with widget support, it makes dropping ad blocks into the sidebar very easy. Also note that the plugin author finally resolved his perma-ban by removing the feature that got him banned in the first place, so bloggers can now use this plugin without fear.
- Google Sitemap Generator: This plugin generates a XML-Sitemap compliant sitemap of your WordPress blog. This is one of those kinda meta-plugins that does stuff that normal people don’t care about. I guess it helps search engines catalog the site more efficiently. You can find our sitemap here.
This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1970 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with your lady and with Ender. It looks like a cross between a bad powerpoint presentation and one of those throwaway sites that pop up when you spell a popular site wrong (like http://www.gogle.com or something). The oval thing at the bottom doesn’t help.
Random question: any chance we can get the RSS feed length un-truncated with the images embedded as well?
I voted: “The new version looks great!”
…but only for the chibi Suigintou images.
I think it looks pretty okay to me.Though, I must admit my taste in themes is pretty bad.
Best example is my blog, I’ve been stuck with Almost Spring forever…. somehow I can’t seem to change it at all… :X.
Edit: Noticed now you can edit your comments… is this the Commment Quicktag plugin?
I like it. At least it’s original and the colours are easy on the eyes. Of course, everyone and his dog have used the K2 theme at some point, while in comparison, this is fresh. Stick with it
Hmm, its not that bad. Its looks more refreshing. Maybe its just the novelty value though…
The layout is quite good, but the colors are dull. Try changing them to more lively ones and the overall look might be better.
Well, the top does look blockier than the last layout. Making a better banner might improve the situation. :3
To me, it’s better looking than K2, even if it’s a little more intrusive.
I’m definitely waiting until 2.3 before upgrading just because I don’t want to deal with another round of possibly broken plugins.
I gotta admit something about either the colors or the design of this one are :S to me
One thing I just noticed, that definitely takes away from this theme’s charm, is that on browsers without proper .png support (such as IE 6) the rotating banners have this ugly light grey background where the image is supposed to be transparent. I may have to color in all the backgrounds with the dark grey to adjust for this (that is so lame)…
Epi: I actually kinda like the oval footer, if only because you rarely see a non-rectangular footer.
David Ma: In the near future, I would have to say no. I’m open to change, but right now I think it makes it way too easy for feed scrapers to steal the content. Also, I’m against the idea of offering the entire content (especially images) on RSS.
Kurogane: Nope, that is a feature of the AJAX Edit Comment plugin, that I originally put in in April, but didn’t actually work until version 1.0.1. I think it’s quite slick, although very few people have bothered to edit their comments. It’s especially good in light of this href stripping problem that all links in the comments are experiencing.
bateszi: I am crying hot manly tears of joy, because this is pretty much my feeling on the theme.
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by looking at K2 and believing it to be awesome (I probably am, aren’t I?
) but I preferred the former one. This is good though. :3
Maybe you can do away with the current banner? It seems duller than your previous one.
The new theme bothers me somehow. It just doesn’t….look like an anime blog? :S
I don’t see what’s so horrible about it. Then again, I also don’t see what’s so great about K2.
Quite a few people seemed bothered mostly by the banner. Well, I’ve added a bunch more images into the rotation (I think there over 20 now), so maybe that will change some minds. The nice thing about the simple scheme is that it is really easy to update the header.
It needs an image that’s tied to Azumanga somehow. Otherwise it doesn’t feel like Seaslugs. Like maybe have that animated gif of Osaka reentering the atmosphere?
Looks cleaner with the different font and smaller width so it´s a bit easier to read. But after looking at it a couple times, it comes off as a little plain when you scroll down the page.
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