The eBook Reader.com turns three years old this month and it’s finally going to get the design update that it deserves. The layout is getting completely overhauled; about the only thing that is staying the same is the logo.
The new design is a lot clearer and more streamlined. The old three column design was too busy, not to mention hideous, so I decided to switch to a two column layout instead. There are less distractions, fewer banner ads, and navigation is easier.
I’m hoping the new theme will improve the speed and performance of the blog as well since the old theme was poorly coded and was only supposed to be temporary. Pages already seem to be loading faster.
The transition is going to take some time to complete so you may come across a page with the old design from time to time. I have to update all the static pages manually, and the Comparison Tables are going to be done last because having to re-code them is not going to be fun.
But at least the blog pages were all updated simultaneously when changing to the new theme. Let me know if you come across something that looks odd, though, because I’m not including all the old CSS styles so there might be something I forgot about that won’t work right with the new theme.
I already noticed that smaller images from past posts get mangled by the auto-resizer, and some get blown up way too large. I went through and fixed a few but there are probably a lot more. Luckily I didn’t use small images very often.
Please send me an email if you find something that doesn’t look right so I can fix it.
I will also be adding some new elements to the sidebar and footer and will be experimenting with some different things after the first phase of updating is complete. But I plan on mostly just keeping it simple. Feel free to leave a comment if you’ve got any suggestions.
And that brings up another point. The comments are more functional now with this new theme. You can reply to individual comments and the comments are now nested with each reply!
Nathan, thanks for all of the hard work you put in to this site. It has been an incredible resource for me. Your commentary and reviews are always top notch, and I have learned so many helpful things from your tutorials. I check your blog four or five times every day, anxiously awaiting your next post, and I never make a purchase decision without consulting the-ebook-reader.com first!
The new layout looks great. Again, I really appreciate eReading advice.
Looks great! Much appreciated.
Less is more! I really like the new streamlined design.
Really nice look and layout. I had to transfer an SBI site to WP so I know what you’re going through. I like your related articles section – is that a plugin or came with the theme?
There’s a built in related links function for the theme but I haven’t tried it yet. The one I’m using now is called nrelate.
I check this blog daily for new posts. And the new look is just fine by me! It does seem less cluttered now that you mentioned it …
I love this site and you are doing a great job with the upgrades. I like the new layout.
Thanks so much for all youor work!
Nathan, you rock. Thank you for this excellent resource.
I never had a problem with the old layout. The new one is definitely more streamlined, but the color scheme feels kinda cold and sterile. Perhaps some warmer color accents might be worth considering. Just a suggestion.
Nice! Love the new look and it’s easier to read on my Samsung Galaxy Note.
Thanks for the hard work; I know how time-consuming setting up a page like this is, but I can only imagine how hard it must be to convert it from one form to another! I read the email update every day and I depend upon it to keep me up to speed on the world of ebooks. I’m looking forward to the new blog.
Look great
Thanks for making great even greater!
Wonderful work. Excellent theme. Well done!
The update definitely makes it easier to read on mobile devices, but would you consider adding a mobile theme at some point as well? And perhaps do full posts for rss readers? Thanks for keeping us updated on all the latest e-reader news, and for the thorough and well written reviews, too. Good luck with the rest of the redesign, I know how much work it will be.
Very industrial look, some color accents would be nice. The headline font is rather tall and skinny looking on my 10″ tablet, but it is the quality of your articles that counts. Keep up the good work.
Yeah I was thinking about downsizing the headings and maybe adding some more blue color.
But that’s the least of my troubles. Now the blog is loading too slow and timing out sometimes. I may have to switch back to the old theme temporarily and upgrade to a better web host.
Yay. The-eBook-Reader looks modern now. Truly, the old layout was hideous. Thanks for all the reviews and news! 🙂
Yo Nathan, the new look is gold man!!…keep up the good work…I still remember how I bought a kindle keyboard instead of a prs 650 a couple of years ago because of your reviews…..
Nicely done. I really enjoy keeping getting all this ereader news through your site. Bravo!
Nathan, kudos on the new format. It now loads a lot faster, not as much baggage. And the articles (my favorite part) are located closer to the top. My vote would be to have the articles list be the first thing you see.
Today it’s loading fast; yesterday wasn’t so good. I thought I’d have to revert back to the old theme this morning until I could find a better web host, but now it’s working great so I don’t know….