I finally redesigned this dumb blog. Yay! There's still some clean-up work to be done, but drop a note in the comments if you see anything amiss. (LOOK AT THE BIG SCARY VIRUS GRAPHIC THAT'S GOING TO EAT THE INTERNET!) Update: I've made many changes based upon some feedback. And I made the logo even uglier, just to piss off that one guy. (I'll probably tweak that later this week.)
As some of you might know, this thing is built on its own CMS, which was originally built before Blogger existed. It works just fine, but I was that close to scrapping it for Tumblr this time around.
posted by Rex at 4:49 AM on August 10, 2009 
Looks Nice!
posted by TS at 6:29 AM on August 10, 2009
Whoa, Rex. This looks *really* really nice. One of your better design works, I think.
I must say I'm gonna miss those "current culture passions" items and the longer text column, it gave the blog a bit of more a lively-fimoculously vibe, but this seriously looks great. Well done.
posted by Tal at 7:18 AM on August 10, 2009
Awesome!
posted by guy at 7:50 AM on August 10, 2009
My compass to the internet is shattered! *NO!*
But srsly, good lookin' design.
posted by Randall at 7:55 AM on August 10, 2009
The blog was look nice. Everything look renovated. The color combination was really perfect. Great design!!
posted by Ashley Garner at 8:16 AM on August 10, 2009
Did you just call the Inernet "shit"?
posted by dbsmall at 8:57 AM on August 10, 2009
I must not be an Internet person - and you definitely didn't ask! - but I VASTLY prefer the old Fimoc. I loved the color palette, the ease of navigation, the efficiency of the design yet the total specificity of character. I generally hate redesigns but I really hate redesigns of sites I like. I will miss the old Fimoc. Not that you asked!
Also, did Flavorpill buy this? What's with the F?
posted by Rachel Sklar at 9:30 AM on August 10, 2009
Also, SO MUCH WHITE SPACE! Or, light blue space. Fimoc was so USEFUL. Links on the left. Twitter updates, song, longer essay on the right. Resources at the bottom - Amazon, what have you. Flickr streams - it all looked really streamlined and presented a ton of diverse information in such an easily navigable package, scrollable, browseable, USEFUL. This isn't as fun to read.
I know I've spent about a minute and a half on it, but still. I really, really liked the old Fimoc.
posted by Rachel Sklar at 9:35 AM on August 10, 2009
Reminds me of memepool for some reason. Just the combination of the content + the simplicity, I guess. I like it all except for the title image.
posted by Conrad at 9:42 AM on August 10, 2009
nice tumblr, d00d.
this F sucks, bring back the old F!
posted by ryan at 9:59 AM on August 10, 2009
"Ooh. Slick." That's what I would say if I could stop rocking and back and forth. The internet is now a directionless mass! I hate change!
(Some people's URL's seem to be showing up as tags or whatever rather than links to their sites.)
posted by Nav at 10:07 AM on August 10, 2009
Not a fan of the "F" either. The colors are great and I like the clean look. This is going to take awhile for me to get used to.
posted by Dan Chapman at 10:09 AM on August 10, 2009
Now how will we know which videogames you're playing??
posted by Jason at 10:19 AM on August 10, 2009
I prefer the old Fimoc in terms of layout, but I do prefer this color scheme.
Would you ever consider selling the old CMS/design for people to tinker with? I thought it was very well done.
posted by Soup at 10:26 AM on August 10, 2009
Previous designs were trying pretty hard to do something different, and probably over-trying. This version is trying to pretty hard to fit in. Except for the logo. I wanted to do something stupid and dumb for it this time. Success!
Sklar: I didn't even think of Flavorpill, but you're sorta right. The old logo was also playing with the dot idea though. (Also, you can bookmark the old site if you want. It will still updated.)
Conrad & Ryan: The logo is my least favorite part. Still might change it.
Jason: Hah. You are one of many people who probably noticed that hasn't updated in over a year. Another reason to redesign.
Soup: Sure! The old version is a MESS of html/css though. That was another major reason for the upgrade.
posted by Rex at 11:18 AM on August 10, 2009
Bookmarked! I HATE CHANGE. Also, this site doesn't have a Colophon. I remember when it was all about the music, man.
posted by Rachel Sklar at 11:27 AM on August 10, 2009
I miss the links on the bottom showing where you're commenting. It shows an extra level of what was important to you at the time.
posted by taulpaul at 11:28 AM on August 10, 2009
miss the old f-spot, yalls. but i did read the spam-defying password as "balls" for some reason - maybe because i'm tired - but when it turned out not to be "balls" i was sadz again. change it back. also the organism thing at the bottom is creepy and looks like something your dog would have in her ear when examined under a microscope. do not like.
posted by fek at 11:30 AM on August 10, 2009
taulpaul: THANKS. I thought about keeping it, but I had stopped updating it too. Maybe I'll bring it back somehow...
posted by Rex at 11:32 AM on August 10, 2009
I like the look, but I'll miss the character. Are you going to be adding more elements of the here's-all-the-other-stuff-I'm-up-to variety? It gave the older version a very specific personality, which this version somewhat lacks.
posted by Scott at 11:33 AM on August 10, 2009
Congrats. You've managed to take a blog with a nice custom design and transform into a generic Tumblr-looking template.
posted by Bucky Turco at 11:40 AM on August 10, 2009
All of these comments and NOT ONE about the big scary ball in the corner!
posted by Rex at 11:50 AM on August 10, 2009
Cute!
posted by EV at 12:14 PM on August 10, 2009
Is there still no way to get to older posts not on the front page for when I go four or five days without visiting? (Or was there on the old place/is there on the new place and I just never figured it out?)
I really like whatever font you chose for the IMOCULOUS.
I also really like the new "F," too.
I hate that the spammers can still spam (even if "she" is generally accurate in saying that "the blog was look nice").
posted by CRZ at 12:20 PM on August 10, 2009
All your dates look to be following something like "%l\n%n|%y" which seems a little weird, because "Monday,8|09" could be any of five different dates. (Sorry, "monday" - throw a strtolower() in there.)
Maybe use the day instead of the year? %d or %j, that is the question. (I may be showing off here.)
posted by CRZ at 12:30 PM on August 10, 2009
The blue micro-organism thing is cool (is that really what a fimoculous looks like? The internet is not good at answering that question).
I liked the Commenting On, Flickr, etc. sections too. Another solution is to tie that together into an activity stream with FriendFeed. Whatever FF doesn't do automatically you add as an FF link. It's have to be somewhere other then this page, though -- single column is all the rage.
The single element I miss the most is the outsize category tags.
posted by alesh at 12:34 PM on August 10, 2009
I like it a lot, super clean.
It needs a way to denote which posts have comments...the discussion is what keeps bringing me back.
Comment counts are kinda in your face, what if the date was more transparent with less comments and as the thread heated up the blue got more intense?
posted by ryanol at 12:37 PM on August 10, 2009
BTW I am totally retarded as I just realized that the number was not the date but rather the comment count. I do still stand by my assertion that a "threat level" color code would be the ultimate in simplicity.
posted by ryanol at 12:40 PM on August 10, 2009
I like the cute bacteria guy in the corner, but would prefer if it were more Ouroboros shaped, ya know, for the kids who don't know what a fimoculous is.
posted by Josh Cohen at 1:13 PM on August 10, 2009
No likey. The old design was one of the most efficient I've seen in delivering content from a variety of sources in a really usable manner. The new one is basically a Tumblr. A nice looking Tumblr, but a Tumblr just the same.
posted by sac at 1:22 PM on August 10, 2009
I like the color scheme, and the bacteria is ok. If the giant ball o' death did something, it would be cooler. That being said, I think this color scheme with the old setup would be outstanding. This is not to say that the new ultra-slim setup isn't bad, but it's bare. Maybe I don't know you well enough, but this doesn't seem to be...you.
posted by Ironic at 1:57 PM on August 10, 2009
It's the new minimalist me!
posted by Rex at 1:58 PM on August 10, 2009
I like it. Also, are you going to start using actual timestamps rather than faking out our RSS readers by posting everything at 2:00:00?
posted by Tom Biro at 2:11 PM on August 10, 2009
Scott: Adding little things here and there. I just added back in the MP3, and might add in the "places i'm commenting" somewhere.
CRZ: Oh, good point about the dates. Sorta fixed. But I need to rethink that vis-a-vis the comments on the front page a little more. (Than ryanol mistook them is exactly the problem.)
Tom: Now why would I go and do something as simple as that? ;)
posted by Rex at 2:26 PM on August 10, 2009
The fimoculous ball reminds me of Q*bert's nose. Maybe this is what Q*bert spores look like. I like the color scheme a lot. Very smooth and calming and pleasing. If it were a sound I'd call it mellifluous. Very clean too. Agree on the Tumblrishness. Liked the old recent twitter box. Ha! I peripherally perceived the comment count as the date too until I saw that it was the 36th of August.
posted by Eric at 4:05 PM on August 10, 2009
Ah...I love Q*bert. It's on my shortlist of machines to get for my family room.
posted by taulpaul at 4:16 PM on August 10, 2009
Have you ever thought about just hitting delete, and getting rid of this altogether, or are you just waiting for an EMP to handle that for you? I've been thinking about all the content I've created out there just going bye-bye at some point in my life, and how I'll feel about it.
posted by taulpaul at 4:27 PM on August 10, 2009
ALL. THE. TIME.
If I was a feral child who just discovered the internet, this is pretty much the last thing I'd do with it. But we're burdened by history....
posted by Rex at 4:46 PM on August 10, 2009
This is a joke, right? THe new design looks atrocious, just horror-awful. Seriously, bring back the old design. This is an embarassment.
posted by Dmitri at 5:16 PM on August 10, 2009
I've waited till the end of the day to comment because I knew my initial reaction (NO CHANGE EVER HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?!?) would wear off. So. I enjoy the color scheme. It looks a lot like a Tumblr (no real judgement attached to that but the old look seemed more unique). The separate lines for the MP3, projects and twitter seem a little cluttered to me, kind of smushed together. The thingie in the top left reminds me of a blowfish. If it linked back to the homepage when I was looking at a single post that would be cool.
posted by jake at 5:20 PM on August 10, 2009
FUCKING TUMBLR.
Yeah. I know. It was a little conscious, and a little unconscious. I wanted simpler, because I want to experiment with some other kinds of content over the next year.
We'll see if I still like this in a week. If not, I'll just flip back!
(Most redesigns are 90% negative feedback, so to be batting around 50% is a miracle!)
posted by Rex at 5:31 PM on August 10, 2009
Are you saving all that white space for Zuki widgets?
posted by Rins at 6:07 PM on August 10, 2009
feels good.
posted by spencer at 6:48 PM on August 10, 2009
Btw the blue microorganism follows me as I scroll on my g1 and makes the site basically unreadable. Not sure what it looks like on the iphone but that might be something to consider.
posted by ryanol at 9:05 PM on August 10, 2009
I'm not the biggest fan. Heavy use of verdana, use of stroke in the logo and the lukewarm-grey backdrop remind me of pre web 2.0 design. It's not fashionable even if it's functional. Just my 2 cents!
posted by Pierre at 9:30 PM on August 10, 2009
It's time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
Its time to move on, its time to get going
posted by Eric at 9:48 PM on August 10, 2009
VERDANA FOREVER. (Seriously. 11-point Verdana is still my favorite online reading font. People dismiss it for all the wrong reasons, i.e., Microsoft.)
posted by Rex at 9:49 PM on August 10, 2009
woo hoo! so good.
posted by BrigittaR at 9:51 PM on August 10, 2009
Ryan: oh, thanx. It works fine on the iPhone, but I plan to release a mobile version soon anyway.
posted by Rex at 10:00 PM on August 10, 2009
my favorite is the radiant blue mirco-organism surprise in the footer. (yes, I read all the ways to the bottom.)
posted by editorlisa at 10:36 PM on August 10, 2009
looks great!
posted by tim at 10:53 AM on August 11, 2009
You know, I was just gonna say, you should put your twitter feed up top.
I'm warming up to this. Good job.
posted by Dan at 3:34 PM on August 11, 2009
Like the twitter feed on the top a lot. Which it didn't break up the logo like that though - - at least in Firefox.
Also, twitter is on the bottom still on individual post pages.
posted by Bill K at 4:54 PM on August 11, 2009
I like it - although you can't read anything that scrolls over the scary blue ball. Maybe put a background of some sort behind the script when it gets to that point (like wth the "Leave a Comment" box.)
posted by Maureen at 8:47 PM on August 11, 2009
I think I've finally settled on a logo. What do you think? Terminator meets pharmaceuticals?
posted by Rex at 1:55 AM on August 12, 2009
Any way you can make the leftcorner virus be a link back to .com ? it's annoying to have to scroll back up to the top to get back to the homepage.
posted by katiebakes at 11:33 PM on August 12, 2009
Your wish is my command, bakes. (It only works in Firefox and Safari right now. Not sure what's wrong with IE. Might try to fix it tomorrow.)
posted by Rex at 12:45 AM on August 13, 2009
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