Building the Ergonomic Guitar Reloaded

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It’s been several weeks in the works but Building the Ergonomic Guitar now has a new design and logo! Come on over, dig around and let me know what you think.

The Goals

    1. A clean design - The previous layout needed a serious overhaul. It lacked refinement and its underlying code left a lot to be desired. In this ground up redesign, keeping the focus on content was my big priority so I worked to include only essential features while providing easy ways to get to site content.

    2. Faster site loading - Image heavy content combined with bulky code can impact reader experience so a lot of effort went into streamlining site code and keeping only the most useful features.

Now onto a few details…

New Logo and Navigation

The web layout and code are my effort (based on the Big Blue theme by Blogohblog.com) but I have designer Gary Simon to thank for the site’s new logo. Working with Gary was a real pleasure. He worked quickly to produce an excellent logo at a very reasonable price. If you’re looking to brand your site, talk to Gary about his logo design services.

The other major change in this area is the navigation menu moving to the right of the logo where it’s easily accessible and better integrated.

Better Search

Finding articles is now much easier with the recent switch to Google powered Search. Results are more accurate, they’re in the familiar Google format and you don’t have to leave BTEG.

Browser Testing

BTEG readers visit the site through a variety of web browsers so I tested in Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7 as well as Firefox and Opera. All of them work but if you want to see the site as intended, I recommend you
.

Firefox is not only more secure than IE, it does a far better job of rendering web pages so get a copy and try it out!

A Request

Along with the site redesign and new logo, I also renewed my web hosting and domain registration for several years. I remain completely committed to the site but please consider that researching new material, producing new content and maintaining the site take time and money.

If you’d like to support the site, you can do so in one of two ways:

BTEG receives a tiny portion of the sale, you get the same price whether you purchase here or directly from Amazon and you help support the site.

Comments? Suggestions?

Overall, I’m happy with the results but I’d really like to hear what you think. So explore the site and then leave a comment or contact me directly.

Thank you all for your support and participation!

Thanks to reader GregP for catching an issue that showed up in Opera!

9 Responses to “Building the Ergonomic Guitar Reloaded”

  1. The site looks fantastic, babe. I’m very proud of all the hard work you’ve done!

    Love,
    S

    [Reply]

    Robert Irizarry replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 9:18 am

    Thank you, young lady! And thanks for supporting all the work I put into the site. :)

    [Reply]

  2. I like it. It is a cleaner and more neat appearance.

    [Reply]

    Robert Irizarry replied on Dec 13th, 2007 at 9:16 am

    Thanks, Grand! That’s what I was shooting for - cleaner code, cleaner design and a minimum of distractions for readers.

    [Reply]

  3. Looks great! There’s a problem with one of the divs, though. The ads are pushed to the bottom right in Google; I suspect something’s just a bit too narrow for its div or something similar.

    But ultimately– looks excellent!

    [Reply]

    Robert Irizarry replied on Dec 14th, 2007 at 5:36 am

    Thanks for the compliment Greg and the catch!

    I think I found the issue. I saw it on individual article pages when viewed in Opera. I’ve corrected it. Let me know if you come across anything else. Thanks again!

    [Reply]

  4. Cool and a half!

    [Reply]

    Robert Irizarry replied on Dec 14th, 2007 at 5:01 pm

    Thanks so much, Mats! :D

    [Reply]

  5. [...] 12.15.2007 - The entire site has undergone a redesign that includes a new logo and WordPress theme. A tremendous amount of work went into removing unnecessary functions and placing priority on accessing content. For more, see Building the Ergonomic Guitar Reloaded [...]

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