Maniacal Rage Gets a Tan
posted on july 1, 2005, tags: announcement, design, site
Well, here it is. The new and (hopefully) improved Maniacal Rage. I had hoped to have it ready when I announced my joining the 9rules network, but it wasn't quite ready. It's still technically not finished, in that the "USDA Approved" seal is really just a place-holder for something else in that area that I haven't finished yet. I dubbed this version "tan" in development (the previous version was "dark"), and I've really been enjoying the lighter look of it the past few days as I finished it up.
The most important thing about this version is the beefed up quick search, which now appears on every page and searches smarter, faster, and includes the see also links. Now you should be able to find just about anything on this site faster and easier than ever before. I also cut out as much of the useless meta content I could (all that crap in the sidebar was just too much) and simplified nearly everything. It feels a lot lighter (both visually and in your hand) and I hope you like it.
I've also changed from categories to tags, and I've included a fun tag "cloud" on the archives page. If you've been to Flickr or any other big site recently, you'll be used to this sort of thing. I really like the idea so I finally incorporated it.
There are a few things left to do, most of which won't be finished until next week. They include ajax comment posting, fixing the RSS/Atom feeds for tags archives, and some other little things here and there. In the mean time, look around the new site and tell me what you think.
Comments
There are 28 comments, comments are closed
Walt Dickinson on 07/01/2005:
Beautiful work Garrett. I look forward to exploring the rest of it. =-)
mathewh on 07/02/2005:
i've gotta say that typekey is pretty rough. i just spent 7 minutes logging into it to make this post - so it better be good one!
anyways, i like the site. the colours are great and work well together. the tags idea is a pretty neat-o one too. i also like the usda thing too. where'd that come from?
keep it up!
-mathew (finally!)
robct on 07/02/2005:
Looks nice! Love the change. One question..
How come you have this TypeKey login thing? That's probably why you don't get as many comments as you used to, it was a pain having to sign up and login somewhere else. Can't you just allow us to put our name/email and submit our comment?
Elliott Pogue on 07/02/2005:
The new Maniacal Rage looks fantastic, Garrett! Awesome job.
Robct, in the end, it's be more convenient if more blogs supported TypeKey (which I hope will happen in the future; TypeKey has a fairly open API to work with). I'd love to know if there's a WordPress plugin for TypeKey, because it's a handy little authorization tool that prevents spamming and makes it easy for comment authors with a TypeKey account.
Garrett on 07/02/2005:
Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. As far as TypeKey goes: before I implemented TK support, I was getting over 100 spam comments per day—sometimes as high as 500 per day—and it was a huge pain in the ass to keep up with all that spam. TK is a free authentication system with a decent API that a lot of people already have (because of its use in MT and TypePad weblogs), plus it's free.
The good news is, in the 8 months TK registration has been required, I have not received a single spam comment. That's pretty impressive.
The bad news is, of course, that if you don't have a TK account you have to sign up. Although this should be very painless. Mathew—why did it take 7 minutes? Just to make sure it was still as easy as it was 8 months ago, I just created a test account. It took me under 2 minutes from start to finish. It definitely shouldn't take you near 10. Let me know what happened.
I would love to get rid of TypeKey. I would love to just allow everyone who wants to to post a comment here without any trouble. But the truth is, while I may get fewer comments this way, the site isn't constantly being ravaged by ads for whores and mortgage rates. So while it might be a slight annoyance to spend 2 minutes registering a TK account, know that in the long run it's better for everyone.
Plus, you can use your TK on any other blog that accepts it, so it's not just some proprietary authentication scheme.
bjarkovic on 07/02/2005:
Since I logged onto this TK thing, I might as well comment. The site's nice, although I miss the header. I thought that was brilliant. I even showed it to the guys that are redesigning my company's website. I love the fact that we can just add pictures that'll come up random, and the little button that would tell you more about that picture.
Kudos on the Meatball movie by the way. It was real funny and I liked the idea. I would've liked to see a couple of things added in, but I'll rant about that later. I do video editing and graphics for a living, so I have to have an opinion.
Later,
B.
Sameer Vasta on 07/02/2005:
i'm loving the new look garrett! it helps emphasize the wonderful content on the site, which is, in the end, what i keep coming back for.
Zach on 07/02/2005:
I think it looks wonderfu. I really enjoyed your previous design but this one seems to work just as well and I like it.
Joshua Marshall on 07/02/2005:
Absolutely love the redesign, Garrett. Nice and simple, but very slick with it.
Congrats!
Garrett on 07/02/2005:
Nice work. No, seriously. I'm digging this. Keep representing for all the Garrett's in the world.
Garrett on 07/02/2005:
Wow, it was very nice to come home to all of this positive feedback. Thanks very much, everyone. On a related note, I also came home to an email telling me I was Coolstop's site of the day for today, which was pretty neat too.
mathewh on 07/02/2005:
g,
it took so long because i had to create a new account (forgot all of my old info). i kept choosing usernames that were taken.. :(
hehe. again, love the site!
-m
hiwa on 07/03/2005:
I forgot the account too~
Like this site，It's nice and simple!
James on 07/03/2005:
I agree with everyone else, the new redesign is amazing. Though what's even more amazing is your search. I love the find as you type reminds me so much of Spotlight in Tiger, just as useful also.
Jenna Pfister on 07/03/2005:
The new design is fresh and lovely! Nice one, Garrett.
Angad on 07/04/2005:
Lovely!
lloydy on 07/04/2005:
Wow! I think your site is one of a new wave of sites I'm noticing that are simple and understated yet at the same time just breathtaking.
As to your spam/typekey situation, why not try MTBlacklist (I take it this is a Movable Type powered blog) - works for me like a charm...?
Anyhow, keep up the good work!
topher on 07/04/2005:
Wicked. Thought I clicked the wrong link to start with, but very quickly realised whats been going on!
Love the new design, like everyone said keeps the focus on the all important content, but I too do miss the header. I remember when I first found your site just clicking refresh to check them all out.
I dont have any problems with the TK login, I think its a fantastic method of comment management.
Keep it up garrett.
Ellie on 07/04/2005:
Fantastico!
valdok on 07/05/2005:
I'm in love with your color scheme.
Kevin Marsh on 07/06/2005:
Looks great! Especially like the quicksearch and the fact that my first instinct to browse results (up and down arrows) worked like a charm!
lisamac on 07/06/2005:
Garrett - This is hot. I love your color scheme and layout. Specifically though, I'm just LOVING how your "previously" section at the bottom of your main page has a gradient blue from dark to light. Is that a manual process or did you program that somehow? It's gorgeous. Simple, but gorgeous.
Awesome work man. I'm so envious. :-)
Garrett on 07/06/2005:
lloydy—I'm not using MT, I'm using my own system. You can read a little more about that here.
Kevin—left and right work too! (Assuming you're not using IE).
lisamac—Thanks very much, I really like that effect too. It's sort of manually programmatic: I loop through the 5 titles and assign each a different CSS class ("newest", "new", "old", "older", "oldest"). Those classes each have a different color value from darker blue to lighter.
I'm glad everyone likes the new site!
Diana Schnuth on 07/07/2005:
Wow! Haven't been here in a while, and I got quite the shock when the page loaded up! Great layout. Clean, simple, light, straightforward, and classic.
Once I learned a little bit about MySQL and PHP and such, it occured to me that it wouldn't be too hard to just code a blog from scratch. Not that I'd want to try it myself.
Your updated About page is great, too. Love the detail. Wish I had a modern Mac to keep my old disused 6500 Power Mac company.
Reid on 07/08/2005:
Very very nice Garrett. Good to see you on 9rules too!
Reid on 07/08/2005:
Oh wow, I love the yellow fade-out when I entered that last comment.
sunup on 07/26/2005:
very pretty. really.
but i can't see almost a third of the right-hand side without scrolling :
EasyMeat on 08/10/2005:
Love the redesign. I was a big fan of the previous incarnation but I think the new one is even better. The search thing is fantastic too!