HELLO, PEOPLE.
As you’ll note, the blog looks a little different, now.
New theme, some tweaks, some gentle massages.
If you’ll do me a very kind favor — swing by, scout around, see how everything looks? Make sure nothing seems broken? I’ll keep on tweaking some of the typography and stuff, but I’m mostly digging how it looks. Hopefully it serves as a fairly nice update to the site given that it’s been a while since I’ve actually changed shit around here.
The merch section is gone, because it was crap — also I’ve had a few issues getting paid from sales by the provider, Zazzle, so I’m going to wait to see if they’ll fix that before I go re-upping. Also noodling on a way to sell photo prints here, too, but that’s something for down the road.
New contact page.
New about me page.
Updated appearances.
My books/works section is updated, too — though I’ll still need to do some tweaks on individual pages to make them all line up and be consistent across each. Anyway! If you’ll do me the greatest solid of dropping into the comments and letting me know how it all looks? Thanks! You’re the bee’s knees. The literal bee’s knees. Without you, a bee can’t do karate.
And that makes you damn important.
Silverr 1 says:
A few things:
1. Might be nice if the “more” ellipsis was also a link to the full article.
2. What resolution/screen size was this designed for? On my 1920×1200 desktop (browser maximized) it looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/MD5GKfb.png —and while the top half is pleasing (yay white space!) I didn’t expect Kilroy clipping on the title after clicking a link.
July 6, 2018 — 10:31 AM
Elaina Roberts says:
All links worked fine for me! I’m not fond of the new theme but that’s just my opinion which is worth about as much as a pound of candy floss in a rain storm. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
July 6, 2018 — 10:35 AM
Lee Dunning says:
I would have to agree with you. The title of the site looks cool on its own, but the way it blends in with the current blog title makes it look like they’re mushed together. Need more separation via color, or actual space, or font size, or a picture. Even a nice line separating the two. Just something. Right now it looks like the Want Ads section of a newspaper.
July 6, 2018 — 10:49 AM
Lee Dunning says:
LoL, you fixed it as I was thumb typing my review. I would still make the title for the current blog smaller, but aside from that, it is great.
July 6, 2018 — 10:52 AM
Luther M. Siler says:
I feel like in general images and headline text are way too big, but otherwise this is pretty close to the theme I’m using and I’m pretty fond of it. Using Safari on a Macbook Pro.
July 6, 2018 — 10:39 AM
galpod says:
I second. The image is way to big and the titles (of the site and the post) are for my mom’s eyesight. HOWEVER, I like the new modern feel, the classic WordPress was clunky.
July 6, 2018 — 1:36 PM
Nik Constantine says:
Love the bold new font. The book covers also seem larger and better spaced, but my browser zoom is set a bit on the higher face-punch side, so that might just be me. The “Where’s Wendig” feature is super handy. I’ll miss the store, so let us know if a new version ever returns. Nice site revamp!
July 6, 2018 — 10:44 AM
terribleminds says:
I changed the header image as I (think) it was giving people a false notion of site typography — the ART HARDER was text, but not text in the blog. Rather, it was an image featuring text. Now a photo to see if this pops a little better.
July 6, 2018 — 10:45 AM
Peter Hentges says:
Looks like things are working as intended. Here’s to a few more years of glitch-free blogging!
July 6, 2018 — 10:45 AM
Joel says:
The link in the main banner header takes me to a /ramble but it goes to the books page. Maybe that’s your intent as the home page? I think the home used to be your blog page ?
July 6, 2018 — 10:46 AM
terribleminds says:
That is indeed the intent, yep. Homepage was never the blog page — always went right to porfolio/bibliography.
July 6, 2018 — 10:47 AM
The Seething Brain says:
Looks good!
July 6, 2018 — 10:49 AM
Kay Camden says:
Text is big for me too. Maybe not in a bad way, just in a I-remember-the-old-days-of-the-internet way, or a lots-of-scrolling-until-I-can-read-the-actual-post way. I know big text on the internet is a thing now, and it makes me feel old. Everything else looks great. Nice and clean and easy to navigate.
July 6, 2018 — 10:54 AM
M. A. Kropp says:
Love the new website. Still you, but shinier.
July 6, 2018 — 11:03 AM
bonniebekken says:
Clean. That’s the initial impact and that’s what matters to a newcomer. Old timers don’t care as much because we’re already hooked on content. Thanks for putting the fix on the frustratingly faulty merch department. May it appear as fresh and clean.
July 6, 2018 — 11:08 AM
Maria Rachel says:
Font is nice, titles are eye-catching, and everything looks good on both mobile and desktop!
July 6, 2018 — 11:19 AM
Juli Hoffman says:
I like the new format. It’s easier to read. Nice job! Looks good. 😀
July 6, 2018 — 11:38 AM
N.E. Montgomery says:
Very elegant, Chuck. 😉 A theme I’ve used, and recommend, great for writers. Works and looks great on Android mobile . 🙂
July 6, 2018 — 11:55 AM
Steve Fey says:
I like it. Selling photo prints someday might be nice, too, as you take some good shots.
July 6, 2018 — 12:08 PM
olivertransient says:
Looks pretty good; nice and clean. The pictures could be a bit smaller, IMO, since people come here mostly for the words and not the photography, as cool as that is. The header works well but again, I think it’d look better a bit smaller.
July 6, 2018 — 12:43 PM
getoutoftherecliner says:
I think it looks great. Very clean. Agree with other comments that on the big screen the blog headers and images are ENORMOUS, but on the iPhone they seem to be just right. I was also expecting to be able to click on the […] to get to the rest of the article – took me a minute to figure out I had to scroll back up to the title and click there.
July 6, 2018 — 12:45 PM
Sherryl says:
Me likey.
July 6, 2018 — 12:48 PM
katzap says:
As others have remarked: 1) nice, clean look. 2) Font looks BIG sometimes, like on blog titles – not a bad thing but my head wanted to draw back to take it in better. I clicked around on the pages and found no glitches. Laughed out loud at the ‘where’s wendig’ photo. Overall, it’s a good mix of clear, focused – yet fun.
July 6, 2018 — 12:53 PM
Emelie Samuelson says:
I think it looks fantastic! Definitely different from before, but as long as the words are all going to keep coming at me like torpedos of knowledge, I’m happy.
July 6, 2018 — 2:08 PM
Robert Thomas Woods says:
It looks great, but I will echo one thing from the other comments: the images are monstrous. Not that I mind your face filling up my screen, Chuck. I’m just afraid my co-workers might see and think I collect weird photos of bearded strangers. I mean, I do that anyway, but nobody needs to know about my hobbies but me.
July 6, 2018 — 2:24 PM
drgnl80 says:
I’m not the first to say it – but even with my browser set to teensy-tiny print, the images are GINORMOUS. But heck – I can see what I need to see, so I won’t complain (unless invited). 🙂
July 6, 2018 — 2:32 PM
terribleminds says:
I really want the images ginormous — especially when I post book covers or photos, I really like them to fill the screen, I think it’s bold.
July 6, 2018 — 3:03 PM
M Elizabeth Ticknor says:
I like big images, myself. XD
July 6, 2018 — 6:00 PM
katcoz says:
I can easily navigate it which is all I really want from a site, but then I’m old. It looks neat-o, groovy and boss.
July 6, 2018 — 2:56 PM
Suzanne Lucero (@S_Lucero) says:
Ok, I’ll be bonest. I generally read your blogs in my email, so can’t speak to the new appearance of your website.. OTOH, it looks great to me. Write on, oh Mr. Penmonkey, sir.
July 6, 2018 — 3:19 PM
Stefanie says:
Love it on mobile, but it’s a bit messy on desktop, I can’t properly see the pictures. The pictures are way too big and tbh everything seems to be too big. I have to scroll on my 15″ mac book pro retina and even on my 27″ iMac and even then I can only see parts of the pictures, no matter if they are horizontal or vertical; I can never see the whole picture at once. That’s annoying…
And while I usually dig a nice font size I think a tiny bit of downsizing would work wonders for the headlines. The new design is wonderful on mobile, but on other devices your blog isn’t fun to read at the moment.
July 6, 2018 — 3:38 PM
Catana says:
Pictures are way too big, and just because I’m 81 that doesn’t mean I need the post titles to take up the entire screen. They’re completely out of proportion with the text.
July 6, 2018 — 4:22 PM
lif strand says:
What Catana said.
July 7, 2018 — 4:33 PM
Tracy says:
I am reading on smartphone and everything looks proportional. Sites optimized for mobile often look odd on desktop, so maybe that is where the size issues are generated. I like the clean white and black which makes it easier for me to read.
July 6, 2018 — 4:36 PM
Kathy says:
Hi Chuck. You asked for feedback. Here is mine (though I feel a little weird evaluating someone else’s site, since I am such an amateur at site design myself). On the “Where the Hell is Wendig” page, your photo is too large to fully fit on my 13.5 macbook pro screen. I have to scroll to see all of your grizzled, glorious self. On the “Books” page, the new bigger images are great, but the font size of the titles beneath them are distractingly large and visually compete for my attention so my brain doesn’t quite know what to look at. I agree with others that the font size for your post titles on the blog page might look better smaller. Right now, they don’t seem well balanced with the font size of the actual posts. Last suggestion: on the “Where’s Wendig” page, it would be awesome if you dropped active links to the homepages of the Cons you’re going to be at so we can click and have a peek at what the Con is all about. Hope that was helpful. Now, get back to writing, you monkey.
July 6, 2018 — 5:01 PM
M Elizabeth Ticknor says:
Kind of a weird question… is the “A Radioactive Monkey” short story supposed to give a 404 error? It did that with the old version of the site, too, which always made me wonder if there was a joke I wasn’t getting.
July 6, 2018 — 5:59 PM
Ted Warren (@GenuineTed) says:
This is nice responsive theme. Checked it on my desktop and phone. Looks solid in both. The typography is nicely readable. The masthead collapses well.
Little things. The header image for the blog entry and its title feel really large compared to the masthead (uncollapsed). For the image, I think it is the vertical dimension that distracts me most. The width I understand is a function of the theme and best use of space. It acts as a line break on the page.
The white space around the content is what it is. Responsive web design has a bit more of that than static layout. Rather see the white space than the clutter of sidebar elements or ads.
July 6, 2018 — 6:50 PM
Penquillity says:
Clean new look. Same potty mouth. No complaints here.
July 6, 2018 — 8:17 PM
Thomas Diehl says:
Homepage looks fine and nice, but the amount of scrolling I have to do to read anything both on the blog and especially on each book’s individual page is horrible.
July 7, 2018 — 3:54 AM
janeishly says:
Another one who finds the amount of scrolling required (on a 24″ monitor) to be offputting. And generally I like clean themes like this but somehow it doesn’t quite fit with the Chuck Wendig I know and love? I expect I’ll get used to that, but the image/text size thing really is a problem – I get that you want the images to be nice and big, but it’s like watching a full sized cinema screen in your living room at the moment. You have to turn your head to fit all of it in.
July 7, 2018 — 4:03 AM
lif strand says:
I’m with those who finds the headers way WAY too large. Plus I’m not fond of all the white space now, which means I read a few lines, scroll, read a few lines…. I find I’m reacting like I do to big print books for grownups, which is kinda the same as how I feel about Dick and Jane books. Big letters for folks who can’t handle a lot of words.
Reminds me of back in the day (way, way back) when I created my first websites, though at least you’ve got white background. I thought that turquoise was a really cool idea. NOT.
July 7, 2018 — 4:45 PM
Mozette says:
Very cool! I love the updates and all the links work here too!
I’ve been missing the Flash Fiction Fridays for the past few weeks though… :/ are we still gonna be doing them? Justa a question… I love doing them, they keep me in check. 🙂
July 7, 2018 — 7:49 PM
authormilligib says:
A MENU BAR THAT STAYS ON THE SCREEN!!!! I’ll be your worker bee until you get rid of it. I’m all for easy access to the rest of the site, even when I’m halfway down the page. (this was one of the biggest things I demanded for my own website.) I haven’t clicked all the links yet, though, I was too excited about the static-to-the-screen site menu.
July 7, 2018 — 9:57 PM
Doc Coleman says:
Too big.
I feel like I’m at a distance of 18 inches trying to look at a billboard designed to be read from orbit. Everything is too big and I can’t make sense of it.
July 9, 2018 — 2:59 PM
Miriam Joy says:
I mostly like it, though the header image is pretty huge (I do have a very large monitor though). I find most of the images on your blog too big — when they come through in emails, they break my mail client and I always have to click through to read them because it refuses to wrap text when there’s an image in the post. On the plus side, more hits for you. On the minus side, I have to delay reading posts until I’m on a computer rather than being able to read on my phone… I’m not really sure what the solution to that one is, though. It’s not just you; anyone who uses decent-quality images gets scrambled in email subs.
July 10, 2018 — 5:50 PM
JR Fryer says:
I like the new crisp appearance. Really jumps out at you, which is good for someone half-blind like myself. The layout is friendly and functional, so I’d say excellent job.
… but Brian Keene’s office is still cooler… just saying 😉
July 11, 2018 — 10:56 AM
Betsy says:
It looks cool, but the top banner part takes up a LOT of vertical space. I have to scroll down to read your content.
July 13, 2018 — 7:13 PM
Echoe says:
Late to the game here, but I’d like to say as a web developer and a fan, the redesign’s looking a lot more modern.
Also, the new “HEY DID YOU KNOW I WRITE BOOKS” tagline made me chuckle.
It definitely looks better on mobile & tablet than it does on desktop. As other people have mentioned, I think there’s still an issue with sizing. The header itself is a little awkward because it’s too big for a “header” and too small for a splash. It’s almost like a hero image but without the image? Since it looks like you’re going for more of a splash look, you might want to fix the header height to 100vh (that translates to 100% the height of the browser).
Also, your photography is usually fantastic, so those post main images are looking great. I can’t tell you how many times somebody wants to have more pictures on the page, sends us crap-quality photos, and then can’t tell why it doesn’t look as good as the example. Quality photos make a huge difference. Might want to set a height limit for especially tall image aspect ratios, though (like the book covers you post when you feature an author).
July 16, 2018 — 7:00 PM
Joan Enoch says:
Your tight-lipped new photo–it’s fine, but I think it would work for people who remember your–gooney?–last, open-mouthed ‘hey, I’m having a great time’ photo–people who knew that would laugh–seems that you’re still generally joking/taking the piss. For anyone new coming to the site, they would take that picture totally seriously. Would think you were one of these tight-lipped writers. Like the bigger type font–easier for me to read without adjusting the setting.
July 23, 2018 — 12:03 PM