Do not adjust your sets. Yes, the realign that I worked long and hard over has been discarded. The original Upstart Blogger design is back and it’s here to stay for a very long time. Sure, I might take out the underscores, darken the red a little and make a little nip and tuck here and there but the old is now the new again.
I’ve spent far too much time tweaking and generally messing around with a theme that was already ideal. My desire to put my own design stamp on the site backfired and cost me dearly in terms of traffic and revenue.
My biggest mistake was not acknowledging my own limitations. I’m not a designer. And I shouldn’t have hacked away at the design that played a huge part in this blog’s success.
What does this mean for Upstart Blogger? With the design itch now successfully scratched the plan is to move forward with new, and hopefully exciting, content and to move forward with all the plans originally laid out at the start of the year, some of which have been slowed down by the aforementioned itch.
Thanks for all your emails in response to my post yesterday where I hinted at some problems here at Upstart Blogger HQ. At the moment I’m trying to put things to the back of my mind until we have all the facts. Once I know exactly what I’m dealing with I’ll share the news, good or bad.
I echo the sentiment I hope all is OK
Sad to see the new version go yet glad to see the OG version back. I hope all is well.
love the new/old look. but why does everyone hate the underscores so much? they’re what made me stop and check this place out in the first place.
greatings greatings greatings
we learn everyday
i guess you are a good musician
Glad to see the old theme back. Have you considered adding an underscore to the front of “Writers and Web Designers Wanted!”? It’s the only “tiny-meta” element missing one.
I never knew how much I loved the old theme. I guess I never did see it with Safari, but it looks absolutely marvelous. And to think, I disliked it once upon a time. I liked the first realign, with the yellow; but as you have discovered, the latest wasn’t awesome. Pleasing to see that the cartoon RSS icon is back and looking great.
I am sure I echo fellow readers in hoping that the issues of which you speak are not too bad and that Upstart Blogger HQ becomes a problem-free zone again soon. :)
I like this design - red better than the yellow.
An another note though, I’ve been reading this site for almost a month now and haven’t seen any substantive posts. I got excited at first, as I’m interested in blogging and making money from it, and I was eager to learn. But so far I’m pretty disappointed.
Bullshit.
Robert’s designs drew me at first but now I come to read how to become a better blogger.
oh and the free swag too :P
Whoa, just randomly check what’s going on here and….
On a personal level hope everything turn’s out OK!
Love the old design back! ;)
Is the RSS address still ok as I didnt get anything in my reader about new posts!?
I hope the underscores stay. It’s good to see the clean look of Upstart back again.
I started reading the blog shortly before you took over the reigns and one of the things which initially attracted me was the look of the site. I did start to write about the visual changes when you changed from the (in my opinion) awful yellow to the (slightly better blue) but I didn’t ever finish and my thoughts went by the wayside.
Imagine my joy and surprise when the site reverted back to white, red and black. Personally, I think the design is unique, stands above most other sites and works very well for the content.
Would love it to stay as a ‘leader’ not a follower’.