Brushed metal blog: yay or nay?

[Mike Teezie]

Give it to me straight, I'm on the fence about my new blog design I'm working on. On one hand, I really like it - os x-ish and all - but brushed metal has been done sooooo much.

I don't know, what do you guys think?

Brushed metal blog (http://mnjordan.com/journal205/)

Also, is the load time ok? I have a javascript from the script.aculo.us library running on the "about me" section.

Note: the final url will be /blog, not /journal205. This is just the blog that i develop templates for.

[Vidd]

It's a nice start but it needs something to break apart the links in the bar and the main image looks a little bland.

[adom]

Its looking good. I have a couple of suggestions tho:

1. The rollover font colour isn't the right choice for the nav menu. Its too dark and doesn't contrast with the brushed metal theme it sits on. Maybe a different colour, or possibly no colour change at all - instead an underline onMouseOver?

2. As someone pointed previously, separate the menu items with something. Maybe a " | " or some kind of bullet? Anything to make the items look separate and difinitive.

3. The RSS feed image has a 'link border' - get rid! it will look alot better!

Apart from that, I like it very much! :D

[jng]

Maybe just use a solid grey color for the nav instead of repeating the brushed metal? I like the look of it. I would also shrink the width of the a page a little bit more maybe, because there isn't a whole lot of content. I'm a huge fan of negative space.

And I LOVE your photography. Damn, I wish you could take my portrait!

[besler3035]

I'm kind of digging the theme. I don't know if I really like the brushed metal, but everything else looks pretty good. If you release this theme, please PM me and let me know!

[Mike Teezie]

Its looking good. I have a couple of suggestions tho:

1. The rollover font colour isn't the right choice for the nav menu. Its too dark and doesn't contrast with the brushed metal theme it sits on. Maybe a different colour, or possibly no colour change at all - instead an underline onMouseOver?

2. As someone pointed previously, separate the menu items with something. Maybe a " | " or some kind of bullet? Anything to make the items look separate and difinitive.

3. The RSS feed image has a 'link border' - get rid! it will look alot better!

Apart from that, I like it very much! :D

Arrgghh!!! I always forget to kill the link borders! I agree about the rollover color. I need to find a new one.

Maybe just use a solid grey color for the nav instead of repeating the brushed metal? I like the look of it. I would also shrink the width of the a page a little bit more maybe, because there isn't a whole lot of content. I'm a huge fan of negative space.

And I LOVE your photography. Damn, I wish you could take my portrait!

Thanks for the kind words! This thing will have mega-content on it when it goes live. I blog 10-15 images from my shoots almost everyday on this sucker! The width is something I wanted to have - my current blog is too narrow, and the images are a bit small.

Thanks everybody, I'll get to work on these recommendations. :)

[tominated]

I would probably make the rss icon slightly smaller. it looks too big in that nav bar. apart from that, it is pretty awesome

[Father Jack]

I would probably make the rss icon slightly smaller. it looks too big in that nav bar. apart from that, it is pretty awesome
Totally agree, too big, but otherwise cool. :cool:

FJ

[SC68Cal]

I think it's perfect.

Very fast load, maybe make the text a little bigger default (then again I'm viewing on a 1440x900 monitor)

Nice job!

Going to have to bookmark this site when you're finished.

EDIT: Added it already, in anticipation