Installing A New Theme

by Jeremy Schoemaker on September 2, 2007 · 101 comments

This afternoon I am installing a new theme so things way look weird here ;) You might need to shift-reload your web browser to see what we are doing.

Update 1: I like your guys feedback but understand its a work in progress… I will be working on it on and off all week. I know your used to more professional bloggers but thats not me ;)

Update 2: just a few small quirks widths and crap to work out. I moved it to new.shoemoney.com to play with it there.

About the author...

– who has written 2416 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

Images provided by ShutterStock


Mark recommends you read these posts also:

  1. fat-3 I used to be FAT until I had A Duodenal Switch
  2. harrypotter What Internet Marketers Can learn From Harry Potter
  3. douchbag.congrats Are You a Conference Speaker Douchebag?

{ 101 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Guk September 2, 2007 at 5:37 pm

I’m liking this new theme…but I read it via rss so not a big deal :) .

Reply

2 More M September 2, 2007 at 5:39 pm

I wondered how long it would take you to catch up with the others. :)

Reply

3 Matt Wolfe September 2, 2007 at 5:44 pm

Lookin Good.

Reply

4 GVOD September 2, 2007 at 5:45 pm

Lookin’ sweeeeet.

Reply

5 Glen Allsopp September 2, 2007 at 5:52 pm

Hmm I’m sure your old trial one was a lot better. Will wait it out though to see how it ends up!

Reply

6 Zero CC September 2, 2007 at 5:54 pm

Looks similar.

The colors are too dark for me.

http://microformats.org/ design is sooo awesome

Mike

Reply

7 Pablo September 2, 2007 at 5:55 pm

Ehm, the way it is right now… i don’t really like it, hope it changes.

and like guk said, RSS ftw.

Reply

8 Jason Likert September 2, 2007 at 6:19 pm

I know the feeling. It seems like every day I’m changing themes!

Reply

9 Stavanger September 2, 2007 at 6:51 pm

Similar layout, I find the new gradient a bit heavy on the eye.

Reply

10 Nick September 2, 2007 at 6:52 pm

I really like this new theme, great stuff. Never posted here before but visit daily. Great site!

Reply

11 Lorenzo September 2, 2007 at 7:02 pm

It seems like a pretty amateur version of a 2.0 site, a bit tacky to say the least.

Reply

12 king jacob September 2, 2007 at 7:05 pm

I like it, its alot more cool to the eyes than your other one. Im curious what is going to be in the marketplace and friends post.

Also thank you for making it so pressing tab goes to the submit button, having to scroll down each time was anoying.

Reply

13 Marcin Zielezny September 2, 2007 at 7:15 pm

I really like it. But it’s a little to wide and doesn’t fit my screen (1024×768). Hopefully it will be changed.

Reply

14 Tamar Weinberg September 2, 2007 at 7:27 pm

Looks really good. Nice work. :)

Reply

15 Maldino September 2, 2007 at 7:35 pm

looks very good and better .. simple and beautiful

Reply

16 Ian Robertson September 2, 2007 at 7:42 pm

some title text on the main page is all squishified on the main page.

I think is looks a little( a lot ) amateurish, almost like something one would find in the Digital point forums where people sell their non coded psd files for 5 bucks.

it just seems a little clunky and such.

Reply

17 Ian Robertson September 2, 2007 at 7:42 pm

oh and I’m using Safari , incase you want to know what i’m viewing it through.

Reply

18 Marcin Zielezny September 2, 2007 at 7:46 pm

I really like it but it’s a little to wide and doesn’t fit my screen (1024×768). I hope it will be changed.

Reply

19 Nick Sullivan September 2, 2007 at 8:14 pm

Looks pretty nice…. old theme was awesome to though, nice n simple. Still, nice update.

Reply

20 Travel Notebook September 2, 2007 at 8:17 pm

I dont like the 2 blocks above the first post. Seems like you are giving less important stuff prime real estate.

Reply

21 Travel Notebook September 2, 2007 at 8:17 pm

Agree, things are a bit dark

Reply

22 Travel Notebook September 2, 2007 at 8:17 pm

More like web 1.5 :)

Reply

23 Travel Notebook September 2, 2007 at 8:19 pm

Too much scrolling? I dont think so. I think its bad position for those blocks but its not ‘too much scrolling’ unless your using a 8 inch monitor or something

Reply

24 Travel Notebook September 2, 2007 at 8:20 pm

And I think the old logo looked nicer but the logo in the footer looks cool.

Reply

25 Sami September 2, 2007 at 8:38 pm

Hey I like this man, it is really cool. You have a market place also. Well done man.

Reply

26 king jacob September 2, 2007 at 8:39 pm

Are you sure you have 1024×768 because thats my resolution and I have at least half an inch of “white” space on each side.

What happened to being able to press tab to press submit?

Reply

27 Derek September 2, 2007 at 8:46 pm

Looks good, I like it. Finally don’t have to zoom in a few times just to be able to read the comments lol

Reply

28 graywolf September 2, 2007 at 8:48 pm

umm I totally lose the right side of the page

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1308162118&size=o

Reply

29 Nick Sullivan September 2, 2007 at 8:52 pm

Yeah I agree, the two blocks above the post and sidebars… hmm, I think it would look nicer without them. Also this site used to fit my screen perfectly… now it stretches it.

Reply

30 graywolf September 2, 2007 at 8:54 pm

umm the whole right side column is off my screen

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1308162118&size=o

Reply

31 Hip Hop September 2, 2007 at 9:21 pm

damn I’m lovin the new theme

Reply

32 Hawaii SEO September 2, 2007 at 9:52 pm

It does look a little wide. I need to scroll left & right on my 1024 X 768 monitor. it’s very rare that I view a website that doesn’t fit this resolution.

The far right column is all-ads. I have read that you make more money by placing the ads column on the inside and the navigation on the outside.

I like the big header and footer. The RSS feed could use an ad or two without hurting anything. Otherwise, it looks great.

Reply

33 rob September 2, 2007 at 9:56 pm

i dont like it dude…. it’s too goofy/bulky with weird shadows and borders.

Reply

34 derek September 2, 2007 at 10:26 pm

The “friends’ posts” section is currently expanding outside the “box” because the titles of the posts are wrapping.

IMO, I think there are some nice features on this theme but from someone of your experience/stature I would expect more. It seems reactionary to the new designs from ProBlogger and John Chow yet it doesn’t do anything to stand out.

I’m a little disappointed with this new theme Shoe.

Reply

35 Matt September 2, 2007 at 10:27 pm

Major downgrade. Might want to check out the guy that just re-did John Chow’s.

Reply

36 fivecentnickel.com September 2, 2007 at 10:52 pm

looks sharp. i like the darker background.

Reply

37 max September 2, 2007 at 11:07 pm

I really liked your “search” option before and I don’t see it anymore. Can you put it back please? Also some minor font formatting issues.

Reply

38 Click Input September 2, 2007 at 11:07 pm

A few tweaks needed obviously, but generally looks a lot better.

Reply

39 SEOnaut September 2, 2007 at 11:11 pm

This new theme rocks like web 2.0 mainstream :-)

Reply

40 king jacob September 2, 2007 at 11:24 pm

I dont believe shoemoney is worried about monetizing this blog, too much.

Reply

41 king jacob September 2, 2007 at 11:26 pm

I totally disagree,this theme looks alot more friendly and easy on the eyes than chows

Reply

42 Matt September 2, 2007 at 11:27 pm

Trying to hard to be 2.0 with the bad gloss and what not. The old theme was much better.

Reply

43 jimminy September 2, 2007 at 11:45 pm

I totally agree with you, dude. The weird shadows are making me feel as if I am in a haunted house with ghouls n’ ghosts. I am feeling very confined by these borders too, they are definitely weird in that way because it feels like the text is enclosed in a box or something. Those WEIRD shadows, man… those shadows…

Reply

44 Theo September 3, 2007 at 12:02 am

Too wide for me as well, using ie

Reply

45 Theo September 3, 2007 at 12:03 am

The friends post thing is cool..

Reply

46 ShoeMoney September 3, 2007 at 12:11 am

ya that is something I always wanted to do… for like 2 years now… it will be automated as of tomorrow I was writing the plugin for that tonight

Reply

47 Jonathan Volk September 3, 2007 at 1:00 am

I like it a lot. Two thumbs up. :)

Reply

48 Knuckles10 September 3, 2007 at 1:17 am

I like it. Dont forget to bring back the comment count for each post

Reply

49 Tim Spangler September 3, 2007 at 1:28 am

I really like it Shoe, except the font in the header that “Shoe Money” is written in. It just seems way too old-fashioned compared to the font you had in the old header.

And your footer says “lastest q&a”. Otherwise it looks fabulous! Nice job.

Reply

50 ShoeMoney September 3, 2007 at 1:33 am

not sure what you mean comment count for each post

Reply

51 Gary R. Hess September 3, 2007 at 2:24 am

I love it… damn, probably the best layout I have seen in a while.

Reply

52 Pete W September 3, 2007 at 2:57 am

I like it. Couple of suggestions tho Shoe…

1) The font is too small. Make it a bit bigger.
2) In Firefox, the heading text isn’t bold, and the body text doesn’t have the same “warmth” it has when viewed in IE (looks ok though). May want to investigate the former, and look into a different font for the body.
3) I’ll bet if you do some eyetracking, you’d find that almost no-one sees the AzAds on the side. All the stuff on the far right (your advertising stuff) looks too much like what it is. Some theme design to make it look better might be in order. And finally
4) The links on the BlogRoll are too dark. Lighten them up a bit :)

Hope that helps a lil.

Pete

Reply

53 Steven September 3, 2007 at 3:11 am

Looking forward to the final launch of the new theme.

Reply

54 Steven September 3, 2007 at 3:12 am

Seems like so many people are redesigning their site this time of year :lol:

Reply

55 Adi September 3, 2007 at 3:12 am

It looks better than the old theme. You did a great job !

Reply

56 Steven September 3, 2007 at 3:13 am

I agree with KJ, SM doesn’t seem too wrapped up in monetizing this site.

Reply

57 Ash September 3, 2007 at 3:16 am

Make the font a little biggerm too small :(

Reply

58 Nick Sullivan September 3, 2007 at 3:55 am

Nice radio show feature at the bottom. Haven’t heard any of these yet, gna check em out.

Reply

59 lyricsreg September 3, 2007 at 4:53 am

Seems like a great improvement :)

Reply

60 Nuts & Milk September 3, 2007 at 5:35 am

Its a hell lot better than problogger’s ‘professional’ template and john chow’s ugly template

Reply

61 Sabrina's Money Matters September 3, 2007 at 6:25 am

It’s a lot of work changing themes and optimizing for them, I just spent ll of my Sunday and I’m about to go back and tweak more in my new theme. But my blog has grown and I had to accommodate it – so I’m happy for the changes, no matter the workload – Good Luck with it all!

Reply

62 Steven September 3, 2007 at 6:40 am

I’m sure its hard tweaking and changing themes, I know because I went through a lot myself. I am still not happy with my current one.

Reply

63 Mario Andrade September 3, 2007 at 7:01 am

Nice looking layout but the font could be bigger making it more readable

Reply

64 GVOD September 3, 2007 at 8:03 am

Dude where’s the search box?

Reply

65 Stephane September 3, 2007 at 8:28 am

I read it through RSS too so I don’t really mind.

Reply

66 TheDirectoryDude September 3, 2007 at 9:01 am

Haha, I love it how Shoe just starts messing around with his theme and doesn’t really give a shit if it looks funny for a while. Very refreshing in this new age of bloggers pretending to be professional magazines:)

Reply

67 TheDirectoryDude September 3, 2007 at 9:03 am

I think he is talking about how it use to say “41 comments” or however many there is below each post.

Reply

68 TheDirectoryDude September 3, 2007 at 9:04 am

Pretty cool plugin and doubly impressed you wrote it yourself. Planning on releasing it? :)

Reply

69 dapyx September 3, 2007 at 9:18 am

I have a 13″ laptop and it’s really small, it used to be small but not its even smaller.

Reply

70 GettyCash September 3, 2007 at 11:34 am

I also want to change my blog theme :p

I am looking forward to see shoemoney.com new theme.

Reply

71 Joeychgo September 3, 2007 at 1:10 pm

waiting anxiously

Reply

72 roeinstein September 3, 2007 at 2:28 pm

yuck. someone needs to learn how to use the gradient tool.

Reply

73 CPA Affiliates September 3, 2007 at 2:46 pm

cool man look forward to seeing the finished product.

Reply

74 sama September 3, 2007 at 6:06 pm

I love the way it is now — i like the “flat” 2d style, i think it rocks. The new style breaks everything up into blocks that are more noticable, which i dont like, reminds me of them old site managment cms things. Sorry :-(

Reply

75 The Dino September 3, 2007 at 8:11 pm

Seems like all big bloggers are updating theme.

Reply

76 The Dino September 3, 2007 at 8:13 pm

Just checked the new theme and it doesnt look much different but more proffesional.

Reply

77 Travel Notebook September 3, 2007 at 8:24 pm

Actually, I kind of like it. I think you should use the old logo though and double check some of your font sizes because certain things are hard to read (72 People have something to add whats your take) etc

Reply

78 Travel Notebook September 3, 2007 at 8:24 pm

I kind of like chows new template

Reply

79 Travel Notebook September 3, 2007 at 8:25 pm

hes a gagillionaire

Reply

80 Travel Notebook September 3, 2007 at 8:26 pm

wow, writing plugins!

Reply

81 TheDirectoryDude.com September 3, 2007 at 9:40 pm

Ooooh, burnt:)

Reply

82 TheDirectoryDude.com September 3, 2007 at 9:40 pm

All good again now:) We just need patience:)

Reply

83 corey September 3, 2007 at 11:39 pm

i think its the introduction of dark blue. i’m trying to do the opposite with a brand right now…ditch dark blues and greys in favor of more lively blues and white.

Reply

84 Modern Worker September 3, 2007 at 11:42 pm

Hey Shoe, wise move to put the post links to recent/popular at the top. Lookin’ good man!

Reply

85 Modern Worker September 3, 2007 at 11:42 pm

I thought he said he’s still playing with it……

Reply

86 Modern Worker September 3, 2007 at 11:46 pm

I agree, Chow’s is very ad-oriented and the meat of the site (I use that term loosely) is cowering over in the dark corner

Reply

87 TheDirectoryDude.com September 4, 2007 at 12:36 am

Yeah, it is the thing to do at the moment amongst the a list SEO/SEM/problogger crowd. Wonder why?

Reply

88 Gecko Tales September 4, 2007 at 6:53 am

Every time I work with a new theme something gets goofy. It’s fun when a new theme works tho.

Reply

89 Suchmaschinenoptimierung Berlin September 4, 2007 at 8:43 am

Hi Shoe, love the new theme. Looking forward to its release!

Reply

90 lyricsreg September 4, 2007 at 8:45 am

Considering that most 2.0 websites can’t even get close to 1.0, I would say 1.5 is pretty good

Reply

91 Theo September 4, 2007 at 3:44 pm

Wow…
Looking good..

Reply

92 Grivon September 4, 2007 at 11:28 pm

Hah yea – looking GREAT since you ended up buying it right?! Check earlier posts… :S

Reply

93 eTown Landlord September 5, 2007 at 7:22 am

This is alot of work. Do you still enjoy coding? Sometimes I find myself getting really frustrated with tweaking templates but in the end it’s worth it.

Reply

94 stupid 3gp September 6, 2007 at 6:47 am

I think the new design is nice but old one stick to eyes and i simply love the simple design.

Reply

95 stupid 3gp September 6, 2007 at 7:54 am

I just noticed no link on Shoemoney logo? Why or it is not there by mistake

Reply

96 ***V*** September 6, 2007 at 2:29 pm

It’s becoming more web 2.0 :)

Also, like stupid 3gp posted, you need a home link on the top left shoemoney logo.

Reply

97 Ken Savage September 6, 2007 at 10:33 pm

just being super picky but is the comments font different than the rest of the site?

Reply

98 katurday September 6, 2007 at 10:52 pm

looks good!

Reply

99 Aditya Kumar Singh September 9, 2007 at 5:19 am

Your new theme rocks. BTW i have already paid Unique Blog Designs for a new theme for my blog. Lets see how they do. I know they did excellent for you so that they would get more recommendations from you. U r a big man offcourse :)

Reply

100 Joeychgo September 10, 2007 at 2:23 pm

Im loving the new look. Its making me want to upgrade mine.

Reply

101 hiutopor September 17, 2007 at 12:59 am

Hi all!

Very interesting information! Thanks!

G’night

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: