First, I must mention how grateful I am for all the feedback these last few days – here, on Twitter and in person – regarding the design changes with which I’ve been playing. It’s been an interesting process, and I’m a little surprised by the outcome upon which I’ve settled. If you are reading this on the homepage, you’ll notice I’ve returned to my original theme for Pleasure Notes.
Why?
I guess I’m not quite as ready for change as I thought. Or perhaps, more accurately, I do not have the funds or css/html knowledge to create my vision in a new template with any greater satisfaction than that I find with the original.
And change simply for the sake of change is not my objective.
After countless hours – truly a ridiculously alarming number too large to share – of scrolling through the hundreds of free themes out there, I selected a couple that I thought might maintain elements of my original design while also lightening things up a bit to reflect the shift I’m trying to make in my life.
I tweaked the first option as best I could, but there were a few elements – the yellow highlighting and the chartreuse floral – that I truly despised, and which seemed to be locked in to the theme.
First New Look
Then, a trusted friend and loyal reader informed me that the theme showed up broken in her browser. There was no question, then, that it must be rejected forthwith.
Yes, I said FORTHWITH. I watched Lost In Austen last night on Netflix – feeling very anglophile today.
On to the second option.
Second New Look
I tweaked this one as well, also within the limitations of my html knowledge and patience. It was fine. Very readable.
But SO FUCKING BORING!
It just felt plain, plain, PLAIN. The simplicity of it seemed devoid of character.
For me.
I know a blog is about the words. But I’m never just about the words. I want to enfold you in an experience. I want this to be place you can sink into or dance through, depending on your mood and mine, but mostly I want you to FEEL and THINK and BE.
And I didn’t feel anything when I looked at that design. I felt entirely objective and ambivalent, like when I glance at the LA Times while in line for my egg sandwich at Starbucks. I wasn’t curious. I wasn’t invested. I wasn’t drawn in and made to feel present.
Now, I realize that you may feel none of these things anyway when you visit Pleasure Notes. But I do. And, after this little experiment, I’ve realized I don’t need to change the dressing on Pleasure Notes any more than I need a boob job or liposuction to reflect better self-esteem. Not that I’m equating the significance of a change in blog design with that of plastic surgery, but I’m hoping you get the picture. So for the time being, I’m opting out of change.
At least change of the cosmetic sort.
