Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

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jacob
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Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by jacob »

Since we're moving server, I now might be an opportunity to change the almost 10 year old blog theme to something more modern (and more compatible with smartphones and VR goggles or whatever all those retirees use these days).

For example, about a year ago, evil Google decided to "encourage" site owners to make their code smartphone compatible by threatening to downgrade rankings. An upstanding move, for sure, and I do admit that the old theme is/was getting a bit clunky as well.

Going with the mentality of the forum installation, I would prefer this [new theme] to be as hassle-free and default as possible. And also free and not written in some fashionable bizarro-language. Also, it's clear (see forum logo) that I'm not a fan of stock photos, graphics, and icons that look like candy. I do like dense text and forests of links.

Any suggestions or preferences?

https://wordpress.org/themes/browse/popular/ (I'm thinking of going with one of the twenty-teen themes which seem to be the defaults).

distracted_at_work
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by distracted_at_work »

General suggestions from me would be keep it simple, clean, minimalistic etc. The twenty-teen themes are usually great for this. Flash stood out for me as a great looking option if you want to go away from the defaults. Looks like it has a pro version, not sure if that would be required.

Fish
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by Fish »

I personally dislike "mobile-optimized" themes which is really a euphemism for "information-light." The current theme works and is an effective moat against those who aren't ready for the message. Having an outdated theme also lends credibility to your claims of being first in the modern FIRE blog space. :)

Suggestions:
1. Remove the "if you're new here" banner that appears on every page(*)
2. Eliminate one or both sidebars. Move ads to bottom of page.

Content removed as a result of 1 and 2 could go on a dedicated page for newbies.

(*)It appears the banner has been improved, I would delete the part in red to further conserve reading bandwidth:
If you enjoy the blog, also consider the book which is much better organized and more complete. You can read the first chapter for free or see the reviews (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,Z). Subscribe to the blog via email or RSS. See updates and links on the facebook page, join the forums, and look for tactics on the ERE wiki. The Sitemap lists all the blog posts.

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C40
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by C40 »

Fish wrote:
Fri May 05, 2017 5:01 pm
I personally dislike "mobile-optimized" themes which is really a euphemism for "information-light." The current theme works and is an effective moat against those who aren't ready for the message.
All decent mobile-optimized themes transition properly and look good on both a computer screen and a phone.

What do you mean by people who aren't ready for the message? Are you saying that people who read things on the internet using a tablet or phone aren't ready for the message? Really?

cmonkey
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by cmonkey »

I actually like the current theme a lot.

I'm not sure how those themes in the link would translate into a forum look. All the examples I saw were in blog format. Do we have examples of forums running on those themes?

Whatever theme we have, it should NOT be flashy/trendy. Simple and efficient! So, really, what we have now.

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C40
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by C40 »

The forum and blog themes are entirely separate. So, you do get what we have right now :-D

Fish
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by Fish »

@C40: I'm saying that if someone would give up on reading the ERE site because of its appearance or presentation, it's likely not a big loss. There are other PF blogs out there covering FIRE from all angles. The people who are ready are those who would read the blog in spite of its current form (which I find acceptable though unaesthetic), because you still can't find anything quite like it in 2017, nearly 10 years after it was started. I just don't think blog-theme is a high priority, though maybe I should appear more grateful that Jacob is willing to put in effort to improve the ERE site.

jacob
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by jacob »

Well, I'm following this thread ;-) ... so keep elaborating and expressing desires.

http://www.stretcher.com/ was one of my few original 2000-05 (or whatever) inspirations .. and for a long time that was hand-coded html, but I see even he has switched. As far as I'm concerned, longevity on the decadal scale ranks above all else... although I increasingly wonder about the value of the blog posts years from now beyond reasons of historical nerd-research.

I'm willing to retain the old format (me not having to lift a finger to make that happen is a strong selling point), but I was/am concerned about all the smart/mobile-fiends.

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C40
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by C40 »

Anyways, which theme you want probably depends most on:

- How you want blog posts to appear on the front page. Just one post or multiple? All of it, or excerpts? Some of these things can be change on some themes, and some can't.
- Do you want a sidebar on both sides like you have now?
- How do you want the top menu to look, and do you want it to be ~locked in place while a viewer scrolls?

I wanted a certain specific combination of all those for my blog page. I looked through over a hundred themes (actually applied them to my blog to see how they actually look), and took notes on which ones had the things I was looking for. I didn't find what I wanted.

Dragline
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by Dragline »

I'd go for something minimalist that looks like it came off the shelf. With a convenient search feature.

But also featuring incongruous pictures of Frank (that's the dog) that pop up kind of randomly and prompt people to say, "What the hell is that dog doing here -- I think someone hacked your site." Which you should never acknowledge as something they are actually seeing.

But that's just me. :twisted:

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C40
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by C40 »

Fish wrote:
Fri May 05, 2017 5:45 pm
@C40: I'm saying that if someone would give up on reading the ERE site because of its appearance or presentation...
As Jacob described in the first post:

"For example, about a year ago, evil Google decided to "encourage" site owners to make their code smartphone compatible by threatening to downgrade rankings. An upstanding move, for sure, and I do admit that the old theme is/was getting a bit clunky as well. "

The problem is potential readers never finding the blog at all.

Campitor
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by Campitor »

@Jacob,

Your site really isn't peppered with pictures which I'm not sure if that was a limitation of the prior service or a personal preference. For me that would limit most of the choices to text-only oriented themes.

Below are my suggestions in no particular order that seem to fit your existing vibe - I can suggest others if you're planning on a more pictorial presentation.
  • Gilligan
  • Burger Factory
  • Bhari
  • Fruitful
  • Shapla
  • Responsive Kubrick
  • Hayley
  • Nevertheless

Stahlmann
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by Stahlmann »

C40 wrote:
Fri May 05, 2017 6:07 pm
Fish wrote:
Fri May 05, 2017 5:45 pm
@C40: I'm saying that if someone would give up on reading the ERE site because of its appearance or presentation...
As Jacob described in the first post:

"For example, about a year ago, evil Google decided to "encourage" site owners to make their code smartphone compatible by threatening to downgrade rankings. An upstanding move, for sure, and I do admit that the old theme is/was getting a bit clunky as well. "

The problem is potential readers never finding the blog at all.
Somebody needs to be passionate about his job if we want to receive our capital gains :lol:

To topic:
Use as closest as possible to present one (for me it is good and ascetic), but just comply with new google rules.

Anyway, does Big Brother accept this trick with cyclical reposts? I always wondered about it.

Please add top100 posts also (just make clickable link on title 'most read' column).

ThisDinosaur
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by ThisDinosaur »

jacob wrote:
Fri May 05, 2017 5:52 pm
... although I increasingly wonder about the value of the blog posts years from now beyond reasons of historical nerd-research.
Please don't remove the old blog posts. I still read those.

jacob
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by jacob »

@Stahlman - If you wanna compile such a Top100 list, I'll put it up in a prominent fashion.

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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by Stahlmann »

jacob wrote:
Fri May 05, 2017 7:05 pm
@Stahlman - If you wanna compile such a Top100 list, I'll put it up in a prominent fashion.
I hoped there is easy access to such list. I thought that you used generic 'topX post script' for wordpress and run it for 10 (hence current box 'most read'). So please run it for 100 :p (current box is fine, but there could be new blog entry for top100).

If not, do not bother. Only advantage would be to know how 'this guy is homeless'-crowd is formed after spending 15 minutes over there.

Fish
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by Fish »

@jacob @Stahlmann We can crowdsource a "most insightful" list of ERE blog posts right here on the forum. I'll start a separate thread if there's interest. This approach is preferred because I'm doubtful "most viewed" is necessarily a good proxy for insight. It could be a starting point but needs to be vetted and curated.

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GandK
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by GandK »

I also like the current theme. +1 that it is perfectly adequate on a mobile browser.

The only difference I'd personally prefer is the ability to access this forum through Tapatalk. The only reason that is appealing is that app notifications could then be used.

jacob
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by jacob »

I have a "most popular" in the right sidebar at this point. It's pretty old---like almost everything else on the blog.

IMHO, it could very well be historical and cultural garbage at this point. I made it (I forget) anytime between 2010 and 2014 and the selection was entirely handpicked by me at the time. Point being that "insightful" varies A LOT according to who reads it. For some, flushing the toilet after taking a dump might be very insightful, like "WHOA! I never thought of that!?". I'm trying to be funny yet not flippant. This is really where we [still] are, so for others, a post informing you to flush would be trivial info :-)

And of course, for technical reasons, yet others, still, would see how all this flushing eventually leads to the eventual inability to keep 7.5B humans alive as a going concern on this planet.

Another thread may be in order. As far as I see things, this is best approached in terms of Wheaton levels.

cmonkey
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Re: Soliciting suggestions for new ERE blog theme

Post by cmonkey »

C40 wrote:
Fri May 05, 2017 5:38 pm
The forum and blog themes are entirely separate. So, you do get what we have right now :-D

Oh I didn't see he was talking about the blog.

Well in that case, I definitely vote no change. The simple interface is one of the things that hooked me. Perhaps I'm just change averse though. :?

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