Welcome To The New A2D!!

It’s here!  My new site is here, a few days before expected.  I couldn’t be more thrilled with the results.  There’s simple no way I could have done this myself, so I relied on the brilliant Shauna Callaghan for my big switch to WordPress, and also for transforming my jumbled blog design ideas into something that was real and amazing.

Shauna was great to work with, and if you’re considering a switch from Blogger to WordPress, I highly recommend her.  I asked a million questions, and she answered all of them without getting irritated (or at least, without showing any irritation…ha!).  And I’ll be honest…I can be a tad bit of a picky (and sometimes prickly) perfectionist.  (Is anyone really surprised at that?)  Case in point…I sent her an e-mail about one design aspect, and that e-mail actually contained words that went something like, “Those pictures are 10 pixels too big.”  I know.  Poor Shauna, having to deal with me for two weeks!

😀

So let me give you a quick tour around the new place.  I’m still in the process of “unpacking” and settling in, so not quite everything is in its place just yet.

First, the A2D home page looks quite different now!  I wanted it to look more like a website than a blog, with lots of different options for clicking around, or for seeing what you’ve missed at a glance.  So after the slideshow (where I’ll put my favorite recent posts) the home page is divided into three sections that look like this…

The first section is pretty self-explanatory.  It contains the most recent three DIY projects that I’ve posted.

The other two sections take the place of the old Inspiration Files blog and the old Q & A blog.  No more having three separate blogs!  The archives for both of these are also accessible from the menu at the top.

The last section on the home page lists the most recent 20 blog posts in chronological order for those who just want a quick glance at everything, regardless of the categories.

Under each of the categories on the front page is a link where you can see the archives from that category (or in the case of the last section, you can view the complete archives, which includes all categories)…

When you click on Decorating Q & A, or the chronological archives, you can then scroll through all of the posts in that category.  They’ll look like this…

Now here’s my favorite part.  If you want to see more DIY Projects or Inspiration Files, those will take you to thumbnail galleries with all of the projects listed by the date they were published, from newest to oldest.  But if you want to narrow your search, you can use this handy menu at the top of the page…

I’m so proud of these pages, and how organized and functional they are!!

Of course, just like on the old blog, you can access lots of goodies on the dropdown menu.  But I’m sure you don’t need me to show you those things.

There are still a couple of small issues that need to be worked out, but if you see anything major (like things not displaying on your particular browser), please let me know!  So, what do you think of my new place?

 

 

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21 Comments

    1. Thanks, Lindsey! Have you considered WordPress for your blog? I think you’d love it!! (Ha! I love it so much, I’m going to start trying to convert other Blogger users…lol.)

  1. So pretty and I love the font you used in your header/logo…..very retro cool! I figured today must be launch day for you because when I turned on my computer this morning, I had about 10 (older) posts from you ‘piled up’ in my inbox! Figured it was a first day glitch of some sort!

    Anyway, the site looks fabulous and I look forward to spending lots of time roaming around it over the holidays!

    1. That’s so strange that you had 10 posts piled up! I had someone else say that they had old posts delivered to their inbox. Ha! Very interesting…definitely a glitch of some sort.

  2. WOW, it looks beautiful. I am looking forward to continue reading your blog. Its really interesting and so personal LOVE IT!.

    thank you for sharing.

  3. To be honest, I found it sort of confusing when I came to your new page from my email subscription. Perhaps it is because I am using my mobile phone, but it wasn’t easy to find the newest post…I had to scroll down towards the bottom to find it. There is a whole lot of information on the page…perhaps you will get it streamlined with a mobile version. Lots of bloggers have issues with the mobile version when they move to wordpress but I am sure you will get it tweaked as you go along. Thanks for listening!

  4. Kristi,
    Congrats! So far I’m liking your “new” blog. It seems more organized. The only thing I don’t like is the google advertising between each category on the Home page. I know that the goal is to have us click on an ad, but when they look like something to click on within your post it can get confusing. I’m looking forward to checking out more of your blog.

    1. Sorry about that, Lisa! I’m really not trying to trick anyone into clicking anything. Adsense only allows a certain number of each type of ad on each page. I originally had banner ads there, but it looked so messy and busy, and ruined the “flow” of the page, so I put those at the top and in the sidebar, and went for something more “streamlined” in the body. Perhaps I can add more space between them to avoid confusion.

  5. Oh! I’m so glad to see you back!! I was worried when nothing was up the last two days. Don’t know how I missed that you were updating, but somehow I did! I read you EVERY day and would miss you so much! Site looks great. I don’t know how you do it!!

    1. I’m glad you didn’t give up on trying, Cyndi! And I can’t take much credit for the new site. I left it to a pro to do it for me this time. 🙂 I think she did a fantastic job!

  6. Kristi !!!! I made it ! It’s looking fantastic…still have some cruisin’ around to do and see what’s new. So happy for you!!! Have a great day.

    1. Wonderful, Sherry! I’m so glad it’s working for you. The site seems to be working across the board now. Phew! It was touch and go yesterday!! All part of the process, I suppose. 🙂