If you've read any posts in the last 3-4 weeks, you've probably noticed things look a little bit different around here than they did before. While working on the 31 {Cheap & Easy} DIY Organizers series last month, I was also busy working with a designer on a new look for the blog!
There wasn't really anything "wrong" with the old design. It had been the way it was for about a year, after I made some changes to the menu and some changes to the sidebar last fall. Both of those changes were a big improvement over how it was before.
But as the blog continued to grow, and new people started reading it, I found it was getting challenging for people to navigate their way around and to find posts that applied to a particular need. I really wanted a drop-down menu. I also wanted my social media icons to be easily accessible in the header, rather than lost in the sidebar.
So, today I want to take you on a little tour of the "new" From Overwhelmed to Organized!
Header
Remember the old header?
It was simple, which I liked. And purple, which I liked. But I wasn't a big fan of the menus being in two rows like that, and I was running out of space to add more series to the menus.
So let's compare with the new header now...
Obviously the purples are a little different in the new colour palette... who knew there were so many different shades and hues? I like the bold dark purple of the new design. It feels, well, organized to me. Not sure how to explain that really :)
{You may notice that some of the old purple colours on title images of blog posts don't match the purples in the new design very well. Or maybe you have to be crazy like me to notice those things :) Either way, I will slowly change those over to the new colour palette.}
I showed off the social media buttons in the header the other day, when I told you about 3 new ways you can follow me for more organizing tips. And how about that funky, fun font for the blog name?!
Top Menu Bar
Moving on to the menus... I really like that there are two separate rows now above and below the header. They sort of frame the whole header area.
The top row contains several tabs that were on the blog already (Home, About Me, Organizing Services, and Contact Me).
The only one of those pages that changed as far as content goes, is the Organizing Services page. It still contains a link to my professional organizer website, for people in the Mississauga/Oakville area. But it also contains a link to something I'm really excited about... virtual organizing services! Starting in January, I'm going to be offering my professional organizing services virtually, no matter where you are in the world. I'll be sharing more about this next month, but if you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or email me (organizerhilda@gmail.com).
Still looking at the top row, there are two new tabs.
The other new tab on the top row is the Advertise page. I've always had some ads on the blog from Adsense and various affiliate sites, and those help cover some of the expenses associated with running a blog. But a lot of times those ads had nothing to do with organizing. So, I'm going to start including a few sponsored ads on the sidebar. You'll start to see them in the coming months. These ads will be from businesses that want to share their organizing products and services with you. I'll personally be approving all businesses and ads, and I will only be allowing those that I believe will help you go from overwhelmed to organized.
So that's the top menu bar. On to the bottom one.
Bottom Menu Bar
My absolute favourite parts of this re-design are the new drop-down menus!
Now you can find so many more decluttering and organizing posts than before.
Here's the decluttering drop-down menu as an example.
Each one of the sub-menu links takes you to a page with all the posts in that series or challenge. This will really make it easy to find the organizing tips you need when you need them.
I will add more series and posts to these menus over time, as well as new categories for some old posts, but currently MOST of my posts are in one or more of these menus.
If you haven't done so yet, spend a bit of time browsing your way around each menu to see all the organizing goodness hidden in each one! Actually not hidden :)
Sidebar
Overall, not much changed on the sidebar, other than colour of the title images. The social media buttons moved up to the header, as previously discussed. The brief "About Me" blurb under my picture now incorporates the funky font from the header. And there are new buttons to also reflect the new header design.
If you have a blog or a website, feel free to grab the code (on the sidebar) of whichever of these buttons applies to you and add it to your site! Let your friends and followers know about your journey from overwhelmed to organized :)
Well, that wraps up the tour of the "new" From Overwhelmed To Organized! I'm still making some minor changes here and there, and working on those new elements like sponsors and virtual organizing services.
I'd love to know what you think about the new design! And please let me know if you experience any technical issues so I can get those fixed up quickly.
What do you think of the new design? Can you find what you're looking for on the blog? Are there other changes you'd like to see?
Happy organizing!
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