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Young House Love » Random » Two Bloggers Walk Into A Sidebar…

| By John Petersik | June 2, 2010 | 100 Comments

Two Bloggers Walk Into A Sidebar…

We interrupt our normal programming for a bit of blog business. We’ve updated our sidebar! Please, contain your excitement.

It’s nothing major, but enough of you have had questions about the changes that we whipped up over Memorial Day weekend that we figured it warranted a quick explanation (and an apology to those who witnessed any funny business on Monday while we played around). One of my goals now that I’m a full time blogger/father has been to improve some of the function of our site and clean up the design (within my limited coding skills). In fact it was even my resolution this year. So to that end, here are a few of the things that might look a bit different (unless you read us in a reader and have no clue what our sidebar even looks like):

Change #1: A Second Tabbed Window- We’ve condensed some of our sidebar content into another one of those handy-dandy tabbed windows like the search box that we have in the top right corner. You may be familiar with that one, and this additional box resides just a bit lower and contains things like, um, our cheesy smiling mugs.

Sidebar Contact Us2

Really it’s just a replacement for our old Contact button. But in the tabs behind it we’ve added things like a new “Shortcuts” window that contains easy links to some of the most frequently asked questions (where did you get that _______ in your house?) along with our most referenced how-to posts.

Sidebar Shortcuts

You’ll also see that we’ve moved our Link Love section (i.e. our blogroll) up into this window so that you don’t have to scroll as far down the page to access it anymore. And we even added a gooey little appreciation tab there on the end that we’ve called “Smooch” because we really do love you guys.

Change #2: New Buttons- Right under that new tabbed window, you’ll also see three new buttons (well, two of them are just redesigned and one is actually brandy new). You can still access Burger’s blog quickly and hop over to a page for browsing all of our House Crashing posts, but now you can also find your way over to a Flickr album of Clara pictures. We figure it’s an easy way for those of you who are hungry for a daily dose of baby to get your fix without flooding our post schedule with “isn’t she adorable” moments (which, if I may brag for a second, there are A LOT of lately).

Sidebar Our Helpers

Change #3: New Boxes: This last change is really just about cleaning up a bit of the design. I finally figured out / took the time to learn how to do something simple like add a clean white box around all of our sidebar widgets (like our Twitter feed, Discount-O-Rama listing, We’re Digging items, etc) so everything just looks a bit more consistent. Probably makes no difference to most of you, but it was a sweet sweet victory to me.

Sidebar New Boxes

So that’s the mini sidebar makeover. Hopefully you guys agree that the changes fall into the “improvement” category, but – as scary as this is to ask – please let us know if you’ve got other suggestions for us. We’re happy to hear all ideas, but please understand upfront that not every suggestion is possible (even if only due to my limited coding abilities). Also – as scary as this is to ask as well – please let us know if something doesn’t look quite right on your computer or if you think something isn’t showing up correctly in your browser. Thanks everyone! Now go click on that Smooch tab up near the Contact Us tab that we mentioned for some virtual love from YHL to you.

UPDATE: Some of you are reporting trouble seeing the changes. The new buttons, like our sponsors’ ads, are coded using a flash advertising software. So if your browser is running some sort of flash or ad blocker (I’m not talking pop-ups, homey don’t play that here) it may be preventing you from seeing the Burger, Clara, or House Crashing buttons. If you can turn that off for just YHL, that should solve the problem (thanks Barbara for figuring this out!) And no, this wasn’t a clever ploy to make everyone view our ads – I just used our ad software so that I could rotate a few versions of the buttons so you guys get served up a variety of Burger, Clara, and House Crashing thumbnails.

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Comments

  1. Avatar for MelissaMelissa says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:25 pm

    ‘Who the heck we are?’ – I think the last two words are transposed, unless it’s some phrase I’m not in on, which is quite possible.

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 2:26 pm

      Holy cow! I don’t know how the heck we missed that. Thanks! Off to fix it…

      xo,
      s

  2. Avatar for MelissaMelissa says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    I noticed the new look!! And I love it! I’m a designer so I took to this right away, its clean and easy to access. Definitely note-worthy, so great job, keep up the amazing work.

    Reply
  3. Avatar for MichelleMichelle says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    I really like the Our Helpers part, very cute. I like all of the other changes as well, I think it’s user friendly!

    Reply
  4. Avatar for Jill StigsJill Stigs says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    GREAT changes! Love how clean and streamlined it is.
    Wow John…….brushing up on a ton of skills. Carpentry, IT/Computers………looking forward to what’s next. :)

    Reply
  5. Avatar for JillianJillian says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:31 pm

    I think this is a great improvement! Good job!

    Reply
  6. Avatar for Blair RBlair R says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:31 pm

    Okay, I don’t want to freak you out, but I have nothing under “Our Helpers”, “Our Hobby”, or “Sponsors”. I’m using internet explorer as my browser. I tried refreshing, but nothing. I don’t know if I am the only one with that problem, but just giving you a heads up. The screen shots in the post look great, though!

    Reply
  7. Avatar for Renee SmithRenee Smith says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    Also brilliant… brag on, dad! I love the Clara pics feature… nice touch for keeping the blog the blog and the baby the baby! I get teary every time I see newborn pics these days… must be that baby in my belly and the toddler that looks less and less like a baby every moment!

    I’m already loving the teamwork blog/parenting effort!

    Reply
  8. Avatar for BarbaraBarbara says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    I guess it must be my computers, but I can’t access any of those side bars. There is nothing on my screen that looks like the pictures you posted. I miss Burger!!

    Reply
  9. Avatar for MandyMandy says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    Hi! The buttons under the headings for Our Helpers, Our Hobby, and Sponsors don’t come up in my browser (Internet Explorer). I can see the headings, but there is nothing to click on underneath them. It could be an issue on my end, since it seems other readers aren’t having this problem :)

    Reply
  10. Avatar for Agent ScullyAgent Scully says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    This might not be super important (since I view your blog mainly from my work computer [shush I tell you, SHUSH!]) however most days it takes me a really long time (OK, over 2 minutes, but now-a-days that’s nearly forever) to load posts. The main page is fine, but when I click on a specific post so that I can comment, it takes for-evah. It’s better at home (where I run Firefox) so I’m pretty sure it’s my work IE plus all the spyware I’m loaded with. But I still wanted to give you a heads up in case anyone else is having the same issue.

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 2:48 pm

      Hey Agency Scully,

      So sorry things are taking a while to load! We’ll admit that we’ve never had the fastest loading site (lots of images, plus probably not the cleanest code in the world) but I’m surprised to hear it’s taking that long. You’re right that it probably has something to do with your work computer, but also know that the site is busiest during the work hours so that’s also when it’s slowest. One of my other rainy day projects is to try to improve site load time, so just be patient with us until that rainy day comes. Thanks!

      -John

      PS: I should add that it might be a bit unusually slow today, since we just prompted everyone to come over and look at the sidebar. Oops!

  11. Avatar for Carol N.Carol N. says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    I noticed it yesterday and think it is great! Very sleek and timeless looking just like your home! And I can get Burger and Clara fixes whenever I want now with a simple click.

    Reply
  12. Avatar for EmilyEmily says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    Wah- I can’t see the new changes! I’m using Firefox…nothing new shows up for me :(

    Reply
  13. Avatar for HeatherHeather says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    Loooove the white! The only thing I’m not totally digging (if we’re getting really, really persnickety) are the dashes around some of the boxes. They are a little distracting when I scroll, and the simple, solid outlines on other boxes look more crisp to me. Actually, disregard that I even said anything, it’s so minute and I love you guys too much to say anything bad!

    Reply
  14. Avatar for Jessica @ How SweetJessica @ How Sweet says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    So glad there is a link for Clara pics. :)

    Reply
  15. Avatar for PeggyPeggy says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    The helpers, hobby, and sponsor spots at the top of the sidebar aren’t showing up for me. Just the headings are. Other people are obviously seeing them though (and I can tell there were there because your screenshots show them) so I’ll check back later. :) Firefox doesn’t like me some days.

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 2:58 pm

      Hey Blair R, Barbara, Mandy, Emily, Peggy, Karen and anyone else not seeing the changes:

      A couple of people mentioned this yesterday, and our best guess is that it’s a caching issue and your particular browser just hasn’t refreshed yet. We had a similar issue when we launched at our new URL that it took some people 48-72 hours for all of the changes to show. I’m not technie enough to understand exactly why, but all I can offer is please be patient a few days and let me know if it persists. I’ve checked it in Firefox, Safari and Chrome (sorry IE folks, we’ve both got Macs now) and all seems to be good on our end.

      It also could be that your browser is running ad blocking software, so if you go into the settings and disable that (for some reason it thinks those buttons are ads) then you should be able to see them quite quickly. Hope it helps!

      Thanks for your patience!

      -John

  16. Avatar for KarenKaren says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:53 pm

    Weird. I don’t see any of the new changes. I can see where it says Our Helpers, but nothing under it.

    I’m not cached or anything. Hmm.

    Reply
  17. Avatar for AmyAmy says

    June 2, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    NICE! Wow, nothing like making things fresh and new all the time… you guys ROCK!! Someday, I hope to be as cool as you… {{sigh}}…!

    Reply
  18. Avatar for Barbara in CTBarbara in CT says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    I’m also having a problem with “Helpers”, “Hobby” and “Sponsors.” I use Firefox with No Script but I always allow Young House. Yikes, I need a “Clara” fix.

    Reply
  19. Avatar for Laura @ youngDClivingLaura @ youngDCliving says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    I think it looks great! I love the new buttons for Burger’s blog, Clara’s pics, and house crashing. Much cleaner and easier on the eyes. Good job-especially since I have a limited (but knowledgable enough) understanding of blog site designing and know it is near impossible and there are often curse-scream moments involved, haha! :)

    Reply
  20. Avatar for TimothyTimothy says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    Well done guys!!! Looks great and the rewards of subtle changes are very satisfying.

    Reply
  21. Avatar for Jacquelin SeybertJacquelin Seybert says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    I noticed Clara’s Pics yesterday! She’s so beautiful… her expressions are awesome!

    Reply
  22. Avatar for BarbaraBarbara says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    AHA!! I found the problem. I run Firefox and have Ad Blocker Plus. If you right click on the red ABP symbol and click “allow Young House Love”, you can see the side bars. My browsers are reading it as advertising and blocking it. Now I can see it, and it looks swell!!!

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 3:24 pm

      Awesome, Barbara! Thanks for digging up a solution. I’m not surprising to hear it was reading it as advertising because I actually used our ad delivery software to program it (it allows me to easily rotate multiple buttons, so you guys get served a variety of Burger, Clara and House Crashing thumbnails). I’ll pass this along to others.

      -John

  23. Avatar for LauraCLauraC says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    I’ll be patient; I’m using IE, and I’m part of the folks who have no Helpers, Sponsors, or Hobby links. But my handy computer hubby can help me as soon as he as a chance.

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 3:22 pm

      Hey LauraC,

      It seems like you have an ad blocker going on. Here’s hoping you can go into your browser’s preferences and disable it which should solve the problem! Hope it helps.

      xo,
      s

  24. Avatar for Lori HLori H says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    Your site looks very clean and user friendly. It was a little slow loading when I clicked over from Google Reader, but maybe just because you told everyone to come on over :)

    Reply
  25. Avatar for liz @ bon temps beignetliz @ bon temps beignet says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    Love the ‘shortcuts’. A lot of the titles listed are phrases I used to search for in the search engine.

    Reply
  26. Avatar for BarbaraBarbara says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:26 pm

    Here’s a pic of the AdBlocker Plus symbol so you can tell people to turn it from red to green by right clicking.
    http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/5064/abpe.jpg

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 3:27 pm

      Thanks for the tip Barbara! Hope it helps anyone with the same problem!

      xo,
      s

  27. Avatar for MichelleMichelle says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    Ditto what Barbara said. I’m running the AdThwart extension for Chrome, and I had to disable it for your site to see the Clara pics. I had been wondering why you weren’t showing off more of your latest and greatest addition!

    Reply
  28. Avatar for JaniceJanice says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:33 pm

    I noticed the new look yesterday – and checked out your sweet little Bean’s pics. It’s all looking like it should on Mac in both Safari and Firefox.

    Reply
  29. Avatar for Ashley @ The Design ThiefAshley @ The Design Thief says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    I love the new layout… especially the Clara pictures box! She is one cute and expressive babe.

    Reply
  30. Avatar for CarolynCarolyn says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    I love the title of your post. It made my day – and the day is only just starting here!

    Reply
  31. Avatar for LaceyLacey says

    June 2, 2010 at 3:56 pm

    Just noticed the Clara link today and I love it! My dearest internet wish is for you two to start an actual Clara blog though! I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed!!!

    Reply
  32. Avatar for LCAinRICLCAinRIC says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    I’m an IE user and can view it all just fine and LOVE the changes! Well done, youngsters!

    Quick picky spelling item: under shortcuts -should be “View our mood boards en masse” (with an e on the end)

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 4:02 pm

      Good catch LCA! Thanks!

      xo,
      s

  33. Avatar for SarahSarah says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    I’m using Chrome, and I can’t see the white border you mentioned around the “Tweet Nothings” and “Discount-o-Rama” boxes.

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 4:07 pm

      Hey Sarah,

      Hmm, we have no idea why that’s occurring. We viewed the site in Chrome on both of our computers and it seems to work for us. Perhaps it’s a cacheing thing and your computer will reboot things soon enough and you’ll see those changes. Anyone else not seeing those boxes?

      xo,
      s

  34. Avatar for SarahSarah says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    You were right: cleared the cache and viewed again, the boxes are there!
    The site looks great!

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 4:13 pm

      Whew! That’s awesome. When are we ever right? We’re amazed it worked!

      xo,
      s

  35. Avatar for CarmenCarmen says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:15 pm

    Love the new design. The pictures of Clara are gorgeous. Quick question: do you update your website and through who do you host it and have it? I remember reading about it, but when I went back to find it I couldn’t. Genius idea with the door table. And it looks awesome. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 4:23 pm

      Hey Carmen,

      We actually used to use BlueHost for our site (loved them! and the price was right!) but when we got too big they sadly gave us the boot for crashing their server one too many times so we now use LiquidWeb. We love them as well, but they’re nearly seven times more expensive than BlueHost was. And we also use Amazon Cloud to host our images since there are so many that we can’t store them all on our site’s server, even though it’s a lot bigger with LiquidWeb. Ah well, them’s the breaks. It’s worth it to do what we love!

      xo,
      s

  36. Avatar for EmilyEmily says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    Looks great! Yeah for Clara pictures!!

    Reply
  37. Avatar for aaroohiiaaroohii says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    I would honestly prefer to have you spend time and energy into more home decor posts than making changes to the site.. the site is fine as it is! also can we pleaseee get updates on little miss p? m dying to c more of her pics..

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 4:46 pm

      Hey Aaroohii,

      With our office makeover in full swing you can rest assured that we’ll be serving up a slew of home-related projects, posts and ideas. In fact, have you seen this morning’s post about our DIY desk? We still manage to eke out two posts a day and up to 45+ a month so hopefully those will keep you smiling!

      And as for your Clara request, we also mentioned in this very write-up that we’ve added a button all about Baby P, so you can see more of her by clicking that sidebar box. Just like we value function and form in our house, we love keeping our site up to snuff in those areas as well. So we occasionally whip up little mini makeovers to make YHL even easier to navigate (so people can find those home improvement and decor-related articles that you mention). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  38. Avatar for JoniJoni says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    Gaaaaaaaaaaa, love the pics of Clara. She’s adorable, what fun expressions!

    Reply
  39. Avatar for AmandaAmanda says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:52 pm

    I noticed the changes right away, and LOVE them!!! Great job John!!!

    Reply
  40. Avatar for Caroline @ youngDClivingCaroline @ youngDCliving says

    June 2, 2010 at 4:54 pm

    Oooh, I love the new organization. Great touch-ups!

    Reply
  41. Avatar for MegMeg says

    June 2, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    Looks great!

    Reply
  42. Avatar for Mrs SoupMrs Soup says

    June 2, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    Your new career is already showing off greatly! Congratulations! And hey, it’s the little things that make a huge difference!

    Reply
  43. Avatar for Jessica@The Happy Semi-Homemaker[email protected] Happy Semi-Homemaker says

    June 2, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    Love those Clara pictures! She is SUCH a doll.

    Reply
  44. Avatar for SamanthaSamantha says

    June 2, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    …..sorry what did you say, got carried away looking a adorable baby pictures…….new button right..ok

    Reply
  45. Avatar for AbbyAbby says

    June 2, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    I hate change and even I love what you’ve done! Change is good! Love love love Clara and all the beautiful pictures you share! Thank you :)
    xoxo

    Reply
  46. Avatar for jellyfishumbrella.wordpress.comjellyfishumbrella.wordpress.com says

    June 2, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    Love the new layout! I especially love the easily-accessible link to all of the info on your house. Just keeps getting better and better!

    Reply
  47. Avatar for MeghanMeghan says

    June 2, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    We have a two person desk that we call our “internet cafe” while we browse the net drinking coffee. We just used a piece of plywood (8ft by 2ft), sanded the edges, polyurathaned several coats, attached IKEA legs and we were good to go. 2 people, 2 computers and plenty of space.

    Reply
    • Avatar for YoungHouseLoveYoungHouseLove says

      June 2, 2010 at 8:49 pm

      Haha, love the “internet cafe” title!

      xo,
      s

  48. Avatar for DebDeb says

    June 2, 2010 at 9:02 pm

    Other than my own two gorgeous baby girls (a-hem!) your Clara is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve seen :) I’m itching for a “baby with eyes closed and stretching” picture though – those are my favorite. Love the new layout! Great job! And get some sleep ;)

    Reply
  49. Avatar for JamieJamie says

    June 2, 2010 at 9:08 pm

    I noticed the new sidebar yesterday and thought that it cleaned up the blog quite nicely. I even popped over to look at the pictures of Clara. She is adorable ( and Burger is, too) :)

    Reply
  50. Avatar for KimKim says

    June 2, 2010 at 9:31 pm

    We moved overseas almost 2 years ago with virtually no furniture. Poor quality and high prices in the stores here motivated my husband to build quite a bit of what we needed. Here are links to the office/bookshelf combo in our study and the wall of bookshelves in our living room:
    http://kimfromthesouth.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-than-half-way-there.html
    http://kimfromthesouth.blogspot.com/2010/02/check-off-another-project-done.html
    He’s also built a number of other pieces. The equivalent here to Lowe’s or Home Depot is sadly lacking in a lot of what we could find in the U.S. but he’s making do with what he can get. He’s REALLY glad he brought all his tools!!! Those alone made the hassle of getting our container through customs worth it :-)

    Reply
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