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Sep 10

3 column envy

Posted on Saturday, September 10, 2005 in Uncategorized

I have to say I think I like the 3 column format that guys on typepad are using. Also really like the “now reading” “now listening to” stuff on the left. I’m sure this is all possible on Wordpress. I’m pretty new to all this.

http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/
http://sijohnston.blogs.com/sijohnston/

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  1. Dan
    Saturday, September 10 10:35 am

    three column blogs are shit. They look too cluttered.

    But if you want one dig through here:
    http://www.alexking.org/software/wordpress/theme_browser.php

    And the bottom of the page here:
    http://www.alexking.org/index.php?content=software/wordpress/themes.php

    Also here:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Themes/Theme_List#Three_Columns

    You will also just want to check out this page:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Themes

    And for wordpress reference:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page

  2. Jason
    Saturday, September 10 10:54 am

    Thank you Dan. I will check those out tonight. Some strong opinions on 3 columns. I’m not sure what I think about them yet. Just like not building up the right sidebar with tons of stuff and expect people to scroll forever. The 3rd column seems to solve that. We’ll see.

  3. michel
    Saturday, September 10 10:21 pm

    I love them! The first time I saw Si’s blog I thought, “I wish I could do that.”

  4. Jason
    Sunday, September 11 8:12 am

    I don’t know the mechanics yet of making mine 3 columns…yet. I will post about it when I figure it out. Thanks for commenting Michel.

  5. JaredB
    Sunday, September 11 1:42 pm

    I was going to respond to this one, but I got sidetracked. The theme competition site Dan mentioned is probably a good place to look for ideas and/or templates to start off with and modify to suit your preferences.

    I don’t have the same strong feelings as Dan regarding the three column layout, although I do think they get a little cluttered, and can take away focus from the main content of the page. However, as you said, two column blogs (and a lot of 3 column ones for that matter) often do try to cram too much stuff into that side section.

    I am guilty of that as well, and have been wanting to do a redesign in which I pull out most of what I’ve got in there now and either put it in separate pages or get rid of it. I tried to mitigate that problem initially by writing that javascript collapsing sections code, but I’d rather just clean it up a little. Now if I could only find the time to work on it.

  6. Dan
    Sunday, September 11 9:00 pm

    FYI:I had a three column for ever with MT. But like I said and Jared said so much more eloquently 3-columns clutter.

    I do recognize what Jason is going through, I went through the same thing, he wants to bling his blog. Something I have been struggling with for ever. But i realize now that the more “cool” stuff I add the less likely readers will see it through the clutter. And if you have noticed I have taken a lot out.

    Another thing to consider is RSS. Your main readers and contributers will rarely visit so you really need to plan for the new reader and I rather have them see more content then my bling/cool/other stuff about me.

  7. Dan
    Sunday, September 11 9:06 pm

    Oh yeah, and another thing I hate dislike worse then 3 column blogs is fixed wallpaper backgrounds. :D

  8. JaredB
    Sunday, September 11 11:37 pm

    Dan, maybe you should start your own vid-cast: “queer eye for the blog guy”?

  9. Jason
    Monday, September 12 6:41 am

    I think Jared is on to something. That would be hilarious. Dan but I see you like smiley faces. Maybe I’ll make a tiled background out of those for you.

  10. Dan
    Monday, September 12 7:45 am

    ha ha.

    It’s not that it doesn’t look good it’s just disorienting when you scroll. Like my queer eye matters though. A lot of sites are doing it, even wordpress.org, I guess I just have to get over it

  11. michael lee
    Monday, September 19 9:28 pm

    Jason - the way I have 3 columns setup over at addisonrd.com allows for “bling” in WordPress. The left column is written into the code for the header, and the content actually comes from published pages (easier to update than the html code) that the php then calls up. The design of the site looks awful, but the 3 column thing is at least functional.

  12. Jason
    Monday, September 26 6:54 am

    Thanks for the info Michael. That sounds like an interesting way to handle the 3 column thing. It’s funny though, I just visited your site this morning and noticed that you changed to a 2 column theme. I guess that’s a win for 2 columns.

  13. Dan
    Monday, October 10 12:47 pm

    update your theme.

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