Xatal

So I’ve finally managed to make a few beta designs for Xatal. I’m definitely not a designer — and the designs definitely reflect this — but I am still semi-proud of them.

Like anything else that a person works on for a long time, I have a hard time seeing fundamental flaws with things, since I’m so accustomed to seeing it. That’s why I’d love to have some opinions from readers and other bloggers about the designs.

All of these are beta designs. I just want a general idea of which one to focus on. For whichever design is chosen, I would definitely spruce it up more than it is — adding better graphics, better logos, and so forth. I just don’t want to pour a lot of time into something that might not even go through. I just want a starting point. The content is all sample content, things would change on a real design of course.

Also worth considering is the option of keeping the current design, or modifying it in some way.

Personally, I don’t have any preference to anything at this point. So without further ado…

Simply clicking on the title will open up the design in a new window.

Design #1: Black & Blue

The first design is pretty simple, and has 3 columns. The middle column is perfect for listing posts, both the recent and most popular ones. The sidebar on the far right contains simple content.

I think the large titles look pretty nice, but I especially like the navigation bar.

The logo would definitely need some work, and that would be something that would come if this design ends up being chosen.

Design #2: Brown & Green

I think brown usually looks good in web design, and green goes nicely with it. This one also has 3 columns, but the left one is larger and the other two are smaller and contain less extra information.

I actually like the logo on this one, but it can change if people think it’s trying a bit too hard.

I’m thinking of moving the RSS icon somewhere, but I’m not exactly sure where. Perhaps the top of a sidebar? I was considering putting the search box atop both sidebars. I’ve also considered jazzing up the background somehow — maybe something like the diagonal lines that we have now.

Design #3: Blue & Green Shapes

Here I’m pretty fond of the designs that surround the actual text, they were a lot of fun to make.

This one also has 3 columns, but the first one separates the dates out to the side. I’m not sure if I would keep that or what I would do there.

I do like the other two columns on the right of it, I think they work well together, especially with the search box up top.

I know that graduation photo up top is a bit awkward. I aim to replace it with something a bit better.

This was the most recent one I’ve done, and I didn’t fine-tune this one as much yet. Obviously, if it’s chosen, it’ll be fine-tuned better than it is.

Your opinion?

So that’s what I’ve got so far :/

I’m open to any criticism/opinions/whatever. This is as much your site as it is mine, and I’d love to hear what everybody thinks.

I set up a poll to measure overall opinions. Check the design[s] that you like and submit it, if you could please. I enabled multiple responses, so if you’re partial to more than one response, that’s fine as well.