I’m extremely fickle when it comes to designs and such. Though I can be pleased with a style, I’m never truly satisfied, I have to admit. I probably change my background image every other day, after a month I get tired of a webdesign and tend to notice the cracks in its style, when I have had a phone for longer than six months I tend to go searching for a replacement¹, just like I did yesterday when I ordered a Nokia E71 to replace my almost-a-year-old Treo 680, and I want to switch between operating system appearances every other month or so.

Two months ago I changed the webdesign over here to make everything look more professional, more in line with the “main site,” and to iron out some of the nasty wrinkles that had gotten into the old design. Though it all seemed successful and satisfactory to me back then, it no longer appeases my senses.

Last week, a new footer suddenly sprung into action, and today I radically changed the layout of the sidebar. It incorporates a lot more information now, has a neat little border around the boxes and looks a lot better than the old one (which hadn’t changed in ages, not even two months ago).

I have also expanded the random posts list so that it includes an excerpt (instead of just a blank title). Most of the excerpts of past articles will be automatically generated, so they might not look as good as I want them to, but all new and upcoming articles will feature excerpts specifically written to highlight their assets.

And a new feature has premiered! On top of the left sidebar, a list of the most recent best films (from my film ratings series) has suddenly appeared. A film has to have at least a four-star rating (8.5 or higher) to appear in the list and clicking on the film title will lead you to the corresponding film rating article. In the future I might expand it with a short review of each film featured in the sidebar, but for now you’ll have to do with a summary post.²

Custom-made/second-hand

To be fair, the new sidebar looks greatly out of touch with the rest of the website, I have to agree with you on that. So, why did I redesign it then? Well, because I think I’m ready to update the whole site again. Not a big update this time, I think, especially not because I still want it to match up with the Overkempe Studios homepage, but while the design fits over there, it doesn’t quite feel cosy over here.

My blog is basically wearing a second-hand suit, once custom-made for its first client (the homepage), but ill-fit for its second host. Not quite sure how I’m going to change the fitting, but I’ll figure it out. Until then, enjoy the incredibly weird and badly-tailored sidebar!