Morning you guys! Notice anything different?! We launched our new site design over the weekend, and I’m beyond excited to share the new layouts and features that our team has been working on for months. It’s pretty major. Over the last year, we’ve seen incredible growth both in readership and in the abundance of talent that our contributors and featured creatives bring to the site…and as so often happens in times of new growth, I’ve been feeling like it’s time to take the blog to the next level and turn it into even more of an inspirational resource for the latest in home, food, style, design and entertaining.
A few of the features I’m most excited about? Our Featured Content section allows us to present the most exciting, relevant content front and center each day.
We also have new Categories where you can go to find everything that’s new in entertaining, food, beauty & style and life. And (finally!) drop down menus allow you access every single one of our regular Series and see the content that’s written by each of our individual contributors.
Now you can explore a specific topic of interest by clicking into each of the category pages, where we’ll have special featured content, seasonal slideshows and every post we’ve ever written related to that topic making it easier than ever to get inspired and find what you’re looking for.
Of course, you can always find the very newest blog posts under the Latest headline for those of you who want to stay on the pulse of what’s happening every day.
In the bottom right, you’ll notice these “quick links” to some of our top resources: DIY’s to inspire your next weekend project, videos we’ve created to bring some of our parties to life, hundreds of color palettes to spark the vision for your next soirée and all of our recipes organized into one easy-to-find spot. And I’m super excited to introduce Facebook commenting. Gone are the days of those anonymous headshots – now you can comment through Facebook whenever you’re logged in, and your profile pic will immediately be pulled in so we can all see who’s who around here. You can also post your comment to Facebook using one easy checkbox. (we do still have our old commenting available, too.)
I could go on and on, but the best way to get acquainted with the new site is to just start clicking! This is a big milestone for me and the team, and reminds me again how thankful I am for all of you who keep coming back, allowing me to be creative and live my passion every day. I’d love to hear what you guys think of the changes – and any other ideas for improvements you’d like to see. I truly hope that this next step makes the site a more inspirational, easy to navigate and most of all, FUN destination every day!
Congrats! The new layout looks great!
Lookin’ snazzy!
Gorgeous! Love the new look and feel! Congratulations on a beautiful site
Except there is one little problem. The cool slideshow feature does not work on Google Reader. I view 100% of your blog on that platform and does take time for me to click on the link and have it open another window. By the time that all happens I end up click-out out. Oh well, can’t make everyone’s needs works.
I normally read in google reader but I’m so glad i clicked over today. The layout looks fantastic!
The new layout looks great! Congrats on the big redesign!
It looks wonderful! Your hard work has paid off
I LOVE it! So creative! Congrats!
Looks awesome! Congrats!
I love the new layout! Your site is so fabulous xx
I did notice…it’s fabulous…so cool!!
xoxo
I like the added organization! I miss the old format a little, but understand the need for a little upgrade!
FYI at the moment the buttons in the top right (facebook, email, twitter and pinterest) aren’t live links… just the “#” placeholders.
You did a great job on the update! It speaks to the “organizer” in me! So helpful. And while all the new made it even more useful, everything is still so pretty!
Really love the new look, Camille and team! This site continues to be my favorite daily read.
I like it very very much !
Looks great, Camille and team! Congrats on the new look!
Ahhh… Ive been a reader for a long time and LOVE this site… but I have noticed since you made the switch to the new layout, Im not spending time reading your new posts and stuff like I used to. I open the blog and just stare for a second then click to another traditionally formatted one that has large pics and easy navigation. Just my honest opinion… Not sure if anyone else is doing the same.
:/
So sorry to hear that Rachelle – I do think the new format will take some time for our daily readers to get used to, and hopefully it’ll grow on you… Don’t forget that you can always find the newest blog posts listed under the “Latest” header on the homepage. That feeds in all the most recent content just like the old site.Thanks for the feedback and hope you stick around! xoxo
Camille & team: I think the new layout is great and a natural extension of your brand. Congrats! One small nit, though, is that I cannot navigate to the landing page for each category via the top nav bar (i.e. if I want to go to “life” I have to pick a subcategory). This makes sense if I know what I want to find but can be frustrating if I am browsing. From a UI perspective I’d love to see the addition of “browse all” in the drop down or have the main text clickable.
ah, just checked on the laptop and it appears to be an ipad specific issue I was having. Or perhaps I just have fat fingers? xo.