Header Look Better When Color Picks Click
Thanks to web designer Cheryl Boots of Designs of the 5 Domains, I recently learned how important colors are in designing a blog site. Here’s the story:
I had decided to change my blog header because I felt the original design (showing
a comic beaver) might be sending visitors the wrong message, namely: this guy only draws simplistic cartoons. I use the Vigilance Theme for my blog, which allows me to customize the background and border colors. I was using two different shades of green, and the blog originally looked like this:
I designed a new header, one that displayed a greater range of styles. You can read about how I constructed the new header in this post. I uploaded the new header, but never considered the need to modify the original background and border colors. After uploading the new header, the blog looked like this:
I asked blog visitors whether they thought the new header was an improvement. Web designer Cheryl Boots said she thought the new design was much more effective, but suggested replacing the green background colors. She even suggested two specific colors. I plugged them into the Vigilance Theme and was simply astounded at the transformation– here it is: 
I’m extremely grateful to Cheryl for her kindness. If you’re looking for a great website designer, check out Cheryl’s work at Designs of the 5 Domains.
Mark Armstrong Illustration Specializing In Content Marketing Advertising Editorial Infographics Animation Videos and Social Media 
Good story — great result!
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I get by with a little help from my LinkedIn connections– like the great Dr. Freelance, for example… : )
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Hi Mark,
Your new header looks great! Colors make a great playground—each post on my blog is an opportunity for more fun…
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The header? That was from a recipe I found in Tess’s Japanese Kitchen— yum! Thanks for stopping by, O Master Chef!
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Only would that be true!
Your details about how you made your new header are priceless.
Well, useful; I am an amateur:
In cooking, it’s a bumbling exploration for me.
In Photoshop, the more I learn, the more there is.
I’m considering the new z-bench theme, so I’ll need a new header for myself. I’d consider Vigilance, but it doesn’t have a functioning excerpt feature… Opinion?
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Cooking and Photoshop are both bumbling explorations for me. Come to think of it, so’s Life… : (
Your blog looks terrific as is– not sure I’d mess with it. Vigilance does have the Excerpt feature. I write a one-sentence summary every time I do a post. They only seem to get used in emails sent to subscribers notifying them that there’s a new post.
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Thanks. I like the look, but it lacks some features. I don’t think that WordPress is going to get around to custom menus for poor old Unsleepable. Besides, I’ve covered the top navigation with my header. My sidebar is quite long, and z-bench has the option of a double sidebar below a wider sidebar.
I like your array of tiny thumbnails. But switching themes, while technically simple is complicated once you have as many posts as I have. I can still tell the difference in some of the layouts of older posts from when I was using Digg3! Doubt anyone else notices, but it’s difficult being a perfectionist…
Silly me, I forgot about the excerpts working in emails. I even suggested to Panos that he should make a post about that. In some themes, the excerpt can be viewed in archives and category pages as well. (In a few, it even works on the front page.) You can include images in the excerpts, too.
http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/the-excerpt-function/
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