Barooo?! A new look for C.O.?
Flying hamsters in pants, a new logo, to celebrate we're a year older. Oh, and everything you always liked about C.O. is still here, just a a more flexible layout. What do you think?
XO to Bree the Kitteh (who was watching the redesign load) and special thanks to Nick the developer for working on this the past couple of months, and as always, thanks to C.O. 1.0 original designer Lilia.
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I like it! Especially because when you go to a new page, for a second you see just the flying hamsters. I like the colors, too. Frankly I didn't really care much for the old color scheme (although I never would have said anything).
First?!?
(...bleen bleen)
Very pretteh!
I like the look of the design. However I would like the site menu to be on the left, where it would be seen first. The way it is now, I'm firstly drawn to looking at the ads, which I don't really like the moment. Lingerie... eh.
I think it loks much more professional (can pastel colors be professional?), or at least more high-quality.
However, as much as I love flying hammies, I feel that you could find a cuter background.
But, all in all, I think it's a positive change.
Oooooh, i agree. I didn't notice the sitemap/ad-space switcheroo. I liked them both on their previous respective sides.
I love the new look of the site. It is so cute. It reminds me of something out of hello kitty and things of that nature. The page is so cute it should be put on the CuteO.
Love the look, love the flying hammie, BUT...
The layout is too wide for Firefox. :(
flying hamsters? of course I love it!
I'm using Firefox, it works fine for me (?)
Ack! Now I have to scroll the page sideways since it won't fit on a 1024 resolution. :(
It doesn't work in Safari :(. The column of ads on the left side appears above everything else, and I don't see a background.
Is it just me, or are all the ads on top of all the pictures? Just a huge long stream of them. And I don't see any flying hammies. hmmm... maybe my internet is being silly. Anyway, the picture of the site looks cute. And I too prefer the site map on the left.
I can concur, it is too wide for my 1024 resolution.
And for some reason, I'm envisioning the logo to be a bit more visual? Like, a puppy and a kitty being all cute or something?
I'm in Safari too and it's not working right...
Safari is really aggressive with cacheing, so be patient, and it should load after you hit shift-reload...
Awesome! ^_^
Eh, the navigation works better for me on the left too. I'm using Firefox with AdBlock, so all I see on the left is a lot of wide, unused space.
And did the content section get narrower?
The butterfly hammies are cute though.
Nope, the content area is the same 5-hundy px wide...
I also like the navigation better on the left. The ads on the left make the otherwise nice new title look tacky.
"Is it just me, or are all the ads on top of all the pictures? Just a huge long stream of them. And I don't see any flying hammies."
This is happening to me right now in IE. I've refreshed about five times and nothing.
Long time fan, first time commenter. As with some others, what I see at the top of the page is a lot of vertically stacked ads on the left and nothing but blank space on the right. I refreshed once assuming something had gone wrong, but when it came up blank again, I finally thought to scroll waaaaaaay down and found the content, UNDER all the ads. And no flying hamsters here, either. Now, when I go back to the main page from this comment page, it may look entirely different, and this comment will become obsolete. The 'net is like that. But for now, in the latest version of MS IE, I don't think it's doing what you intended.
The flying hamsters are, indeed, cute. However, I think the new design is a bit on the busy side. When I first hit the page, my brain said "Whoa! Where do I look?"
What you guys are describing is what I was seeing for several minutes but then it sorted itself out.
needs to fit the screen a little better.
Anyone notice that after all the whining ppl did of boob pics this last week, no one commented on the lingerie and t-shirt ads with blatantly sexualized boobs and no cute animals? Love it. Both the pics this week, and the ads :)
Also, kitten tongue!
also too wide for my 1024 monitor, but the hammies are cute. :)
I like the new logo quite alot, but it only appears on the homepage - whenever I click on the comments link, I get an 'image not available' message where the 'cute overload' should be.
And I love the little pants on the flying hamsters!!
Ditto on Christina and Michael: I get vertical adds on top, and below them, content and what used to be the left navigation bar is now on the right.
I'm using Firefox version 2.0 with no particularly restrictive settings.
Whoa! Hammies in pamts...tres tres chic. It's buggy though. :)
We love you, we LOVE you, we LOVE you so much!!! Don't ever go away. You are the best thing on the internet.
It looks fine in IE, but displays really poorly in Firefox, which is my normal browser. It displays a long strip of Ads before it even gets to the actual body of the site itself. And you can't see any of the decorative stuff on the page.
Oh, and the flying hamsters rule!!
but, I'm using firefox and it looks great.
I've got the same no flying hammies, stacked ads at the top problem that allot of people are getting. ;_;
heck. There we go. Clear the cache and its fixed.
cute! er, the bits i can see! but broken for me too. the first time it loaded improperly and now i must scroll sideways: firefox on windows with 1024x768 resolution.
Awww....I LOVE THE NEW LAYOUT!!!!
By the way, I'm new here...At least where the commenting is concerned. But your web page is always the first thing that I check after a hard day at work!!!!
Surfrock66 - I wondered the same thing about the lingerie ads - and the t-shirt ones for that matter.
I also saw the ads first but then quickly the rest of the page popped up and sorted itself out.
Congrats on a year older :) Are kittens like that in constant supply for those who work on CO? If so, can I get in on this?
__feeling really badly about not liking the hammie in pants background__
I've reloaded 8 different ways and it's still busted. This is not a cache problem.
It works for me now! YAY! And I still think the ads need to go on the right where they were and the site navigation on the left. Because people read from left to right they look at web pages like that too, and the first thing they see is the ads and the navigations kind of goes unnoticed. But still, I like the change.
I use firefox it looks good to me. :)
The new logo: très cute.
Panted hamsters: Awesome.
Display: Too wide for 1024x768. Or maybe it's just my little ol' 15" monitor. I don't have a spiffy, wide flatscreen like the one Bree has.
Obtrusive photo ads on left of screen: Not so hot. With at least 25% of the screen running off the right side of the monitor, the ads are taking up a lot of the viewing space.
And my anal retentive obsessive compulsive tendencies don't like it that the actual content isn't centered on my monitor...
I'm getting the long stream of nothingness at the top of my page, and I'm in Mozilla. Why no flying hammies for me?? :(
And that cat in the pic is so thinking "Oh, please please please get me that for Christmas! It looks so taaaastyyyy!"
Kitty Homer voice:"New layout! Ooooooooh!"
The redesign works fine for me in Firefox.
It's broken on AoHell (which is IE v. something or other). No flying hamsters (the old stripes and dots border show here instead) ads on the left, empty space on the right and posts and site stuff appear after I scroll past the ads.
I also had trouble posting from AoHell.
I dig the new border, but now it IS kinda overloaded with the cute. ;-)
I'm using Safari too and I tried shift-reloading and that didn't help. I'm having the same problem with all of the ads being formatted on the left and above all of the content. The links on the right with the archieves and everything are fine. If you can do anything, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!!!
Just out of curiosity, I fired up Opera and tried it, and it shows what susie described above - old border, big space at the top.
For those still showing all the ads in a string at the top, you need to refresh, or empty your cache, or delete your viewing history.
I've tried in Netscape, Opera, FireFox, and Internet Exploder, and they're all working fine now, except for running off the right side of the screen.
The page isn't working for me; the ads appear first and I have to scroll down past them to see the page. This happens in Internet Explorer and in Firefox. Waaaaah!
it works fine for me in Firefox, but i usually use Safari 2.0 and no luck there, just the same stripey border, no flying hammies and the long string of ads others have mentioned.
i wish the hammy design, or something, went all the way down, instead of the plain pale green borders, but that's just me. the fairy hammies are cute though!
oh, and by the way, i have repeatedly cleared my cache and reloaded in Safari, to no avail. :(
Tellin' it like it is...
The background design is annoying. The layout forces me to scroll sideways in SeaMonkey. I don't like having the ads on the right-hand side. And can you *PLEASE* format the page so that clicking on a link doesn't load it inside the page frame (which makes everything appear to have the URL of Cuteoverload.com)?
I just wanna see kittens and bunnies and other fuzzy cute things!
I miss the ducky. There is an awful lot going on. Its a pretty busy lay-out. Not that I'm bitchin', but you did ask.
Safari is seeew aggressive—it's gonna take a little while for the Internets to pick up the change.
Be patient my little Kittens! [petting your heads]
"Our Website has been designed by kittens: How cute is that?!"
"Or Website has been designed by kittens. Is it possible to get any cuter than that?"
re: the racy new ads:
panty of the month club? do i wear it the whole month until the next one shows up in the mail? now a puppy of the month club, there's something i could appreciate. :)
Oops... the ads belong on the *right*, the site nav belongs on the *left*. (My keyboard is dyslexic.) Actually, the site nav vanished when I posted my previous comment, but it came back when I hit "reload".
(recent fan/fairly new poster) I'm liking the new layout, and I think we'd eventually get used to the ad/navigation switch. I'm hoping I don't get stuck when I click on links that go outside of CO (like I used to).
And, is that kitty licking its chops at the fat rodent onscreen? Too much!
CG, We changed it so that all links launch in a new window, so that no one gits stuck in the frameset anymo'.
I like it, but I'm having trouble with all of the advertisements - they're all in a vertical line at the top, so I have to scroll down really far to see the cute pictures. Anyone else having the same problem??
meg, since you're right here, petting us and keeping us calm while we all adjust to the CO changes, can i just say,
THANKS for bringing the Qte! you are my favorite addiction! i don't know what i'd do without you!!!
Acelightning, I hear ya, I only have the annoying frameset because I didn't want to force Peeps to remember "mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/blah/blah..."
I use Camino, and there is a huge bar of adds on the top with no flying hamsters. I hope you can fix the site to be friendly to all computres!
Thanks, Cheryl! ;) And, LOL on panty/puppy of the month...
It's too wide for my screen too, but that's my only complaint!!!
Bree the kitten is adorable!!!
Acelightning and Crazy Diamond, our stats show that the majority of C.O. visitors are on higher than 1024 resolution screens! We're pushing the envelope, People! (OK, OK, I hear you and will see what we can do...)
Using Firefox and I'm not seeing any hammies at all. I might be blind, though, so that could be it!
Like the new design, but all the hammies are covered by content!
RE: peeps complaining about ads on the left - a girl's gotta make money... Bandwidth ain't free!
Right-scrolling isn't that bad. I can see most of the text and can click on links, and that's good enough for me.
Lookin' supafine, Nick the Developer and Meg!
It looks very pretty! Lovely design. But alas, I don't see any flying hamsters and I have to scroll sideways a bit... No probs re. postion of the ads though.
Using Firefox here and 1024 res...
Love
WendyPortia
Okay, I got the hammies! Just had to refresh. Very cute. I like the redesign! And congrats to another year of this amazing site!
Wow! Love the new site, especially the rear view of the flying hammie as the pages change. Now another reason for addiction to C.O.--subliminal cuteness! Very clever! I will go stick my cat's face in the yogurt container to celebrate. Happy Advent and thanks for all the fish, and puppies, kittehs, hams, ferrets, mini-horses, hedgehogs,donkeys, turtles . . . .
Please to be switching the sidebars. Sidescrolling is NOT my friend >< I don't care if the ads are covered, but the navbar should be right there in plain sight for sure! :D
I'm using Firefox on an iBook.
For some reason, I'm getting a vertical banner of various ads on the left of my window, then below that banner, I get the CO content. It's a pretty long scroll, and it had me worried for a minute.
And I don't actually see an image that says "Cute Overload" anywhere (nothing like what Bree the Kitteh sees).
I'm sure once the bugs are ironed out it's going to be spectacular!
I still have the same problem as Michael etc., even after emptying my cache in Safari.
oooh!! Wait!
I cleared my cache and all is well with the world.
Merry Cuteness to all, and to all a good night!
Yeah, I'm voting for menu on the left, too.
Can't the racy ads be at the bottom, not the top? My children look at this site! We all love it, but my son doesn't need to see lingerie next to the cute kittens.
Yyyyyeah...I'm going to have to say that the menu needs to be on the left, otherwise the page is too long. There's this big ol' left margin that serves little purpose. However, hamster pants ftw.
Not working for me either. Exact same problem as everyone else. Maybe you should send Bree the Kitteh over to look at my computer?
Sorry, I think the new layout kinda sucks. At least in Firefox, the whole top half of the page is just the adds, and you have to scroll waaaay down to see actual site content.
I like the flying hammies! I also have to scroll and I'm not used to the ads on the left but thats just habit...
Ooh, I love the bright colours! But I still miss the ducky.
However, I too get the "image not available" message for the new CO logo whenever I click on a specific post. I see it only on the main page.
BTW I too feel the ads should be on the right. It's not that I'm too lazy to scroll, but the site content should have priority over the ads. Since most of us English speakers read from left to right by default, I think that'd be a better layout.
I'm not too keen on the hampants, but that's a minor issue.
Nevertheless ... YAY for 1 year and more of CO!!! Paws Up!
Hey, the logo was missing only on IE ... it loads in individual posts on Firefox.
New look/overall design is fine, but there's a couple of things not working for me: far too much white space on the left side of the page; I have to sideways scroll, which is just not working for me; please consider moving or replacing the lingerie ads (which I've been meaning to write and ask you about, anyway, as it keeps me from letting my kidlets browse the site).
Thanks for the continued cuteness!
At first I had ads and nothing else (then I scrolled and saw the content was below). I refreshed and that went away.
However, I'm using Firefox on a Mac, and the width is too big for my (also) 1024 res. This means I have to scroll over to be able to read all the comments/see the whole picture/access the navigation.
Also, while I'm at it, I prefer navigation on the left and ads on the right (assuming we have to keep the ads).
Thanks for listening.
Oh, P.S. -- I have actually used the ads before, esp. One Horse Shy. However, from a usability standpoint it just doesn't make sense to have the ads take precedence over the navigation. Especially when I have to scroll right each time just to see the nav...
i'm sure its lovely but it doesnt load properly for apple mac using firefox. all the adverts appear, and then after scrolling down, eventually the cuteness appears. i'm not used to having to scroll so much to get my cuteness fix.
x
It worked badly at first, then I refreshed and stuff and it's fine - I'm using Firefox with Adblock, so I don't even see the ads. The only nice change I can think of (apart from switching the ads and the navigation, but meh) is to make the hamster background fixed - so you can still see them even when you're all the way down the bottom of the page commenting or whatever, instead of this boring very-pale green =D
Thanks for everything, though... fairy hamsters = awesome.
I don't see the flying hamsters anwywhere! Wah!
What I get is a giant column of adverts, and I have to scroll down for about 10 minutes before the cute photos start. I can't say I like the new layout.
I love the site, but the new design isn't working. I'm on Safari, and as others have mentioned, it's a no-go. I've emptied my cache and even reset Safari, but to no avail. I know bandwidth isn't free, but English is left to right. Can't the navigation change? Content over ads.
From the picture, it looks lovely. There are just some bugs to work out!
This is so cute I'm going to puke!
Thank you Meg for the cuteness upgrade! I like the hammypants! Who created them?
Meg you are awesome. Love the hamster fairies in pants. I too have to scroll right to center the screen/see the nav bar. And then I cut the lil hammies in half. ><
For me it only works in IE, which is sucky as I use firefox. But in IE it looks awesome.
cccuuuutttteee!
I love it!
Wow this design is blowin' my mind! Very cutie. :)
Cute design. I think it is good (I already forgot what the old one looked like...!)
=O FLYING FAIRY-HAMMIES!
I'm going to pass out. x_x
it's freaking adorable, even though it's a little wide for me too. and on this page the logo is just a little white bar with 'image not available' on it, but on the home page it's fine.
HATE the new look. will have to stop coming if it stays. the ads are just huge
Might it be a name conflict with the styles that make the ads show up all funny? Like if the old styles were named the same as the new ones, but changed substantively? Because clearing the cache indeed works, but perhaps renaming the style sheet would be better, because clearing the cache is not user friendly at all.
Also, there's what shows up on my screen as about an inch of padding on the left before the ads start. That's the frustrating part, because it shoots the useful nav bar off the right of the screen. And whether or not the majority of users find it better because of their screen resolutions, it makes it seem junky to me.
I really like the background (flying hams with pants!!), but the main table is shifted to the right of the page and there are a few "image not available" bubbles. Maybe that's just my pc's problem?
I also have to agree with putting the menu back on the left. And I don't know if this is supposed to be happening, but the ads are like "popping" off of the menu, could they just be part of the main table, too? It makes me focus on them more than the actual cute pictures!
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think CO looks really unbalanced now, but I see the direction you're going and it's good. :)
my hams appear to be pantless! am i missing something??? love you, CO and peeps!
Love the new look, but I have to side-scroll in Firefox. :(
Just weighing in on the cute hammy-pants! Wasn't sure I was in the right place at first, but I like it! On my screen (sorry, I don't know what numbers and resolutions and things it is) the white comments part seems smaller than it used to be, but maybe that's because of the new color border (love that shade of green, btw). I think we just need to get used to the ad/nav switch.
Can't understand smk "will have to stop coming" -- the Cute's still here, it just has different wrapping, for pete's sake!!!
And I've gotta ask, after reading some of the comments about the former version of the site -- there was a ducky? Obviously I don't pay enough attention!
Oh -- I just love Bree the Kitten, and the expression on that little kitty face! And Bree can type, too!
Happy 'nother year of Cute, Meg! And thanks so much!
Agreed, this doesn't work in Safari. There is an issue with one of the CSS classes that is causing an erroneous float to occur. This shouldn't be too hard of a fix.
oh yay.. a banner ad on the top of the page. :|
*cries*
rest of the layout is nice, though.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think kittens go "Baroo?" Even kittens as *adorable* as this one. Perhaps "mew?"
where is Theo amid all the chaos and confusion, c'mon teho, whaddya think?
I must admit, I'm not too keen on the ads being on the left hand side of the pages either.
Peeese, can it be put back?
I love the layout, but I agree that the menu should be on the right side. However, the flying hamsters are adorable!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUTE OVERLOAD!!!!
I like the new background, prefer the menu on left as many do. But I can live with the changes. I too don't get the logo when I'm in the comment section, only when on main page view. It's not just with certain browsers that the problem of too wide a screen is coming up. I've got 4 that I use, and they all come up with the same problem, even IE. But all it takes to resolve, is to pull screen to the right a might, I have that ability, cursor on drag bar, and pull to right, no problem here. I think it looks fine, just may take some a little time to get used to.
LOVE YA co!!!
I like the new colors, but I'm not crazy about having to scroll over to get to the menu.
are you going to fix the "too wide for my 1024 resolution." problem? I cant stand havign to scroll left and right.
I also can't see the logo at all, anywhere & the page is too wide...love this site, love the hammies, but also I love the site menu on the left. Thanks!
I really liked the ducky though. Can't the ducky and the flying hammies share?
i'm using firefox and it's too wide for my resolution
w/everyone else, I prefer the menu on left, ads on right.
what it says about my limited capacity for focusing i don't know, but I wish the cute tracker wasn't at the top of page, it kind of confuses me. again, perhaps I just have some kind of problem with keeping my eyes on the cute picture of the day.
I think the new flying hammie (pantless, i don't see any freaking pants) is f=ing cute but I am sad because I can hardly see him/them! It is all covered up with stuff except when page isjust loading. maybe it's meant to tantalize.
anyway look how much we all love co, even when perplexed by new layout still full of love for u and c.o. all well-deserved.
My qu: when are we getting a new c.o. tshirt? I still feel like losah 'cuz i didn't buy that hammie tshirt a year ago. maybe I can just go try and buy one on ebay..but that takes more effort than I apparently can muster (see beginning of post on limited powers)
i know i know already so much long boring posts from me
but when confirming the above saw the pants on the hams in full, and oh they are SO CUTE
the duck is crying, he's not cute at all compared to them hams in pants
or is they shorts
CUTE! Luv the hammies! The old scheme was a bit boring, cept' for the pics of course, but now it's ALL cute! 100%!!!!! :-))
Safari friends unite! The time has come to switch to Firefox. Look, I'm a mac-addict, but I ditched Safari months ago and went to Firefox, and I am much happier. Plus, I got flying hammies here and my vox account works better.
Oh, and peeps, Firefox has a theme of marmie kittens, in which every button on your toolbar is a different marmie kitten icon doing something adorable.
As others have stated, no hammie, a stream of ads on the left and a lot of scrolling until C.O. content is visible.
I'm using firefox, but more to the point, I don't have a huge monitor... so it looks wide to me too. I'd have to scroll over to see the right side of the screen. (even in IE)
Meh, I was particularly fond of the simple, clean and supercute look before. I am less-than-in-love with the flying hamsters. Liked the navigation where it was before too, now the navigation does not all fit on my browser and I have to use the ever unpleasant side scroll to see everything.
ADORABLE! Love the logo and the hamsters.
However, it looks a bit uncentered and far to the right on my i.e. I'd just butt it up to the left edge rather than centering it, and that would solve this problem as well as a few others mentioned (too wide for some, etc).
I love love love the new colours, and flying ham pics...but...I have a mac w/ firefox and for some reason I have to scroll over the bottom of the page to see everything :(
Yeah, doesn't work quite right in Firefox.
Hams in pants. Can't be bad. I'm am techno dumb but I agree with a couple of the other posters that would like the menus on the left rather than the right. It's all shifted and funny feeling.
If it ain't broke....
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!
it's so japanesey also. it makes me just want to curl up in wonderment.
Panty of the Month was the first thing that loaded as I logged on to C.O. to start my week on this bright and early Monday morning. Baroo is right. ;)
Anyway, very cheerful design.
Aww... Bree is adorable...
And Happy Birthday, Cute Overload! I like the new layout.
So, Panty of the Month is the new CO logo, eh? ;-)
I've got an up-to-date PC, and I'm using Firefox on a 1024x768 resolution. All the sidebar ads are shoving the main entry content div below.
I checked in IE 7. Everything's in the correct place, but it's now so wide that I have to scroll horizontally.
Per'aps the logo could be a smidge smaller? Also, the flying hammy background is cute-as-a-button, but that extra width on the left (plus the extra width of the logo hanging off the end, there) is giving us 1024's a scroll bar. Could the containers (and maybe the logo) be resized? Just some suggestions.
I miss the old layout...
I wants that adorable little kitten!
Oh, and I'm in IE6 and the logo isn't showing (at least not on the page I'm on...this one...). I'm good either way with ads/content - left/right. I'm hardly fussy bout that. (Nor incidently, do I much care who's doing the ads. We all need panties. Just a garment.)
Hammies in pants what fly, love it!
Change is always a shock to the system at first, kids.
You will be amazed how quickly you settle into this wonderful aura of hamsters flying around in pants!
It's definitely a step towards world peace!
i think... in XP, IE, 1025x1280 there's a scrollbar down the bottom now, the central content is not centered (it's over towards the right more), and when viewing the comments view the top left bubbly logo pic shows as 'image not available'.
Great background wallpaper though!
The new logo looks like a big piece of candy!! Niam niam!
I had the same probelm as others, with the ads stacked vertically and all the real site contect below, so I had to scroll a ways down. This is in Firefox 2.0. Refreshing the page resolved that problem, but the background image is taking up too much space on the left. I also don't like the ads being so prominently placed on the left. The lingerie ad is pretty obnoxious.
Good GRIEF there's a lot of comments for a Monday morning, and I'm not going to have time to check them for a good while yet. Lemme just say, though, YAY!!! for the new design finally being launched. FYI, those hammiewings are Meg's own handcrafted design, peeps.
g2g ttyl kthxbye w00t! [snork]
I check 2 websites every Monday morning...yours and
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
LOVE YOU BOTH !!!
I am bragging about you on my 360 page above !!!
:+)
Grrr...side scrolling...grrr.
If you're committed to pushing the envelope and leaving all the 1024s in the dust then mebbe throw us a bone and put the site menu back on the left. As a few others have commented I don't care if the ads are cropped but it's really annoying to have to side scroll as well as scroll top to bottom to navigate all the fun features of CO.
Oh, and I'd love one of those kitten computer techs! From where do you hire them?
As long as Bree and friends do the changing it's okay with me. Don't let those humans get involved...then it will be all over. You know how people are~
I apparently have magic coming out my ass. I have a crappy pc at work with a dinky monitor, running Firefox, and everything works perfectly.
'scuse me. Gonna go buy a lottery ticket.
HeidStar -- sidescrolling?? (...just checked -- so there is! Gah!!) Will check w/Meg. There will probably be some format refinements in the coming days; this TypePad stuff is a bit fiddly. And I still have to get the Glossary into shape.
Fear not, O my 1024x768 peeps. I'm pullin' for ya.
At first the page loaded with all the ads in a long narrow column on the left, no flying hampsters, & I had to scroll way down to get to any content. After hitting refresh a few times it finally loaded the correct way. I agree with the others that I prefer the menu on the Left & the ads on the Right. I also think the flying hampster background is a bit too 'busy' a background for my taste ... it kind of detracts from the cuteness in the pictures, which is the main focus of the site. Overall I liked it all better before the changes.
Meg, it's a fantastic and wonderful new design which will look beautiful once the bugs have been worked out. Kudos to you!
However, I agree:
Too much padding on the lefthand side, which is pushing the ads div over to the right and crowding precious space for content and navigation. I'm one of those who's having to scroll to the right to see the nav. The new sidebar colour is lovely, and the flying hammies are pure genius! but they're hogging too much space.
I'm ambiguous about ads on the left/nav on the right, though normally I'd choose the opposite. I think it's ok as long as you make sure the layout is either: a, narrow enough that it's going to fit on all screens; or b, fluid.
My 2cents.
Hoppy birdday! and thank you for all the cute. All the ads are on top of all the pictures for me too. Cannot see any flying hammies. And I too prefer the site map on the left. I am in Firefox. Oil the beast...
BEAUTIFUL! Excellent job, Cuters.
hams-in-pants: cute! but taking up too much room.
new logo: nice! except it doesn't appear on the comments page, just "image not available".
navigation/ad side switch: better the other way. the ads are way too distracting now, especially the flashing ones. i know that's the point of advertising, but they're detracting from the cute!
absolutely love the flying hamsters. I especially love seeing flying hamsters on the screen as your website loads up. just love it. LOVE. IT.
:) way to go on such a great website! keep up the cuteness!
I think this layout is a little to busy...
One more thing. When I want to view the one cute category, e.g. Kittens, it takes awfully long to load, because all the kittens since the beginning of CO are contained in one looonnggg page. Can you divide them in several pages?
I like it . . . the hammies are great. I have Safari, and at first it wouldn't work, but I just emptied the cache and it was fine. I would suggest you flip the ads and the site menu, though, things on the right always get more attention.
Benvenuta -- agreed; that's been an issue for a long time. It's a built-in TypePad shortcoming, therefore, difficult to change.
I'm on Firefox 2.0 and am also having problems. I've shift-refreshed and cleared out all my cache. I still have the striped background, but now there is no logo at all!
I went and looked at it in IE and I wouldn't recognize it to be the same site as what I have in Firefox!
Flying hamsters. Of course.
My horizon is straight (I can see all the images, ads, pics, comments in their new places) but this new deck is keeling over, tilted to one side. Makes me seasick. Too much weight to portside. And I agree with other Peeps about deep-sixing the mermaids in lingerie & tight Ts. The jolly roger at the top is worse than a skull & crossbones.
Three whole days now of cute photos. Keep it up. No more plundering; that's, yeah, that's *my* job.
That kitty is awesome. He/she's all like "SAY WHUT? Flying hammies?! Now how am I going to be the cutest thing on this site?!"
The new layout didn't work for me until I cleared my cache (Firefox user), but I'm so glad that I did. It's super cute! I'm pretty indifferent to the ads being on the right rather than the left ;)
I likes the logo and colour, but minus flying hammies and navigation bar back to the left would be perfecto.
It works fine in Firefox for me.
On my work computer, it looks just fine in both Firefox and Opera. It's okay in IE too, except that I notice the content is pushed a little over to the right. But no scrolling anywhere for me. Looks best in Firefox, although the differences are subtle.
Wait - that Ham-in-pants is Meg'S OWN design?
Then why is it hiding behind all those ads? FLAUNT 'em hammies, Meg!!!
And on behalf of the 1024x768 peeps ... thank you very moishe, Teho. I'm sick of the side-scrollin'!
The flying hammies on my screen are not wearing any pants. Why are my flying hammies nekkid while everybody else's are panted? Is my Internet broken? Could you send the kitty to my house to fix my Internet and round up the nekkid hamsters?
it worked when I emptied my cache. It's adorable! But I do agree, I'd prefer the navigation bar to be on the left. It would look better to be under the CO logo- more aesthetically pleasing and it's where the eye moves first.
it worked when I emptied my cache. It's adorable! But I do agree, I'd prefer the navigation bar to be on the left. It would look better to be under the CO logo- more aesthetically pleasing and it's where the eye moves first.
It looks fantastic to me! I love the flying hammies!
Also like the new design, but I also liked the menu on the left and the ads on the right.
Please change it to something that is more cross-browser compatible! In Safari, I now have to scroll through miles of ads and blankness just to get to the content.
The new layout is not working for me at all. I have to scroll to the right to use the menu, and there is alot of space to the left of the ads. The ads are dominating the main content.Really annoying. I also have to agree that the lingerie has always seemed out of place.
New layout shows up for me now, but I can't see the flying hammies cause of the ads! *sniffle*
Yep. Safari user and no matter how many times I hit refresh, I get no flying hammies. I get the endless list of ads (flush left) and then somewhere after scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, I get content and menus. But not at all a Safari-friendly look.
I also agree that the ads should swap places with the site navigation. I shouldn't have to scroll sideways for the important stuff. Unless pimping stuff is more important than user-friendliness.
I like having the menu items on the right and the ads on the left. Being right-handed, it makes more sense to me to move the mouse to the right to click on a favorite link.
However, if I don't have my IE window set to full display, I have to scroll sideways to get to the menu items. But, I like them this way.
And what a cute little kittie helper! Did Bree get to include her favorite pictures on the site?
I think Bree is contemplating eating that entire prairie dog. Sllluuuurp!
Hey, maybe when Bree is finished with her busy tech support day she could pay a visit to yoghurt/sour cream kitty and provide some "I shall leeck you" support. Sure looks like she'd be more than capable.
LOL, Heidistar!
Nice redesign, and love the flying hamsters
The CuteOverload "flower" is kinda a 70's linoleum brown. I would prefer a more "flower color"(or even pastel yellow) so it would POP! More flying hammie presence would be good, too (mine is covered with the top ad and the background one just flashes for a second.)
Your new layout is broken in Firefox :( I get several screenfuls of nothing above the posts.
Theo, if TypePad won't let you put the kitten category into several pages, what about splitting it into multiple categories by date? So instead of "kittens", we'd have "kittens 2005", "kittens Jan-June 2006", "kittens July-Dec. 2006", or whatever.
Christy -- not a bad idea by itself... but then the Categories section (which is unrelated to "Archives") would become really unwieldy. And in TypePad, you only get a certain number of allotted Categories, and we're almost at our quota already. It's not like "Tags" in Vox, unfortunately.
Holy crap I almost peed my pants when I got on here and saw the new layout. It looks awesome! I am usually on here every day, but have just gotten busy at work and haven't had a chance to check it out in like a week. I feel like I missed a lot during my time away! Anyway, the hammies w/ wings are awesome, I'm not having any problems so far but it sounds like others are. Nice concept though.
I like the colours of the new look, but the layout is clumsy I think. The ads take up too much space on the left and the fact that you can't fit the page into 1024 size is awkward. No one is going to want to scroll over all the time to look for things.
one more vote for sucky in firefox. A big blank with ads down theleft, then cutetracker, then cute stuff. No logo or flyaing hammies.
At first I wondered where all the linkies were, then I see they're on the far right. A little unwieldy but I don't use them often enough to be a problem. And flying hamsters wearing pants make everything okay. Dig the new logo, too.
yaaay!! we love it!
I love it. And if I need to see something other than fairy hamsters (yay) or lingerie (eww) I can use the scrollbar.
Beautiful. Now I want the fairyham t-shirt AND the world peace hamster t-shirt.
When I first came by I also got a whole lot of white space, but it fixed itself.
My hammie looks nekkid too.
....I don't come to this site to see no nekkid. indecent hammies.
This hammie just wants attention.
And underwear.
Hammie is a media-scarlet-fallen-woman hammie.
This ain't cute.
Meg isn't counting my vote on what to post.
Not gonna come round here no more....
------ Wait, I think I was channeling someone else, having just waded through that whole comment trail.
It is still wider than my monitor, but that's cause I'm on my nasty old computer.
(Because The Kid stole my birthday present ("my preciousssss") so she can finally work through the last Myst thingy.
I may have to bite off her hands to get it back.)
Oh, there are the pants.
Never mind.
I'm on Safari, and the hammie loads just fine, no scrolling to reach content. I enjoyed the simplicity of the old layout, but the hammie is cute, too.
I'll join the chorus of voices calling for the ads and the site links to be switched back to their original positions, though. Feels like the C.O. content is too far over to the right.
Looks ok in my firefox.
Looks good, Meg. Though I must confess I don't really have strong feelings either way. *shrug*
I love the fact that all the flying hammies have little pants, except the secret big one that you get the fastest glimpse of bare 'tocks when you go to a new page.
Oh yeah, and too wide for my home laptop screen by a tad too. My work screen is fine, and I see lots of flying hammies.
I've got the too-small-monitor and the listing to the right "challenges" but as long as I can find the pictures and the comments, I'm fine.
Theo, is Bree a computer geek trainee to help the peeps with computer problems? Will this be a separate service from Port-a Snorg or an add-on?
Sorry, but I have Windows XP/IE and it looks too busy at the top, and has too much space on the left. The whole thing looks crowded, with the ads on the left. I don't have problems with underwear ads, though, and the diapered hammies are cute.
I really do not like the ads on the Left side of the screen.
Ugh I really want to see the flying hammie pants! I'm using Firefox and all I get is a giant column of ads in the middle of the screen. Please tell me this is fixable!
I'm not crazy about the lingerie ads.
I'm on Firefox, and I see the hammies.
Just telling that it isn't working for me either :-s. Got Firefox and probably am in 1024 px thing. Ads column on the left with white space, Then the Cute pictures, but no new Cute Overload logo.
Thanks for making a changement though. ^^
Hi, Safari users, I can see the new layout after closing window with cute, emptying cache and then reloading the page...
Redzilla: I've been using the cats for Firefox for years now.
Maybe I missed it, but whatever happened to the ying/yang kittens t-shirt? Where those ever for sale? I want one!
The CO image isn't showing up for me and I think having a CO masthead instead of Cute Tracker would be clearer as to what site you are on...but I also know how hard it is to design something everyone will like. You do a great job here and we appreciate it!!
I agree with many about the ads being on the left. And then also having to scroll to the right to view the menu. I just have good ol' Internet Explorer and I still have to make this adjustment.
I love the flying hampsters though. Awesome.
I finally got the new page to show, after refreshing a bunch of times (Firefox). Same thing, had to refresh for IE. Prior to refreshing, I got the ads on the left, nothing on the right, rest of the content down below scenerio. Lots of people don't like the ads on the left switcheroo, however, I think it's just a matter of getting used to something new. A month from now and no one will even notice the difference...
Omg. I didn't even notice the new design until you pointed it out - I was too busy looking at the cute!
Great redesign, however, it stretches my screen, which is an annoyance. Am using Mozilla, 1024 x 768 screen size.
I've also tried reloading, lo these many times and I only see a mile of ads on the left...
(by the way, ixnay on the eftlay ad ormatfay, I haaaaaate it!)
and then the photos way down the page..