Blog layout too busy?

[dairyfreebabyandme]

Hiya!

I've been blogging for that past year and received a comment today about the 'busy-ness' of my layout. Rather than dismiss the comment of 'Anon' out of hand, I thought I would elicit some feedback, but my comments on FB and Twitter are all very kind! SO I've come here, for some advice. I have two questions:

Number one - do I need to change?
Now, I use Blogger and picked a background that I felt had some connection to the name/theme. I have sometimes wondered if it was a bit busy, but none of the other background themes seem to fit in as well. I have noticed that many people choose white backgrounds, for their blogs, but I quite like that mine is a bit different. I have made sure the ground behind the writing is plain, and have narrowed the margins, so that there is less busy-ness. You'll see what I mean by looking at the blog: dairyfreebabyandme.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/what-am-i-doing-here.html

Number two - do I publish this comment and answer honestly, as I want to show them that I'm not afraid of criticism.

Your comments would be much appreciated.

x

[Tee2072]

I would agree your background is way too busy. It's very hard to read your RHS area since it's has a partially transparent background with all that going on back there as well as the title of your blog getting lost in the blocks.

I publish all comments, except explicit SPAM. So, yes, publish it. Whether or not you answer it is up to you.

[MmeGuillotine]

I don't think it's that bad at all, but then I like a bit busy busy in a blog (as you can probably tell by mine - madameguillotine.org.uk - and this is the LESS busy updated version!) and am massively turned off by blogs that are too plain or austere! :)

People have vastly different tastes when it comes to blog design - for everyone who thinks your blog is too busy there'll be someone like me who thinks it's great as it is and perfectly legible. What really matters is what you think of it. :)

As for publishing the comment - if it's phrased in a way that pisses you off or makes your hackles rise then consign it to the dustbin of history and forget about it. If they seem like a reasonable sort who might actually have future constructive comments to leave then publish it. :)

[SpecialCircumstances]

Its not too busy, the popular posts bit is fine and I like the top navigation bar- very clear and user friendly! It did take me a few minutes to adjust to the brightness and 'busyness' of the background, but once you've looked at it for a few minutes it's fine. Personally I prefer slightly plainer backgrounds, but that's just personal taste! Possibly changing the colour of the blog archives/labels/follow by email text might help- the grey kind of merges a little with the background?

[ms27]

I like the background but in my opinion it would look better if the right side where you have recent posts would not be transparent. It is much easier to read when the background is plain. In your case there are several colours in the background and they almost overlap with letters. Please do not take my comment personally. I really do like your background. It is great. May be you will just need to experiment with different layouts.

[zanuda]

1. Personally I don't like background - too strong. Did you try to make it paler? How does it look?
   
2. Photos on the front page are too big.
   

as for 2 - you might try to see how your blog looks like from 3 top screen resolutions and 3 top browsers.

1. it might be good idea for the post - make a survey, engage the readers... Anyway, survey will give you good idea what the majority likes.

[BertieBotts]

The background has far too much contrast. You could tone it down a bit by adding a transparent white layer on top, (and then making the transparent part for the links on the right stronger still) or choose something else. If you want the blocks as a theme, then perhaps a single line of them down the side or across the top would work, or incorporated in a banner.

Also if a background has just a few main colours in it, it works better and you can pick these colours out for the colour scheme of your blog, like text colour, background of the main text area, etc.