The new look Birds
OK, Sarah has got her way at last 
and I’ve let her have a shiny new theme for Birds.
We now have a slider, despite me telling her that these things are a distraction; she bribed me with a Chocolate Orange and so there is now a featured content slider which will show 4 posts and change every few days. The front page will still show the latest posts and also feature one of our regular bloggers.
In line with our fast moving magazine style feel, the colours have been changed slightly. Sarah wanted the site to feel summery, whatever the weather. She wanted it to showcase the wonderful women bloggers here in a vibrant way. And it must not be pink under any circumstances…
Techie for those that are interested
The Birds on the Blog is still using Studiopress themes which we do still get along nicely with. This theme is called Serenity and is on the Genesis Framework. Sarah is currently breaking all the settings as I type
We will be using the Gravity Forms to take our guest posts in the future, this will make the admin relating to the site easier to manage.
We will also be adding a variety of contact forms over the next few days to specific areas such as advertising, general contact and media request area. Many of the Birds speak at events and do public demonstrations of their services and products. Nicola and Jackie W are often in the media spotlight with the work they do and Sarah wants to make it easy for everyone who blogs for us to be more visible and contactable.
For our readers
As a community Birds is very supportive of new bloggers and shares many guest posts from women who have never blogged before. Birds is often their first guest post opportunity, so Sarah is working on something for newsletter subscribers. It will probably be a nice guest posting mini ebook (Note to Sarah – ha that will teach you to withhold the chocolate and break the theme you will have to write it now I have told everyone)
And for our girls
In case you didn’t know, the advertising revenue from the site helps educate twin girls in Uganda. Our online community helps educate young girls in the real world. You may have seen that there is a blogging summit going on. It takes place online and all the sessions can be downloaded after they have happened. If you are thinking of going to the free webinar or buying the sessions our girls would appreciate you doing it from our link, the affiliate payment will make a huge difference in their lives.
There will no doubt be plenty of tweaks and niggles as we settle into this new design.
So what do you think?
About BabsBabs runs The Blogmistress to help people use WordPress for their websites and/or blogs. Here on Birds however she lets loose on just about any subject other than WordPress! Follow her on twitter
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4 Responses to The new look Birds
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I am sure we will all grow to love this look like we did the old one
Sarah Arrow I lovingly typed…Quick fuel saving tip 1
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I like the style, the colours and the layout: It is more magazine-like and in keeping with the aims of the site, and the navigation is nice and easy. I think it’s a great choice.
I do find the type size smaller than that most places but maybe that’s more a reflection of my eyesight than anything else… and in a couple of weeks I daresay I’ll have forgotten it was ever any different
Twitter: Linda_Mattacks
We have adjusted the font sizes as we all felt it was a fraction too small. Yes, old age has reached me!
Sarah Arrow I lovingly typed…Quick fuel saving tip 1