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.
{ 298 comments }
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 1024×768 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 1024×768. 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’m using firefox and it’s too wide for my resolution
I really liked the ducky though. Can’t the ducky and the flying hammies share?
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 1024×768 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, 1025×1280 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 1024×768 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 1024×768 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.
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.
New layout shows up for me now, but I can’t see the flying hammies cause of the ads! *sniffle*
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… no hammies, no cute new logo, no nuttin!
Waaaaaah!
Just to echo: It is way broken in Safari, even with everything completely up to date in my OS (10.4.x) and Safari.
Ad sidebar (intended to be on the left?) is above the page content, and neither logo nor background are visible, just the central blog column and 2 decorative side columns under the banner.
Safari users, i FINALLY got the page to load correctly. Clearing the cache repeatedly, even rebooting didn’t do the trick. It was clearing my history that did it. Phew.
The left column is way way too wide.
This makes the links to comments and More! more! more! and Cute Tracker fall offa my screen.
We aren’t all on the uber-wide monitors, some of us are chuggin’ along with old cheap laptops. I can’t make my window any bigger.
I know revenue is important, but the ads are way too intrusive in this layout.
Pls. either swap sides or at least make the left column skinnier.
So I had a web design class today… and apparently a menu on the right hand side is a biiiig design no-no. tbh, I can kinda see why!!!
x x x
p.s. i wanna see flying hamsters!! they don’t appear for me :’(
Like others I get the long string of ads above the content and no flying hamsters. I love the pink, green, blue striped wall paper, it’s lovely.
I’m using the latest mozilla firefox on winxp. I could swear the stripey effect was around before you did whatever you did that changed the ad layout. I liked it fine before with the ads on the right and the site links on the left and content in the middle.
Clearing cache solved it for me too. Now I see the new wallpaper and the thing lays out as it should (and fits my laptop screen without side scrolling)
I love the hammie/pants, but everything is shifted to the right for me, using IE. But I don’t mind shifting just to see CO!
/threadjack
Hey peeps! I know how much all of you LOVE C. O. and can’t go a day without it! Well, HOLIDAY time is here and I just wanted to make a suggestion! Let’s fill up the C.O. TIPJAR to overflowing! Meg (and Theo too!) deserve to be thanked for all they do to make us happy each and every day. So let’s GIVE BACK to them this holiday season. Visit the tip jar (on the right side of page, almost at the bottom)!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! /end threadjack
FYI… the Paypal link for the Tip Jar doesn’t seem to be working. But Amazon is.
I love cuteoverload, and I’ll still visit for the cute pictures, but I have Firefox, and like a lot of other people, can’t see the flying hammies or even the logo. it’s a few pages of ads and then as i scroll down i get to the pictures. is there something i can do to my computer that might fix this? i tried deleting my history, but that didn’t work.
Meg – You could have redecorated your living room, or something, instead.
Or, you could have asked for our suggestions prior to moving all of us. Or did I miss that?
yolanda — you’re seeing pink, green and blue striped wallpaper?? What I’m seeing is at the very top there’s a few shades of pale blue sky with stars, and flying hammies (with pants, I’m pleased to report), then once I start scrolling down, the sidebars are just a pale pale green. No striped wallpaper here…
I’m using IE 6, btw.
I don’t need to sidescroll, but the white comments part being off center kind of gibbles my brain. (And my brain is pretty gibbled as it is…)
another firefox user reporting problems with the long vertical list of ads above the good stuff. maybe the problem would be solved if the pastel stripies were smaller?
I normally use Firefox with Adblock and it looks ok there, even when I disable Adblock. But when I open it again in IE, it’s DEFINITELY too busy…with the cute tracker banner on the top and all the ads on the side, I didn’t know where to look either. I don’t have any ideas on how to change it though…I’ll ask my web designer / programmer son to take a look at it
CUTE tongue-age!!!!
Those of you who simply have to scroll past the ads to see the CUTE are lucky; on my old IMac 0S9 + IE there is a long column of Google ads running right through the pictures. There seems to be no way to turn off the ads. They run over the comments, too! It is like a slap in the face. Netscape 7 loads more cleanly (and more slowly), but if there is a video anywhere, I get multiple popup screens that say “Not found”, and the photos stop loading half way through.
Please remember that those of us who cannot afford fancy new computers are peeps too, and we need our CUTE!
Sorry to sound like a complainer. I am eternally grateful to Meg and C.O. Congrats to those who can see the CUTE!
Bree the kitteh’s screen has hambuggers (flying hamsters) on both margins. Mine doesn’t.
Clearing the cache worked for me! (Firefox, Windows XP)
I LOOOOVE IT! As a web designer myself, I even envy it. I love the logo especially, with the winged hammie accent to the left. It looks like something you’d find on Japanese candy packaging (ie, very cute!). And I like the right-nav (ALA recommended, right?).
I am using Safari on a mac and I don’t have a winged hammie *sob* I also have to scroll down a lot to see content. Ads start at top. LOVE your site anyway!
YEA! Flying Hammies in Firefox.
Thats my kitty! she was 7 weeks old when that was taken!
Help! We have Safari on our Macs and we’re unable to see any of these improvements. We’ll miss you all.
scrolling way way down in firefox. thought there was something wrong until i found this post. glad it still works, i guess.
Meg, I love it. For a second I thought there was something wrong with my ‘puter, but now I know it’s just the flying hammies.
I have a Mac with Safari and had no problem. Hmmm….
To reiterate a few comments:
1)I prefer the navigation on the left and
2)I’m having similar problems–I’m using Firefox and the layout is too wide for the maximized screen
so cute.
butterfly hamstahs
i kind of like the navigation on the left though. maybe its just habit
It’s too wide. I run at 1024 X 768 resolution, and I now have a horizontal scroll bar, which I find very annoying.
i saw the issue in firefox that others have mentioned– with the content below the left column of ads.
i cleared my cache, reloaded and all was well– panted hammies a’flyin’, content right up there where it should be.
Yes, too wide but pretty. BTW my work network is blocking CO since last week, because its a Social Networking site? Boo.
For folk in Safari, go to this URL and shift click on the reload button until you see it change. Once you do this, the page design is updated.
http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/styles.css
The new design does NOT load properly in Safari on my mac. Boo-hoo.
I came here this morning and as many others, had that long string of ads and no flying hammies. All you have to do is clean you cache/history and then come back to the site and all is well. HOWEVER, I now have a horizontal scroll bar which I despise and I did too prefer the site map on the left side of the screen. But things are still cute!
I like the look, but I don’t like that it’s a fixed width design that doesn’t even fit in a 1024 wide window. A fluid design would have been much kinder to your users. However, I rarely view the site — just read it through Bloglines, so it’s pretty irrelevant to me!
I love the new design, but do really prefer the ads on the right and nav on the left.
I have IE at work and Firefox at home – I had to quit Firefox and restart it to get the site to work, but no probs since then.
Flying hamsters in pants are the best!
Okay, I closed and reopened Safari, and now it works. (Clearing the cache and emptying the history didn’t work, though.) I also have a resolution of 1280×800 (widescreen laptop), and I STILL have to side scroll very slightly after maximizing the window.
Like almost everyone else, I don’t like the ads/site navigation switch. I also agree with those who’ve said it’s too busy; I think the CuteTracker draws the eye too much.
I love the new layout! Its supercute, just like all the pics here! Sometimes when im so sad, I come here and I at least know I will have something to smile about. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful pictures.
Hmmm… I’m undecided…
First I noticed how wide the page is… I have to scroll to the right to enjoy my daily dose of cuteness. Not a good thing!
Secondly, I’m drawn to look at the ugly adverts first now, with them being on the left. Not a good thing either. Women in bras… bah!
Then… as cute as I find flying hamsters in pants in THEORY… they do creep me out a little.
Having said that, my cat LOVES the idea of flying hamsters, whetever their faces.
And finally, I think I miss the little ducky that was on top of the page in the old layout!! Sniff…
So what’t that? 4:1 for the old layout?
Will go and ponder about this some more…
I’ll just chime in to also say it’s too wide on my moniter, and so really aggravating, and that I don’t like the navigation bar on the right; it doesn’t seem correct, I think because as someone way upthread said, we read left to right. So for me the important stuff (navigation bar) should come first (the left), then the extraneous (ads) stuff.
Juniper, I too still use Netscape, but I was rather too embarrassed to say, so I’m glad you weren’t afraid! And no, I can never ever get any movie/youtube link to work; it always gives me two pages of file not found and lately has added a Javascript alert box for that little extra bit of annoyance.
One more thing: I DO love the nekked hamster butt flying through the air before the page loads. Nice work.
That’s 5:2.
i love the new colors and the hamster!
i also agree with all those that liked the menu on the left side so we didn’t have to look at the ads if we didn’t want to
bree the kitteh is cute!
My monitor resolution is 1152×864, but I *still* have to scroll sideways. And, rather than have everything open inside the page frame, why not just use the “target=_blank” syntax to link to the ads? (That opens the ad in a new window, leaving the CO page where it was, and also making it possible to bookmark the advertiser’s page if you want to.)
I’m a web designer myself; if you want any more advice from me, please feel free to email me at the included address.
For those who are still using Netscape, you might try using the basic Mozilla browser. It’s very similar to Netscape, but a bit more “up to date”. I’ve used it for a few years and love it.
I used Netscape (and not the most recent version, either, because I didn’t like it) and CO’s new design works just like it’s supposed to. It doesn’t give me any trouble with the videos, either. Maybe it’s a problem with the internet connection and not the browser.
And I want to chime in with Christy and say that my laptop is 1280 x 768 resolution, and it still requires a scroll bar left/right.
The only thing that I don’t like (because I think it’s all great–I would even get used to the left / right thing) is that, when the window loads, I get a fleeting glimpse of Meg’s wondrously rendered trousered hammie tocks, and then they get covered by the rest of the page.
More Trousered Hammie Tocks!!
*more Trousered Hammie Tocks, with WINGS!
Meg, it’s nice, but it’s much slower. Anything you can do about that?
Wait, there’s multi-colored wallpaper? With stripes?
Not on my screen (mit der Firefox for der Windoze XP). I gots sort of an off-gray over on the left behind the ads, then it’s all white all the way off the side of the page where the links disappear b/c it’s too wide.
The new logo is cute though, and the seekrit “flashing” hamster is anerable.
Oh, and like others said, the flying green-shorted hammie on the left is mostly covered by the ads and I have no flying hammies on the right even if I scroll waaaay over.
I’m as Disapproving as a rabbit here.
cute, but doesn’t fit in 1024 resolution, which means i have to scroll sideways..
maybe not the best design decision…
I agree with Kasia…
Layout is too wide for Firefox, and that makes me really sad. And the hamsters (and their pants) kinda creep me out. I hate the ads on the left side, too… That’s where the navigation is supposed to be!
All in all, I really really really don’t like the new layout. The ond one was great… This one just looks off. Sorry! Hope you get it fixed soon!
Oh and it takes waaaay longer to load, too. That sucks. ;_;
I just realized from looking at the screen in the picture…I’m not getting any hammies on the right side. The page just stops at the right border of the white section. The ads also cover part of the hammie with green shorts.
I think its refreshing! Since I browse cuteoverload almost everyday, its nice to see some changes.
Definitely having problems in Safari… very unattractively long line of ads, then the beginning of cute photos. I’ve been a long-time devotee of this website and forwarded it to friends, but I wouldn’t bother with it if I had to get firefox just to view this. (I’ve never had this sort of problem with other websites on Safari.)
agreed! ADORABLE, but too wide for my screen.
i barely even see the cute little hammies in pants. in fact, i DON’T see the pants at all; the ad covers them. but the hammies are cute. 
Cute, but I definitly like the old one a lot better. I can’t see the hamsters at all, all I get is ads and it’s making me less inclined to want to come visit the site, which is really sad.
Well hell, I like the flying hams. I love the new layout. Great work!
I like the layout. Why is it that my hammie also appears to have no trousers? Hmmm. Otherwise, the graphics are good. Maybe the logo is a wee bit large?
I love the look but the page doesn’t display properly in Firefox or Mozilla. Please don’t make me use IE!
One more vote for moving navigation back to the left and reconsidering the panty ads. On IE the ads are right in my face when CO opens. I’m sure this is what advertisers prefer, but it isn’t what I want. And I vote for ads that are more cute or funny than trashy. But that’s just me.
Flying hammies = awesome!
Never mind the new look. That cat RULES.
Ads are the price we pay for viewing fabulous cute content free of charge. Now, if everybody wanted to DONATE enough money to allow Meg to go completely ad-free, I’m sure she’d be thrilled. But until then, be happy the ad support is making CO possible. Too strictly limiting the type of ads allowed is a luxury many site owners simply can’t afford.
I liked the old layout better,sorry!Too little girly for me!
I liked the old layout better,so sorry!This is too little girly for me!
I agree that the flip-flopping of the layout was kind of silly. you read from left to right so the ads should be on the right. not the first thing you see. they take away from the photos. when i first got here i was trying to figure out what was going on. it’s all a little squished. i love the hammies in speedos though. i haven’t tried to view on firefox on my home computer yet. not sure what that will be like.
The only other comment I have is that the best hammie (the big back-view one) is covered up and only viewable when loading…
Love the new colors. But hate the placement of the menu. The way it is now you have to scroll over to see the entire listing.
Other than that tiny annoyance, the site rocks!
Gigiscloset’s ad for panty of the month club, on the left column: not cute. Annoying, definitely.
Yay! It is working for me in Safari now! If you did anything to make that happen I really appreciate it! Euther way, I’m happy!
I love the new look now!!!
Well, I’ve got the pastel green down the side now (yay!)
But it’s still too wide for easy 1024 reading, and yet not wide enough for the right hand column of hammies.
I will now hit Post and giggle at nekkid ham buns.
Design no-workie. I’m using Firefox, which is web standards compliant (IE isn’t). You should test to see if CO validates:
http://validator.w3.org/
I don’t guess it’s Firefox friendly, huh? I have to scroll down all the way before the content actually starts.
Hmmm…so are we going to get any more info about the site design? Is it going to be changed/or do any webmastery-types have advice for those of us with problems?
I have IE and am having the side-scroll/no right side hammy problem. And my computer is only 2 years old. I also dislike left side ads…
I am hoping that we either can get a little more information, or see some site changes? Otherwise, while I appreciate the opportunity to give feedback, what was the point?
I love the bare-tocked hammie who appears when a page is loading! I can’t see the hams in pants very well because one is partly covered by the logo and the other is partly covered by an ad.
For me, I do have to right-left scroll (not a big issue, as I don’t use the menu everyday). No right hams. Also, the logo appears on the main page but not the comments pages. It just says “image not available.” Using IE, by the way.
Everything else seems normal. I didn’t actually notice the change until I read this caption.
Pheas & Colleen (and lots of other folks) — just do a hard refresh. Your browser (FF, IE, Opera, Safari, whatever) probably still has the old stuff in its cache; I’m guessing Meg reused a lot of the graphical elements’ old names. A “hard refresh” is clicking the “reload” or “refresh” button while holding down the Ctrl key (for Windows PCs; not sure about Macs).
Christine — the design of CO is completely Meg’s domain, and her free time is next to nil right now. Just to say this again, CO is nobody’s “day job,” AND things happen in people’s lives, y’know? So: the horizontal scroll is a known issue (and rather over-documented by now). ETA for fix: unknown. Further information: not available. I apologize for the temporary inconvenience.
Quel fromage!
I’ve tried it on a wiiiide screen now, so I see the pastel stripes, which are tres anerable.
However: no hammies AT ALL! Much worse than scrolling.
I will go back to the other machine. I’ve gotten hooked on the kawaii prosh hammies already!
(Spell check does NOT like this post. It doesn’t speak CO.)
Lurk — hard refresh. See my note to Pheas & Colleen above. Gotta dump your cache.
oooo! there they are!
It’s, like, STEREO flying hammies.
I am slain with Teh Qte.
Don’t like it. The new format is way too wide! Even at full screen, you have to scroll over to the right. What happened to the “Posted by Meg” or “by Theo” or whoever. We like to see who is posting the pictures.
Are the flying hamsters really needed? They take up a lot of space. How about making it a small picture in one of the corners. Can you put the links back on the left side, please?
Also, can you please get rid of the lingerie ads? There are a lot of kids that like this sight. Not very wholesome for them. Thanks.
Lordy! Meg must be wishing she hadn’t bothered now
I miss the old CO, it was the best site ever, I think this new design is a step down both in functionality and asthetics, way too distracting. Wish you had a way to let the viewers pick the old version to use instead, I am frequenting the site far less now out of sadness whenever I come. Luckily the cute pics still cheer me up, but still. Please oh please bring back the old CO, or at least make the navigation the way it was before.
Theo, thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me. But only the logo is affected and not the cute, so I am not too worried. Just thought those in charge would want to know in case tweaks are in the works.
I’d fix it myself if I could, Pheas. Meg’s the WWW doyenne, though.
new site is really wonky. total bummer. design is just way too cluttered and off-balance. still, your site is the most clever, sweetest thing conceptually and you’re wonderful for creating it.
I would like to just say that it continues to work just fine for me, no formatting problems, and I find the new design improved, aesthetically pleasing, and cute. Navigation links change took me about 2 times to adjust to. Thanks!
The too-wide-for-1024-ness of it all is really irritating, especially with the nav-bar on the right. The lack of centered-ness isn’t that big a deal, but having the ads in full view while I need to side-scroll for the nav stuff is lame:-(
CO is right up there with Gizmodo and /. in my blog-reading life, please make it fit happily on my screen once more!
so cute and whimsical! i love the undies on the boy hammies.
I must admit, I love the cartoon hammies so much that I wish the posts loaded just a little slower–I just get that split-second, tantalizing glimpse of hamsterpants! SOOOOOO cute.
Hi Schmoop… and other folks who want to see a clearer pic of the background image…
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/7501/2005909436457303440_rs.jpg
(yeah, I watermarked the heck out of it, but you get the idea)
Sorry, hard refresh didn’t do it for me. I love the design, but I also have the scrolling problem, and the hammies are obscured.
It looks like you need to work around IE’s box model bug. It’s the reason some ppl have the side-scrolling thing…in case anyone is up for an interesting read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_box_model_bug
The other problems I think are caused by slightly wonky CSS code. Like I said, you should check to see if the site validates…it will help you identify and fix any problems with your code.
Just click on the link below and type in CO’s url. Any errors that come up are things that should be fixed.
http://validator.w3.org/
1024 is fittin’ now, People—should be working for you!
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