Re-Design: Calling all Wise Ones...

[QuirkyMomma]

...what is missing. I've worked on this on and off for nearly two weeks and I keep feeling like the obvious is missing. Any plugins or widgets I should add?

What about the layout? Do you like it? Do the colors match (I'm half-color-blind)?

Your general opinions, anything is appreciated and I will leave comments on the blogs of everyone who helps me improve. Thanks in advance!

[Nathan]

Okay, here are a few things that need to be fixed:

First of all that envelope picture under the "Follow Us" heading on the right sidebar should point to your Feedburner account so that people can get an email subscription to your blog. Right now you have it pointing to your blog email address.

I also noticed a few glitches. It looks like you are missing the "Activity" image under categories on the main page.

Also there is a search box which is sticking out of the sidebar onto the main page.

[Nathan]

Also a thumbnail of the search box:

[QuirkyMomma]

Nathan, You rock!

I'll research into the category button. I have no clue why it is not showing up for you but is for me. I must have inserted the code incorrectly. Thanks bunches for your time! I think I have the other bugs you found solved! I really appreciate it!

[Nathan]

When I looked at your code I saw this:

<div id="cat-1" class="category">
				<span class="cat_title"><a href="http://quirkymomma.com/category/activity/"><img src="http://quirkymomma.com/images//Fun+Activities.png" title="Fun Activities" alt="Fun Activities" style="border: 0 none ;"/></a></span>
		<a href="http://quirkymomma.com/category/activity/"></a>
	</div>

	    	

	<div id="cat-2" class="category">
				<span class="cat_title"><a href="http://quirkymomma.com/category/educational/">Learning Together</a></span>
		<a href="http://quirkymomma.com/category/educational/"></a>
	</div> 

Notice how the one which is messed up has an image rather than text like the second one. If you make that first one work like the second one it will display perfectly.

Good work fixing the other things. By the way, I forgot to mention it earlier but the colors are fine.

[stacylee]

First - I love the Follow Us icons! The crayon look is so appropriate for your blog. Colors are great (I am all about the visual parts).

The only thing that popped out at me, was the big blank space to the right of your title bar. Not sure how you could fix that - maybe center the title instead of having it to the left? Something.....

I swear, everytime I look at your page I want little ones again . My degree is in Early Childhood Education and I wish we had the internet back then!

[QuirkyMomma]

Stacylee, I'd love for someone who taught preschoolers to give me tips with my kids! If you ever write a "tips for early reading" or how what things/activities most interested and engaged your student's or stretched their little brains, I'd love to hear about them and feature them in a guest post.

Nathan, That category bar even has my hubby stumped! I can see it fine in firefox (but not chrome or safari, now I know to check my site in other browsers after any major changes). No where in the code is the "image" (duh, that's the problem) and we can't seem to find the line causing the problem (why the first box would have this problem when the code concerning the boxes is written applying to all three boxes that are pink - even, if we change the field from activities to say "kitchen" the problem persists). Levi (my hubby) started talking to the developer of arthemia on a forum after he couldn't figure it out and the guy hadn't seen this problem before either. Now I am really wondering what I did to my site! I think I know just enough to be really dangerous and break stuff - lol. Anyhoo, he's having fun with this "problem" - I hate having a broken link up on my site, but it looks like it might be there for a little bit longer. Thanks for drawing my attention to it!

[Nathan]

I'm sure you will figure it out eventually. There may a different piece of code for generating the category listing if it is the currently selected category. That is the only thing I can think of offhand without looking at the PHP code myself.

Good luck finding it.

[QuirkyMomma]

The guy who designed it said that most of the odd bugs he has come across are in the plugins (we sent him a copy of the PHP code). So we are going to try and disable them one at a time and see if any of them have added hidden "codes" that mess up the theme. Never thought of that. We'll see if that's the cause

Thanks for your help and have a terrific New Year!

[Melody]

You look like you have a busy blog with a lot of comments. I really enjoy the kind of thing where you can easily see recent comments, and it doesn't look like you've got that kind of a widget. Your blog looks great!