.

“Wow he just made a dark version of RS 1.”

I think your sidebars are a step back in usability. The headers all look the same. I’m inclined to make them all even more distinct visually, not less.

I haven’t studied your layouts but I much prefer your color schemes. Redstate ought to be loaded with RED as you have conceived it. This sea of blue or grey-blue is not only depressing, it is contrary.

1. Making it so the two side columns raise to the top of the page and slimming down the header is a big part of the improvement. It really does expose far more of the content immediately.

2. Red! Lots of red needed.

3. I’m a huge fan of active menus. Hover and the box drops down. Me likey. I would even suggest moving the user functions (“Create New Diary” etc) to this bar after someone is logged in. Heck, even have the log in an active menu item much like what is found on Hulu.com

4. The “More” tabs that expand fields to show more selection is great. Push that even further to an “Even More” that opens the archives.

5. I love the prominence of the “Get Local” feature. That’s the future of RedState right there.

6. I see new comment tracking. [I know. Neil says it isn't likely to come back. But a guy can dream.]

7. The blogroll is back. People miss that. It’s how I found a whole bunch of the sites that I now read.

Was hoping I wouldn’t be the most active commenter on this diary.

Someone is actually asking for your input on site design (or possible site design).

How about giving Martin some likes/dislikes/suggestions. (and even a reco if you like what’s going on, eh?)

and it looks pretty good to me – as long as the gray/bluish background goes away.

I was not a member when RS 1.0 was around, so I could not comment on the before. However, I really like the use of Red on White. Perhaps the Darker red could be used for the front page diaries and a softer red used for the sidebars. By using the more vivid red on the front page entries the eye is drawn to that. As it is now, the bright red on the sidebars tends to catch the eye first.

Another feature I would like to see is not so much for the RS members, but one for recommended charitable organizations. Such as, http://www.specialops.org/ or some others highly recommended by members.

Any anything that helps with the ease of editing, formatting, or writing of diaries. Is it possible to get a WYSIWYG text editing?

Also, maybe a larger and more prominent “get local” thing. As a bonus, it would be cool yo have a “get local” widget, which highlights the state your mouse hovers over (and maybe the headlines for the latest stories from that state).

Also, anything that could make the site look less cluttered would be a huge plus for me.

And, as others have said, more red!

I think the headers on the right-hand columns are fine the way you have them. Red with clear, concise text — plenty readable for the newbie, and bold enough so the one who is used to where things are will know which section they’re in just by the placement of the header, without having to read it…

Thanks for pushing for a return to the roots

I think this proposed layout is terrific. It appears that it would be easier to navigate also. A very polished and professional appearance. I have very much missed the blogroll and the search field. I am glad to see the comments section shorter ( it could go away for all I care). The member log-in placement looks good as does the get local area – good to have them at the top of the page and easy to get to. I like the calendar pull-down too.

My thoughts on the color: I like the amount of red in this layout. Agree with many about the blue-gray. Yucchh! However, instead of adding even more red, how about yellow to replace the current blue-gray. Now I don’t mean deep gold or egg yolk yellow but a more subtle shade along the lines of a deep, warm ‘manila folder’ yellow. The red will really pop in a way that it doesn’t with the blue-gray background.

I prefer the masthead along the entire top on the current layout and would like to see that retained if you go to a new layout. However, the rest of the proposed layout breaks the page up from the current columns which are rather dull. I appreciate the varying widths between the wider blogs on the left and the links on the right. Easier on the eyes.

I do agree with Martin – this is a treasure on the Internet and appearance does count and makes a huge difference. I have been with Redstate through a couple of different changes but I could never define clearly what was missing or what I preferred. So, Martin, thank you for working on this. I will be interested to see what happens with it all. Whatever you do with the layout, I will still visit Redstate, as I do every day.

P.S. I tried to look at Caleb’s modifications but got an error page instead so I can’t comment on that yet.

I like the greater emphasis on the color red. The gray background looks disturbingly, um, … blue on my monitor. I’m not totally wild about all the red text though. I personally have very scroungy eyesight and favor black text on a very light background for maximum readability. Please don’t shrink the map with all the red states quite so much. California, Washington, Oregon, etc. in red may be a pipe dream, but it’s so nice to see!

You obviously have great talent at this website design stuff. Thanks for using your talent to explore some interesting alternatives.