New theme for A Mike Life coming soon

I tend to get a bit restless when it comes to the look and feel of my websites. I love a design and use it for awhile, but then I start to feel bored with it and get antsy for something new and cool.

Well, that time has come here at A Mike Life.

The initial design you see now is from a 5-hour long search many months ago to find a blog theme that I thought fit myself. I still think this one is good and has worked well, but at the moment, it feels too “cluttered.”

So why am I changing themes besides being bored?

1. I want a slicker theme, with less “stuff” all over.
2. The header image is fun, but I do tend to grow tired of finding something fitting all the time.
3. I also wanted to work on a new logo for the site, something simple yet something that kind of represents what this blog is about.
4. I found a sweet theme that I just had to have.
5. Sometimes it’s good to give your home a face lift. Flip that house!

I’ve been working on the new theme for about a week now and while I’m on vacation I’m picking at it every chance I get. The entire process of taking an existing template and changing it to fit my needs has been great fun.

I have a long way to go still and doubt I’ll get it done before Thanksgiving, but expect it coming soon.

How will the new theme be better?

1. There will be a new logo.
2. Less clutter. A lot of the “widgets” and stuff I have now will sort of go away, leaving only the things I find the most important.
3. A cooler menu system for finding the latest posts, most popular, categories and archives.
4. A little video spotlight area on the frontpage for the latest YouTube or whatever video. I’ve been testing it out and it’s pretty nice.
5. A more compact front page, with a lead story to go with smaller blocks of other stories. You won’t have to scroll down 5 pages anymore to see the latest stuff. You will be able to see them all close to the top.

So look for the new theme someday soon…maybe late this week or sometime next.

I hope you guys will like it as much as I do. The featured photo at the top of this blog is a tiny screenshot of the new theme…for a taste of things to come.