It is now official get out of your RSS reader day. Take a few minutes to check out the new photomatt.net and browse around a bit. This is, I believe, the fifth major iteration of the design here but it’s the first one since 2003. When I last freshened the paint around here it got a link from Zeldman saying “lucky in redesign” and I figured I would never be able to top that, so I left the design the same for years. The only major change was the introduction of Asides in 2004.
Well I couldn’t top the last design, but Nicolò Volpato had no trouble creating something beautiful I started coding up earlier this weekend. Nicolò is still working on mocking up a few of the pages, and in the meantime I’ve been working on a little additional functionality around the site, particularly with photos.
Here are a few things you might notice so far: related posts on entry pages, recent entries shown in the sidebar on entries older than 2 weeks, when a blog is from the same day as a photo album random photos from that day are shown at the bottom, and likewise a photo will show when there’s a post that day.
The main goals of the photo integration were to enable a little more serendipity. There are a lot of other little Easter eggs, but those will remain an exercise for the reader.
Congrats! It’s been a long time coming, but appears to be worth it. The name of the header image (giant-header.jpg) is fitting 😉
Someone has to be on a plane tomorrow. Don’t you have to go to sleep?
And yes, I love this redesign, though I’ve said so many times already. I think the integration of all of these photos into the design is going to keep you on your toes to take more photos… a very good thing, of course. =D
I can actually say that I saw this design before it was coded, over some of Mr. Boren’s luscious steak. This is a great leap forward from your last design, and it really keeps your personality around for the trip.
You’re giving this de-uglifier a run for his money. Nicolo has a lot to be proud of.
Mmhh… 149 KB for the header image are a lot, but the blog is beautiful.
A good redesign Matt. The colors are great and the photos integration is subtle. The only thing that I did not like so much was the big header. Though it looks classy, it consumes more than half the screen. Otherwise it is very vibrant, will pull me more often out of feedreaders 🙂
this design looks way too better than the old one!! while the old one was neat, this one is pretty!! 😉
good job on the facelift Matt!! 🙂
I noticed the redesign earlier today and for a minute, thought I stumbled onto the wrong site until I realized that hey, it says “Photo Matt”, has the same tagline, and your face is on the layout. Very nice change, although I keep forgetting about the “Home” tab and thinking that clicking on the site name will bring me back to the homepage…
Nicely done, Matt.
It’s really nice Matt, a great improvement!
Great new look. Definitely more vibrant and alive than the previous design. I’m still looking through some of the different pages. So far so good. Can’t wait to see what other pages are being mocked-up. The masthead collage is great, I need to get me one of those WordPress stickers to plaster on to something in real life.
very nice.
above back ground color look like kinda wall paper late 80’s style
Wow, this is really pretty. Congrats! 😀
Sweet. Really sweet.
What a great surprise to get this today Matt, fantastic redesign. Congratulations to Nicolò Volpato for putting it together for you.
Al.
Absolutely beautiful design.
Navigation is pure logic – breezy!
One small problem seems to be that the really wonderful header takes its time to load. For a ( short ) while the upper part of the page is empty ( apart from the background ). It also means, we’ll have to wait for the navigational system.
Congratulations and do keep this beauty, at least for a while 😉
Stellar redesign!
Well done. I love it.
Major improvement. The header graphic is great. Wakes up the reader but doesn’t induce a headache – which red can do if it isn’t used as subtly as here! Much better than the old look.
header is cool, but it doesn’t load at all on my crappy Sri Lankan connection. Reloaded and it did, but guess it works for proper broadband. Best wishes
oooOOOO!!! amazing!
Nice one! I like the fade out effect on the background and the huge header with red all over.
On time 😉 – And nice to see a great 1 column design.
Lovely stuff. Nicolo’s worked wonders:)
I really like your redesign, except that the header is way too big, it loads rather slow; which again might cause that people turn images of to view your site, but then they sit without any navigation.
Have you considered doing a image map instead of using the header image as a css background property?
very nice indeed!
A few people have said they dislike the header, that it’s too big, but I think it makes the design. The colour scheme is vibrant and the header is perfectly disheveled.
Wonderful re-design Matt.
Wow!! The new design is fantastic!! I love the “then” and “now” pictures – a nice blend of where you’ve been, and what’s coming!
…I have to give you my first thought, though, on seeing the new header for the first time: “Well, that’s definately not his writing!” 🙂 Miss you and hugs, C.
This is really gorgeous; wish I had those Photoshop skills.
Love the new design. It jumps off the page at me!
Nice design!!
On my own website I’m trying to integrate my photo album (Gallery2) with my WP site, but it looks awful – what plugin did you use? 🙂
Looks Nice, The WordPress sticker is also nice.
Very nice… I like the header design most =)
I wish i am so smart like u!! lovely site 🙂
Great look, new, fresh, better than the older one.
Colors of your life with nice photo integration. Good!
It looks great Matt! Good job.
Very nice rework!
But consider saving the haeder-image with Photoshop’s save for web feature, it saves a lot of kb.
I did an its more comfortable for my (not so much readers), because some of them and me too are not using broadband internet.
Umm, very nice. I *love* the header design. It is a little bit “giant” for my tastes, but it looks really good.
very sexy!
nice! now you’re finally in with the times! 😉
that… that… that’s just crazy talk!
Jealous of Alex, huh?
No plugin for Gallery, just an old version hacked to bits.
As a fellow big-header guy, I say ignore the nay-sayers and enjoy. It’s your blog and it does look fantastic! I love the fading pattern background. That’s a really nice touch. Great job!
Looks grrrrrrrrrreat. I love it. One suggestion with the header would be to leave it that big on your entrance page but shrink it down to maybe 1/3rd that height on all interior pages. I don’t even so much have a problem with how it loads, but rather that on a non maximized 1024×768 screen, when you click a navigation button it doesn’t look like you’ve gone to a new page because all of the content is below the fold.
Great work though… it’s v. nice.
very nice
“très beau” in french
Wow Matt! This is one awesome design. Very classy and functional at the same time. It even has a bit of geek feel to it as well. Again, great job.
Matt, this looks a lot better than the old layout- that’s for sure.
Wow! Super slick. love the physicalness of it.
Very impressive.
I rather like the pattern more than anything, but the simple stain through the nav gives it a bit of used and abused which is also visually appealling.
Damnnnnnnnnn. So hot! Good job, darlin’.
Drool!!!!
Awesome.
Coool ! I guess many have already mentioned it, the header is tooo big, on my widescreen, initially i saw only a blank page and after some time the header loaded up 🙂
finally, 😀
nice design
About time…looks really good 🙂
Personally, I like this new design much better than the previous one. However, I have to admit that I am sucker for one-column blog templates. I especially like the header image, it hints to us what kinda person you are.
A very fresh and good looking Design!
Nice color balance.
Great redesign!
Huge improvement over the last design.
I can imagine the header being too large when you’re using a low resolution, but on my 1680*1050, he’s superb.
The new design looks great! It has a great feel and flow throughout the entire site. The header gives it great personality.
Awesome job.
Great design!
Really nice job, it does a good job of illustrating who this Matt guy is. Google and I agree: you’re the #1 Matt around.
like the header and the red/brown background. navigation is also very usable…
This is absolutely awesome.
Looking great. The new design was definatly needed.
Wow Matt! Awesome job with the redesign. I really like it a lot. Fresh, clean, and awesome! Good job.
wew.. good looking ya!
I think this is the best one I’ve seen yet. The colors are nice and the navigation is clean. Well done!
very nicely done. the photo integration in your header is really cool. Should have been a little smaller in size though. 🙂
For a second I thought I saw my reflection in the coffee.
AWESOME !!
Very nice … very hard to see things that stand out …
The new design looks awesome Matt !
Beautiful design. I love the header 🙂
Very attractive design. I love the header image.
Nice, love the header!
matt, you’re an inspiration. i’ve never spent this much time on, reading or going through a blog before. ths design is well-thought out, serene and inviting. i used to be a programmer many years ago. how long ago? can you say ‘assembly language’? yep! that long. google it.
so, now, i’m gonna get my feet wet, again, and start designing some wp themes.
look out world, here comes, vanchisel.
Looks very nice. But the akismet “blue button” looks odd !
Congrats to you and Nicolò for the tremendous work: fresh out of the box.
Lovely! A good change from the earlier one.
What a gorgeous design! I love the details, like the background and the coffee stains, and how the submit button even has a faint pattern on it. Nicolo did a fabulous job.
I found a Moses reference.
Really interesting is how the header background doesn’t match up with the site background, but the pattern is such that it isn’t really noticeable except while you’re resizing.
Good. I was getting tired of that yellow background.
Very swish.
Excellent work by all involved.
awesome, looks good
I’m really digging the way pingbacks don’t disrupt the conversation.
Very nice work matt! Congrats.
Grooovy man
Very nice, but I highly recommend using overflow:hidden on the links in your main navigation. It will take those long outline boxes when someone clicks on a nav item and make the interactivity a lot prettier. Sorry, that’s a huge personal peeve of mine.
Wow, that is a BIG CLUNKY header. More visible header per no content in my normally sized browser window. Ick. Do I come to photomatt to look at the header? no, the content. Yuck.
Very cool, trendy stuff Matt. Its much more personal looking now. Bigger random photo would be cool. So your secret to success has been revealed: Ramen Noodles and Coffee.
This is a very nice design, both in terms the actual look and in the way the elements fit together. Bravo!
Very nice Matt! I’d say it is definitely eclectic in a weird sort of Tudor meets Victorian meets Americana sort of way. Considering your level of European travel lately, I’d say that has made an influence. BTW, I need stickers!
Wow… love the new look 🙂 It sure makes me want to change things up on my site!
Lurve it!
well done matt!
I love it.
On my small notebook screen, the big banner takes all the place. Perhaps a bit too big. But although a real good site! Congratulations!
beautiful new design, congratulations!
It’s so really kool!
I like a header part.
Great layout. Nice and Clean, but gets the job done.
Actually it’s hot chocolate, not coffee. 🙂
Lots of nice touches, Matt: the coffee stain, the piece of tape, the copyright message (or did I just not notice that before?). Good to see a photo of you prominently on the site. Insert something insightful about being able to see what the writer of a weblog looks like here. But one thing I find hard to believe: do you really code PHP with pen and paper in your notebook?
Regardless, Matt, great design. Red is the new pink!
Love big masthead images that are interesting. One small criticism, sadly the design gets a bit too plain as one scrolls further down the page.
Looks great! Did you design the wallpaper pattern yourself or did you found it somewhere in the web? I’ve been trying to search similar copyright free pattern myself – with poor luck 🙁
I like it. It’s straight outta 2004 with the wallpaper background and serifs and grungy bits, but it’s all the better for that. Aside from the fact that nobody in their right mind would have implemented a 150kb header back then (it’s a bit doubtful now, but there’s no point trying to explain to Americans that not everyone in the world has TV-sized monitors and broadband. And I’m always prepared to allow people a bit more leeway on personal sites, where they’re entitled to pick and choose their audience.)
Amazingly beautiful!!!
beautiful
Only one word comes to mind, Matt. Sexiness. Great design.
Your beautiful website loaded quickly out here in the woods of New hampshire, with a top dial up speed of 31.2 bps.
And that is always appreciated. 99 percent of the time I duck out of loading anything that appears stuck.
I just switched to WordPress from whatever, and was looking for you to thank you for that ridiculous plug in that makes me smile when I see it. Hello Dolly.
You have great creativity in this world of code…
thanks
Wah! this is beautiful design. 🙂
Great looking site. Just found it, so I’ll trust the redesign is heads and tails above whatever was before. Great photos too – a true skill.
Cheers.
Have to say I do like this theme very much…good work 🙂
I really enjoy seeing a new blog design that is well done and beautiful. Unfortunately I have poor theme-choosing skills and I sometimes become a little jealous.
I’m currently green and not happy with my current color scheme or list-style choice , I blame you!
This is excellent! I love the theme 🙂
Hey Matt. Great re-design! outline: none would get rid of all those long dotted rectangles. My 2cts.
Absolutely fantastic…but I am sad that pink didn’t make the cut 😉
It is a great looking header page, but yeah, try and browse through your photo gallery. On every page, we’re forced to scroll down to look at the picture in question, and then you hit next, and WHAM! “” you’re back looking at that big ol header image again, and then you scroll down, and then you hit next, and then WHAM! “” you’re back looking at that big ol header image again, and then you scroll down, and then you hit next, and then WHAM! “” you’re back looking at that big ol header image again, and then you scroll down, and then you hit next, and then WHAM! “” you’re back looking at that big ol header image again, and then you scroll down, and then you hit next, and then…oh, sorry.
(…hmm, a unicode failure there in the above comment. That was supposed to be an emdash. As in — …)
Wow!
I mean WOW!
Seriously, you should consider making a WP Theme for the public on the same lines of this.I for one would love to have such a theme.It is just WOW!!!
whoa – absolutely stunning!
Congratulations from Madrid – Spain.
Hot chocolate huh, must be all the sugar 😉 After seeing the design again, I really like. One of my fav designs at the moment.
Hi. This has probably already been mentioned times without number. My input is not about the physical dimensions of the header itself or the design but the fact that even on my 8MB broadband connection the header loads much later than the rest of the page leaving a void at the top probably due to its weight. In comparison the older design loaded literally in an instant. I’ve no doubt that Photomatt knows better.
I like the new layout. Spicy!
Nice, but get rid of the damn roll over site previews. Snap preview thing is incredibly annoying.
I have been meaning to compliment you on the redesign. I experience most of the web through bookmarks, not feeds, so good design is always noticed and appreciated. Awesome work.
OMG! Where was I when these were taught at school? Or, were they?
The design is absolutely awesome, except for the preview thingy. 😉
Methinks your header is extremely large. I would have settled for a third of its height. Anyway, the coffee, the organizer and the little cowboy pics are great.
Your page is great. I really like the navigation and the color scheme of your site. I like that coffe cup, and the photos too.
Wow…one of the best damn designs on the internet! Beautiful.
Love the new design, looks great!
Great. Just great.
Great looking nhew design, a killer on my slow wireless for my laptop though.
Always been a fan, blog looks great. Only one thing that kinda makes me hesitant – the constant SNAP tooltips – very annoying.
I really like it, I live header and color, the yellow I didn’t like.
Wow! I really like the reload. Very suave, indeed!
Digging the little smiley in the bottom left 🙂
Holy hell, how beautiful!
*mutters some bad words about how he wishes he could design like this rather than being only a code*
Beautiful.
But the header is a bit large. Nevertheless, it evens out everything else.
Keep up the awesome work, Matt. 🙂
Wow. I need to read blogs more often. Nicely done Matt.
Matt, this design is superb. I would LOVE to hear more about the photo integration.
Hey, I just noticed that for the time on all of your comments the minutes are the same as hours. Is there a reason for that, or is it just one of your “easter eggs”?
I think that’s a bug.
maybe you used the wrong variables… it should be “g:i a”… it looks like you used “g:h a”
Nice new look, but I do like the Jazz one as well (it’s so you) – it was so romantic, chic and stylish theme! I wish I can ‘steal’ the jazz theme to my own blog! lol
Time to have a new theme!