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Debt Free Adventure – Extreme Makeover Edition

12.01.2009 by Matt Jabs //

Hi All – I NEED YOUR HELP!

You may have already noticed… Debt Free Adventure looks different!

What do you think? Please take a good look around and leave a comment with some honest feedback.

Whether positive or negative, please shed some light on the changes.  Every comment helps.

Why did I change the look?

If you are a fellow blogger than simply hearing the words “Thesis Theme” out to clear it up for you.  If you do not have a blog of your own, or have never heard of the Thesis Theme, I will break down some of the reasons for the switch now.

Thesis Theme for WordPress:  Options Galore and a Helpful Support Community

  1. Changing themes changes the look – It stands to reason that using a new theme will render your site appearance at least slightly altered.  That said, I didn’t switch to Thesis for the look, I switched for the added functionality.
  2. Easily upgradeable – This blog runs on WordPress.org software.  That software is frequently upgraded.  When the upgrades occur we run the risk of our site theme becoming incompatible.  When this happens site developers will typically release a new updated version of your theme.  The problem is, when that happens, you are likely to have already made custom changes – and that complicates matters.  Thesis allows for custom changes yet seamless upgrades.  Long story short… it makes my life easier. Period.
  3. More Functionality – Thesis is much more powerful than most other themes on the market today.  In reality, I have been wanting to switch for a long time but kept putting it off because I knew the initial switch would be tedious and time consuming.  Well, the time for change is now.  As expected, the transition was slightly painful, but I can honestly say – now that the bulk of the work is done – I am very excited for the change.
  4. Better Navigation – I am in the process of making DFA easier to navigate while also focusing on adding value for the reader.  This was difficult to do with the limitations of my old theme.  Things are already shaping up in this department and it’s only going to get better.
  5. More Simplicity – Not only am I looking to add value, but I’m also looking to simplify the site as a whole.  I know that in the the past the theme has been pretty “busy.”  I’m looking to change that.

That’s it for now

I suppose I could go on and on about why I switched, but I think you get the picture.  I would have LOVED to attach a video to this post, but my new Flip UltraHD video camera has not arrived in the mail yet!  Blasted snail mail!  🙂

With that said I will leave you with 2 things.

  1. Be on the lookout for a few soon to come video posts.  I plan on doing video to help connect, and to increase my ability to get certain points across.
  2. I do need your help! Please look around and leave me your honest feedback in the comments.

Categories // General

Comments

  1. Karena says

    December 1, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    Hi Matt, I came to your site by way of a link from MSN Money, I think. Because you asked for comments about the changes you made to the site, I’d like to tell you, it’s kinda difficult to read parts of it . For instance, the titles don’t show up until I mouse over them, then they’ll appear in blue. The grey font is a bit difficult to read (maybe a bit too light or too thin?), on the darkish green background. Well, that’s all I have to say, so I’ll get to actually reading the posts on the site now!

  2. Peter says

    December 1, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    I always knew you’d come to the dark side and start using thesis like the rest of us big time bloggers! 😉

    The only thing that I’m noticing is that the blue color you have for links is a bit distracting for me. That might just be a preference though.

    Great job on the implementation, i’m sure you’ll be slowly making changes tweaking here and there. Good luck!

  3. Financial Samurai says

    December 1, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    Looks fine to me! Just keep the background white, not green.

  4. thisisbeth says

    December 1, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    I really dislike having to click the link to read full articles, but I think I’m one of the few…

  5. Jason @ Redeeming Riches says

    December 2, 2009 at 6:56 am

    Matt, love the look – It’s simpler and less cluttered. I like that.

  6. David says

    December 2, 2009 at 10:46 am

    I like the look.

    I hear a lot of people talking about the Thesis them, but I have never used it. What are the additional functions you reference above?

  7. Evolution Of Wealth says

    December 2, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    I too just made the transition to the Thesis theme. It’s amazing and a little bit overwhelming the flexibility that you have with this theme. I think your website looks great. I’d love to hear about what plug-ins or adjustments you made to the basic theme. I think the rest of us bloggers could benefit from your thought process during the redesign.
    For instance, one of the first things I wanted to do on my site was make things easily sharable. I added the socialable plugin and added the tweet this and facebook share buttons on each post. Now I’m struggling with maybe a tipd or digg button as well but that gets too cluttered. So I will probably redesign this soon.
    My site is still a work in progress, if you have any feed back it’s greatly appreciated.

  8. Money Funk says

    December 2, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    I like the green background. It sqares the content. Of course, I do use white.

    In general, looks very nice. I like the Thesis them. I think I would move the tabs to under the orange stripe or maybe left align them to the edge of your content.

    Question, if you don’t mind sharing, what plugin do you use for the ‘popular, comments, tag cloud’?

  9. Kevin@OutOfYourRut says

    December 2, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    Matt, the site looks more open, and has a lot more white background. That makes it easier to read. Don’t know what it is but background colors, no matter how subtle, tend to be distracting.

    Also, you’ve made the site look fresher without disturbing the “brand image”. It looks familiar, but with a fresh coat of paint and some of the old furniture taken out, so to speak.

  10. Money Funk says

    December 2, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    I like the sidebar on the right, better. Content is easier to read.

  11. Mom says

    December 2, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    I looked at the site yesterday and did not like the blue text, but you have changed it to green. MUCH Better! I like the articles prefaced by the photos with just enough to read to pique my interest, then I can decide whether I want to read the rest of the article or not by clicking the link. You did not have the top commentators before, did you? Now it is easier to find their blogs if one wants to. I never saw green background, just the white. It is easier to read, although I never had a problem with your site before because of your bullet lists and Key thoughts in bold type.

  12. Paul @ FiscalGeek says

    December 2, 2009 at 9:16 pm

    Well it’s about time, looks great Matt. My only gripe would be the extreme font size, at least in IE8 it’s enormous.

  13. Paul @ FiscalGeek says

    December 2, 2009 at 9:20 pm

    Okay scratch that I think it was cockpit error a previous site inflamed IE looks much better now.

  14. Diane says

    December 3, 2009 at 9:23 am

    Too much clutter on the side. It reads as frantic. And you % debt free chart is way at the bottom when it should be higher. Useful info at side interrupted with adverts, etc.
    Base area looks good!

  15. ChristianPF says

    December 4, 2009 at 8:56 am

    Love thesis and love what you’ve done with it – it is a nice improvement Matt!

  16. Craig @ Money Help For Christians says

    December 5, 2009 at 7:55 am

    Matt,
    Wanted to let you know the site looks great. I usually just read your posts through emails so it is nice to see your Thesis changes.

  17. Len Penzo says

    December 5, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    Much better, Matt. Much, much better!

    I’ve been gradually changing my look too.

    Then again, in the end, it all comes down to the content and you’ve always done just fine in that arena too. 🙂

    Best,

    Len
    Len Penzo dot Com

  18. Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog says

    December 8, 2009 at 11:12 pm

    Good job with the new look Matt!

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Content on Debt Free Adventure is for entertainment purposes only. Rates & offers from advertisers shown on this website may change without notice: please visit referenced sites for current information. Per FTC guidelines, this website may be compensated by companies mentioned through advertising, affiliate programs or otherwise. We respect your privacy. Privacy policy.

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Disclaimer

Content on Debt Free Adventure is for entertainment purposes only. Rates & offers from advertisers shown on this website may change without notice: please visit referenced sites for current information. Per FTC guidelines, this website may be compensated by companies mentioned through advertising, affiliate programs or otherwise. We respect your privacy. Privacy policy.

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