That’s right folks, the new Blogussion theme has finally arrived. As I had mentioned before, I had no intentions to make a completely new theme, but a revised version of our older theme. I figured since we were still new, there was no need to totally update the design, but revise. Plus, I haven’t heard a single person show their dislike for the last theme, so I definitely didn’t want to make anything too different.
New Features to the Design
So what has been added to the theme that makes it, well, different from the last one? Here is everything that has been changed in specific detail:
- Header redone
- Removed “Latest Posts” from categories.
- Image Navigation added to it’s own red bar for increased visibility of our main pages
- Post Area Revamped
- Featured Posts added to the top of blog
- Magazine look given to older posts
- Number of posts increased from 10 to 15 per page
- Single Post View Revamped
- jQuery “Post Highlights box” after each post
- Similar Posts + Subscription Info + Thesis Info under the “Post Highlights” box.
- “Previous Post” and “Next Post” upgraded a little, now more informative.
- New Look for the Comments
- Changed to span the whole content area
- Non-nested comments will have a black gradient at the top of the comment, while nested ones will have a pink gradient
- HTML tags you are allowed to use are at the end of the Comment form
- Sidebar Revamped
- Big change to Subscription box (increased visibility)
- Each Sidebar Info panel given different layout
- Simplified Footer
- Less Information, simple copyright notices, in site links and a back to top link.
Yes, Thesis
As you can see in the title, I mentioned that we are now running off of the Thesis framework. An extremely powerful, and simple WordPress theme that anyone who is serious about blogging should have. So pretty much, I have just added Blogussion to the ever growing Thesis bandwagon.
Another reason why I bought Thesis (besides the lifetime support, flexibility, usability, popularity…jeez, I could go on for a while here) is because of the SEO benefits we gain here from it. The default code comes organized perfectly for Search Engines, and more importantly – people. On top of all that, it comes with some other great SEO tools that mimic those of the “All In One SEO Pack” for example. With SEO not being a strong point for me, it’s a perfect theme for me to have.
I look forward to working with Thesis on my blog, and can’t wait for what the future holds for it!
Report Any Errors
If you see something wrong, even the smallest thing, please let us know! [contact-form 404 "Not Found"]
Things Coming Up Soon
The design was only the first step of the “new” Blogussion. There is a lot more planned for Blogussion, and we hope to get a lot done this month. But more specifically, these are what we are working on behind the scenes:
Homepage
Has anyone noticed that the homepage of the blog isn’t http://www.blogussion.com/blog/ anymore? Well, we did a little maintenance about a week or two ago and have ended up switching WordPress to our root directory so we can use it to power our whole website on. Soon, a nice little homepage for Blogussion will be cooked up. Expect that to be the next biggest release.
DoFollow Blog Directory
DoFollow blogs are extremely useful for any one who comments on blogs. We came up with an idea for making a whole link directory dedicated to just DoFollow blogs (blogs that have removed the NoFollow tag from their blog). We aren’t sure whether we want to create the Link Directory on WordPress, or a different software. Expect this to be rolled out Late April – Early May.
Freebies
We want to give more to our readers, so it has been agreed that we will start creating free stuff for bloggers to use. One freebie that you should be excited for is a theme created based off of the old Blogussion theme. I don’t even know all of the details myself, but that is just one of the freebies we plan on releasing here. 
Blogussion Extras
This is something that is a little hard to explain for me, but I will do the best I can here. Basically, we plan on writing mini-ebooks on one specific aspect of blogging. What those topics are, we won’t say. But they will be extremely informative, hopefully interactive, and will look amazing. When you see the first one we have planned, you will hopefully understand what I am talking about when I say “Extras”.
What still has to be done now
There are still some rather minor things that need to be done now on this new blog design before those other features are rolled out. Luckily, they are just little things that really won’t be that time consuming.
To Do List
- Write post summaries for blog posts (mostly our popular posts)
- Fix any reported errors with the blog design.
- Revamp some of our pages (rewrite Guest post guidelines, About page, Archives, etc.)
Like I said, not much.
Say how you feel
A lot of work on my part has been put into this new theme, so please post your reactions and opinions on this design. I hope you love this theme even more than the last one, and don’t have any trouble getting used to this new theme!
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Some parts I love, some parts I hate. Mostly I like the post footer stuff. I’m not a giant fan of, well, everything else. Some of the engraved parts feel a little too choppy, and some parts feel a little flat. That’s just me.
Good luck with your future plans!
Corey Freeman’s last blog post..Win Big Prizes: Spring Break Contest!
Thanks for your opinion Corey. I don’t understand what you mean by “the engraved parts feel a little too choppy, and some parts feel a little flat”? Can you elaborate?
The navigation such as “freebies” and such look choppy and just a little awkward, and some lines (such as the container black outline) feels to obvious and makes areas look flat. The sidebar has areas like this too.
Corey Freeman’s last blog post..Win Big Prizes: Spring Break Contest!
Wow, this looks fantastic. I should definitely check out Thesis. If I ever need a blog designed I’m paying you Alex. Great job!
teenwebguru’s last blog post..Creating the Perfect Notebook
I can highly recommend Thesis for you man. It’s ridiculously easy to learn, and you don’t have to edit much to make it look great.
That is fantastic, Alex! I’m still putting in little area tweaks to get further away from the basic Thesis look, and you did the best job I have seen to date!
Jesse Petersen’s last blog post..Bounce! Not Just a Book, a Way of Life
Wow, thanks a lot Jesse, it means a lot!
Your blog is looking pretty cool. It’s amazing how little you need to edit in Thesis to make it look good. I mean, I love it’s look straight out of the box but with just a little effort you can make it look 10 times better.
By the way, your comments section on your blog is awesome. Love the wood texture! :p
Thanks, but that wood is nothing compared to what is on this page.
Did you watch Chris’ interview at SXSW? I may be interested in getting together with you about an idea I’ve been mulling over for a while. You’re industrious and driven – way ahead of me at 15, and probably even today.
I’m duly impressed with your work. I’m so glad you introduced yourself on the Thesis forum. Please feel free to shoot me an e-mail and we can strike up a discussion about my idea.
Jesse Petersen’s last blog post..Bounce! Not Just a Book, a Way of Life
Nope, didn’t see it. I’d love to hear your idea man, I’ll be in touch for sure.
Trulely an amazing job you’ve done here. I think Blogussion is a lot more interactive now, and all the upgrades make the site easier to navigate and use. For example, the upgraded nav bar couldn’t have been more helpful!
Thanks for the compliments Evan, and also for sending in that bug about the Email box.
One thing I wanted to do was add a little “spice” i guess is the right word to the design. So like any other designer would, I turned to some jQuery effects.
Hopefully we will get more interactive within the next few weeks. 
I’m liking what you’ve done so far! I’ve been in the process of redesigning some of the sites I work on and have to admit what you’ve done with the Thesis theme almost has me considering picking it up for 2 of them.
Stuart Conover’s last blog post..Project Update: The Shiny Swine Redesigned
Thanks Stuart!
I promise you won’t regret buying Thesis at all. Once you learn the Hooks system, you’ll be asking why all themes don’t do it like Thesis does.
Awesome guys!
This duo is really rocking with posts and now this kewl design….
Rawk on!!
Farrhad A | The Dollar Diary’s last blog post..Earn Money Using Twitter
Thanks Farrhad, we are putting a lot of work into all of this and we really appreciate your comments.
Hi Alex… much like Corey I absolutely love the footer of the posts – I love the idea of the article summary. Again, much like Corey, I prefer the old design. This one is still great, but the old one was just incredible.
BTW, could you send me an email please, need to talk to you about something
Simon | Teenius’s last blog post..Laying Out Blog Posts Effectively
I love the post footers too. Sorry you don’t like anything else though.
We can talk on MSN, as always.
Awesome work with the makeover guys. The only thing I would say is that the submit button in the comment form has green text when moused over. Nothing big, but maybe it should be red? You said to report even the smallest things
Patrick’s last blog post..YBN Joins the Teens in Tech Network
Ah, just another one of those Thesis defaults I forgot to change. Thanks for pointing that out Patrick!
The list of things to do for the makeover sounds great. I like the design itself so don’t change the design!
Kai Lo’s last blog post..Link to Old Blog Posts
Haha, don’t worry about that.
Some minor tweaks may be made, but that’s about it.
I have a question, and it’s one thing I’ve never quite understood… how can a theme help with SEO? I thought it was all in the content/links?
Simon | Teenius’s last blog post..Interview with Alex (15 Year Old Blogger)
Thesis has a lot of SEO tools built into it that are accessible from the Admin Panel. In has the same stuff that plugins like All In One SEO pack do built right into your posts, and if you can use them properly then you will see results.
I had the same question too Simon, but using Thesis for a day helped answer that question.
Alex everything looks awesome. I see you got the icons fixed up for Safari too. Hell of a job and I’ll be by to check out what you’re up to. Cheers!
P.S. Which plug-in are you using to do the latest post inclusion for commenters? Is that Comment Luv? I have that but haven’t used it.
Suzanne’s last blog post..Talk About Stripping Out The Non-Essential
Thanks Suzanne, and also I appreciate you sending those screen shots of the bugs in Safari. Really big issues I had no idea of!
And yes, that’s CommentLuv.
Alex,
First time I’ve stopped by since the new design has been employed, and I must say, I do like it. There is a fair amount of information, arranged in a good structure, and as you’ve said, you’ve been able to improve upon the old design as opposed to starting a fresh. I found your resource for Do Follow blogs particularly interesting, although you may wish to have a look over some of the sites – some of them aren’t DoFollow.
Anyway, nice one with the design, and I’m glad to see you’ve benefit a little from the recent PageRank update. I’m sure you’ll soon be receiving the PR the blog deserves.
Zulu Internet Marketing’s last blog post..April Fools Day PageRank Update
Which Dofollow blog list do you mean? If you are talking about the one in the red navigation, then that’s not set up yet.
Anyways, glad you like the design. I did try to lay some of the info out more clearer this time around, so I’m glad you noticed that.
I have to say that this is probably one of the best Thesis mods I’ve seen. Seriously. I wouldn’t have recognised it as being Thesis if I hadn’t come here via @diythemes tweet.
Genuinely outstanding work. Send me over your modded files, would you? Save me the time of doing it myself
That was the whole idea. I wanted to use Thesis, but I didn’t want it to look like every other Thesis blog. And thanks for mentioning the @diythemes tweet…I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if you hadn’t said something!
I like the old design a lot better, this one is good too, something are a bit tooo chopppy though.
I’m getting that comment a lot actually. Regarding the choppiness, is it the red navigation bar you are talking about?
No like, both RSS subcribe images, the poll image, the beer, images, pretty much the tiny images.
Hmmm, I definitely see it in the RSS icon. I will look into it though, thanks for pointing that out man.
Great looking Thesis mod. I have two questions if you don’t mind. What plugins are your using for your popular posts in the sidebar and similar posts on single pages, and, how are you adding thumbnails to them?
That is a very cool feature.
Robb’s last blog post..BlackBerry Storm 2 Acknowledged By RIM
Thanks for the comments Robb.
As for the popular posts plugin, you can find it here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/popular-posts-plugin/, and similar posts is here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/similar-posts/
I am posting a tutorial on how I did some of these Thesis customizations here in the next 1-2 days, and how I did that will be gone over in the tutorial. I hope you don’t mind waiting a little for it!
Alex,
Don’t know if I told you this already but the site is off the chain kid.
Is this your handy work? I was thinking of adding a similar color of gray to the borders of my site but we’ll see how Thesis changes after the next beta/ major release. Anyhow, any neat Mac related topics or apps worth talking about? Cheers!
-Mig
Miguel Wickert’s last blog post..The Power of Less: Day 5
Hope you’re enjoying your break already. The weather on the West Coast of the East Coast was beautiful today. Happy Easter in 45 minutes! We’ll chat again when you get back – I’ve got a couple of new ideas.
Jesse Petersen’s last blog post..The 7 Gmail Labs Apps I Use
Just wanted you to remind , I hope you have not forgotten about your freebies
Blogspot to wordpress´s last blog ..Delicious social bookmarking website Goes Twitter