Flatline Web Design

Vital Statistics:
URL: www.scribbit.blogspot.com
Type: Personal Weblog

Prognosis:
First of all, I’m very happy to see some personalization made to an existing Blogger theme. I’m thrilled that your drop down menu across the top is done with CSS rather than Javascript. I’m not sure which menu you used at CSSplay, but this one doesn’t validate.

None of your CSS validates, in fact. I get a big error. Your HTML has 114 errors and the doctype is listed as XHTML Strict. On that page, you can select “XHTML 1.0 Transitional” from the drop down menu and re-validate. Transitional validation is a bit easier to obtain, though even then it states you have 104 errors, and of course you’d need to change the doctype at the top of your template as directed.

As intimidating as those error results can be, if you take your time and go through them one by one, you’ll find yourself learning a lot along the way. I find the easiest way to fix errors is to first open your template and copy and paste it into a text editor such as Edit Plus 2 (PC) or Text Wrangler (mac) - SAVE A BACKUP, then toy with changes there, it’s a little easier to see what you’re doing. The benefit of using one of those Text Editors is that they will assign different colors to different parts of your code, making it easier to see what’s going on and where you need to be. They also assign numbers to each line. So when a CSS validation error or an XHTML validation error tells you the problem is on line 234, you’ll know right where to look.

Aesthetics wise, I’m a little torn on drop down menus - they need to be done properly in order to remain accessible to those with disabilities, screen readers, or other special circumstances. It can hide information from search engine robots and confuse less tech-savvy individuals. But I do like how they save space and clutter.

Speaking of clutter, check out number 4 on the top 10 ways to uglify your blog. Now, design is obviously very subjective, and I don’t find Christian Montoya’s website all that aesthetically pleasing, but his list is a good one and all those little buttons on your side bar probably aren’t doing much to boost your traffic and they don’t look very nice.

In that same vein, putting your Blogroll in a little frame set seems like a nice way to save space, but it isn’t very accessible and the scrollbars are down right ugly. Did you know that the Blogrolling website offers an option under “preferences” where you can enter in how many links to display? You can opt to show a random 5 links, for example. Tidying up your sidebar, and also providing a less intimidating length of links for your readers to browse. The aforementioned 10 ways to uglify your blog list talks about that too.

Finally, I think you can safely remove the “digg this” link from your comments area. I’m not sure that the uses of digg.com are really your demographic. If you’re really using it, great, but I’m guessing it’s sort of a forgotten feature that not many of your readers are using, if any.

Prescription:

1. Fix your HTML and CSS validation errors. Consider downloading the TIDY plugin for Firefox (PC) or for Safari (mac) so you can see the validation status of your website right in your browser window.
2. Clean up the clutter on your sidebar, eliminate icons and graphics that don’t have much of a use.

At first glance, I thought I’d file you under “Head Cold”, but due to the errors in your HTML and CSS, I’m elevating you to “Fever & Chills”.