This weekend, I decided to get a different perspective on my blog by sitting other people down in front of my website to observe how they browse around and which areas of the site they click. Upon initial feedback, I was told that the top part of my site seemed a bit busy. I was told that it would be nice if a reader had the ability to click on a button that would either maximize or minimize the three content blocks near the top of the site.

The three content blocks in question are the Recent Articles, Recent Comments and the Most Popular Posts. After browsing around the WordPress.org site looking for solutions, I came across a post that mentioned the following plugin, JS Toggle Boxes Js Toggle Boxes provided a means for me to add a plus symbol or a minus symbol to a div element that contained an unordered list. Using a combination of Javascript, CSS and cookies, readers of this site can now show or hide at least 6 different content blocks. 

I’ve also rearranged my sidebar menus so that site specific content is in the left sidebar while, 3rd party widgets and misc stuff is in the right sidebar. I’ve also replaced the default technorati favorite image and added a custom one within the same box which contains my subscription images. I’ve also changed the entire background site to represent one solid color, as the gradient background image combined with a background color just never seemed to work in Internet Explorer. Surrounding the entire site is now a white 3 pixel border. The black one was not viewable with the darker background color.

Although the div elements never bothered me, you now have a choice as to whether or not you want to view those specific content areas or not. They work whether you have Javascript enabled or disabled. Also, because of the use of cookies, your viewing settings will be remembered unless the cookie is deleted, in which case all of the content boxes will be open again.

Please let me know what you think of the design changes.