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Photo Friday: A facelift for Dog Jaunt

Today the big news is Dog Jaunt’s new look! You’re, well, looking at it, so here’s a reminder of what the site looked like yesterday:

Dog Jaunt’s look for the past three years or so.

You’ll be distracted, as I am, by the adorableness of the new dog collar menu and ID tag search bar, but the big change is at the top — those three boxes gather together information and posts about different kinds of transportation and make them the first things you see. The other big change is less obvious: The new look is also mobile-ready, so the site now works on iPads and smartphones.

It’s my hope that all the changes will help folks navigate around the site more easily, and lay their hands on blog posts that help them more readily. There are still some changes to make and loose ends to tuck in. If you see a loose end that I’ve missed, please let me know, and please also let me know what you think of the new look!

My heartfelt thanks and undying love to my husband Walter (what looks like an overnight change is, in fact, the result of a heap of work) and my friend Chandler O’Leary, illustrator extraordinaire and the proprietor of Anagram Press, who created the design in a matter of hours (literally — I watched her do it). Their sweet tempers and mad skillz astonish me.

15 comments

  • Gigi

    LOVE IT!

    One bug: the Home, About, etc. links at the top won’t work for me. And a few of the links in the sidebar (Travel check list…etc.) won’t work either. I’m in the latest version of Chrome on a Mac and both the over-state of the links and the clickability seems to be broken.

  • Gigi

    P.S. Is your husband a programmer, then? Does he do freelance work? I’m looking for someone to make my site mobile-friendly.

  • Marci

    LOVE it! I read your blog in Reader, but I think it is much more user friendly. Your blog has tons of important information that travellers with pets need to read!

  • Drat, Gigi, I’m seeing that. I’ll get my IT department on it (alas, he only does this under duress, so I can’t send him your way).

  • Thanks so much, Marci (and everyone!) — the redesign shouldn’t have affected your Reader subscription, but please tell me if it does! There are still a few kinks to work out, for sure.

  • Pamela | Something Wagging This Way Comes

    Wow! I love it.

    Yes, it’s pretty and spiffy. But the navigations tools make it look so easy to find info. I’ve gotten good information about boating with dogs on Dog Jaunt on the past. But now it’s so easy to find.

    You’ve definitely inspired me. I’m hoping to redesign my blog before I leave for Panama in September. Would you mind telling me how you managed the redesign without having the site down? I’m trying to decide between creating a “sandbox” or setting up WordPress on my computer and both options scare this non-techie. 🙂

  • Oh, gosh, Pamela — I’m so non-tech that I don’t even understand those alternatives…. I’ll ask himself when he gets home, and get you an answer. In the meantime, thank you for the praise. It’s so appreciated!!

  • Hello again, Pamela — Here’s what Walter told me (I’m passing it straight on, because I don’t follow it, myself). If you just want to experiment with a different WordPress theme, there’s a button on WP (under Appearance and theme chooser) that lets you look at the proposed new theme, without switching over to it. If you want to give the new theme a real road test, though, without OTHER people being able to see the “new” site, there’s a plug-in that lets you do that: http://wordpress.org/plugins/nkthemeswitch/ Hope that helps!

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