Carthage

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January 12, 2005

It is a new world!

After three years, I've decided it's finally time to class Carthage up a bit. Sadly, to me class = New England bed & breakfast. If I could, I would include wallpaper of tasteful blue posies and a small bottle of that shampoo/conditioner two-in-one stuff that both tangles and greases up your hair.

I hope that the traditional dark-text-on-white-background makes everyone's reading easier, but if the fonts aren't working on your browser or the white is blinding your dark-adjusted eyes or the color scheme is giving you flashbacks to your elementary school marching band uniform, feel free to weigh in. This probably isn't the final version but I was sick of the black and purple, so enjoy this for now.

Posted by didofoot at January 12, 2005 10:34 AM

Comments

it's so creamy...

Posted by: cb at January 12, 2005 10:49 AM

is it too curly to read? that's my main concern. the cream factor is secondary. and actually, considering my secret love of prince it seems justified.

Posted by: didofoot at January 12, 2005 10:57 AM

i'm with cb, so creamy, too creamy. the title is a little curly, but it's totally readable. the text is...the lines of text seem abnormally close together which makes it a little odd looking. like, it's a too big font size with not a big enough spacing. but maybe it's just the font? i don't know. i think it's fine though. i mean, i can read it. while at the same time it's a smack in the face since i haven't updated my own stylesheet.

Posted by: michele at January 12, 2005 11:01 AM

i take it back. trying to read my comment was too hard. too, too hard. not enough spacing.

Posted by: michele at January 12, 2005 11:03 AM

i know. i'm trying to figure out how to space the lines more. anybody know how to do this?

Posted by: didofoot at January 12, 2005 11:05 AM

I'm with Michele. More spacing! Be tastefully sparse.

Posted by: Dianna at January 12, 2005 11:05 AM

It's difficult for me to read. It might be the spacing, but I think it's the background. Also, I never learned to read.

Posted by: sean at January 12, 2005 11:31 AM

line height fixed, thanks to some sneeky peaking at dianna's stylesheet.

i'm kinda fond of this background color still. is it really painful? (can it possibly be more painful than the black?)

Posted by: didofoot at January 12, 2005 11:39 AM

the color isn't painful at all. unless you mean to my soul. in which case, it burns.

Posted by: michele at January 12, 2005 11:50 AM

Oh my... what a lovely page you've got here!

The new line spacing is beautiful. Good work.

Posted by: Dianna at January 12, 2005 11:54 AM

I love it!
Sadly, I too have never been adept enough at anything to change my template. Way to get out of the box, didofoot.

Posted by: kati at January 12, 2005 02:35 PM

blooooooooood!

Posted by: michele at January 12, 2005 02:55 PM

kuuuuuuuushiiiiieeeell!

Posted by: michele at January 12, 2005 02:55 PM

I'm sorry, but I have to object to the new Carthage logo font on principle. (Font geek speaking here)

1. Monotype anything: Don't use it. Along with Linotype, Monotype is the neo-nazi of the font world. If you want to specify a font on your pages, don't use fonts from either of those two foundries.

2. If you want your page to look the same to everyone, use an image for the title of the weblog. Luckily, thanks to the rendering capabilities of myfonts.com (Bitstream) and fontshop.com (shameless plug) You can render the word "Carthage" or "CARTHAGE" or what-have-you in almost any font you choose, and then save the image (via the right-click menu, at least in Firefox, which I assume is your browser) and use the image for your own diabolical plans without having to actually pay for the font. I would recommend looking up the keywords "script" or "cursive" on MyFonts, or checking out the "Script" category on FontShop. I would be more than happy to help you, if you need it.

3. This isn't related to the logo, but your comments are rendering in Verdana and your blog entries are rendering in Book Antiqua. I would recommend choosing one to use for both, preferably a sans-serif (such as Verdana), to improve on-screen readability.

I'm also not completely against the color scheme, as I don't mind white backgrounds, but I think the reddish text could use a complementary color somewhere, to make it feel less out of place. That's more of a personal choice, though.

The font issues -- well, let me know if you need help fixing those. They need some love.

[You just knew I wouldn't be able to resist commenting here.]

Posted by: danny at January 12, 2005 07:37 PM

Font nerd!!!

(oh, wait... I'm the one dating you... damn.)

Posted by: kim at January 12, 2005 09:17 PM

ok, much of this is helpful. i will fix these issues next time i am a fixin mood.

Posted by: didofoot at January 13, 2005 08:23 AM

but why are monotype and linotype the neo nazis?

Posted by: didofoot at January 13, 2005 08:32 AM

Have the issues been settled? Because I like what I'm seeing. The time is 8:35 AM on Thursday. So much less black and purple!

Posted by: jason s at January 13, 2005 08:36 AM

i still want the highlighted links to not be yellow.

Posted by: michele at January 13, 2005 09:20 AM

Yeah. Maybe blue or something?

Posted by: Dianna at January 13, 2005 10:20 AM

dark, dark blue. or dark orange? burnt umber?

Posted by: michele at January 13, 2005 10:55 AM

Ooooh. Perhaps a shade of brown sugar to go with the strawberries-and-cream motif?

Posted by: Dianna at January 13, 2005 11:20 AM

dammit, now i'm hungry.

i thought brown too. but maybe it would be hard to tell the difference between it and the dark red? maybe light brown sugar?

didobot, take notes.

Posted by: michele at January 13, 2005 11:35 AM

i'm kind of liking the yellow now, actually.

i'm told the cream looks painful on monitors less hip than mine, so i am still experimenting with other options. unfortunately, all the other colors in the universe are smelly and i hate them. stay tuned.

Posted by: didofoot at January 13, 2005 11:48 AM

i'm willing to tell myself that the yellow is light brown sugar. light brown sugar is sort of yellow. also, it smells good. like cookies.

Posted by: michele at January 13, 2005 12:01 PM

The background color right now complements the red much better.

As for logo fonts, Underware has some creative, original typefaces. See Carthage in Bello. There are other small (or at least smaller) foundries I would recommend, too, such as Garage Fonts, Font Bureau, and Device Fonts.

Posted by: Danny at January 13, 2005 12:14 PM

I had lots more comments to make, but when I made them, CH took them and threw them down the garbage disposal. They are gone. Do as you wish.

Posted by: danny at January 20, 2005 12:15 AM

are comments not working? Comments seem broken on Kati's blog, what about carthage?

Posted by: gene at January 20, 2005 12:43 AM

no. just me.
those bastards.

Posted by: kati at January 20, 2005 01:56 AM

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