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New Year, New Chapter, New Look
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.
Edith Lovejoy Pierce
I love the promise of the New Year. Turning a fresh page. Starting a new chapter.
It seems like the perfect moment to take the wraps off the new design for Confident Writing….
I think it’s great. It says “new chapter” to me: clean, uncluttered, inviting.
I’ve learned a lot from the redesign process with some applications for writing that I want to share you with you - but not just yet. For now I just want to hit the ‘publish’ button - and say a huge thanks to Cat Morley for designing the new look - and managing me out of my attachment to sidebar clutter:-) I’m not making many resolutions but here’s one: I’m going to keep it this way!
So here it is. I hope you like it. If you’re reading this from a feed - why not pop in and have a look?
I hope the transfer to the new template goes smoothly… but do please let me know if you notice any glitches or have suggestions for things that we could make even better 
Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count
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Fantastic! I love how bright the new design is.
I’ll hopefully be getting a new blog design, too. YEAH!
this looks great, Joanna!
Happy new year.
I’ve only been looking at your blog for a couple days. I found you through Lis Garrett, so I don’t really remember the other design to compare. I like this one, though.
This is terrific Joanna and Cat! White Crisp seems to be the rage for the New Year so far, and this shows off why fabulously well. The bling can be fun, but I so agree that this is much, much better, and worthy of the polish we know Joanna to have as our Confident Writing Coach
Hey, Joanna! Yeah! Looks like it transferred in just fine.
Working with TypePad for the first time was a grand experience. For those wondering about which blogging platform to use … if you don’t want to fuss too much with CSS and PHP and the like, check out TP. They’ve put a lot of work into making sure it’s almost effortless to redesign.
Thanks for the thanks Joanna. And a special thanks goes back to you for giving me the confidence to write. It’s a precious gift. And one I don’t believe I’ll ever be able to repay.
@Lis, hi, I love its brightness too
Are you redesigning one or both blogs? I can hardly keep up with you!
@Jon, thanks and happy new year to you too! It must have been a slightly odd one for you with the transition of jobs too… hope it all went well:-)
@Deb, it’s good to meet you. The other design was a lot more cluttered - so I’m going to work hard to keep this one clean!
@Rosa, thank you. I was smiling to realise we were working behind the scenes on our redesigns at the same time. The white space seems to open things up so much - I have a feeling it’ll rub off on my writing too. Hope so anyway.
@Cat, I’m glad it wasn’t too gruesome getting to grips with Typepad. I still can’t believe the magic you managed to work with it. And thanks for your words about your own writing - I’ll treasure them.
Joanna
Hey, nice new look, Joanna! Yes, a new year… filled with exciting potential. I can’t wait to see what unfolds, can you?
Eureka! Finally got rid of that irritating CAPTCHA thingie, too! Way to go!
Nicely done! Page loading is much, much faster, and I agree with Robert, CAPTCHA won’t be missed.
Happy New Year, Joanna. LOVE the new site. Very clean and uncluttered. Great job.
I’ll be joining you on the re-design front shortly. I’m using a generic template right now. One of my 2008 goals. . .
Looking forward to some great conversations in 2008!
Joanna:
Love the white space! Good job. While the look is super sweet…the content is even better. Keep writing and I’ll keep listening!
PS…Thank you for an opening day comment over at college students rule.
Looks fresh like the snow I see outside my window, Joanna.
I’m very curious… What in the world is CAPTCHA? If I have it maybe I need to shed it too. Looks like I missed these conversations somewhere.
Lovely new design, Joanna!
Here’s to an awesome year!
Smiles,
Michele
@ Robert and Brad, glad you like the design - and the ditching of the CAPTCHA! Hadn’t realised it was such a bugbear - sorry - because you two have left a lot of comments… Anyway at least it’ll be easier to do so now:-)
@ J Erik, good luck with the redesign, it’s a fun project to work on - I also found it helped me to think through what’s important to me about the site (and therefore also what I’m writing)
@ Robyn, you’ve never been a CAPTCHA sinner so need to switch anything off! It’s the requirement to type out some letters and numbers before the comment gets published. It’s an anti sp@m mechanism. Hopefully I can leave it switched off - so far so good…
@ Michele, thanks, and to you too:-)
Joanna
Hi Joanna!
Happy New Year - and I like the fresh, crisp look of your blog design. All the best for writing in 2008!
Beautiful design, Joanna!
The words on the top menu are cut off on my screen, but it’s probably because I have to set the text so large to be able to read.
And I’m thrilled the Captcha is gone! That was such a hassle to deal with - especially for someone like me with very poor eyesight.
@ Ruby, hello, thank you and a very happy new year!
@ Lillie, thanks for the feedback, I’ll take a note of it. My dad says some bits are harder for him to read on the new design too and I need to work out how he (or I) can adjust things… I’m glad the captcha going is good news for you too - though I’m feeling bad now it’s been a bugbear for all of you up to now!
Joanna
oooh. Joanna. I like. Congrats.
Now I just need to sort my own blog out. Still, I have finally added a photo. I might catch up with you technology wize sometime in the next year!
Emma
I love the “cleaner” new design, Joanna
It isn’t as confusing as the previous one too 
@ Emma, I can’t claim any credit for the technology this time - just being lucky enough to find someone who could work the Typepad magic!
@ Pelf, thanks. I’m glad you think it looks better now. It’s funny I couldn’t ’see’ the confusion myself - I can see it in words but not in design. One of the things I’ll be picking up when I reflect on what I learned from the process.
Joanna
Hi. The new design looks good to me.
Happy New Year Joanna! Love the new site design! I’m looking forward to a year of inspired and confident writing. I can’t wait to read the lessons learned from the redesign.
Karen
@ Mervi Happy New Year! Glad you like it
@ Karen, Happy New Year to you too! Inspired and confident writing… oh I hope I can live up to that. But then again you guys do inspire me
Joanna
Hi Joanna
Just got over to your blog for the first time and the first thing I thought is what a wonderful layout. I loved it.
Kavit
Hi Kavit, welcome to Confident Writing!
I’m glad the you like the new look. I’ll pass your feedback on to Cat Morley who designed it for me - because this is just the kind of immediate impact that she was trying to create.
Thanks for taking the time to share your first impressions
Joanna