So as you probably noticed, there is a slightly new and fresher look here with your favorite (I hope) office supply review site.  We’ve implemented a new theme with the help of our friend Jason from OpenPotion.  In addition to looking a little cleaner and fresher, we are hoping that the site sees some improved performance in terms of speed, as well as a better user experience on mobile devices.  Be sure to take a closer look at the images on this post so you can see what the new theme offers to make your reading experience more friendly.

 One of the first main differences between this layout and the previous is that each post on the slider and in the history below has a green banner that you can click on to go to the view of the category where the post is found.  Alternatively you can click on the image or the title of the post and be brought to the full version of that post.  In this section of the home page you can also see where you are able to follow us on social media with the gray square icons on the very top right hand side.  The category navigation at the top still works the same, but just looks a little different.  If you click on “Pen & Pencil Reviews” a new menu comes down in green, and if you move your mouse down and hover over “Fountain Pens” you will see that it has a small right arrow that brings out a secondary menu for Beginner Fountain Pen reviews.

On the left hand side of each page you will see some social media buttons that allow you to share our posts with your friends and the rest of the free world online.  So feel free to spread the word on posts that you think other folks will enjoy.  Also as I said before you can click on the images or the text in the reviews to read the full review, or you can click on the green banner to go to the page that shows all of the reviews in that particular category.

At the bottom of the home page there are some simple navigational links to move between pages.  Below that you can see that there are some more social media links to help you follow us elsewhere.  Towards the middle of the bottom of the page you can see there is a calendar that lets you navigate to older posts, and the numbers that are green indicate days where there was a post.  The “tag cloud” shows the most popular/frequent tags so its a bit easier for you to find posts in particular topics.

Lastly, there is a new comments section on the individual post pages.  It gives you the option of either posting while you are logged into your Facebook account, or posting the same way you used to on here with the standard generic commenting section.  You can also check the box to sign up for the newsletter here as well, you know the one where you are entered for our two monthly giveaways.

So thats the majority of what you need to know.  Part of the appeal of this update is that mobile devices are supposed to be able to handle displaying the site better now, so if anyone sees anything funky (mobile or not) feel free to drop a comment here and let us know so we can fix it and make the site as easy as possible for you to read and navigate through.

©2015, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.