Hey guys!
Just checking in with ya to let you know that YES, the site is under construction…and YES, I am doing the conversion myself….and NO, I don’t have coding skills. I have cried. I have sweat. I even bled (hangnails count right?) while DIYing this blog update. I hope that soon we will have a much cleaner and easier site to navigate and read. Part of me is excited that this might be like a blood infusion for me when it comes to the blog and the way it looks….I’ve been frustrated with my old theme and platform for a long time. And this new one shows bigger pictures and is more mobile friendly. Let’s be honest…I would shove an 24×36 photo of my kids in strangers faces at IHOP if they would promise not to get syrup on it. So bringing you all bigger photos of the boys is really exciting to me. There is a part of me that also really impatient. This stuff is definitely not my comfort zone and it is a real challenge for my brain. But I know that like most things that push you to a breaking point, it will be worth it in the end.
I just wanted to thank you for your patience while we make the switch. And if you never hear from me again…the code killed me.
April says
Looking forward to seeing the finished project and love you are DIYing it. Please share any tips for us smaller blogs. Love the photo with the hard hats!
Catherine says
Good luck! I am too scared to even attempt mine.
Sara says
That photo is so adorable! 🙂
Melissa Breau (@MelissaBreau) says
Stick with it lady! And if you’re using wordpress and need a hand feel free to reach out 🙂
Amie says
Good Luck! Coding is an excellent skill to have. Drink a glass of wine and binge on whatever junk you need as you power through. We will be here waiting for the big reveal.
Michelle | Birds of Berwick says
I love the new layout! Bravo! I’ve really been wanting to update mine as well, but it makes me zero dollars so I haven’t been too motivated to invest the time or money to get a layout. I wish I could learn code, but it’s like my brain goes to sleep when I’ve tried! Good for you! Also, I love how much you’ve been able to post while having 3 little boys. I don’t know how you do it, Katie.
V says
Challenging but so worth it! Let me know if you need any help or advice. I quit my corporate career a few years ago and found out that I get totally geeked out on HTML and CSS, it’s a passion and I love it! I’ve started designing blogs for people I know.
Drop me a line if you need any help!
V
Life+1
Sara Ross says
You are brave! I just recently hired someone to move mine from Blogger to WP and redesign the whole website. I too no nothing about coding, but I don’t have the guts to try it myself! Good luck! Can’t wait to see it when it’s done!
deb says
Loving that pic of you all!
WHITNEY says
Good luck!!! You can do it 🙂
Rebecca says
Ha!! You are too funny. Good luck with the conversion! I need to switch servers (and host & backend…ugh) for one of my business sites and I am totally dreading it. Its a lot of work!
Nicole @ LibertyBellesBlog says
oh man good luck…certainly isn’t a fun or easy thing but the results will be well worth it!
Julie says
I’m all for the change, but PLEASE don’t post snippets and then make us click to read more. I hate that! I like to have the whole page there to read instead of having to change pages and then click the back arrow then click again… :0)
Jen W says
Good luck! I wouldn’t have a clue. 🙂
But please please PLEASE don’t truncate the posts and force the viewer to click “read more” in order to see the entire post. OBVIOUSLY we want to read your posts or we wouldn’t have bothered to visit your blog in the first place. It’s beyond obnoxious to say “yes, Katie, please share with me” by visiting your blog then be forced to say “Yes, really, Katie, I super duper want to read your post” by clicking “read more”. Sure it looks cleaner, but it’s not very customer friendly. At the very least maybe have the most recent post show up in full then the older ones can be the “read more” format?
Susan says
Katie:
First time visitor: I just wanted to pop in and see if you got your issues resolved from yesterday, and it looks like you did.
Happy to help if you have more issues.
Good luck with the site revamp.
Jody says
You can do it!
(I also hate read more… give me a good post up front and I will keep coming back over and over again.)
NZ says
Hi, love your blog!
Can you please make your blog posts go from the most recent to last so they can be read in order!
NZ says
Haha, I meant adding a ‘last’ to them so we can start at your first post and back towards your most recent in chronological order! 🙂
Jilliane D. says
This!!! I hate when blogs make you click Read More on every post. The point of me coming to your blog is to read more! I tend to skip blogs and posts that I have to click all over the place. I get that you would like to make more money by getting more clicks but could you take the suggestion above and only have older posts as “read more”?
Sarah @ Sarah's Daybook says
Hi Katie! Love the new blog look, but actually hate the magazine style set up. I don’t know why, but it drives my crazy when I have to click read more. Are you going to keep it?
Sarah
Patty S says
I vote for that too (like I have a say, right?). Centsational Girl does this on her blog and it drives me crazy.
I’d also like to echo the sentiments as another commenter above, it is amazing how well you keep up your blog with 3 (!) little ones underfoot. You deserve an award of somes sort. Supreme Mama Blogger of the Universe, maybe.
Also, you look GORGEOUS in the picture above. Unfair because you obviously never sleep with all that you do. 😉
Marianne says
I agree. I hate the “read more” button. But looking forward to the new look!
bethb says
woot! It looks great so far and I can’t wait to see what it will become! 😀 also… good to know I wasn’t going crazy when I came here yesterday and was like “this is different… it is isn’t it… what?!” and than couldn’t find the home page. I totally thought it was a user error (because it has actually happen to me before and WAS a user error -.-) yeah, good to know. ha. 😛 It will look stunning if what it looks like now is any indication. 😉
Megan says
Seconded! I don’t care for truncated views on blogs.
Kelsey says
Good luck, you can do it!
Lesley says
I agree – at least not for the current post, the others under that make sense.
Meg says
It’s a little thing but I don’t like the “read more” either, lol. I find myself skipping a lot of blogs that do that now. I don’t know why. I guess because I read the first part and I get down to the “read more” then I have to find where I left off after I click it. I guess too much clicking for me, hee!
bridget | 623designs:interiors says
Neat! Can’t wait to see how it ends up (although the changes that you have made so far already look good to me). Back in June, I also decided to dive into a little coding to update my blog myself. I think it’s the DIY nature. Why pay/explain something to someone else when you could just figure it out yourself?
Pam says
My Dearest Katie, I don’t know if you even read any comments (I really hope seeing you write it :)) but I am not liking at all where you have to CLICK TO CONTINUE READING! It take FOREVER to catch up and read blog posts when you have to do this and I know friends along with myself have quit reading blogs that have done that. SO here’s my plee —PLEASE LEAVE THAT PART LIKE IT WAS honey. pretty pretty please (I’ll supply ya with LOADS OF BACON)
God bless & thanks for taking time to hopefully read my comment.
Molly says
That picture made me laugh out loud! Good luck!
Roxanne says
Love your blog! Come back soon please, my other favorite blog (YHL) is on a break. Ha!
Nicole says
I agree! I hate when you click Read More and then it opens up a new page and then to get back you have to click to go back…Ha! We have become so lazy…
TRICIA says
GOOD LUCK!! PLEASE COME BACK SOON!! WE JUST LOST JOHN AND SHERRY…WE CAN’T LOSE YOU GUYS TOO!!! XO
CJ says
Ahh man 🙁 I hate those read more links. I’ve been following you and YHL for the longest because I can continuously easily read the posts.
Theresa W says
I agree about the read more link –
but super excited to see what else you come up with; I love your clean, classic style!
Angela says
I like what I see so far! Good luck. Funniest picture I’ve seen today!
Amanda says
That photo! Too funny, too cute!
Janice says
I agree wit all the others, PLEASE don’t post a truncated snippet and make us click to read more. I hate that! I stopped reading Lettered Cottage when they switched to that format.
Chrissy Henry says
Blog is looking good Katie!
I am NOT a fan of the “Read More” buttons 🙁 … But it looks like today the most recent post is full and subsequent posts contain the read more link. That is a great idea! Excited to see where this all ends up, you are doing a great job!