Puppies from Kee-Pin Labradors, Lenore’s breeder.

Been going back and forth all day on the new blog re-design, talking to Chris Archibee and Brendan LaRock at Mannix, sorting through the e-mails, messages, posts and stepping back and considering most of all, what do I want? What is my sense of the blog? What suits me? As I’ve been sharing the process of putting together the re-design, then I should share a decision Chris Archibee and I reached on the phone a few minutes ago. We’re  adding some color alongside the Farm Journal – blue – and then cleaning out most of the navigational features on the right-hand side – the Archives By Subject, the Additional Tools, The Calendar. We will keep a search engine. The Book Tour will disappear until there is a book tour, and otherwise, events will be listed in the “calendar” box at the top.

People who want to go backwards can still scroll back, but I became clear that I want the site to be both all-encompassing yet also much simpler and more focused. The photo will get even larger. Sites traditionally over these navigational tools to help people go back and forth on the site, but I think they deter from the focus. I want to extend the blog’s reach into new media and make that much simpler to navigate. The rest of the page will be devoted to the Farm Journal and the photography. Up top will be  Facebook, Video, Photos, Blogs I Love,  and other information.

I’ve focused on design for some time, although am not a designer and I think Steve Jobs nailed my sense of design for me. Very focused, spare, clean. I’ve cluttered up the website for years with friends, links, tools and widgets. But now I understand that less is more and this will help me focus as well. Wanted to share that. So the site is decided, and many thanks for the very helpful suggestions and comments. One message said: “it suits you.” And it does.  I did love this message from a woman in Ohio: “Listen. I am not coming onto your site every again if you move the photo of the four dogs that is up there every day.”

The refund, I said, is in the mail. ):