As you may have noticed, Stogie Review has been given a new look. Over the past several months Jerry, Brian, and I have made passing mentions on how we needed to freshen things up and make the site cleaner and more organized.
Wanting to get away from the norm, we started looking at premium WordPress themes that would fit a cigar site such as ours. We found a variety of fantastic designs, but nothing that felt like it fit the content that we provide.
During a back and forth message session between Jerry and I, we wondered what would be involved in having a custom design done and how much it would cost. Thinking that the custom route was probably our best choice, I began researching designers.
The biggest problem I had was that it was difficult to choose a single designer. I saw some very interesting online portfolios created by some very creative individuals. To help remedy my problem, I contacted the only person that I knew had a custom design done recently, Darren Rowse of Problogger and Digital Photography School.
Darren recommended that I get in touch with a designer named Matt Brett and take a look at some of the work he has done. With an impressive portfolio and Darren’s recommendation, I contacted Matt to see what he could do for Stogie Review.
After a couple back and forth emails with Matt, Jerry and I made a decision to book the next available opening for a redesign. About two months later, we have what you see now.
Because Stogie Review puts a lot of focus on our video content, we absolutely needed a larger content area to place a video player. With the sidebars getting messier and messier as time went on, I really wanted to organize things better so that the site was easier to navigate.
A few releases back, WordPress rolled out a threaded comment feature. This feature allows people to comment on comments, so to speak, so that conversation flows a bit better. Our old theme did not support this and we wanted to take advantage of the capability with our new design. Gravatars have also been integrated into the comments to give individuals a bit more flare.
It was a pleasure to work with Matt to bring the design to life. We are very happy with the design and hope that you feel the same way. If you run into any bugs along the way, please shoot us an email via the contact form and we will do our best to address them.
I thought the other site was a little better. I liked how the other one had all the reviews on one page. This one you have to go throw them all if you dont know how it was reviewed. Guest or video.
just alot harder to find a cigar review. Or just used to the other one.
Joe,
The cigar review index is still available. A link is just below the header
https://stogiereview.com/sr-review-index/
Great job guys! I love it!
thanks not sure how I missed that. Now that I see that the site is not to bad just takes time to get used to. It dose have a more up to date look.
Lookin’ good!
whoa, you guys have been busy!!!
Looks great guys. I think a lot of people will look at it and think, I dont like it. I know I did at first, but Im a very anti change person. I looked around awhile and you guys really cleaned it up and once I found where everything was navigating around is a lot easier (has a more natural feel).
Matt
Looks great guys. I really love the new look!
Looks Great guys!
The new design looks great!!
WOWguys, great job on the new design, it looks fantastic!!!!
I lke the new design. It will take some getting use to, but I’m sure I’m up to the task.
Cool! I like it!
I like the new layout!
Nice job…
I’m diggin’ it! Looking good!
ITS ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!
looks awesome guys, Stogie Review #1!
I first loaded the site and was like WTF?!?!?!?!?!
After the initial shock, I love the new layout and think it gives the website a great updated/more serious look.
With any design change, there are going to be things I really like and really dislike. We’ll see how this new design grows on me, but I can already see some things I really like and some I really dislike. Overall, I think this is a smart change (although the classic SR logo was just so awesome…to me, this logo is a little too cartoonish for my liking, but to each his own). As long as you guys keep the content the same, I’m cool with just about whatever you do.
Nice Look guys!! I am enjoying it!!
Just want to see my name in the new look style…How do i get my own picture anyone?
The icon is a feature built into wordpress to use http://www.Gravatar.com. If you head over to the site and register, you can associate an image with your email address. Once that association is made, whenever the feature is enabled on a wordpress blog, your custom icon will appear as long as you use the email that you associated with the account.
Hope that helps
Love the new look + features. You guys get an A+ in my book!
Very nice guys. Super clean and really easy to use. Two thumbs up.
You gentlemen did an excellent job…I really like the new look!!!
The site looks awesome, very nicely done. Only one friendly suggestion :-), maybe adding a back to top button at the bottom of pages, some of them are really long.
nicely done.
I’m a bit late but — great job!
The old design was getting a bit.. old.
🙂
Very clean and well organized. Nice work! (I have to agree with Ray though — I miss the old SR logo! )
i really like the look, very modern. It will take getting used to ovkors, but I think Matt did a great job
Haven’t spent much time on the new site yet, after all it is still new. But it looks good so far.
Love the new website. Keep up the great reviews. Your unbiased reviews have opened my eyes to a lot of great cigars!! Thanks.
I would say it looks better… But I can’t navigate it yet like the old site which for me was more functional. hopefully the new navigation will grow on me.
Digging the new look, guys.