Welcome to the new site design. This weekend I moved from my blogspot address to bakerella.com hosted through WordPress. I’ve been wanting to make the change for awhile, but I really loved blogger. It is right up my alley when it comes to ease of use. I just wish it offered as many options as WordPress so I would never have needed to leave. By the way, if you’re on Blogger now, you might want to stick around. They are doing some really great things as far as new features and functionality. I’ve got to tell you, they made it really difficult to leave. But, I had already ventured down the path of a new design and there was no looking back. I’m really excited about it. I hope you like the new look and to get you off to an easy start, I thought I would give you a really quick tour of some of the ways you can navigate to see older posts and search. I’m visual, so I have thumbnails everywhere I thought it would help. And … the other reason … the real reason … I didn’t bake this weekend because I was playing wannabe web designer getting all things ready to launch.
Note: graphics below are for illustration purposes. Clicking on them will not take you anywhere. Hey, somebody will ask. :)
Okay! Here goes:
If you click on any of the three main categories located in top of the gray bar…
You will get a page that looks like this. These sections are like visual overviews of the most recent thumbnails related to each topic.
If you notice the topic, breakfast… the first thumbnail is the most recent breakfast post I have and the doughnuts are the oldest.
Obviously this section needs some attention. Note to self: bake more morning treats. This feature might actually be more for me than you. See, this way I keep track of what I’m baking and what I’m not baking enough of.
Moving on. In the same gray box above, if you click on any of the topics you’ll get a page that looks like this…
These topic pages all have a main image and instead of all thumbnails, this view shows excerpts as well. You’ll find the most recent topic-related post at the top of each list and under the main image.
Except for this topic.
Themes is slightly different.
Because so many of you guys ask for ideas, I wanted an easy way for you to look for things I have already made that may help out. On this topic page, the excerpts are also organized by most recent, but they are grouped by theme. Christmas, Halloween, Easter, For Her, etc.
That’s pretty much it for the main navigation, but you can also search through the archives.
Three different ways!
The link is in the very top right hand section of the site. And it will allow you to search:
1. chronologically by year
2. most recent by list
3. most recent by photo thumbnails
YAY! Now I can actually find something I’m looking for. Before I only had archives by month that only listed the number of posts for that month. No post names and no thumbnails. I love this feature!
And you can also access the most recent list and photo view quickly from the main navigation in the gray box. YAY!
Here’s even another fun way to look around.
At the bottom of each individual story post, there is section called Random Sweetness. This functions exactly like it’s name. All of the thumbnails rotate through randomly. Maybe something cute that you haven’t seen before will catch your eye. It does mine. I made everything, but I still can’t stop clicking on these thumbnails. I told you I was visual, but it seems easily distracted, too.
If you want to keep up with what’s coming next, you can subscribe by email or RSS.
Note to current RSS subscribers: I’m working on getting the feed back the way you are used to.
Note to readers using IE7: You may not be experiencing the site to it’s fullest. I hope this will be corrected soon.
There may be even more glitches that I’m not aware of yet, but I plan on working through any of the bugs that might arise from a transition like this.
So that’s it for the tour. I hope you like the site. I kinda feel like I’m just starting out and now I have a site that can meet everyone’s cravings… including my own.
I want to give the biggest thanks to Heather of OMSH.
I could absolutely not have done this transition and design without her help. She’s also the force behind the Pioneer Woman’s award-winning blog design and one of the sweetest people I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Thank you Heather! You rock!
Love Bakerella! Would you consider send a copy to our Girl Scout Troop? I can`t think of a better activity! There must be a patch for it!!!
WOW, I just found your site and am loving it already. I have become you’re new biggest fan. I have my first batch of cake balls in the freezer setting up as we speak. Thank you for being so creative and sharing. I’m loving reading about PW too.
Wow, I haven’t been to your site in a while and it’s just stunning, truly beautiful. Congratulations.
i LOVE LOVE LOVE your website!! i came across it by searching for brownie pops….. and i will definitely be visiting your site often (..which means prob daily :) …. oh.. and the wedding proposal ~~ so so so so cute!!!
Let me just explain how I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new site… it looks FANTABULOUS…….
Keep coming with those Yummy Creative Recipes :-)
I love your new design. Looks and works great. Also thanks for the input on blogger vs wordpress. I use blogger but I’ve also got some stuff on wordpress (high school reunion blog) and I’m always interested in feedback and pros and cons.
hi.. i’ve been reading through your bog for quite some time now.. and i;m realy loving it! It does inspire people!! If only I have a baking oven, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! to try out some of this recipes! for now, im waiting for your next contest (hehehe) I hope people outside USA can enter too (your prizes are sooooo nice!!) :)
Looks great!!! I need to learn to web design…. I just love to post photos and gab……well, really I love to gab………well, really I love to eat………and that is why I love your site.. drewl…….oops sorry….
Congratulations on the successful move! Your new place looks fantastic and is very functional. Perfect for all your awesome creations!
I had recently moved my (free) blog from WordPress to Blogger because the latter provided more flexibility for a free account. Moving was hard for me, too.
Love the new design. Everything is so easy to find !!
The website looks absolutely amazing. I didn’t think it was possible to make it cuter than it already was, but you really did.
Can’t wait to see all the new recipes you’re going to share with the world!
I love the new layout! Yeah you and yeah to Heather!
Hi Bakerella! I just found your site and I LOVE it!! You are such a creative person – I love all of your ideas!
I love love love the new site. It is so much easier to find an old post when I want to go back to it.
I love the new site design! I love being able to browse all of your recipes by theme! Thanks! I’ll get to baking soon! :)
I’m loving this website it’s sooo much easier then the blog.
And it’s really cute.
The new site looks great! Thanks for the tutorial!!
Feel free to check out my websites!
Evie Adventures shows ideas of places to take your kids – there are even giveaways!
Evie Adventures
I post my weekly menu to help give new ideas of recipes. Please comment and let me know some of your favorites so I can try them out too!
Weekly Dinner Menu
Wow! The new blog looks fantastic and easy to navigate, gotta love that! Although to me it really doesn’t matter what your blog looks like, I’d still stop and have a peek. As long as you keep baking and sharing I’ll keep drooling on my keyboard. ;)
Love the new site, congrats on the move. Its wonderful!
This new site looks wonderful. Very inspiring. Bravo!
I love your website! It contains so many creative ideas with awesome pictures…
However.. I am a little disappointed in the recent blogs.
It has little to do with actual baking and new recipes and I am hoping that each day you would come up with the blogs with new recipes to try out like the previous ones from past months. Also, I have noticed that there are less and less blog entries… I understand that you have been very busy with the new website but I am hoping that you would find a little time in between to create blogs that could really inspire us amature bakers!!! thanks youuu
Love your new look!
Everything looks great!!! :)
Wowza! Yum! My butt grew just looking at your goodies. but I’m still ready to take on the challenge of cooking and eating this yummy stuff! Thanks for your site!
100th comment! Yeah!
Love the new design-look forward to more yummy goodness that then will transfer to my flabbing stomach and thighs!!:)
Stunning new site design. Very cute and well thought out. I want to stay and bake and eat and bake and eat and bake……
congratulations! parabéns, Your site is easy and beautiful like yours yummies… Sou brasileira e já fiz cakepop…um sucesso!
kisses
WOW! It looks great and even more yummy. Congrats! I’m already checking all the new featurs. :o)
I loooooove WordPress! I too didn’t want to lose all of the great functions, widgets, etc. that you can have with WordPress. It’s a great community out there too, as far as support, etc.
Congratulations – your new site looks great! I love the links section! I just added tabs to my blog at the top (although I am still using blogger, so my “pages” are really just links to older posts) and I created a blogroll/links section. I love how you incorporated logos for each of your links. Did you contact each of them to get the logo picture, or did you copy it off of their site? Just wondering what is “proper etiquette” in this case…
Thanks!!
– Krista
Congratulations on the leap! Your site looks yummy. I have been considering doing the same thing. However, thankfully, Blogger has been good until I do take the plunge. Looking forward to trying the nestle pie…mmmm
LOVE it!!! It seriously looks amazing :) Even though we just got our site re-designed a couple months ago, I already want a new one after seeing yours! Yay :)
Congratulations – it looks absolutely fantastic. The perfect home for all your hard work and gorgeous posts!
Very nice. Your site has been broken for me most of this week (umm, aforementioned IE7 user), but it is working now which is terrific. Clean and sleek while still being 100% Bakerella fun!
LOVE the new look, totally more scrumptious and will be SO easy to navigate and get results within our searches throughout the yummy site, congrats!!
Hi, i’m brasilian lover chef girl and i coming today to know your blog and I’d loved!! It’s simple fantastic girls, congratulations I love made sweet foods and here is a paradise for this. I always come back here, wiht sure. Sorry about my bad english ok. Kisses.
I love the layout, I think it looks fab!
LOVE the new site. It’s very easy to navigate. Looking forward to more of your yummy recipes.
:D The new site looks spiffy! yay! And now it’s easy to search through things.
love your new website… ^ ^ specially the color!
love the new site.. nice to know its just as easy to navigate around here…. always checking in to see whats new with the cake world…
Wow! I so love what you’ve done to this site! Not only does it look beautiful, but it’s also much easier to find, well, anything actually :-)
You did great!
It isn’t the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it. Keep it up Nice blog.
the new design is absolutely sick! i love it
The new site looks fabulous….like that was ever in doubt! So easy to look for older posts now.
I am SO happy to see you here! I have you bookmarked and went to visit your site last week and just about had a panic attack when it said it wasen’t available :)
Love the new site!
Thank yo soo much for making easier for us to brouse… : )
It is just as cute as always!! Looks very user friendly!
Speaking cute, check out my pup!
http://tinyurl.com/lgthtf
The new site design is amazing! Just as sweet and bubbly as I’d expect from the one and only Bakerella. Thanks for brightening our days through baked goods! :)
I love the new site. Easy to read and navigate. Great Job!!
Love the new blog layout. It looks AMAZING!
Congrats on the big move! I switched from Blogger to WordPress several years ago…and I like it MUCH better. I bet you will too. :)
This is just so beautiful Angie, really u deserve to have something like this. In everything you do in here i can notice the dedication and love you put in every bake, explanation, picture and every little detail that involves posting a fresh, creative and new bake news to all of us.
Desiring you alot of blessings,
Sarah.
I will be happy to take you as you come :O) But this way is absolutely delightful! I love it! Thanks for making everything so easily accessible. Now I don’t have to go crazy trying to remember which month you posted about such and such a cupcake and whatnot. Yay!
Bakerella –
I love your new site! You made everything so easy to find now. I also like that you have a poll up. I think you should keep doing that. :) Keep up all the baking!
I love the functionality of this new layout. I love the cuteness all throughout. I love everything, except that I do feel the main page is kinda crowded. Perhaps it’s because I’m used to the old blog, I dunno. Just at the top, you know, it feels like the blog posts are squished between the ads on the right and the archival stuff on the left.
I’m sure I’ll adjust, though.
So… since I was an RSS subscriber on the old site are you transferring me over to the new one? Love the new site – much easier to find what I’m looking for to show friends your sweet treats!
Hey there!
LOVE your new design and Congrats for getting it all together… I once checked out wordpress a year or two ago because they have so many options, BUT… I couldn’t figure out how to use it… So, I gave up! Glad you had some help with it… You are the TOP!!!! Take care, Leesa
Hey!
I just want to say your new site could not have come at a better time! The other day, I was clicking “older posts, older posts” constantly to go to your old posts to find old recipes and pictures! This is answer I’ve been looking for all along and I didn’t even ask the question haha.
It’s brilliant! So much easier, so pretty, and so you! you have your own url! =D
Congrats on moving up in the internet world.
The bad thing about wordness is: I subscribe using Google Reader and for some reason, only the Title of your post shows up in the Reader and I have to go click to go to your site to read the actual post. =T Idk if it’s a Google thing or what…
Happy Baking!
-Yuchie
Sorry … I meant to add that the “broken” links go to your main page instead of to the specific Bakerella page.
Cheers,
Cindy
I like the layout – so easy to find stuff :)
However (yikes!) I found some internal links goofy. For example, if you go to:
https://www.bakerella.com/can-you-draw-as-good-as-a-six-year-old
and click the links that are supposed to go to your pages (as opposed to the edible ink pen link to Amazon.com).
Enjoying your treats, and looking forward to more,
Cindy
Great new site! I love your creativity and talent, and now I can find exactly what I’m looking for out of all your great ideas!
I just started a blog featured around our adventures with tailgating for college football games! You are my inspiration and if I could be only as little witty as you I’ll be happy! However, looking at your new site overwhelms me and really lets me know that I NEED a new better camera :)
talesoftailgating.blogspot.com
Very cool, I am not used to it but I will get used to it! I check your site out every week!
Love the new web design!! Looks to be much easier to navigate. Thanks!!
I need a site redesign and I am utterly inspired by yours. I am going to go through with it now! Thanks!
i love this site!!
so good, so nice, so smart, so sweet, so cute, so you!!
i really learn things everytime i get here!!
you inspire me!!
Greetings from Colombia!! ^_^
? EileeN
It’s even better now. I love your new design…
Love the website!! Great layout and easy to find stuff!! I think it’s a good choice!
Love the new site… Very professional looking. Great job to everyone. Your creations inspire me to try new things.
It looks really nice! Less blog-like and more professional-website… And still 100% yummy!
I love the new site!!! So easy to navigate. Now I can find some of your fabulous party ideas with a few clicks of a button.
Oh Bakerella! You are just SOOOO good at ALL of this! I love your new site and how easy it is to maneuver! Keep up the great work! Always a fan.
Wow! I LOVE the new layout!! It does make it easier to navigate as if that stopped me before! lol
Thanks for your site, your talent and especially your generosity for sharing it with us :-)
Hi your web site is amazing,congratulations and
thanks for the send , it’s more functional,and easier to
navigate
The new layout is so great! Although I never knew it, it is just what you needed! You have upped the ante for baking sites around the world! It’s so much more functional, and easier to navigate! Love it! Keep amazing us all with your baking ingenuity!
I LOVE this new design! I introduced my mom to your new site and she took my laptop away – I didn’t get it back for over an hour while she looked around. Nice job!
I absolutely love your new design. So well organized!
Will be spending lots of time looking around
Ciao
Anita
LOVE the new layout! Now I can delete all of my old Bakerella stuff, as it is all beautifully organized! You go girl!
Love the new look!
Congratulations!!!
I love this new site, I can foresee hours spend right here.
I’m thrilled you’ve come over to the dark side! And the new design is AWESOME. Take a bow!
Wow ! What canI say that has not been said? Looks as you’ve done it again and quite well I might add! Way to go! And…more importantly..Thank You !
Love Love LOVE the new design. My 3-year old daughter asks me every time I’m on the computer “Can we go to Bakawella to see sweet things!?” We are big fans and the new design will make it so much easier to find what we want. Thank you!!!
I LOVE your new site! It’s much easier to find what you’re looking for. :)
I absolutely LOVE your new website…it makes it easy for an old retired/new to modern technology person like me able to maneuver through and find all your great information and photos!
Love the new site! The visual guidance is so perfect for thouse of us more technically challenged . Keep up the great work !
Really nice. I love it. Congratulations!
WOW ! I love the your new site ! It’s amazing what you’ve done for us ! Thank you, your site is very friendly but full of delicious things. You’ve made a great job !
BRAVO !
You have such an awesome website. Your photography skills are amazing. What you bake is just outstanding. I am so glad I found your blog.
Your new site is wonderful! I visited on Sunday already and had to let my daughter know right away!!! Oh, and I wanted to let you know that I have a Nestle cookbook with that delicious chocolate chip pie and we think your photos of it are more delicious looking than theirs!!! You’ve really inspired me, Bakerella, not only with your creative and yummy recipies but also with your photography! Thank you so much and congratulations on the new site and all your success!
I love your new site! Great job. It just looks so “Bakerella”!
I love it! I wish you would post more but this is a fantastic new site! Congratulations!
Your site look really, really great! Great job on the design.
absolutely adorable!! Love love love it!
the new web is soooooooooooooooooo amazing….
congrats…
What can I say? Just CONGRATULATIONS for this great site and wish you an even greater success.
Cheers from Spain.
Congrats on the smooth transition. The new site looks great! I have been needing to make some transitions myself with weekly emails and blogging. This may have just inspired me to make the changes needed.
Wishing you continued success!
great new site! I like it a lot, the different ways of looking at archives is nice.
Your website looks AWESOME! I love the search bar now!
THANK YOU!!!
Oh, man… it’s awesome… Is there supposed to be three e’s in Sweeet in the tagline?
LOVE the new site – it looks fantastic! I’m a big fan of WordPress and I’m glad that you made the switch – it has some many options that Blogger doesn’t. :) Besides, OMSH is great love her stuff!
Love the new site Bakerella! Can’t wait to dive in and see all of the details. I’m really excited for you and your new look! Happy Baking! :)
love love the new look! Very clean, crisp and cute!
I love it! The site fits you to a T!
Looks fantastic!! Congrats on the move…
The speed…it opened so fast! That was really nice. The layout is pleasant to the eye, nice calm colors and very well tought out. But the speed! It just…OPENED! No waiting for pics to load. Bam! Nice job!
Love it!
I love the new lay out, very bake shopy
I was poking around your new “home” over the weekend and must say I am in LOVE with the new look!
Congratulations! The new site looks wonderful and so easy to use. Thanks for the quick tutorial. Wishing you continued success.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the new site! :-)
I love the new site! It is super easy to navigate around! yaa
sweet! congrats! it looks fabulous.
Congratulations on the launch of your new e-baby :)
Looks great!!
Wonderful! I’m visual too, and the layout is great. Congratulations!
Goodness, I LOVE the new design! It looks so much more polished and professional, and it’s incredibly easy to navigate. Oh, and I certainly wouldn’t complain if you made more breakfast goodies – I need a bigger breakfast arsenal, especially when entertaining overnight guests :o)
Hey, Bakerella! I’m a long time reader, but I’m pretty sure this is one of my first comments on here. I just wanted to say what a wonderful job you did with the new layout (coming from a web designer myself). The site looks beautiful and has so much more functionality now.
It looks great, and I love the functionality of everything!
Looks great! I love being able to search and browse more quickly through your site!
Wow! I feel like I’ve walked into an upscale bakery here!! Excuse me while I change my duds real quick- I’m under dressed! I LOVE it Bakerella!
Congratulations on your new baby! She’s cute and perfectly pink (and brown). It looks like it’s organized very well – sweet! It will be easier to check out your archives for sure – can’t wait to find some goodies.
Way to go Heather! You DO rock ya know?
Your new site is beautiful! I’m looking forward to being able to read your full posts on google reader since that is where I do almost all my reading. Blogs that make me click over just to read the blog generally get deleted from my reader because I’m just too lazy to deal with it! I do click over if I have a comment, though.
oops! i meant to comment here:
I love the new site’s layout! Your success really amazes me. I really hope that someday I’ll be able to be nearly as good as you are. If you have any tips on getting your name out there, please share!