I’m thrilled to announce that Sweetopia has undergone a site revamp!
I hope you like what’s been done!
The design hasn’t changed much since January of 2009, when I began the blog, and we hoped to make the site a bit easier to navigate for you. We added a recipe section and categorized the tutorial section according to corresponding sweets. (Cookies, Cupcakes, Icing etc.)
We, being the web designer Arthur Kononuk, and myself. I’m so fortunate to have such a talented web designer to work with! He’s the mastermind behind the new changes and all the sweet graphics. You can find him on his site, Grenadier, here.
Besides polishing up the Sweetopia logo…
… he added social icons to the top and bottom of the site, so that we can connect on Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Pinterest. You can also sign up for news and post updates by clicking on the little envelope on the top right.
The Cookie Decorator Directory has been revamped so that there’s more room for new Cookie Decorators, the map is larger, and, happy news, we are on the first page of Google for people looking for cookie decorators!
Those of you who are interested in possible sponsorship, we have updated our advertising options and those who have been waiting we are ready to take orders.
Thank you Arthur for patiently working on all the design and technical aspects and thank you to my dedicated readers for visiting Sweetopia!
Known Bugs
There are a few known site issues we have yet to fix :
Long post titles squishing- Some thumbnails are not loading
- Certain post images are being stretched
Bullets and numbering lists not all working
Please leave me your feedback and/or report any issues you’ve noticed with the new site; I’d love to hear from you!
xo,
Marian
Arthur says
Yahoo! congrats Marian thanks for the hard work 😀 (Which is not over yet)
Renee - Kudos Kitchen says
I’m glad to see you haven’t changed it too, too much (I’ve always loved your site design). Just cleaned it up a bit and made it more user friendly. Nice changes Marian! Thumbs up!
Taylor says
Wow- the site looks amazing! Love the colours and can’t wait to snoop around! 🙂
Katrin says
Marian,
looks great – although I kinda liked the little whimsical touches in your logo that are no longer there 🙁
But that is minor HA
Alice says
I love this it’s beautiful good luck with it xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Alice says
love this it’s beautiful good luck with it xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Laura Vree says
Beautiful Marian – congrats on the new site!
Heather - Chickabug says
Congratulations on the ‘facelift’, Marian! : ) The new site is cleaner and easier to navigate, but it doesn’t lose any of the charm the old site had. It looks fabulous!
KimB says
Looks great! I loved it before…but the minor changes have really updated it!
trisha says
Congrats…you could have a blank page w/ just your cookies and get tutorials and we would love it. We are lucky to enjoy your talents.
niner // We Choose Organic - sweet treats says
OHHHHHHHHH
I L O V E IT!!!!
Seriously Arthur, from one webdesigner to another: AMAZING!
You both did a gooood job, so happy you have a new design, I am seriously in love haha
Much success and whenever I notice anything thats not working right, I will let you know.
much love Marian,
niner
xoxo
ps. wohooooo!!
Susan kulungian says
Marian, your new site design is great! I came right over from pinterest to check it out. I like how your most popular Recent posts scroll across the top! I’m going to click on each of them in case I accidentally missed one! I can’t believe it’ll be 3 years in January since you started your blog! It’s been fabulous from the first post. Xo
Mighty Morgan says
The new site looks fabulous….I liked the old one too….so my input is limited…..can’t wait to navigate it more!!!! Great job!!!!
Wanda Ruiz says
Looks great, I love it!! 🙂 Congratz!
Elsa says
Its beautiful! I love how everything is right at your fingertips! <3 it!
Shellie Cadogan says
I love it! i love the shade of pink too!
Deb says
Great new site. Easy to get around and find things. Thanks so much!
marian says
Thanks for your sweet feedback everyone!
@ Arthur: Thank you for your hard work – plain and simple, could not do it without you!
@ Katrin: I liked the little hanging cookies too; hmm? Thanks for your feedback.
@ niner // We Choose Organic – sweet treats: I’m so glad you like the web design too Ms. talented designer too. xo
@ Susan kulungian: I know! Can you believe it’s been 3 years since meeting on flickr?! Thanks for always visiting Susan. xo
meaghan (the decorated cookie) says
You have officially inspired me. I’ve been toying with upgrading all week. Done and done, I’m movin’ on it :). Looks fabulous!!!
Nilda says
WOW!! I love the new design, beautiful!! Congratulations!! xoxo.
Arthur says
@ niner // We Choose Organic – sweet treats:
Thanks Niner!!
aiesha says
i like the new design its rly cute
Sarah says
I miss the little hanging signs, I thought they were adorable but otherwise everything else is two big thumbs up!
linda says
kudos…
buttoned up & beautiful & concise!
when your logo is not embedded in your banner, i like the ornament hanging from the candy…
Missy says
Got my first look this morning. Wonderful! Clean, neat and cute.
Yvette says
Anything you are involved with turn beautiful so I am not surprised that your website is gorgeous! I love the “softness” to it…does that make sense?
Ladybug Luggage says
Beautiful, simple & elegant. Thank you for sharing 😉
Shelley says
It looks fabulous Marianne! I’ve always loved your site/logo design, and this just took it up a notch. 🙂 -Shelley
sandie says
Looks great. No doubt a lot of hard work went into this
Rosie says
Awesome!!! I’m glad you didn’t change it much since I love your site, design and pink 🙂
Congratulations, I love your site and visit often.
God bless!!
Gisel says
I love the new design. Its definitely easier to navigate. Congratulations!!Cannot wait to see more of your beautiful cookie designs.
Paula says
The new design is lovely, still Sweetopia just a more *professional* one. (not that you weren’t very professional before but I think you know what I mean) Great work and collaboration between you and Arthur.
sweetsugarbelle says
Perfect! Different yet the same Sweetopia we know and love! I like it, A LOT!
Kimmie says
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Looks fabulous!
Elsa says
The new site looks amazing!!! Keep up the great work.
sweetiepetitti says
Very nice. I love the subtlety of it, really easy on the eyes. Now I gotta figure out how to get my mug next to my comment…although I do feel a bit like a dough boy these days!
Josee says
It’s awesome, except I had no idea how to get to your latest blog post…I ended up finding it by clicking “Archives”.
I think there should be a way to get to it from the home page, unless there is and I just missed it?
Estibaliz says
I find the new design lighter and easier to use, and looovely, of course. Congratulations!
Marian says
Thanks for the feedback everyone! Xo
Maria says
Congrats on the new look!
Stephanie says
@ Katrin:
me too! I can’t imagine why it’s thought to be better without them :/
Jennifer says
Looks fantastic and it IS easier to navigate. 🙂 I already started stalking your pins on Pinterest. Thanks for all the great work and inspirations!
Stacey says
Sorry but I REALLY do not like the revamp. I visit 20-30 baking sites weekly, and probably another 20-25 less frequently. Every single one is set up so that you can easily see the newest ideas and recipes at the top of the home page as soon as it loads. This is an EXTREMELY user friendly and convenient option. I have no clue where the newest recipes are now on Sweetopia. It looks jumbled and unorganized. You have to think that if it is a good idea for such a large number of other sites, it is really smart to detour so far from the norm for this one small site? Can a website jump the shark? It is unfortunate because I have gotten some very good ideas from Sweetopia in the past. But I will honestly give it maybe another month. If I cannot figure out how to navigate the mess in that time I will be removing Sweetopia from my regularly visited sites, and I certainly won’t be referring others here anymore either. Other sites that have undergone such a major overhaul at least offer loyal followers the option of viewing the site in the old format but clearly that isn’t an option here. I think that if you wanted to be ‘different’ and stand out, you should have been able to do it based on the merit of your ideas and creations alone. You didn’t need to try and do it with turning your site inside out. IMO the only thing your site needed was improvement on how slowly it always loaded. The content and format were fine before. I would be very surprised if your hit count didn’t take a hit itself because of this poor new design. Sorry.
Arthur says
@ sweetiepetitti:
Sweetopia uses Gravatar for custom user avatars. It’s a pretty universal system so you’ll likely find it work on many other blogs as well.
@ Stacey:
Thanks for your feedback! The idea of the sweetopia homepage is to serve similar to that of a magazine cover. We wanted to create interest for readers by showing nice large images (photos) Marian has shot, to showcase her work front and centre. You can navigate through the items by clicking the arrows on the left or right sides. Similar to the old layout it showcases the the last five posts. We will be taking comments like this into consideration so again thank you.
Diana Keller-Cannon says
Marion,
Love your new site!
marian says
Thanks for commenting everyone! =)
@ Stacey: Thanks for your in-depth feedback – we’ll definitely look at your suggestions.
gloria says
it looks great!!!cleaner and easier to navigate…congratulations from Spain!!
Melissa says
Replace LATEST VIDEO with LATEST BLOG POST on the home page!
faigy says
Love your new look – congratulations!
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Thanks ladies for the feedback. @ Melissa: We’ll definitely incorporate latest blog post somehow; thanks for the idea.