Better Late Than Never!

A little over six weeks ago I posted about freshening up my blog in the context of Spring and making things new again!  I spent some time looking at other blogs to see what I liked and disliked.  I played around with changing from side gadgets to the newer pages (tabs) for a cleaner look on my Home Page so that the right side of The Keough Corner would be more inviting and less of a laundry list of gadgets.  I have found that pages (tabs) give me the ability to provide in-depth information that is useful but does not need to be front and center on my blog.  While I originally thought I could make the changes in a week or two (woman plans and God laughs) that was not to be.  Life happened and things got in the way.  However, this weekend (and since I am not at Jamboree ~ sigh!) I spent some time finishing this project and today am rolling out an improved The Keough Corner. 

So careful readers what has changed?

• Print Friendly added to each post - this is an easy and quick add so readers can print out a post (thanks DearMyrtle).
• Favorite Websites Page added - this page is my version of a research toolbox (thanks Thomas MacEntee) with a discussion of the websites I use for research as well as their links, under the following categories (this is a work in progress).
• General
• Education & Webinars
• Ireland
• Newfoundland
• USA
• People, Places & Things Page added  - this page gives me the ability to discuss my family surnames, places of origin, and the products I use in greater detail.
• Keough Surnames Gadget removed
• Murphy Surnames Gadget removed
• My 12 Favorite Things Gadget removed
• Posts by Topic Page added - I mentioned this idea in my April 26 post and I think this layout is cleaner and clearer for Post Topics grouped by category (thanks again to Julie of Genblog for the suggestion and the example).
• Labels Gadget removed
• Posts by Date Page added - Also mentioned in my April 26 post and I think it is a great idea to provide Posts by date on a separate page rather than a gadget (and it is less visually distracting).
• Archives Gadget removed

Since gadgets show up on each of the Pages using the Blogger format (something called static pages), I will probably limit my gadgets to photos, the creative commons' license, and my legal disclaimer. 

There are still a few more pages I am working on and they will (hopefully) be up by the end of June.  In the meantime, I welcome your comments and suggestions.  What do you think of the new look?  Cheers