The NEW Dainty Squid

by Kaylah Stroup

I’m a few weeks late making this announcement, I was just waiting until a few loose ends were tied up first, but The Dainty Squid has a brand new look! You’ve probably already noticed by now but I’m super excited about it, and just wanted to point out a few things (and of course, encourage you to hop over to view the actual site!)

The Dainty Squid has made the switch from blogger to wordpress. It’s something I’d been putting off for…well… literally years. I always made excuses why it wouldn’t be worth it but duuuuude, so worth it. Despite a few small mishaps, I’m very happy with how everything turned out. My main goal with the switch was to make the blog somewhere easier to click around and stay a while. I don’t want you to just come and read the newest post, I want you to have multiple ways to be able to browse past posts. I feel like I definitely accomplished that, especially if you just start off on the main page.

My other big goal was to make something a bit more mobile friendly since so much of my traffic is through mobile devices. The Dainty Squid is still best viewed on a computer, in my opinion, but it should now be a lot easier to browse on your phone. Make sure to hop over and check us out on your computer if you get the chance. It’s so pretty!

Some other fun things include much larger photos, a new about page, new advertising page, new categories in the sidebar to make browsing easier, and a silly 404 error page.

There were a few issues with the RSS feed. I got Bloglovin’ fixed but if you’re using another other sort of reader you may need to update your feed. www.thedaintysquid.com/feed should do the trick! Otherwise, all links should lead to the same place with a few exceptions like some very old posts that were deleted. I cleaned out the archives and got rid of a lot of posts that just didn’t feel very relevant to my life anymore.

So yeah, I’m pretty excited. I love The Dainty Squid’s new website and I hope you do too! I think it’s a lot more visually appealing!
xoxo

PS. If you wouldn’t mind indulging me, how do you find out about new posts? Do you follow through a website like bloglovin? If so, which one? Do you wait until I post about them on social media? Or do you simply visit thedaintysquid.com? I’m very curious!

Also, I recommend following through bloglovin’ for the fact that if something does go awry again I’m able to contact them and get that fixed. Through other readers I have no control and there’s no way for me to contact anyone to say “hey, this changed, this is where you can find me now”.

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56 comments

Alexandra April 20, 2017 - 10:00 am

Changing sites is so much work but definitely worth it-congrats on the new look! I just come straight to your blog first thing every morning when I get to work and spend way too much time poking around 😉

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:25 pm

Thank ya! ❤️

amberly April 20, 2017 - 10:12 am

How do i find out about new posts? Opening a new tab in Firefox shows me a bunch of websites I visit often and yours is usually there…so I guess I just end up visiting the website directly. For anything I missed, I definitely catch up by seeing your social media.

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 11:13 am

Ah! Nice! Happy to hear mine is one of your most visisted! 🙂

Amanda April 20, 2017 - 10:28 am

Looks great! I read through bloglovin.

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 11:14 am

👍

Weika April 20, 2017 - 10:30 am

The new website looks amazing 🙂 I think it gives a lot of options when it comes to how you want to browse it and it’s easy to use! Just to answer your question, I visit the Dainty Squid every other day, I’ve been following you for years and it’s in my bookmarks so yeah, simple as that 🙂 And if I haven’t seen it as soon as it is out, I usually get reminded to check it out on facebook 🙂

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 11:14 am

Good to know! 👍 Thank you!

Tara April 20, 2017 - 11:03 am

Kaylah! I love this new look! I love being able to see your photos in a larger format.

To answer your question: I check your blog every day! It’s sort of part of my morning routine. Make coffee, check email, and check my favorite blogs. Yours included, of course! I do follow you on instagram, but that’s mostly because I can’t get enough of your photos!

Congrats again on the new look! It looks great!

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 11:17 am

Thank you so much, Tara! 🙂

What are some of your other favorites?

Stephanie April 20, 2017 - 11:40 am

Looks great. I love the new look!

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:16 pm

Thanks, Stephanie!

meescha dare April 20, 2017 - 11:46 am

Love the new look! I’m trying to fiddle with my little blog to make it more ‘pretty’ but I keep finding myself putting it off haha 🙂

I check your blog everyday (except weekends now because you tend not to post too much then) but it just fills out my morning, and has for years. It’s part of my routine, check email, check blogs etc. check orders. I’ve been following you since your Etsy days, which, I must admit, really miss. And that’s only because I sapped all of the energy and creativity from your posts and used it as my own throughout the day!

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:17 pm

Thank ya! I’m so happy to hear that! 🙂

Laura April 20, 2017 - 1:33 pm

I follow through bloglovin’! Love the new site design!

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:19 pm

Thanks, Laura!

Sam April 20, 2017 - 1:52 pm

I find it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! I have blog lovin but i rarely use it 🙁 loving the new site!

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:22 pm

Thanks, Sam!

Laurali Star April 20, 2017 - 2:59 pm

I love the new site! I didn’t know you were on WordPress, but it makes sense. It’s lovely! As far as finding you, I use Google, you are also on my most visited list, and I go to your website directly, every weekday 🙂 Hope that helps!

~Laurali Star
http://www.lauralistarxo.com

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:20 pm

Thanks, Laurali! It definitely does. 🙂

Sydney April 20, 2017 - 3:08 pm

I actually use the Blogger Reading List, it works for all blog platforms and I like having everything in the one space (and I hate Bloglovin with a passion personally). It did stop updating a while when you switched to your real name url, but I found it again by searching you. I follow you on Instagram too so I’d see any notifications there. I’m a complete lurker but I’ve been reading your blog for years, I love seeing how it’s progressed and grown with you!

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:35 pm

Ah, good to know! I actually prefer that too but need to find something else now that I’m no longer using blogger for anything.

🙂

Marine April 20, 2017 - 4:05 pm

I noticed the change a few weeks ago – it’s fantastic! The main page does lag on my browser though for some reason 🙁
I’ve considered the switch to wordpress as well… was it complicated? I feel like all I know how to do anymore is blogger coding, that’s the only thing keeping me from switching!
As far as how I follow – I use Feedly. Never been a fan of the Bloglovin’ interface. You’re right though, I only noticed the switch when I realized I hadn’t seen a post from you in a while and you post frequently enough that I went to the website to see what was up 😉

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:47 pm

It was fairly easy! There are so many little plug-ins that make importing everything painless and there are SO many tutorials for basically anything you may have a problem with. I recommend making the switch sooner than later if it’s something you’re interested in. I LOVE IT.

evgenii grigorev April 20, 2017 - 4:06 pm

I’m reading you for 3 years. Just checking your site every day and sometimes get notified via twitter and Instagram. I’ve never commented before, though. My own website moved along all the blogging platforms, so I can understand your feelings about migrating from Blogger to WordPress. WP is better in my opinion, and more flexible. It’s easier to use.

If you don’t mind, I can give you a simple advice (or recommendation) how to ease your readers’ life. There’s an official free plugin by WordPress developers called Jetpack. It has an option to add checkboxes under comment field with “subscribe to blog” and “subscribe to comments” functions. So users will get notified if a discussion is going further or if you or someone else replied to their comment.

Sorry for all the mistakes. I’m not a native English-speaker. Have a good day.

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:34 pm

Well glad to see you commenting now! 🙂

Ah, good idea. I just went in to change that and apparently it was already enabled so I guess it’s something in my layout itself that needs changed. I’ll look into it more soon.

Kristina B April 20, 2017 - 4:33 pm

I’m soooo happy you moved to WP because now I can COMMENT! Blogger was such a jerk and would never let me comment unless I was signed into my Gmail or whatever. This is way better.

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 6:57 pm

😘

Amanda S April 20, 2017 - 4:38 pm

I just visit you on a daily basis by thedaintysquid.com 🙂 Your blog is currently the only one I read – unless Elycia has posted 🙂

I love the new look! Matches your awesome new life! <3

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:27 pm

Thanks for the info! 🙂

Gah, Elycia! I tell her EVERY SINGLE TIME I see her that she needs to get back to blogging! I hope she gets back into the swing of it someday. I miss her blog.

Mindi April 20, 2017 - 7:58 pm

I ADORE the new look Kaylah! I’ve always thought your blog was very pretty to look at, but this really does look spectacular. I bet it feels super refreshing too, especially after cleaning out your archives. Spring cleaning for your virtual home 😄

As for your question-I visit your blog everyday by going straight to TheDaintySquid.com…I used to use Bloglovin’ but it slows my computer down. Once I get a new one, I plan on going back to Bloglovin-it was my favorite way to stay up to date on all my favorite blogs.

Your excitement is contagious 🙌😸

Kaylah April 20, 2017 - 8:32 pm

Thank you, Mindi!!! 🙂

Jill Cannon April 20, 2017 - 10:13 pm

I actually found your blog through Facebook. It was recommended to me after I visited another blog I follow via the Facebook app. I’m really glad that happened! Now I’m following you on Facebook and instagram but I usually check your site directly everyday to see if there’s anything new.

Kaylah April 21, 2017 - 7:57 am

Neat! Way to go Facebook!

Glad you found me, Jill! 🙂

Marles April 20, 2017 - 11:22 pm

I follow the blog on Bloglovin, but I’m the worst at checking it for new updates. I am, however, the best at immediately opening every mention of a new post on Twitter! I think I can honestly say, I never miss a post thanks to Twitter

Kaylah April 21, 2017 - 7:56 am

Ah! Nice! Sometimes I feel like posting to twitter can be redundant so I’m happy to hear that! 🙂

Marg April 21, 2017 - 3:35 am

I used to use bloglovin and sometimes checkmin there, but the pile of unread posts is too intimidating, so I usually click through on fb now, or if I see a post on IG that sounds interesting!

It’s looking lovely!

Kaylah April 21, 2017 - 7:55 am

Good to know! I feel the same way, sometimes seeing that there are so many unread posts makes me feel like “Oh, well, nevermind!” 😛

Indya | TheSmallAdventurer April 21, 2017 - 6:08 am

I was using Blogger’s Reading List and noticed immediately that I didn’t see one of your newer posts that you mentioned on Instagram, but I quickly followed you again under ‘kaylahdoolan.com’ since that’s what I was redirected to, and it’s been working ever since.

I love the new look, it’s so easy to navigate and appealing to the eyes! I also would not object to a post about the ins and outs of moving to Wordpress since it’s something that I am apparently going to have to do at some point, and I have no idea where to start 😫

http://www.thesmalladventurer.blogspot.com.au/

Kaylah April 21, 2017 - 7:54 am

Thanks, Indya! To be honest, I just googled my way through the process! There is a plug-in on wordpress that makes it super easy to import all your old posts, including the comments! It’s definitely a little bit of work but worth any hassle, for sure!

Rozi April 21, 2017 - 8:22 am

I love the new site, Kaylah! I always come to your site directly – one of very few websites I still do that with but I visit so often that I just need to type “th…” in my browser at it autofills the URL for The Dainty Squid, haha. I tend to visit once a week on average, wait for a few posts to rack up and then read them on my lunch-break. It was on my visit last week that I was like “omg new layout! This looks AMAAAAZING”! So yes, love everything you’re doing and keep doing it 🙂

Kaylah April 25, 2017 - 8:54 am

Hehe! Thank you so much! 🙂

Susan W. April 21, 2017 - 11:13 am

I use Bloglovin’ – receive an email every morning telling me who’s posted something new on the blogs that I follow.

Kaylah April 23, 2017 - 8:50 am

Thanks for the info! 🙂

Hannah April 21, 2017 - 11:45 am

I find out about new posts by literally just coming here a few times a week. The new page looks great. WP is the bomb dot com. Congrats lady! 🙂

Kaylah April 23, 2017 - 8:50 am

Thanks so much, Hannah! 🙂

Maria April 21, 2017 - 11:11 pm

I do the super manual way of hopping over to thedaintysquid.com everyday. I don’t rely on readers or social media for prompts!

I’ve been loving the new blog since the day you launched it… I think it perfectly matches your pretty house! The gray panels look like your walls, and the lovely photos supply the greens and colors present in your home. 😊

Kaylah April 25, 2017 - 8:53 am

Thank you so much, Maria! 🙂

Emma April 22, 2017 - 10:47 am

Maybe I am just missing it somewhere, but the only thing I think the new layout is missing are links for the previous and next posts at the bottom of each post. I read everything once a week and find it much easier to read when I can click in the bottom versus having to go back to the main page and scroll through.

Kaylah April 23, 2017 - 12:08 pm

They’re still there! They might just be a little bit lower on the page than normal?

Alyse April 29, 2017 - 4:41 pm

I use the feedly app to read blogs!

Kaylah May 2, 2017 - 9:10 am

👍

Cherie in st louis May 1, 2017 - 9:24 pm

I find new posts using Feedly. I love the new blog and spent some time clicking around:)

Kaylah May 2, 2017 - 8:52 am

🙂

Lindsay May 27, 2017 - 1:13 am

For somebody just starting a blog with the hopes of growing it over time – would you recommend starting with blogger, or starting with wordpress?

I visit you directly through thedaintysquid.com 2-3 times a week!

Kaylah May 31, 2017 - 7:29 am

Probably blogger. It’s a great platform to start off on. It’s easy to use and it’s free. 🙂

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