New blog design

As you may have noticed, the design of the blog has changed. Primary motivation of this redesign is to switch to a
neutral white background which is best suited for the screenshots as well as
reading longer text. Another is to give a touch of branding.

The header uses signature colors of the Visual Studio
brand, which in turn simply employs these primary and complementary Microsoft
brand colors.

The primary background for the Visual Studio identity
system consists of two elements: the primary color gradient and the white
particle wave. Each of these elements may be used independently, but the
combination of the two is the preferred background for Visual Studio brand
communications.

The white particle wave is a flexible, infinite grid of translucent
white dots that evokes the integrated nature and functionality of Visual
Studio. Its dynamic, flowing shape is maximized to create an inspirational
visual metaphor for the millions who make up the developer community.

The timeline in header depicts the evolution of
technology in general - right from ancient abacus, punch cards and tapes of
yester years, to PC and explosion of web, all the way to the next big thing
'virtualization'. The layout is optimized to give more space and visual
prominence to blog posts and relatively less to navigation links.

We hope you will enjoy the new design.