If you’re reading this, my dear and excellent friend, Vickie has finally done it. Yes, a new layout for Lean-Forward after 1.66 years; and yes, the site is now valid XHTML 1.0 strict; and yes, she stuck her face on the header image; but yes, she’s finally not stealing game images; and yes, the theme is also affectionately(?) named “Spike Trap”! And because I’ve known IE for another 1.66 years, this time there was little trouble getting the layout to look the way it’s intended on it! Woo!
I’m not entirely sure about the colours, though, especially with the <em> and the links; but I’ve been staring at the layout for hours and my eyes aren’t bleeding yet, so I guess it’s not too bad! The layout also has so much potential to be a fluid layout, but I shied away… I have yet to fix the smileys and favicon to match the new theme, too.
Pffft, sleep is for the weak!
Vickie Diablos is an unemployable bum allegedly qualified to work in the health IT field, a hardcore gamer geek and a socially awkward logic and science nerd. She thought keeping a "cool blog" would make her a cool person. Alas. 
Vickie
7 Mar 2008
4:18 am
This is what an official comment looks like. Isn’t it cute?
Kiera
7 Mar 2008
7:27 am
I like it, and the colors. ^_^
So yay, good job! *gives two thumbs up*
Tara
7 Mar 2008
7:56 am
Oh, this layout is so cute! ^__^ I love the colours and how simplistic it is.
Dee
7 Mar 2008
9:15 am
Wow, I love it. And the colour scheme is great; brown is always classy.
Vanessa
7 Mar 2008
2:54 pm
What a great layout! I love the simplicity of it! ^_^
Pat
8 Mar 2008
3:19 am
yay! congratulations on being validated. how I wish I have the knowledge and patience to work on my site.
you truly deserve it.
Helga
8 Mar 2008
5:34 am
I like how sleek it looks and I am loving the colors.
You also had me at “No, wait, come back!”
Ally
8 Mar 2008
10:51 am
The new layout looks great. Good job.
Melle
8 Mar 2008
5:34 pm
Well, if you use IE and it looks perfectly fine to you there, it looks fantastic to me. I don’t know why but some people are just incredibly skilled at making layouts look more simplistic than they truly are. I am reading up on XHTML now. I just hope I can make something as great as this…The only thing is, the colors on the sidebar, for the headers are a little light. It could just be my eyesight because I couldn’t find the sidebar at first. =/
Vickie
8 Mar 2008
7:48 pm
I use Firefox, but also check my sites on Opera, Internet Explorer 6 and 7. IE 6 and 7 almost always give me a massive headache. If you look close enough, though, you can see that IE still hates me.
But thanks, Melle, for alerting me to the sidebar and header links not having enough contrast against the background. I picked the colours on a calibrated monitor; but I’ll try to fix it and make it more accessible!
Emma
9 Mar 2008
12:30 am
Wow it looks great, well done on getting it valid, for old old layout I tried to make it valid but it took to long so I just used a layout someone else made, my laziness knows no limits
Allison
9 Mar 2008
7:34 am
I am not sure what your layout looked like previously – but your new one is very cute! I like it a lot
Aisling
9 Mar 2008
12:53 pm
Oooh, it looks fabulous!! I am jealous of your skills!
aileen
10 Mar 2008
9:04 pm
the layout looks good. it’s simple (in the sense that it doesn’t have any graphics in bulk) but effective! Looks professional.
Sara
11 Mar 2008
10:15 am
Love it! It’s so easy on my eyes, too, I got sensitive eyeballs, and some peoples’ layouts positively blind the sheeet out of me. x.x
BillieJean
11 Mar 2008
11:15 am
Very nice. I love the colors.
Nanda
12 Mar 2008
6:26 am
I love the new layout! It looks very organized and easy on the eyes. Well done!
I love the colour scheme, too! 
Jonna
15 Mar 2008
9:42 pm
I think the layout looks great. Gloomy, but professional-looking. (And there’s nothing wrong with gloomy!)
Jenny
19 Mar 2008
2:27 am
awesome! I love the new theme. Great work and again I am officially jealous! ;D
Lisa
29 Mar 2008
2:39 am
I think your theme looks great!