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Upcoming Changes
Friday December 26th, 2008So I'm working on an update to my website. For those counting at home, yes, this is the fourth redesign in a little over a year. The last major rehaul was in February or so, and I think the design has held up fairly well. I'm ready for something really fresh and exciting, and this new design takes a completely new direction.
There have been a few things on my mind during the design/prototyping phase of this new look. One is the theme—this next theme is column-based, and almost entirely composed of text. The only image is the background one, and I'm considering actually going for a background color instead. That cuts down on downloads, and on HTTP requests, which goes a long way in terms of just making the page feel faster to more people.
Another choice I'm making is to use slightly unconventional link styles. Just like I blogged about, I'm using highlighter-style background colors, and no underlining. I then used a CSS3 selector that allows me to separate external links (ones to other websites) from internal ones, and I specified a different cursor for those. Some people put little globes next to those links, or other little icons, but then they're just inserting images into their text. I think the advantage of this cursor-based system is that on a mouse-based system, visitors will be able to learn which links leave my site and which do not. On systems without mice, like phones, and even on older browsers, there is no significant loss, which makes this a progressive enhancement.
Also, I'm significantly trimming the navigation. I'm going to have one portfolio page for only my web work, and get rid of the About page. The About page is not exactly useful, and I've built a small footer that has all the important stuff to replace it. I don't need a separate page just for my two-line description of myself.
Some people might think that I redesign my web page more often that necessary. I would disagree because I am always finding out better ways to design the layout, better ways to write the code, and better ways to optimize download times. Besides, it's a lot of fun just to buckle down and work on my own site in between working for other people.
So keep your eyes/feed readers peeled for the next redesign, I hope that it turns out to be a good improvement.
Tags: ramblings site update Next Previous
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