posted 2007/02/10 at 22:09
If you're reading this on the .org (and not via syndication), then you've probably noticed by now that I've launched the new design of the Website. I haven't gotten the new design spread to every page yet, but all the main index pages and archive pages have been updated, and I even went and fixed the archive index after Blogger messed it up. I know that the columns aren't lining up on the top in Firefox like they should, but I'll be looking into that here over the next few days.
I have to say that it was actually kind of hard for me to take the old design down. For all that this new design has its advantages over the old design (especially now that I've got ads up on here), I really liked that old design. I'm sure I'll grow to like this new design even more over time, I know, but moving on -- even when it comes to something as relatively insignificant as a Website design -- is never easy for me.
Oh, and while I was working on the redesign I also wrote a new autobiographical page to replace the old one that I hadn't updated all that much since the first couple of years of the Website. Why do I get the feeling that now that I've got advertisements on the .org, I'm going to suddenly find my motivation to keep the site updated on a regular basis again?
Sean, a quick piece of advice: if you're using the Trebuchet font as your main posting text font, then I'd recommend going no lower than 12 on the size. If you're adamant about keeping the font size, at least spread out the sentences using a line-height command in your CSS file.
I suggest this because the main body font is pretty small and difficult to read, especially when doing long-form posts like the ones you tend to write. I'm still a sucker for Verdana; it's so easy on the eyes.
As far as the rest of the design goes, I must commend you for at least creating the template from scratch. Blogger's code system is so antiquated that it always amazes me whenever someone is able to design something for them from scratch.
Jeremy: I may try tweaking the font size later here. Funnily enough, I stole a lot of the ideas for the redesign from the current iteration of Ariel's Website, where she uses an even smaller version of Trebuchet for the body. I agree with you that Verdana is great for small-size visibility, but it's also kind of a bit overdone at this point, and stylistically I think Trebuchet works a lot better with the new Georgia headers than Verdana would.
Joe: Sorry to hear about Safari, but for obvious reasons I can't test on Safari right now. (Were I still going to UT, I could at least hop on one of the Macs there to test it out.) Back when I was doing the Web design thing for a living, there were services on the Web that would show you how your Website would render under different browsers, but that was so long ago that the main issue there was IE vs. Netscape Navigator. Do you know if there's an online service that can show you in real-time what a Website looks like under Safari?
Actually, it looks much better now. Maybe I was just looking at it when you were in mid update...it had a darkish screen with a white adsense border that filled the screen. But now it looks quite nice in any browser I use. :-)
When you get a steady income, I suggest converting to a Mac. It is much nice for a creative person like yourself.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon