Big Changes Coming

Designing (or in this case, REdesigning) a website is a process, much like designing anything else. There is the brainstorming phase, then the process of fleshing out a concept you like. Once you’ve got an idea pretty squarely in your head, the process of creating a mockup, creating a one or two page mini-implementation just to see if the concept works in practice, and to refine the little things that give a site polish. Then comes the task of implementing the changes. If you’ve done your homework, then the implementation should be relatively easy. Otherwise, it becomes an arduous task.

Well, brainstorming is complete, and mockup is complete. I’m implementing the changes on my local machine first, at which point it will be a very easy, smooth, and quick transition. It might be an unrealistic expectation, but I plan to have it implemented by the end of the week.

A temporary link to a static (non-working) mockup is here.

3 thoughts on “Big Changes Coming

  1. Alas, no syndication link on the mockup! :( Good thing I already subscribe! :)

    It looks really nice. Very usable (clear menus, nice high search box). No display problems in Opera. I don’t miss the calendar, because I rarely use them, but since they’re so ubiquitous on blogs I wonder if others would. And you have a category archive, but no date archive. Is this intentional? (I’m guessing it is, since the posts have no dates as well) Again, to me, not a problem, just curious.

    (Speaking of curious, do you mind sharing your “subscribe” updates trick with me? :) Does it work automagically when you post?)

    Off the top of my head, that’s all I came up with. The color scheme is really nice though, and I like having all the nav on the top instead of the side…really sweet :)

  2. Wait, wait. Someone actually USES that syndication link??? *boggle* I’ll re-add it in the final.

    I’ve received some flack for the redesign, but it’s varied pretty heavily. My parents feel it’s too wide (not going to change it: 800px is acceptable, and narrower would mean I’d have to change how I display my gallery), and my wife dislikes the lack of dates (debating putting date dividers back, but not the calendar, and undecided about a pulldown by month).

    The “subscribe” trick isn’t much of a trick. I don’t use it right now because I have no subscribers ;). Basically, after you’ve published your post, scroll to the bottom, and there will be a button to “notify”. This sends either an excerpt, the body, or the whole post to your subscriber list automatically. (As to which it sends, you can specify, and also pick a default in your preferences.)

    Glad you like it, man :).

  3. ::gasp:: Absolute width statements? How will I view it on my cell phone?! :P

    I would vote in favor of post dates, actually, but I’m not sure a month pulldown is a real necessity…I’m more likely to try to find something by category, or to browse sequentially. I rarely use the month links on anyone’s blogs.

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