Site update details
31/12/07 20:53 Filed in: Website Updates
There
wasn't anything spectacularly wrong with this website, but it did
look like what it was, a collection of pages and sections that were
pretty much bolted together as I needed them and as my
understanding of the inner workings of Rapidweaver evolved.
The design of the site reflected that
hodge podge of comprehension and needs and while there was some
internal consistency, it was possible to move from one part of the
site to another and wonder if you were still in the same
domain.
If I've spent that last eight days well, the look and feel should be a bit more consistent and suggest that the content came from the same place.
I've also been thinking through the work that the site does.
Part of it is a commercial portfolio, part is an outlet for work that I've done that I want to share and part of it serves as an engine for my business - and that's just the pictures.
Getting the site harmonised was made much easier by the themes created for Rapidweaver by Gary Byrd of RapidweaverThemes. I'd been using a few of his themes in the earlier version of the website and enjoyed their accessibility and Gary's willingness to embrace value added changes to the themes. I bought his bundle of RW 3.6 ready themes and set them aside until the season allowed a clear few days to mess around with them.
Pretty much every key page on the site is either RWT Mojo or EZ3. I've retained the free MultiNoTheme from MultiThemes for the BitDepth blog pages.
Key to unifying the pages was tying the headers for all the pages into a single style that informed at a glance and didn't overwhelm the content, which is easier to do with Rapidweaver than you might imagine.
I settled on a template with a ghosted back text background set in Arno Pro Italic Display with bold text in a much smaller size that lets you know exactly where you are set in Eurostile Bold.
The template was built in Photoshop and exported in various sizes and widths according to the theme and the way I tweaked it for final use. I radically underutilise the powerful text editor TextMate to view the HTML and CSS embedded in the themes and make some adjustments for style. I still can't write CSS, but the clearly commented code in most RW themes makes it fairly easy to tweak pages without breaking the original designer's intent.
The new home page, like the old one was built using Blocks, a plug-in for RW that allows for layouts of code and art with the efficiency and accuracy of page layout software.
Regular visitors who hit the homepage first will see huge changes. I've put the master links down at the foot of the page, reduced the overall size of the homepage footprint so that all of it will display in most browser windows and put the key aspects of the site front and centre; a sample of my current photography that will change every week and a group of links drawn from my blog page that summarises recent entries and site changes.
There will be more changes, tweaks and updates over the next few days as folks spank the pages and make them cry.
My new captioning for the image pages will take a little while, but once those pages are updated, the thumbnails will have no text but full display pages will have much more detail about each photo.
Hmmm. Tell people what the pictures are about. What a striking idea!
Please feel free to use the comments link or the contact page to let me know what you think about the changes and to offer any thoughts that might improve accessibility and design.
If I've spent that last eight days well, the look and feel should be a bit more consistent and suggest that the content came from the same place.
I've also been thinking through the work that the site does.
Part of it is a commercial portfolio, part is an outlet for work that I've done that I want to share and part of it serves as an engine for my business - and that's just the pictures.
Getting the site harmonised was made much easier by the themes created for Rapidweaver by Gary Byrd of RapidweaverThemes. I'd been using a few of his themes in the earlier version of the website and enjoyed their accessibility and Gary's willingness to embrace value added changes to the themes. I bought his bundle of RW 3.6 ready themes and set them aside until the season allowed a clear few days to mess around with them.
Pretty much every key page on the site is either RWT Mojo or EZ3. I've retained the free MultiNoTheme from MultiThemes for the BitDepth blog pages.
Key to unifying the pages was tying the headers for all the pages into a single style that informed at a glance and didn't overwhelm the content, which is easier to do with Rapidweaver than you might imagine.
I settled on a template with a ghosted back text background set in Arno Pro Italic Display with bold text in a much smaller size that lets you know exactly where you are set in Eurostile Bold.
The template was built in Photoshop and exported in various sizes and widths according to the theme and the way I tweaked it for final use. I radically underutilise the powerful text editor TextMate to view the HTML and CSS embedded in the themes and make some adjustments for style. I still can't write CSS, but the clearly commented code in most RW themes makes it fairly easy to tweak pages without breaking the original designer's intent.
The new home page, like the old one was built using Blocks, a plug-in for RW that allows for layouts of code and art with the efficiency and accuracy of page layout software.
Regular visitors who hit the homepage first will see huge changes. I've put the master links down at the foot of the page, reduced the overall size of the homepage footprint so that all of it will display in most browser windows and put the key aspects of the site front and centre; a sample of my current photography that will change every week and a group of links drawn from my blog page that summarises recent entries and site changes.
There will be more changes, tweaks and updates over the next few days as folks spank the pages and make them cry.
My new captioning for the image pages will take a little while, but once those pages are updated, the thumbnails will have no text but full display pages will have much more detail about each photo.
Hmmm. Tell people what the pictures are about. What a striking idea!
Please feel free to use the comments link or the contact page to let me know what you think about the changes and to offer any thoughts that might improve accessibility and design.
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