April 29, 2008
Version 4.0
Out with the old, and in the with the new. You’re looking at the fourth version of my web site. I’m excited to finally get this redesign completed. I began blogging back in 2002, before I knew about many of the popular blog software tools such as Blogger, MovableType, Typepad, Wordpress, Textpattern, etc.
The first version I created was a little orange site that I updated with a single html/php form to add new journal entries to the site. I called them journal entries, because no one knew what “blog” meant. The first two versions of the site used this system.
Then in 2005, I did a complete overhaul of the front-end design as well as the backend database. I began using Textpattern. Version 3 (archived here) was probably the only site you remember. Just curious…I wonder if anyone other than my family saw that the versions prior to that one.
Switched to WordPress
I thought I should get to know another system, so this new version is powered by WordPress. The switch from Textpattern wasn’t that bad. Most of the database tables imported over just right, thanks to the handy importer that comes with WordPress. I also had to do some complex find/replace routines in order to fix some broken links within the articles, and I’m sure you’ll find some more. Let me know if you do.
Other Changes
- I’ve written new content for the About and Work pages.
- Twitter Updates now have more prominence on the homepage.
- There’s one big photo on the homepage instead of 6 small ones.
- There’s a nifty AJAX contact form. My old site had a contact form for a while until it was overrrun by SPAM, so I canned it.
- The Archives are much easier to search through.
- All our photos are now hosted by Flickr.
- Improved Portfolio section. I’ve removed a few older projects that I had done years ago that have since been redesigned by someone other than me.
If you like the previous site better, that’s OK, but I’d love to know why. Leave a comment or click the “Contact” link in the footer of the page.
8 responses so far ↓
1 David Russell // Apr 29, 2008 at 11:51 am
Power of Twitter. First comment. :)
Looks great, Andy. Quite the departure from the last site. I like the simple grid and the typography. I’m keen on the Twitter updates as well. I’m thinking of doing something similar with the next version of my site.
2 chuck // Apr 29, 2008 at 11:52 am
Andy,
Great work! I really love the typography, its unique and you pulled it off nicely. I also like the portfolio section alot! I’m still poking around, but I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on a job well done.
Bravo!
3 Nathan Smith // Apr 29, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Loving the new design, especially the uber-simple and elegant navigational bar. Might I suggest making the h3 of “find” also a label for the form input (for accessibility)? It’d be easy enough, just stick a label with a for=”...” attribute in there, and you’re good to go. Anyway, all in all, great job!
4 Andy // Apr 29, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Nathan, I regret that I didn’t mention that the CSS for the site was expedited by your 960 Grid System framework. It simplified my life a lot during the css/layout phase.
I also took your advice and added the
<label for="s">...</label>to the search box.5 Matt Donovan // Apr 29, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Fantastic work, Andy. I was getting ready to comment on how much I like the archives design when I decided to poke around some more. Every section is designed so well. I love’em all! I’d also have to agree with Nathan – the navigation is superb.
6 Kayla // Apr 29, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I think part of me wishes half the screen was a different color (a light gray?) to help differentiate the two column grid… or maybe just realigning the headers would work (i.e. left-align, although I can see what you were going for here).
Otherwise I think the type is fun and different. Still interested in the knight? After the move I could totally do it for you…
7 Yannick // Apr 30, 2008 at 12:55 am
Hey, Good job Andy! I like it, especially the fonts used in the header, your portfolio and archives. I agree with Kayla that maybe a light grey on one of the columns (maybe the right column) would help, but other than that, I love it.
Keep up the awesome work Andy. I always look forward to seeing what new things you’ve worked on, as well as reading about what’s going on with you and your family.
God bless you all!
8 Jeremy // May 15, 2008 at 2:31 am
Love the redesign Andy! Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing all the new stuff you come out with.
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