All new and shiny straight out of the box
So here we are, my new website. It’s been a long time coming and I have a few ideas to keep myself entertained as I fill the world with design, business and personal musings and witticism over the course of this blog’s life.
This site is roughly the 30th working draft I have created along the way, and the one I’m most content with, but that’s not to say that a few things won’t change along the way. I mean I haven’t even got a logo, what’s up with that?
What’s under the hood?
Not too much really. I tried to keep things simple (stupid) and practical as I want to focus on the content rather that all the bells and whistles.
The site has been built using a WordPress backend with a dash of HTML5 and a sprinkling of CSS3. I have used a few new(ish) elements namely nav, header, section, article and footer to highlight certain areas within the code and the rbga color class to add 0.95% opacity to all fonts to embed them in their surroundings a little better. I’m nice like that. I have also added a linear transition to all the links, 0.45s on the roll over and 0.25s on the roll out. It’s just enough to notice but more than enough to make me smile.
As for the font I went for the super awesome Tenso by exljbris and served it all up using TypeKit of course. Tenso was the right kind of fun I was looking for, very legible at different sizes and weights with some kicks and flicks on some of the letters that I fell in love with.
Taking inspiration
It would be rude of me not to single out a few chaps and chapettes who have provided me with some inspiration along the way.
I’m a huge fan of Trent Walton’s blog, its ace. Fun and informative, with the right mix of responsiveness and art direction it’s truly magical. Chris Armstrong and Elliot Jay Stocks are two other’s that I have looked to over of the course of the design and build to get a few nudges in the right direction, along with 1910, the Great Discontent, Simple as Milk, Jelly, Heck House and Minimal Monkey. I have never met any of you guys (as far as I’m aware) but cheers for your help and keep up the good work!
So what now?
I’ll be honest the site isn’t completely finished, and I doubt I will ever rubber stamp it and proclaim it complete, but that’s okay. I still haven’t considered how images, video or comments will work on the site but hopefully I will be able to roll them out over the next few weeks. Plus the article page is still a bit rough around the edges but I like it.
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Update (28/11/2014) – I now have comments, wahey! I used Disqus for a simple ‘plugin and play’ solution, so feel free to comment away. Or not, it’s up to you.
Update (12/12/2014) – I have begun using images on the site. My first article with images went live today (see date) and I have decided to structure in a few variations for displaying images. I didn’t want every image to be fullwidth as it could kill the flow of the page, so I made sure I have the ability to use images to add to the article rather than just look pretty. I hope you like.