High Time for a New Coat o’ Paint
As with lots of things in my life of late, I am in the process of totally overhauling this site. I’ve been working on this redesign for about 10 weeks, on and off, and it is getting to the point where it is ready for prime time.
I’m excited, frankly — and though it runs completely contrary to my nature, I have managed to keep it under wraps for a long time (not even leaving a trace of the development branch in anyone’s logs, I don’t think). I can say this, however:
- It’s heavy, but it has options.
- It’s not for the three people still at 800x600 (get a real computer).
- For the first time ever, I have managed to stay excited with a theme for more than 2 weeks.
- It is, by my reckoning, the thematic opposite of this crappy cardboard thing you’re seeing now.
- To wit, it’s nice to look at.
- It’ll be done in October.
Stay tuned, eh? :)
23 Missives So Far
02 Andrew Kaufmann said on Sun Sep 25 10:53:04 EDT
I'm rather fond of this design -- but I'm interested in seeing what you've come up with. Looking forward to it :)
03 freak2532 said on Sun Sep 25 21:52:11 EDT
As Andrew said, i personally love this theme. However, i'm also interested in your next layout...
04 wheat said on Mon Sep 26 9:19:37 EDT
yeah man: I've dug every theme I've seen here at the 'box. You're too hard on yourself. Your weakest effort makes my best look like crap.
06 josh said on Mon Sep 26 15:36:38 EDT
Wheat, you flatter me.
Really Melly? Oh dear. May I ask why?
07 melly said on Mon Sep 26 15:47:46 EDT
Alas, very, and I mean, very, old monitor.
I was going to buy a new one, but so far I got a digital camera, palm pilot and mp3 each time I went to the store for a new monitor.
I'm a gadgetaddict. Help. What to do???
And now some people in this household insist on replacing the subwoofer, and maintain that a center channel is an absolute must.
Plus, I had to spend about $250 dollars not too long ago because I decided that I was techy enough to update the BIOS but ended up destroying the mother board of course.
You see what I'm getting at?
08 josh said on Mon Sep 26 15:56:09 EDT
Take heart; I'm an engineer and I've destroyed my fair share of motherboards. Once I did it to a customer's computer; the power went out (all power, like power company power) while I was flashing the BIOS. I had to buy a brand new motherboard out of my paycheck on that one.
I'm rockin' a 19" @ 1280x1024, and I've never looked back. When it comes to improving the surfing experience, I couldn't recommend anything higher. Not to mention how awesome-o it makes working with Paint Shop, etc. It's a CRT, because being the old fogey that I am, I don't trust the color fidelity of LCD's. And it keeps the room warm in the winter. :P
09 freak2532 said on Mon Sep 26 17:01:51 EDT
I'm running the same resolution on a 19" CRT (a nice HP thats lasted me through the years). My girlfriend uses 800x600 as she has an old 15" CRT.
11 josh said on Mon Sep 26 19:14:37 EDT
Yeah, I realized too late that I'd clicked the Futon through the new site. I've since password protected it to keep myself honest.
Your site's just that spethial, Futon.
12 vanessa said on Mon Sep 26 19:55:33 EDT
hah! I noticed the canadianism... so I guess I'll stick around and see what's in store:) Unless you've thrown all caution to the wind I bet I can guess the colour scheme... ;)
13 josh said on Mon Sep 26 21:07:43 EDT
You've always maintained that I am easily pigeonholed weez a weez colors and design.
Let's just wait and see if you're right. :)
14 vanessa said on Mon Sep 26 22:07:17 EDT
Pigeonholed? Nah... not at all. Some people just gravitate to certain colours - which is good I think if you're designing a home for yourself (ie. blogs, etc.) You want a place that feels comfy right? Me, on the other hand - I've always poo-pooed my designs as soon as they're finished. I think I'm more a "white space" girl than anything - less is more, blah, blah, blah.
So... now I'm beginning to think you've ventured forth into a brave new world - I can only hope you haven't chosen hot pink. :)
15 josh said on Mon Sep 26 23:04:18 EDT
Brave new world? No.
Whitespace? Maybe.
Hot pink? Whaddya think I am, a faigala? ;)
16 vanessa said on Mon Sep 26 23:21:21 EDT
oooh I can't wait!
18 josh said on Tue Sep 27 16:14:32 EDT
I don't think it's particularly snooty. It would be arrogant of me to serve this website as xml+xhtml – something few browsers can handle correctly right now – but designing for the lowest common denominator really takes the fun out of it for me.
Frankly it's not something I can wrap my head around. This past weekend while strolling through the flea market I saw a row of 17" CRTs for $25 a pop. The premise is a little bit hazy for a lot of folks, but it obtains nonetheless: if you run a 15" monitor at 800x600, you can also run a 17" monitor at 1024x768 with no appreciable difference in resolution — you just get more real estate.
My conscience is clear. People drop loads on high speed, but seem to miss such an easy way to improve the surfin' experience.
19 melly said on Tue Sep 27 16:55:39 EDT
CRT? Bah.
I want a skinny sexy LCD.
I have shown your post and reply to higher powers and they "will investigate the matter."
Meaning, I hope to have it by the time you expose us to your new site, which looks pretty cool.
20 Kim Siever said on Wed Sep 28 14:35:19 EDT
My monitor is set at 1280x1024, but given the fact that I use the sidebar in Firefox, as well as the Google Sidebar, my browser's available screen width is just barely over 800 pixels. That's not even counting the fact that I don't always have my browser maximised.
21 josh said on Wed Sep 28 15:59:17 EDT
I've heard this argument from lots of people who (for some odd reason) get basic comprehensibility of a website mixed up with personal preferences like an ultra-wide sidebar or running the browser unmaximized. The web world seems to have settled on ~780 as some sort of arbitrary width limit, and consequently those folks comfy with the status quo make all sorts of arguments in its defense. One might ask why this accepted limit isn't 620; Someone might still be surfing with Mosaic on a 386.
22 Shawn said on Thu Sep 29 20:45:57 EDT
Ohhh, just a few hours 'till October. Is it tomorrow, or are you talking mid October? I can;t wait to see what you did.
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