(Originally posted Aug. 27, 2010)

The new site is up, as promised. I think the new design is easier to use, makes better use of space, and is easier on the eyes. What do you think?

I think the old design was trying to be more like this one. I always wanted the theme to be “earth touches sky.” I just didn’t know how to make it work yet. A friend of mine suggested that I should take a more literal approach to the concept but I was not quite sure of how to do this. Three weeks ago, I finally had a good idea for how to make the theme work. I did some concept drawings, made some new images in Photoshop, and began moving data around. I was sure everything new would be up and running by August 13, but then something happened. What is the best and worst thing that can happen when you are making steady progress on a good idea? You come up with a better idea. Parts of this new design started coming into my head and I knew I had to start over, even if that meant delaying the site’s upgrades. The toughest part was working on the new templates, then having to check back on my old site, which would still be online until I could finish adapting all the old pages for the new style. My old site looked awful. Every mistake stood out like a zit on prom night. In the words of Stephen Colbert “how could we stand to look at that beast?” This is not to say that I always hated my old site. I just always knew that it could have been better somehow. I think I now have a design that accurately reflects my work and my artistic style. I hope to keep this design around for a while. Maybe forever. Maybe until I get a better idea. (My thanks to Matt and Chris, who gave some valuable suggestions.)

As you may have noticed, I have also drawn up some icons to tag my blogs. From now on, each blog will be accompanied by an image, which will let you know what topics it will address.

Here are some of the icons I will be using:

There. I have most of the basics covered. See how nicely they brighten up the page?

So with my new designs, I have lived up to about half of the promises I made at the beginning of the month. Everything else is still coming together, but I am making more progress every day (or every other day. Every third day? At any rate, something’s gettin’ done.)

Stay Tuned.

-Marj