Idiot Banter

This Website Has Been Re-Designed

Posted By:

Matt

Posted On:

September 6th, 2008

Posted In:

Blog, CSS & XHTML, Design

Comments:

4 Responses, Join The Conversation.

After 3 months of pixel-pushing Idiot Banter has a new look.

The old theme was excellent and I still really like it but I felt the need to do some of the more creative things I’ve had in mind that I don’t get to use while working for other people. The new design is all about experimenting and pushing the boundaries of CSS and XHTML. Don’t get me wrong, none of this is ground breaking, but it’s my playground where I can use some more advanced code and not have to worry about selling ads.

The old theme was created when I was a Web Designer so it was very graphic heavy. I am now a Front-End Developer so I’ve focused on code more than graphics.

Some Highlights

100% fluid layout

I was determined to finally create a 100% fluid layout and I did, but I don’t really see the point. It’s never practical when doing client work and as soon as you add graphics or even images to your posts you have to start adding fixed width or min-widths otherwise things get messy. It turned out to be more work than it was worth and it broke my heart to have to add a min-width when I started adding photos to posts.

Dynamic Background Images

At An Event Apart in Boston earlier this year Jason Santa Maria spoke about how design helps to reinforce the story. He explained that his site allows for “art direction on the fly” to bring the web experience closer to the rich visual experience of print. His presentation got me thinking and, since I’m not anywhere near as amazing as Jason, the best I could do was dynamic background images. I add the background parameters to a custom field and use JavaScript to extract those parameters and change the body background. Each post will eventually have it’s own custom background, here’s an example.

So Here It Is

Have a look around, there are still a few things I’m not 100% with (I struggle with type-setting) so like any other personal site, treat it as a work in progress. I’ve added my entire portfolio to Wordpress (it was static HTML before) so there are a few kinks to be worked out there. I’m really excited to blog about snowboarding with high resolution snowboarding pictures as the background! I also plan on getting heavy into JavaScript this winter so that should lead to some cool (progressive) enhancements. I already have plans for some way to allow you to make the content semi-transparent to allow you to view the sweet background images.

Thanks for checking out my new theme, enjoy.

Also, let me know if you need any designs cut into perfect XHTML and CSS….

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