Journal

Site relaunch

So, here we have it. Version 5.5 of this site. More of a Reversion than a Redesign. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, MovableType was beginning to be difficult to use because of the Spam problems (which they seem to have now fixed) and the increasing problem of stretching the intended useage of MT - ie. to run a portfolio (I know this is possible, as I did it before, it’s just not as easy as i’d like). I moved to using Expression Engine as the software to power the site.

Read on for more about the design ethos behind this site. Why do a redesign and what I discovered about web standards, css, expression engine and mac IE 5.5 on the way.

The design

Why do a redesign? Well, I’d already redesigned a few months ago but already the design was beginning to get on my nerves (as a designer, this tends to happen with your own work.). It seemed to heavy, a bit to ‘state-side’ for my liking.

I wanted the design to really reflect what i’m about as a designer with a typographic background. I set myself a bunch of typographic goals, such as:

  1. Correct usage of heading sizes
  2. Relationships between all typographic elements
  3. A balance between the grid and the typography
  4. An timeless feel, stripped of meaningless decoration
  5. Sympathetic use of colour

The list does go on, but i’ll stop there for now.

I’ve approached the design of this site as I would the design of a good book. You don’t notice the design, if you do, the design is bad. You shouldn’t notice good design. (as one of my lecturers at University used to tell me. At the time I thought he was mad, but i’m beginning to see his point.)

I will talk a little bit more about this design shortly.

Web Standards

I didn’t learn too much more about Web Standards redesigning this site. I trimmed the markup, went Strict with the XHTML and separated the colour into a different stylesheet.

Expression Engine

Expression Engine surpassed my expectations in almost every way. It’s an extremely quick platform on which to develop and it’s ‘out-of-the-box’ functionality is second-to-none. Not really the time to delve into this at the mo, but I will shortly.

So, in summary i’m very pleased with the reversioning of this site, pleased with the overall design. What’s most important is it’s a solid base on which to build. I’m sure over the coming months there will be plenty for me to add, so expect a certain amount of spit and polish being applied!

If you do spot any errors (most likely caused by the migration from MT), please let me know. Cheers.

Comments

Mark, good job on the remake. It’s good to see people who can make a nice site without bloating it with images.

A very nifty thing I started using when trying to find balance is the “Display Topographic Information” tool in the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar under “Information”.

Fernando Dunn II's Gravatar

Fernando Dunn II
Mon 3rd Jan 2005
at 10:58 am

And the comments talk bubble is awesome, now that I can see it.

Fernando Dunn II's Gravatar

Fernando Dunn II
Mon 3rd Jan 2005
at 10:59 am

Thanks Fernando. I haven’t used that ‘topographical information’ thing before, I actually really like the results when it’s turned on. There’s something about monochromatic balanced sites that really appeals.

It was a goal of mine to trim down the images on the site and try and represent balance using just type. So many designers rely on photography or imagery to prop up their designs, it’s only when forced to not use images do designers really begin to understand grids and typography.

Thanks for your comments though - much appreciated.

Mark Boulton's Gravatar

Mark Boulton
Mon 3rd Jan 2005
at 11:27 am

Hi Mark, I trust the Boulton household had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year?

Sort of like the redesign in terms of the new colour system but generally I preferred the older version (basically think the home page is a bit weak as the information I used to visit the site for daily I find a bit annoying to access now as I have to scroll down the page grrrr but then again I guess it’s early transitional days. Wouldn’t mind if you could writean article detailing how you made the site too as I’ve started delving into the php world, go on you know it makes sense).

Noticed a few snags you also may like to look at:
Skip to content and Text have buttons appearing over the text (may be a simple css list style to remedy?)

Also mate what’s this about MAC IE 5.5 on it’s way? I thought Microsoft had decided to stop supporting IE for Mac’s???

Graham Sanders's Gravatar

Graham Sanders
Mon 3rd Jan 2005
at 2:23 pm

Hi Graham, we had a great Christmas, dispite the odd bout of flu! I trust you had a good one?

I take your point about the homepage. I’ve thought about this as well. The thing is I wanted more of a portfolio feeling and rather less of a blog feeling. There is the journal section which can be bookmarked instead.

This design really is a blank canvas on which I’m going to add the spit and polish at a later stage, but the difference between this version and the last is now I have seperated the colour and structure into different stylesheets, so these changes can be made without radical rebuilds.

The Skip to content and Text only buttons are rendering a little strangely on IE on Mac and PC. I need to look at the positioning of these and maybe serve up the changes in an IE only stylesheet. I’ve tried to minimise the use of hacks to futureproof the design as well.

I made the site using a *cheap* commercial content management system called Expression Engine. This CMS is so good I din’t have to writeany custom php, which made the development of this site extremely quick. I must have spent a total of about 4 whole days on the redesign and rebuild. But, to answer your question, yes i’ll writeand article which will detail the first impressions of EE, also the typography and grids etc.

Thanks for your comments

Mark Boulton's Gravatar

Mark Boulton
Tue 4th Jan 2005
at 2:16 am

Yesy, yes, yes! Expression Engine to the rescue. I’m delighted you found EE so easy to use. I’ve also promised my readers that I’ll start documenting some clever EE stuff very soon.

Great ‘reversioning’, Mark.

Colly's Gravatar

Colly
Tue 4th Jan 2005
at 3:16 am

Thanks Colly, and thanks for your help over the last coouple of weeks.

Looking forward to those articles!

Mark Boulton's Gravatar

Mark Boulton
Tue 4th Jan 2005
at 3:42 am

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A picture of Mark BoultonI'm a graphic designer from near Cardiff in the UK. I've been a designer for over ten years now and primarily work on the web. I'm still partial to a bit of print every now and then though. I used to work for Agency.com in London as an Art Director before working as a Senior Designer for the BBC in sunny Cardiff. This was all before I took leave of my senses and formed my own design consultancy, Mark Boulton Design Ltd.

I've got a thing about grids and typography and occasionally ramble on about them to anyone who will listen.

If you're after simple, clean and effective web design; let me know.