I’m not convinced that anybody (except my mom) reads this anymore. But if there’s anybody who does, you might have noticed a change in aesthetics.
I finally finally FINALLY updated this blog to a responsive design. Hey, 2010, I’ve caught up!
I decided to highlight the craftiness of my blog and brush letter the header. I played with a few options but decided that I needed to put something up rather than make it perfect.
It’s the web. The awesome thing about designing for the web is that it allows you to change things fast and easily if you know what you’re doing. So, that’s my plan: learn what the hell I’m doing.
I can easily modify existing themes, but I really want to learn to build WordPress themes from the ground up, and really beef up my web skills (that is: make my coding / web design turnaround time as fast as my print design turnaround time). I also really want to figure out how to get my p5.js sketches into a WordPress theme. And I seriously need to update my portfolio site because it’s more of a blog than a portfolio. It’s kind of embarrassing, actually.
I had a hard time finding a theme I liked to replace my old one. It’s tough deciding on one theme when there’s a million out there, and it’s also pretty tough finding a free one that isn’t complete junk. I definitely tried a few out on a developer site before deciding on this one.
Anyway, I put this one together in an afternoon. It’s got custom typography, and a few simple CSS changes. I also edited some of the PHP and removed some of the features I didn’t like in the theme. It’s based on Activello by ColorLib, if you’re curious.
I’m working on playing with some of WordPress’s functionality that I’ve not used before. I’m also hoping to learn to build a custom theme from the ground up, so this theme *might* be temporary. Depending on how far I get with my learning before I get a job*. If I get a job before I learn how to make my own theme, I’ll probably make some more changes to this one and make it more my own.
But — I’ve finally got a responsive blog that’s running on current PHP, so this is a huge win.
//
Have you ever tried designing or developing your own site? Any good horror stories? Successes?
*I’ve got a laundry list of projects I want to finish before I get a job, and this one is on the list. I also want to finish writing my novel, add a couple sections to the book I wrote last summer (and publish it), update my portfolio to a new template, and finish all those craft projects I promised I’d finish …
