Posts Tagged design

I just realized the site’s content has not been updated in a while. This doesn’t mean nothing has been going on though, quite the contrary. I’ve been putting a lot of effort into the site as of late. Mostly this has been behind-the-scenes work though and therefore, even if it is to your benefit (but mostly mine), most of it remains unnoticed.

Since this site’s creation back in August 2002 many things have changed, including the purpose of the site. It started out with a grand idea: “download my brain to the web”. Nonsensical, I know. Meanwhile, I’ve come back to my senses and have chosen to dedicate this site to what I’m able to write and share my thoughts about. I’ve come to the conclusion that when it comes to maintaining your own website, it is best is not to fool yourself into thinking that you will be able (or willing) to do everything and anything. Stick to what you know, experiment if you must, but don’t go off on all the tangents which may catch your fancy.

So what is it that this site is all about? Where do my true interests lie (besides navel-staring)? When I take stock of what’s been most enjoyable about this site I have to say it has been the creation of it, not its maintenance. That’s also probably why it has, in its short lifespan, already gone through 2 entire redesigns. The initial layout was a pure DHTML job, the current one is a mixture of ASP, XML and CSS.

The creative process, be it in the graphic arts or putting together an elegant VBScript is what I enjoy doing. The feeling of accomplishment when you get to that “aah” point is what drives me. You could say my problem is short attention span; I get a buzz from the creation bit then get quickly bored when there’s nothing left to create.

The direction of this site has therefore to support my creative senses and my relative inability to focus for any significant length of time. Currently, the layout and most parts of the site are geared towards the mastery of text and layout. And although I think I’ve managed to have the site come across as a piece of – mostly – text, I must say I’m not satisfied with the layout that much. It just feels too texty – just as this post is getting too texty.

In order to get form here to there I will:

• Create a new meta section which deals exclusively with talking about the site and its inner workings – to satisfy my need to have the behind-the-scenes work noticed.
• Create a section which refences VBScript I’ve developed. In the hope that some other pood sod out there may find it of use.
• Clean up the graphic section to include more than just pictures. It will support Flash and other niceties.
• Next to all this, and to move away a bit from the texty feel. I’ll create a new skin for the whole thing.

Darned, did I just set myself goals? That sounds like actual work! Mediic….