DigitalSandbox

Alright. Let’s start a little discussion about the new changes around the site. While the new design is an obvious change, there are a multitude of “behind-the-scenes” changes that are not so obvious. I want to give a brief run-down of the changes and then I want to follow-up on some of the points in the more more detail in future posts.

As I mentioned when I went on “hiatus,” I wanted to expand the function of the site. Prior to the redesign it was strictly a blog and that was okay. For the new site I wanted to add several new sections. Most importantly, now that I have graduated, I wanted to get my portfolio online. I also wanted to continue the blog, because I happen to enjoy spreading my ramblings around on here. Along with all of that, I have a goal to transition to full-time freelancing in the near future and if that is going to happen I had better get started. So I need a section that explains the services I offer and how you can find me.

With those goals in mind I started the design process and tried to figure out how best to join these different sections into some sort of whole. It isn’t an easy thing to figure out and I still think that there are ways to improve the message of the site and make it more cohesive. But I like the overall layout and design. It’s just the design of some of the individual content areas that I feel can use some more tweaking. But I knew that if I waited until it was perfect, I would be on hiatus forever. This way I can get the basic idea across and you all get to follow along as I do the fine-tuning. In fact, don’t be surprised to see things shift around while you are here. I am probably busy making some tweaks at the same time.

There are still several sections that I intend to add, but have omitted for the initial roll-out. I might talk about some of these upcoming additions, but I definitely want to get the other areas of the site up and running first. I intend to include some posts that discuss the design decisions and considerations that I made while working on the design.

At the same time that I began redesigning, I began researching how to make all of this stuff happen behind the scenes. I was using WordPress for the CMS on the old site and when I began to look into adding a portfolio and other sections I couldn’t find an elegant solution. So I switched to ExpressionEngine. I will do a more in depth writeup later, but let’s just say that I made a wise choice.

Well, I don’t want this to get too long so I’m gonna wrap it up. Please come back later to read some of my post detailing the changes that have been made or perhaps a sneak-preview of things to come.