Redesigning My Website

Yesterday, I merged a redesign of my website and so far, people seem to really like it. This was a multi-week project to bring some new life to my website and fix some accessibility and technical issues. I also wanted to explore some modern CSS features. This was a really fun project and I think the new site is much better than the old one.

I started by bringing the code as up to date as I could. I was a version behind of Bridgetown’s latest release. Thankfully, the upgrade process was painless. 😊 I also took the time to upgrade all of the node modules I was using before evaluating the technical choices for the site going forward.

I like to start projects like this by asking people for feedback on what I already have. One piece of feedback I got on the previous version of the site is that people really enjoyed the simplicity of it. It was the thing everyone I asked told me not to change with the redesign. I got many compliments on how good it was on phones.

So I wanted to make sure I kept that simplicity as I worked through the new design. I removed the list of blog posts from the main page and made it a simple landing page where I introduce myself to the reader.

I experimented with quite a few things while working on the redesign. Originally, I was going to leave the blog posts, but just have it be a list of links. I also wasn’t sure about the color scheme. I tried several things before landing on the subtle mix of purples that ended up on the site. I tried building a job for the contact form that would create an email thread with both myself and the submitter. Then, I abandoned that for the much simpler solution of including a mailto link.

There was a lot of that kind of exploration. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how much work simplicity is. There are so many simple elements of my new website, but landing on those elements took quite a few revisions and feedback cycles from friends.

There’s still a few things I want to do. Dark mode had been on my list, but I ended up putting it off for a bit. I also have some cool ideas about how I’d like to present my Resume page, but I’m still working through them.

Overall, I’m very happy with how things turned out. It feels so much more alive now. I fixed a bunched of accessibility issues and got to exercise my CSS skills. I hope you enjoy the new site. Feel free to drop me a line with feedback.