It's a whole new View From 32
Finally, after weeks and weeks of sporadic work designing/building a new homepage, you see the results starting October 1.
Two things I set out to do:
- Make the homepage express what the site is about using both words and images.
- Use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and valid XHTML. This will only be significant to the more geeky in the audience, but it simply means creating the site using current web best practices. You may notice a little logo at the bottom of the homepage which signifies that the code checked out clean using the W3Consortium Markup Validation Service.
Have I accomplished these goals? The CSS/XHTML/best practices part I'm pretty happy with. There's still one aspect that's not working as I'd like, but I've tried and failed using a number of approaches. I need help from a real CSS guru (Eric Meyer, are you out there?).
As for what the homepage communicates, well, now what you see IS the view from 32, specifically looking north from the corner of W.32 and Detroit Ave, two blocks from my house.
I've also tried to simplify and clarify the navigation. To compare the new vs. old, go back to the homepage then click on the SEP link to see how it looked two days ago.
All in all I'm pretty satisfied, but that doesn't count for much. The important thing is what do YOU think? Please share your thoughts by clicking on the Comment link below.
Next steps:
- Redesign/recode the daily pages (like this one). Again, my goal is to make them more attractive, easier to use, and valid XHTML/CSS.
- Revamp the Archives, which now run down and down the right side of the page. The current and most recent month will remain on the daily page while earlier months will move to a separate Archive page.
- Add video. Right now I try to include sounds whenever/where ever appropriate, which has worked out to about five times per month. Once I master using Flash to play video I'll add a few short videos when/where they fit best.
- I don't know... any suggestions?
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