2018 Refresh

[TedGoas]

I'm joining Joel Glovier and Josh Hynes in documenting my site refresh in a pull request.

Loose Goals

• Modern CSS (flexbox instead of floats, rem instead of px, etc.)
• Less "marketing style" case studies cause that's not really what I do anymore.
• Show less work, but make it better.
• Can I remove all javascript (except for analytics)?
• Improve upon already-good site performance (read: images!)
• Stay with Kirby (for now)

Previous Ideas: #58, #61, #62, #63, #64, #65

Due Date: Sunday Sept. 30th
(doesn't have to be perfect, just better than what's there now)

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Related: I also need a new deploy story since FTPloy basically stopped working. Oh maybe it's coming back? Deploy HQ is another option. Whatever, don't need to figure this out yet. I'm willing to change hosts if someone makes this easier on me.

[TedGoas]

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Notes:

• This explains more on the homepage (most trafficked page) sorta like Joel Califa's site.
• I dig the copy, builds upon what's on my current homepage.
• That photo is huuuuugge. Adds the personal touch, but it's pretty overpowering. Especially since it'd be position:fixed;
• Social icons: boring, cookie-cutter, and expected on every page.
• I dig having a mono font in the stack (relates to working at Stack). Not sure if this is the right way to do it though.

[TedGoas]

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Notes:

• How the hell am I ever going to scale this?
• This flies in the face of the Less "marketing style" case studies goal above.
• Even with a simpler design for portfolio items, I'm probably showing too much work. Maybe reduce to 4-5 items?

[TedGoas]

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Notes:

• New direction does a better job at focusing on what's most important.
• New 'sketchy' theme goes hand-in-hand with how I work: I usually sketch stuff out and quickly move to code.
• Oh and I'm designing this version in the browser.
• So far it's responsive without javascript (including the main navigation) and uses flexbox (V1 might not have much CSS Grid).
• Still gotta figure out fonts, but system fonts are working well so far.
• I'm thinking more about words than layout and colors. Probably a good sign.

[TedGoas]

I like the way Dan Mall styles his text, paragraphs, ordered lists 👏, and links. Let's try that!

[TedGoas]

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Notes:

• I updated the article typography to what's on Dan Mall's site. I like how it reads, though am not sure how it fits with the theme. Will marinate on it.
• Regardless, I like the treatment for lists. Hat tip for this fancy mixin.

[TedGoas]

Repeat to self: it doesn't have to be perfect just better than what's there now | it doesn't have to be perfect just better than what's there now | it doesn't have to be perfect just better than what's there now | it doesn't have to be perfect just better than what's there now | it doesn't have to be perfect just better than what's there now | it doesn't have to be perfect just better than wha

[TedGoas]

To keep with the 'sketchy' theme, I introduced a handwritten font and nuked the mono font. I've been simmering on this for a few days and now that I finally tried it out... I really dig it. I'm not sure about this particular font, but Google Webfonts is limited in this style.

What I'd really dig is Born Ready from Fonts.com or Creative Market. I should buy that.

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[TedGoas]

Ewwww, actually not a fan of Born Ready as a web font. Doesn't look great for titles and totally breaks down on small sizes. It's also REALLY BIG (1 woff file is ~300kb)! Oh well! It makes me appreciate the one I had initially. Marker is more legible and creates ample contrast.

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Well... maybe I can use Born Ready for my site logo 🤷‍♀️

[TedGoas]

Yea... that works much better as a logo and is an improvement over whatever logo I had before. SVG file is still 270kb, phew! At least it's inlined and will hopefully get cached.

[TedGoas]

Portfolio items are cool for now. They are well written and representative of the kind of work I like doing. ✅ Primary goal.

Though I wonder if I can make the layout a little more interesting. Design by Roka has a similar but still simple layout options. I like the "second" column and even changing the background color of some of the sections (although that's the sorta marketing-y thing I'm trying to get away from). Still, there's some good ideas in designs like this.

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My current status 👇

[TedGoas]

There is nothing left preventing me from merging this and launching the redesign, nothing except fear. Because huge launches never go smoothly, even when This branch has no conflicts with the base branch.... I'm looking at you git 👀

(looks up at the sky)

Well... it's never going to be "the perfect time to launch"... so here goes nothing...