Live Redesign in Progress
Consider this design a placeholder as its purpose, while temporary, is meant to replace what would otherwise be an unstyled template. I don’t know about you but I’d much rather see a sparsely-styled layout than the bare minimum, default browser style. The latter can be quite the eyesore, especially if you suddenly have blurred vision or if that tune in your head, yes that one, is preventing you from thinking straight.
For weeks I’ve contemplated whether I’d do this redesign live or behind the scenes and while I can weigh the advantages of keeping it behind close doors, personally I’ve always enjoyed seeing designs flourish live, even if live means “a span of 30 days or more.”
Since I’m participating in CSS Reboot, I wondered if doing the redesign live would be against the rules, but seeing as though Nathan Smith pulled the curtain back early, it seems as if I’m in the clear. Regardless, the official unvieling will occur sometime in November, so I’ve got plenty of time to fidget with things.
28 Comments, Comment or Ping
Greg
I’m excited to see how things develop at the ol’ Kartooner homepage. Love that green.
Sep 7th, 2005
kartooner
Thanks Greg. We’ll see how this pans out. :)
Sep 7th, 2005
Josh
Live redesigns are my favorite! Way to go and be brave, and skip that whole development server idea!
Sep 7th, 2005
Matt Burris
Can’t wait to see this flesh out. You always inspire me with the little things that I never caught before.
Sep 7th, 2005
Mike
I love the hover states man!!! Super hot.
Sep 7th, 2005
Fernando Dunn II
I’m anxious to see how this project develops. I’ve been doing the same thing with fdiidesign.com, except I dropped that live redesign and moved on to my current and more appropriate fernandodunn.com.
Sep 7th, 2005
If Else
I’m in agreement with everyone else. Definitely keen to see how this fleshes out. BTW, I’m aware that the falling boulders is probably temporary but I love it:)
Sep 8th, 2005
Yannick
One more for the home team. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Sep 8th, 2005
kartooner
Right now I’m wondering if I should forego using a sidebar and either have the extraneous links in another section (or page) or possibly split and seperate those elements like Phu has done.
Decisions. Decisions.
Sep 8th, 2005
kartooner
Thanks Yannick.
If for some reason it turns out for the worst, I’ve got a backup plan that I’ve shared with Bryan in which I simply screencap his design (which I think rocks) and just reference the image on here. Easy smeasy fix for what would otherwise be a time-wasted headache.
Plan ‘F’ would be to blame everything on Paul.
Sep 8th, 2005
Bryan
Wait, when did this happen? o_O;
Oh well, you could make one that’s all drawn up and stuff, like a “sketchy” version of Kartoonerstar. :p
Sep 8th, 2005
William
Are you sure Plan F isn’t actually Plan A…? :D
I’m loving the new color scheme.
Concerning the extraneous links, personally, I think this layout looks very clean with the one column. You can see a comparison at my new design that I’ve separated my “Asides” Phu style.
Sep 8th, 2005
kartooner
Byran: Oh, I left a message about it on your Flickr account. Something about, if I were to rip your design I wouldn’t go to the trouble of actually lifting the underlying code, nah, I’d just take a screenshot and reference the image.
William: Actually I might just put those in their own section now that I think about it.
Thanks for the comments.
Sep 8th, 2005
Bryan
Got to love the drawing of falling boulders. I need skills like that damnit!
Sep 8th, 2005
kartooner
Bryan: If you dig that, you’ll like the fact that there’s more illustrations coming down the pipeline. I’m shooting for an “Illo of the Week”, which is a feature I’ve wanted for a long time now.
Sep 8th, 2005
Sprons
Great design, like it a lot! Just a thought… The falling boulders and the top images fixed maybe?
Sep 9th, 2005
kartooner
Sprons: Good idea, thanks for the suggestion. I had intended on making the background fixed but just hadn’t gotten around to it.
Sep 9th, 2005
beto
Hi Eric. Yeah, I’m also yearning to put a “less is more” approach to my site, after realizing I’m not pretending to sell myself as a ‘mad skillz’ CSS guru or something like that anytime soon. It was fun for a while, but I prefer now a “back to basics” approach. I’d rather give my sketches and photos more focus on a new design. I just hope to make it to the next Reboot. Congrats!
Sep 9th, 2005
kartooner
beto: Amongst other things, it also allows you to focus on the details. If you haven’t already, sign up for the Reboot and we both can keep tabs on one another.
Sep 9th, 2005
kartooner
Good luck on the redesign as well.
Sep 9th, 2005
Fernando Dunn II
Erik, say NO to the sidebar. You wouldn’t believe how many limitations it puts on your site. It brackets your site into a template and makes you make use of it even if a certain page doesn’t need it. In my current design, I’m saying “Sidebar, I hate you and your family.”
Leave it out of your design. Make people read your content without distractions. It will compliment your writing skills perfectly.
Sep 9th, 2005
kartooner
I’ll keep in it mind. I’m really loving how open-ended my site is right now, even if there’s not a whole lot going on at the moment.
If you think it’ll serve as a compliment to the writing (and illustrations) themselves, then so be it. That’s one thing I like about Avalonstar, the fact that Bryan chose to go sans sidebar. Commendable in every respect, especially since having one does give it that “template” stigma.
Sep 9th, 2005
Yannick
I am sure your redesign will turn out great. Keep up the good work.
Peace and God Bless you!
Sep 12th, 2005
kartooner
Yannick: Thanks man. Next on this site’s rather short list of to-do’s is to work on the subsequent sections and fill them up with content.
Sep 12th, 2005
Donnie Jeter
I’m also excited to see how things turn out - I would definitely keep your original shield/crest. It’s definitely a brand that works for you.
Sep 13th, 2005
trench
Looking really good so far. Very original. I see the boulders! LOL
Sep 14th, 2005
Shawn Grimes
This is looking really nice thus far Erik. I really like how you’ve styled the comments. The sketches of the boulders are a great touch as well. Keep it up!
Sep 14th, 2005
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