Tien Chiu

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April 18, 2016 by Tien Chiu

Facelift!

I’m happy to announce that my website has gotten a serious facelift! I’ve spent the last five days working nonstop on the new look. I love it, and I hope you will, too.

For those of you who don’t read the blog on my website, here’s the original homepage:
screenshot of old websiteWhile there were quite a few things I liked about the old look, it really needed improvement in several areas:

First, the navigation was terribly cluttered – ten links in the top menu and Heaven only knows how many in the sidebar.

Second, the site was not mobile-friendly – it didn’t adapt to the screen size, so it was basically illegible on a cell phone.

Third, I felt the space was poorly organized.

And, finally, the kicker: the WordPress theme controlling the look had become outdated, and WordPress 4.4 broke my menu system. I got it working for awhile, but when WordPress 4.5 rolled around, I knew I would have to replace it.

So, after five frantic days in front of the computer, here’s the new look:screenshot of new websiteIt’s still not 100% of what I’d like it to be, but I think it’s better, sleeker, and more mobile-friendly than before.

There is actually quite a bit more to the revamp than just the appearance. I completely restructured the navigation, cleaning up the menus and sidebars. I also reorganized a lot of pages. The site is gigantic – 2,500+ blog posts, 183 static pages, and over 1.2 million words! Amazing to think that I wrote all that in just 14 years. That’s like writing a novel a year!

Come take a look at the site! (And please pardon any construction dust that’s still lingering.)

I’d love your thoughts on the new look, and the new navigation/page organization. And, of course, if something is not working – please, please let me know so I can fix it.

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Filed Under: All blog posts Tagged With: website redesign

Previous post: Loot and lucre
Next post: Procion MX dye samples

Comments

  1. Sandra Rude says

    April 22, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    I like the new look of the site. The background is nicely textilish, and the ioverall look sleeker.

    Have fun with those samples. When I calculated how much time it would take me to do that, it was overwhelming enough so I never did the deed. It was easier to consider myself an “I don’t require an exact hue, near (and haphazard) is close enough” dyer. I know enough to come close to mind’s-eye, and that’ll do.

    • Tien Chiu says

      April 22, 2016 at 7:43 pm

      Glad you like the site!

      And I can get kinda-sorta-there too, but I want more accuracy…plus, I just love dyeing samples, weird as that sounds!

      [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.

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