JohnBedard.com

“Fairness is a concept that was invented so that children and idiots could participate in arguments.”

Sneak Peek …Updated Again

November 9, 2007 by John in Freelancing, JB.com, Web Design

I’ve had a new design in mind for this site for some time now. Since I’ve got nothing going on with SSDD Web Design right now, I think it’s time to remodel JohnBedard.com. Below is my design mockup from Photoshop. I’m not 100% on the colors and some of the graphic elements, but the layout is a lock, including the staggered, overlapping columns. I also may not put the “Pieces of Flair” in that middle column. I have something else in mind for that space but that will have to remain a surprise. The flair will probably go in the right column just below the search box or the external links. And since I have a license for Monoslideshow, I think that’s what I’ll use for that image space in the header section. It’s the same slideshow I used on the HKM site (they bought their own license, freeing up the one I bought for development). I’ll be building this as a WordPress theme from scratch. The next step is a static HTML prototype which I’ll then carve up into the theme files and add the PHP code for WordPress.

I was wracking my brain trying to come up with something original, but honestly, when it comes to websites in general and blog themes specifically, just about everything, every layout, every color scheme, every graphic gimmick, has been done to death. Even so, rather than grab a similar existing theme and adapt it, I wanted to build something from scratch that pleases me. You could probably find 100 themes out there that are very similar to this in some way, but that doesn’t matter to me. While I’m sure I’ve been inspired or influenced by thousands of sites I’ve viewed over the years, my design process is honest.

Needless to say, the cobbler’s second child will soon have its own shoes…

Update: Making over the Makeover

So, I borrowed the “design” from my motorcycle makeover. British racing green, pale green racing stripes, lime green pin stripes, “lightening holes” in brushed stainless steel, and a bulldog head. When Gene actually paints the bulldogs on the sides of the tank I would update the web site to match.

I kinda dig it. But then again, I kinda dig the makeover we’re doing on the bike. It’s a little busy. I’m not sure about the “cooling fins” on the edges near the top. I’m also not sure about the “Pieces of Flair” over the perforated metal center column. Lastly, I’m pretty sure the navigation in the center column will change, at least the font face.

Ah, that’s better.