Category: BrandonMoeller.com

I have zipped up all of the main website files – except for the web fonts, of course – and now have them available for download in case anyone would like to take apart my newly redesigned website and tweak it to their own heart’s content.

BrandonMoeller.com template

There’s also a folder in there with the template files I created in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator CS4.

I’ll post my WordPress child theme of the new Twenty Ten default theme when I’m done perfecting it.

On Sunday, I retired the first banner which graced the top of every page from July 11-25 on my new website.

Here’s the retired one:

Here’s the current one:

Also, I added Facebook comment boxes to all pages on the website, as well as embedding it into the WordPress template single.php, which now adds the comment box underneath every post in this blog.

I created a favicon for my newly redesigned website.

When I tried to jam my whole name into 16 pixels by 16 pixels, it didn’t look too swell. Just cramming seven letters looked better.

A favicon.ico is a small icon that browsers use to add some flair to the window tabs and bookmark links. It’s the closest I’ll ever come to corporate branding.

I also modified my functions.php file in my WordPress theme to include the code to call the .ico on every page within the blog.

Here are some helpful web pages I found that helped me accomplish these tasks.

“How to create a favicon.ico” from PhotoshopSupport.com

“Child Themes” from the WordPress Codex

It has been two weeks since my last redesign.

My redesign project for BrandonMoeller.com began on July 5 and ended a week later on July 11, and I’m very happy with the results.

The previous design had served me well for a number of years, from Feb. 6, 2008 to July 5, 2010.

It was time for a change.

COLORS

I started by deciding on a color palette. I chose “Good Friends” desgined by Colour Lovers user Yasmino.

FONTS

Next, I chose Franklin Gothic FS by FontSite Inc. to be my official font, so I bought the whole family from FontSpring.com, and unlimited licenses to put it on as many websites as I please. The two fonts currently used on the site are Franklin Gothic FS Medum Condensed and Franklin Gothic FS Book. I even incorporate these fonts in my blog.

A picked a (free) secondary font from FontSpring called Merge Regular from Philatype. I really like this font, but I just don’t have many places to put it at the moment. Currently, it makes the text in my sidebar on my “Hire Me” page stand apart.

A SIMPLER DESIGN

I wanted a simplistic design that would allow the content to shine. So, I spent a lot of time revising my content, consolidating pages and reducing clutter. I got it down to five pages, and developed intuitive titles for the pages: “home,” “about,” “hire me,” “photos,” and “blog.” I wanted my homepage to be free of the boring introductory text that — for whatever reason — everyone else is convinced they must have. However, I think visitors to my website are aware that they’re at my website, and I’d rather have graphics and the content to do the talking.

Being a fan of the social media, I wanted to maintain my previous website’s homepage feature that listed all of my other pages out there on the Internet. But, instead of a list, I decided to make vector-based graphics for my 10 favorite external sites. Hovering over these images reveals a splash of color and movement. Soon, I’ll probably use the jQuery javascript library to add more icons in a slider format for the other websites I didn’t have room to mention.

FACEBOOK + PICASA

Also, I wanted to tap into the Facebook API on the homepage. At launch, I added the famous “like” button to the homepage, and future plans including a Facebook comment box on every page. That’s coming soon. I want more people to hit that “like” button, first, though — before I go to the trouble. Ahem. I’m talking to you.

I also created a new section for my photos using a javascript that embeds my Picasa Web Albums right onto my website, making it appear as though the photos are housed on BrandonMoeller.com. The JavaScript I used was written by Jesse Berman and works just like he promised it would on the open source website SourceForge.

THE NEW BLOG

Last but not least – certainly not least because it probably took up most of the time I spent during the redesign — I updated my WordPress blog from version 2.6 something to the brand new WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious.” I then took the new standard WordPress theme of Twenty Ten and built on top of it, customizing it to look like the design I created for the new BrandonMoeller.com, allowing for a seamless experience for my blog visitors. When I get around to it, I’ll likely make the new BrandonMoeller.com into a template file that can be publicly downloaded for anybody who wants to mimic my design, as well as make my WordPress theme build-on available.

I’m also now tracking the traffic of my website with Google Analytics — I’m very impressed with what the tool allows me to discover about my visitors.

If you like the new website, please let me know what you like — and why — in the comments below.