I’ve started doing some preliminary work and prototyping for the next major update to my web site, Website 21. It’s been over a year now since I launched Website 20 on the WordPress blogging and content management platform, which makes it one of the longest-lived designs in the history of Off on a Tangent. It’s been through two minor revisions and I still really like it, which is also pretty abnormal. Usually I start getting annoyed with my site after six months or so and start furiously experimenting with redesigns. In this case, I got a bit annoyed with the color palette and darkened it in the 20.2 revision but that’s been about it.
All-in-all, I’m mostly doing a redesign because it’s time to do a redesign. It’s been over a year, and—perhaps most importantly—I’m no longer supporting Internet Explorer 6 so I can start doing some more advanced, clean, simplified coding without all the hacks and insanity. Internet Explorer 6 has held back the Internet long enough. Don’t expect a really ground-breaking change from a visual perspective. Website 21 will likely be an evolutionary design change, not a revolutionary one. Having said that, I do intend to spend a lot of time reworking all the code on the back end. I’m basically going to code the template from scratch with clean, compliant, modern code. IE6 users beware; the site will not work properly in your browser. Upgrade!
Lastly, I’m always open to suggestions. If there’s something about the design or function of Off on a Tangent that you love or hate, please let me know. I will seriously consider your input as I go through the process of developing concepts and building the next version of this site.