Well, things certainly look a bit different around here since we last spoke way back in September. That’s what happens when you fall a little out of love with the medium and decide that a complete revamp is just what the doctor ordered. Several weeks and umpteen hours later and I can finally present version 4.0 of ‘My Life Outside’. Leaner, cleaner and a whole lot more responsive, just the thing for a viewing public whose devices have become as varied as their interests. It’s hard to believe now but when I set off on this journey in 2008 my phone was still a Nokia 3310 (yes, really), tablets were something you took for a headache and the thought that mobile views would overtake the traditional desktop seemed quite preposterous. Yet today, in December 2016, that is exactly the world in which we live and I was finding my previous blog design increasingly out of touch.
So what exactly have I done? Hopefully the biggest change should be that on whatever screen size you are reading this there will be no clipped content, no images breaking free of their confines and easy navigation for all. If that’s not the case then please let me know though I can’t promise I won’t end up as a gibbering wreck rocking back and forth in the corner. A web developer I am definitely not! For those of you using screens that require a conscious head movement to view each extremity my content may appear a tad narrower than before but that should mean that text is easier to read without inducing whiplash and photos, necessarily reduced in size for speed and to prevent theft, no longer turn into a game of count the pixels. My old method of expanding content to meet the available real estate just doesn’t work any more now that large monitors have proliferated.
Elsewhere I’ve cleaned and simplified the overall layout, removing additions that seemed like a good idea at the time but in reality brought little benefit. Instead content is now king with large images and clearer text blocks hopefully encouraging a few more clicks and longer stays. Only time will tell and I’m sure there will be plenty of tinkering over the next few months. As with DIY which has been consuming much of my time since late summer, it seems that you’re never truly finished.
Of course all this effort will be rendered rather pointless if I don’t get back to blogging on a regular basis. And that is exactly what I intend to do. It may be a few weeks early for new year resolutions but mine will be to drag myself out of this mostly self-inflicted malaise to return once more to the hills, mountains, rivers and beaches that I now consider my natural habitat. I’ve already signed up for the Patchwork Challenge again after this year’s dismal effort and have plenty of walks in mind including some which should prove truly spectacular. With a full summer available there will also be numerous opportunities to get out on the water in our kayaks and I still have an ambition to complete another long distance route. Having fallen foul of broken promises on here before though let’s take one step at a time. For now please have a look around, let me know what you think and here’s to the next eight years of ‘My Life Outside’.
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