Elaborating on a Complete Idea
Something I’m proud to say is that I have reached a point with the design of this site that I am happy with. That doesn’t mean that the process of tweaking it and improving stops. Not now, not ever.
Because I am happy with it, doesn’t mean it looks even close to perfect to me. There are many flaws that mostly involve consistency.
Realign, Refresh, Reuse and Recycle
I don’t know if the “Three Rs” were hammered into your head to help save the environment (or something like that) while your were young, but in essence the ideas were a pretty solid foundation to web design.
Once the design is done, in the sense that you are happy, I like the start thinking of different approaches right away. With this site it is hard, because not much really sees a canvas in Photoshop. Most is just created live, while everything is running.
- Familiarity. With designs that stay reasonably consistent in theme and colour, it keeps readers happy to see something similar, but different at the same time.
- Simplicity. I like to make things easier to get to and overall simpler every time I revise the design. This never has to mean less images or flashy elements, just improved usability. In fact, if you don’t improve on usability with a new version, that’s never very good, is it?
- Less boring. Having the same design for years at a time is alright if it has changed the web (for the better), but otherwise it’s best to keep readers awake with a little change every now and then.
Refresh Frequency
Depending on how often you post, the amount of traffic you get and how good your design is, there are numerous factors factoring into when you should change it up.
Every couple of months might be a little much for anyone, but every 6 months something new is always nice. I’m going to clean this design up next month, and though it hasn’t been long, this would be a sort of a beginning to a more regular schedule.
A Chance to Improve
A design can only get better, so there is no use in being timid about changing things. If you have a shot at it and you decide the attempt has failed, you can always revert quickly or try again. The key is not to waste your time with coding something you don’t fully believe in.
Not only on the screen can you improve, but also in the XHTML and CSS you use. Use the best structure, validate code and format it. All those things you were putting off till next time, it’s time to get those going.
Who knows? Maybe after a couple good refreshing realigns to your site it actually will be perfect.
