Refresh

It's been quite a while since I've touched my own site. It's been months since I've even logged into WordPress let alone even touch the code or look into another redesign.

The time has finally come.

Work Life

A lot has changed for me over the last several months. I now work for Tenable Network Security and have been lucky to rebuild and relaunch the main site there as well as help rebrand the company. I find it hard to believe how much progress we have made in a relatively short period of time.

Work is also bringing its own set of changes. Tenable is expanding and we're moving into a new building within the next month or two (fingers crossed). My role at Tenable is changing as well. I'm now helping update the UIs of our products as well as helping other departments with rebranding efforts.

On the Side

Back in January, I began teaching a web class one night a week at Loyola and I must say I have enjoyed every minute of it. I've been focusing on teaching principles of the Modern Web which is a departure from what has the norm in universities. No more tables, no more frames, and no more Dreamweaver. I've created a website for the class at LearningtheModernWeb.com

I've set out to improve what I could about web design in the setting of a college class. The students have a wide variety of skillsets and interests so I have tried to offer something for the person who wants to get into this industry as well as something for the person who just needs help getting their resume online.

Eating My Own Dog Food

Back to why I redesigned and relaunched my site… I've been having my class build their own portfolio sites starting first with a one page resume site and then expanding that to a static site, and finally converting that site into a WordPress theme.

I figured the best way to show them how to go through the entire process was to use real examples of a real site so I rebuilt my site for the class while the students are bulding theirs. Theoretical demos and demos where you create box with a div and set its color to red really bother me. I think the best way to learn something is to see a real working, coherent example from start to finish.

The Design

This is the fourth major redesign of my site and this is the first redesign where I'm shifting the format of the site. This iteration of the site is no longer for me to showcase my work to find a job but rather more of my online home. I want to start writing more and I've designed this site to be optimized for that.

For starters, I've chosen Abril Text as my new typeface. I think its one of the nicest slab serifs around and looks good on any screen, regardless of the resolution.

I kept my name at the top in Arvil Sans carrying that over from the last version of the site. I've also brought over most of the same color scheme from my previous theme but I've gotten rid of the dark navy blue header and instead opted for a lighter overall look.

This new design was built mobile first and I think it looks its best on smaller screens. I now have quite a bit of experience building responsive sites and have brought that to my own site. I have put extra care into performance, making efforts to limit page weight and the amount of http requests.

There's nothing particularly flashy about this design and I don't mind that one bit. It's simple and I like it. How long will this version stick around? Maybe until the end of next semester?