A New Look for Project Paradox
I’m always tweaking the site. I always talk about it being my little pet project; something I do to pass the time, hone my web design skills, experiment, vent stress, and what have you. Everyone likes to have something that they can show off, and Project Paradox is mine, my own creation that I can show off to the world.
Until recently, I’ve been displeased with the way the site looks. Ever since I started doing web design, I’ve been more of a developer. It comes as no surprise, then, that until now I focused on the functional aspects of my site while neglecting the visual appeal. I’d always write it off by saying, “Who cares what it looks like if the content is good?” Well, as shocking a revelation as this may be, it turns out that looks matter.
So, a few weeks ago I started messing around in Photoshop. Nothing too fancy. Some rounded edges here, some bevelling there, a splash of color (I’ve always been partial to blue), and voila! It took a lot of work, but I finally came up with a look that did everything I wanted it to do. It’s simple but elegant, accentuating the content without overwhelming it, and it connotes a personal touch that fits well with the theme of Project Paradox. It’s everything the site needs; hopefully I’ll go more than a month or two before I decide it needs to be redesigned again.
Anyway, putting it together has been the difficult part. WordPress is a wonderfully extensible program and will help draw the functionality and the content together in ways that would take me months to develop alone. Still, making your own custom theme from scratch is still time-consuming. I’ll be sure to get back on the horse with my blogging as soon as everything is up and running to my satisfaction (which, incidentally, could take awhile). 