New & improved site almost finished
Dec
19
2009

This week saw a flurry of web dev activity as I went back to the drawing board for version 6.0 of TheScubaGeek.com.

Version 5.0+ (released early summer 2009) has served me well, but admittedly I’ve had issues with the certain aspects of the layout. The page navigation on the top menu never quite vibed with me, older articles were hard to find, my content was unbalanced relative to my top-tier categories, and the ad section was rendered all but useless by Firefox’s awesome plugin Adblock Plus (which, if you don’t already have it, get it now). And don’t even get me started on the right-aligned misfire of Version 5.0 or the current left-align format of Version 5.5. I wanted the site to be centered like most good sites nowadays, but the original image of the diver’s silhouette is clipped off right where it ends on the current layout, and Photoshopping the image for center alignment proved tricky.

Furthermore, I never quite worked out what I wanted to do with the home page, and I think that’s because I never quite worked out what I wanted to do with the site. Is it a blog? A travel guide? A business front? I’ve worn so many different hats in the last two years that my site ended up as a hodgepodge of half-finished ideas. My move (perhaps temporary) away from Roatan in October also led me to question how well my site could hold up now that the infamous Adventures of TheScubaGeek were no longer unfolding in paradise.

As I revealed in a recent post (Time for a change), I’ve revamped the core content of the site to be more clearly focused on the specific areas I like to write about: myself, scuba diving, website development, Roatan, crazy true stories from my island life, and rum. Each section is designed to be a stand-alone part of the site rather than the entangled mishmash I’ve piled up over the last year. Static pages and posts are more clearly delineated and old posts are easier to hunt down. The sidebar has been altered to focus more on my frequently-updated content. Search has been improved and extended to include images.

Over the next two weeks I will be rolling out my changes and there may be a few hiccups along the way. I have to untangle the mess of categories, tags, and posts, so a few articles may dance around the site or vanish altogether for while. However, I will do my best to keep as much of the old content intact as I make the transition to the new site.

I could go on and on about how the new site will rock your face, but I’ll save that for the face rocking actually begins. Until then, here’s a screen capture of my nearly completed version 6.0 running on my Mac (details are still subject to change, of course).

tsg-preview

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