Website Design

I have, over the years, received a handful of comments regarding this 'blog site's design – nearly all complimentary, I probably out to add, just in case anyone jumps to an erroneous conclusion. It has occurred to me that a few lines of explanation of my policy on this topic could be of value, so here goes...

First, although I don't wish for things to get stale, by and large I don't fiddle with the design of thew site. There have been occasions when new templates have been worth implementing (twice in more than five years) and many more times when they haven't. My on-line user names and website addresses remain constant, as does my email address.

All this is so that the customer (for want of a better term)  is not expected to cope with bewildering changes in design, having to amend email address book entries or bookmarks – or anything else. It is born out of respect for the user, rather than (perhaps) satisfying my ego by showing how clever I am, or whatever.

The only part of this site's design I have changed for several years now is the banner, and that remains essentially the same with just detail changes to reflect shifts in emphasis over time.

On the subject of the banner, note how small it is relative to those of many other sites, in particular its height. This is deliberate, as far too many sites I know and access regularly have such a big banner that one has to scroll down a page to get to any actual content. Now, I don't know about you, but when I visit a website, it tends to be for content, usually new material, not a screenful of the same old banner image that was exactly the same last time and that I do not need (again!) to tell me what the site is about.

Notice that my modest banner – which no doubt has its faults, I do not deny – conveys all that even a first-time a visitor here might wish to know before reading anything I have written, but in a much more modest space. I don't go in for the in-yer-face egotistical style of site design, but still do the job. I'm sure the end result is far from perfect, but it always but always places the visitor's needs above those of the site author. Regulars here will no doubt have noticed the same attitude manifested in numerous other ways as well.

Y'see: the effort I put in impacts only one person, but can save dozens, scores, or (occasionally) hundreds of others having to make an easily avoidable exercise – and this is why I have consistently over the years made that effort, and I think it shows!