New Design

Welcome to the all new WezM.net. I’ve been working on this new version on and off for the past 8 months, I hope you like it. The new site is more than just a new design. I’ve also migrated away from Wordpress to static HTML files, with content written in Markdown. That doesn’t mean I have to manage everything by hand though. I use a Ruby tool, nanoc, to compile the content, ERB templates and SASS CSS into the site you see. Some of the benefits of this arrangement are:

• Pages are fast to load, cache headers are set automatically.
• No need for a database, cheap to host.
• No need to keep up with Wordpress and PHP security vulnerabilities.
• Content can be revision controlled (in Git).
• I can easily write and preview posts in a real text editor, offline on the train.
• I don’t have to create a WordPress theme to get a custom design.

The new site supports many of the features of the old one, with one exception: comments. The new site has no built-in commenting. I considered adding comments via Disqus but their commenting form feels very heavy and there wasn’t a mobile optimised version at the time I checked. In place of comments I have direct email and Twitter links at the end of each post.

The aims for the new design were to provide more separation between the technical and personal posts that I write, whilst at the same time allowing them to co-exist on the same site. I also wanted a more minimal design with some attention to the typography used.

The design is partially fluid in that it will adapt to most screens, however the width of the posts is capped at a maximum to prevent the lines becoming too long and difficult to read. The design adapts to the smaller screen when viewed on a mobile device.