OK… I changed my mind about the layout. Once I started redesigning the theme I found that I couldn’t stop. You see, I’ve never really had a flair for what I would call graphic design. I’m more of a nuts and bolts type of a guy, but my browser did it to me again! Whilst surfing I accidentally, and I don’t know what possessed me, typed ‘typography’ into Google. The result was the start of a journey through a series of online articles about the importance of the visual elements of web design.

Here are a couple of the most interesting sources.

Putting it into practice.

… so this is the result. I’ve tried to follow the advice on text formatting including a logical hierarchy in titles and optimising line spacing and column width for legibility. This is all done with CSS of course and I’ve used the max-width property to limit the size of the content column in inline with the legibility guidelines in these articles.

I’ve tried to maintain the liquid or elastic layout, still not sure which is which. I still believe that this provides a better use of the screen space and smoother control when the text is scaled. However, I’ve changed to a three column layout to accommodate the generally narrower central column with the left menu containing blog specific links and my new right-hand column for all those extra links and comments.

No guarantees.

Whilst I’m much happier with the look and feel of the site, now I’m gaining an ever increasing interest in graphic design. Therefore, I’m not guaranteeing there won’t be more changes.

The web and printed material I used whilst researching this topic has made it evident how important these elements of design are in everyday life and how much I’ve tended to take it for granted. In the past I’ve just wondered why my sites don’t feel as good as others without really considering the obvious. I’ve still a long way to go, but hopefully the quality of my output is on the up. Incidentally, that same web research showed me that I’m not the only one who needs to take the time to think about graphic design!