This web site is turning into a test card!
12 March 2010

"If the people who take the trouble to come here can see what's new on the home page then perhaps they'll stay long enough to blink more than twice before they leave again."

This web site has now been running for over a decade and in that time it's received a number of makeovers. A change is as good as a rest (or so they say). The "2008" version of claytonfamily.org.uk lasted longer than most designs at nearly 2 years but by the tail end of 2009 I'd decided that a revamp was once again the order of the day.

The latest "new coat of paint" was unveiled on New Year's Day 2010 (clearly I didn't have much of a hang-over to worry about). This new look extended initially to just the home page and the Holiday section. I was quite pleased with the new design but before I'd got round to changing any other pages on the site I came to the conclusion that what claytonfamily.org.uk needed wasn't so much a new coat of paint as new foundations, new walls and a nice pointy roof to go on top. It was time for major renovations!

The problem with this site, I reflected, wasn't it's look or feel (indeed I receive more compliments than complaints about how it all hangs together, despite one or two niggles I never quite got round to fixing). No, the problem (as with any site that regularly adds new content) is how to make the updating process a) painless for the author (i.e. me) and b) easy for visitors to find… or what the Hell is the point?

Recent research (mentioned in the interesting BBC HD documentary The Virtual Revolution) points at most internet users hopping distractedly from site to site and hardly ever viewing more than 2 or 3 pages at each domain they visit. That's rather depressing news for web designers like me. Perhaps I should write a book and then burn every other book in the local library to make sure I achieve a captive audience.

Traditionally, news sites have adopted a process of showing the major news items on the home page so visitors know what's new as soon as they get there. Sites like this, dedicated to a family, are at first glance not really suited to this format however I beg to differ. If the people who take the trouble to come here can see what's new on the home page then perhaps they'll stay long enough to blink more than twice before they leave again.

The other major problem with any site that wants to update itself often is how to do it in the quickest fashion and how to chose what to take off. Take the page I have for my eldest pet dog, Misty. When I add a new item of news to her page what comes off to make room? Usually nothing, which means that her page quickly became a mishmash of topics that stretched down the browser page and on into the depths of the earth.

The solution to both these problems is to add a new news item for each "story" via a CMS (Content Management System). I've installed (and also written) several over the years and once you have one in place you can add articles for each new item of news and the site pretty much looks after itself. So that's what I'm finally doing with claytonfamily.org.uk. It's taken ages to get round to it, but finally the site will have a "news format" and the home page will be much more than a few pretty graphics and sliding boxes that hardly ever alter.

Big up me, eh?

This brings me on to the title of this piece. As I'd already changed the Holiday section to a (now defunct) new design this web site is now 3 looks in one. Tomorrow (Saturday 13 March) I plan to make the new-look "news style" home page live (although with some features missing for now) along with an article about my new puppy Amber also in the new format. The holiday section remains in the "temporary" old new style(!) and the rest of the site still has its 2008 clothing on.

The CMS isn't written yet, but the site has a database back end and before the weather warms up (assuming it will do at some point) I hope to have this disparate array of page designs under control.

As with all changes to the site, I welcome feedback and comments unless you're using Internet Explorer 6, in which case may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits for ever. And, yes, unlike the 2008 design which I went to great pains to get to work in IE6, the new one won't even be tested in it.

Live with it.