I’m very pleased to announce the launch of a major revision to Off on a Tangent, bringing the site to version 22.0. This new version bring a lot of upgrades and improvements, as well as a pretty significant change to the ‘look and feel’ of the site. I’ve also done a lot of back-end work to ‘re-sync’ with the current state of the WordPress blogging and content management system, since I had a lot of old stuff still floating around in the templates. I’m also now using a more ‘standard’ setup for my templates to ease future maintenance.
Here are some of the notable user-facing changes:
- Overall New Look: While the basic palette is about the same as it’s been for a long time, I decided to go for a bit of a different look this time. You’ll notice that the whole site is a little more ‘gray’ or ‘platinum’ and a little less ‘blue.’ The menu and search bar is now pinned at the top of the screen. The random photo bars at the top and bottom subtly update the photos periodically. There are lots of little refinements and improvements scattered all around.
- Better Sidebar: The side-bar is much changed, with my most recent Facebook update (in its entirety), a ‘tag cloud,’ and more . . . including a random quote that now refreshes itself every twenty seconds. I’m also now using AddThis to provide sharing functionality, which lets you share quickly and easily with your preferred social media outlets.
- Mobile Improvements: Mobile isn’t as simple as it was when I started offering a mobile site. Some people want the ‘full web’ experience on their phones and devices (which can now handle it), while others prefer the stripped-down and simplified mobile sites. To accomodate both user types, and a bevy of new ‘somewhere in-between’ devices like the iPad, the site no longer automatically chooses which site you get. You pick which one you want (or flip back-and-forth at-will).
- If you go to https://www.scottbradford.us/ you get the desktop site.
- If you go to http://m.scottbradford.us/ you get the stripped-down mobile site.
- New Easter Egg: The secret, hidden joke page from Websites 20-21 has been retired and replaced with a new one. See if you can find it.
As always with major site updates, there’s a chance that something won’t work right. I’ll be spending some time today and tomorrow cleaning up any bugs I find and polishing up any loose-ends I missed. If you find any problems, please contact me and let me know!