One of the effects of updating a lot of other people websites is that I’m constantly reminded of the need to update my own website. Thoughts such as ‘that’s nice – I should use that on my own website’ are common and finally pushed me into having a re-design – just in time for 2017.

For the past few years nearly every site I visit has gone ‘full width’, you know, with the content stretching right across the whole screen. Whilst I’m a fan of using the whole window width I also still like the old school blog design; content and a sidebar. I think this somehow concentrates attention on the actual content of the pages.

So for 2017 I’ve gone a bit old school – back to a simple ‘boxed’ layout. You could argue that the design is too boring and simple, not ground breaking enough, but, as I say to my customers “a website is there to present content – not to compete against it”. I tend to think that if I’ve done a good job on a website then my work shouldn’t really be noticeable – you should just see the content, the message, and be able find what you need without thought.

For years people have been designing WordPress sites so they don’t look like WordPress, or rather they don’t look like a blog, and as developers we’ve been pushing WordPress as a content management system, and sometimes even hiding the ‘blogging’ aspect of WordPress from clients.

I’ve even had enquiries from people asking “Is it possible to add a blog to my WordPress website?”

So I want to celebrate the simple ‘blog’ design, everything we do happens at a point in time:) so I say the blog is everything.