Welcome to the replace!
I’ve a brand new theme for the positioning, and I believe it appears to be like nice! This can be a closely modified
Flex theme. I speak in regards to the adjustments I made to the theme under, in addition to my targets
for the positioning going ahead. A brand new theme is not going be chargeable for hitting all of these targets, however I believe it would assist. The
web site was fairly bland earlier than. It did what it wanted to do, but it surely did not look the most effective doing it. My skillset is not entrance finish
growth, however I’m quite happy with the brand new theme and the adjustments I put in place.
When you’re inquisitive about what the positioning used to seem like, bounce right down to the The place the positioning was part.
The default model of the Flex theme might be seen on it is demo web site, to offer you an concept of the adjustments I’ve
made to my occasion.
Look & Really feel
The brand is maybe probably the most refined change. It is designed, deliberately, to not be a circle (to frequent on different websites )or a sq. (to boring).
It is an off form blob. Check out it. It very slowly shifts too. You may see it alongside the underside of the shirt most clearly. It is designed
to maneuver solely a bit and fairly slowly, in order that it isn’t distracting. It is simply energetic sufficient to catch your eye in case you are trying however not
designed to drag focus from the article you’re studying.
The default flex theme could be very…neat. There are good crisp strains. It’s extremely scientific. I modified this just a bit with splash of a curved
pink border between the aspect bar and the principle article. It isn’t a significant change, but it surely provides a bit character. Mixed with the
blob/animated head shot, it makes it really feel distinctive among the many flex theme’d blogs I checked out to guage if I appreciated the theme.
A favicon is such a bit factor, however I did not have one with the outdated theme. Having one now provides just a bit bit extra of a
skilled contact and it was really easy to do. The colour of the favicon, the aspect bar, and the responsive bars from the tag and
class pages all match.
ToC
The desk on contents on the aspect bar is an addition I made, as a result of I dislike when the desk of contents scrolls off the display screen. It is the identical
purpose I froze the desk of contents to the aspect bar on the earlier iteration of the positioning. After I’m studying, I wish to understand how far I’m in
and article and be capable to simply bounce to a different part. Since I’m additionally a reader of my web site (particularly on the technical posts), I strive
to make it simple for myself too.
Tags/Classes
The tags and class pages on my outdated web site the place unhealthy. They have been a large listing of meta-data and a hyperlink to a submit. It was messy. I did not like
it, however I additionally did not use it so I spent little or no time making an attempt to make it work higher. With a brand new theme, I needed to make the pages extra
helpful, no less than to me. I discovered a superb submit by John Paton on tips on how to make a responsive bar chart for these pages.
Take have a look at my tags or classes pages. To me, that appears great. I can get a fast have a look at what number of articles
are in every part and clicking on one brings me to a web page particularly for articles in that slice of meta-data.
search engine optimisation
Earlier than you run away…it is a good factor, and I have been doing it for some time. All of my opinions, have been sporting Schema.org
Overview microdata for years. My weblog posts have been sporting Article microdata. This was all exhausting coded into my template. It was past time to
replace to make the most of JSON+LD and supply much more context to the subjects I write about.
Initially, I chosen Flex as a result of it claims to help Wealthy Snippets. My outcomes on which might be fuzzy, at greatest. The snippets offered are usually not full
wealthy snippets. Nonetheless, they offered an excellent base. I’ve up to date my occasion to help JSON+LD for Individual (click on view supply on my
About Me to see it), Article, Overview and Breadcrumbs (see the navigation bar on the prime of this web page). Search engines like google and yahoo use all
of that to get a greater concept of what is on the positioning. I’ve a couple of extra I need to implement too, however this will get me past parity with my outdated theme.
I’ve additionally made certain that canonical hyperlinks are included in my articles. I’ve a pair that Google sees as duplicates as a result of UTM tags I caught on
hyperlinks some time in the past. Having cononical hyperlinks in place ought to resolve some annoying errors and warnings I see in my search console.
Targets of the replace
I’ve a couple of targets with this newly up to date web site. A pair relate on to the theme, and some are normal web site targets.
- Up to date Software set – I used to be operating an outdated model of Pelican and missed out on some new options. By updating, I am hoping that I
can stay nearer to the present launch. I wish to get the most recent options, and that alone feels higher. - A helpful tags and classes web page. Like I discussed above, they was once ineffective. Now, there may be greater than only a listing of 1-2
work phrases sitting on my web site throughout two pages. If I begin one other collection – I consider I’ve two proper now whole, I could add a
comparable collection web page. - Web site face raise. As you possibly can see under, the outdated model was fairly bland. This replace provides some shade, makes a couple of issues extra accessible,
and customarily feels much less like studying a sheet of paper on a display screen. It isn’t the flashiest factor on the web, however you possibly can see
by my social media hyperlinks to the left, that I am not that kind of particular person anyway. - Higher search engine optimisation. Clearly a template does not instantly remedy this downside, however it would assist. Plus another plans so as to add extra content material (gasp!)
and it ought to assist. Proper now, although, “Andrew Wegner” returns this web page ninth on Google. It is behind somebody with a unique final identify spelling,
somebody with a unique first identify, and some different “Andrew Wegners”. Whereas seek for a job, I could not depend upon my web site being the one which
was clicked. - Lastly, a conceit aim, is to get a Information Graph when trying to find my identify. It’s going to take some time earlier than I can get there, however a number of the
search engine optimisation work I am placing in now will, hopefully, repay.
The place the positioning was
One final journey down reminiscence lane, because the template that has served as the bottom of the positioning because the intial migration from WordPress in 2015 is retired. The outdated template was utilizing Elegant. I’m the #7 contributor to the theme on the time of publishing
this. That is not saying an entire lot, with my transient spurt of exercise in 2019, but it surely was a contribution that I hope others utilizing the theme
are in a position to make the most of.
I used to be caught on the Pelican 3.0 department. I actually do not keep in mind why. I keep in mind trying to improve to Pelican 4.0 and the whole lot broke. On the
time I used to be unable to spend a major time to repair it, so I rolled again and caught with the newest model that ran.
Going by way of this revamp, I upgraded to the newest Pelican, the most recent Markdown and go all the brand new fancy issues. We’ll see if they really
enhance my expertise. From a consumer stand level, not a lot ought to change aside from a visible overhual. It is a static web site and is designed to be
fairly non-interactive. On my aspect although, I am hoping issues are rather less brittle.
On to the final photos of the outdated template.
The Previous House Web page:
Just a few different screenshots of the outdated web site sit right here:
