Site Changes: The Details and Your Feedback

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Editing this post seems a good idea as the change over to the new design layout and code has pretty much finished and pretty much gone smoothly.  There are a few things still to be worked out, but those are mostly design related, not functional.  I would really appreciate any feedback on these changes as I am open to ideas and refinements as time goes on.  An honest comment here, positive or negative, would probably be the easiest approach to feedback, but I can also be reached for comment or questions at this link.

Now on to some of the details.  Beginning over four years ago as I started this site and blog, along with a few other personal sites, my approach was to simply find a theme that I liked the look of and start customizing.  As I learned more html and php code, and css styling techniques, I would customize my various site’s designs and functions.  What I did was to hack, or change, the code in the core files running the function and design of these sites.  Being very organized and detailed, I documented and filed every coding or design change so nothing ever got lost in the shuffle.  As I used WordPress both for blogging and as a content management system, I would even have to edit the code of numerous plugins to get what I wanted.  I got pretty good at doing this, but my methods became quite difficult to document and track over time.  Whenever I upgraded WordPress, plugins, or any individual files, I needed to retrieve my changes and customizations and reinstall them on my sites.  Also, as I was asked to design and set up several websites for other people and a few local non-profits, I realized that manually changing, tracking, and updating hundreds of coding and design changes across many unrelated sites would be next to impossible.

As I am convinced that WordPress is the best solution for most websites, I knew I wanted to continue with that system. Not only is WordPress a powerful and flexible option for websites, it is software that allows my clients to edit and maintain much of the content on their sites.  This is so much more cost effective for them as opposed to always having to get needed changes to a developer, wait for him or her to make those changes and then pay the bill for the time spent doing it.  I knew a solution had to include continuing the use of WordPress, but also had to allow for customizations and coding to be easily tracked and “future proofed”.  By future proofed, I mean customizations to sites needed to be protected from upgrades to the WordPress software, server software, or changes/upgrades to plugin software.  My thought was that as clients pay to have customizations done initially, they should not have to pay a lot more to have those customizations follow them thought time.

Fortunately, a brilliant developer/coder named Chris Pearson was thinking the same thing.  His Thesis WordPress Theme is like nothing done before.  In fact, I am not sure I would even describe it as a Theme in the traditional sense of WordPress themes.   All code changes that I make when developing a site using WordPress and Thesis are contained in custom files that are separate from the core software files and protected from any software or upgrade changes.  Because of the power and flexibility of Thesis, customizations can give every site its own look and feel.  No longer does using a single theme over many different installations mean a similar look across all of them.  As you can see by looking at some of my own sites and those of some of my clients, they can all have a very unique look and feel.  All my own sites and sites I help others with are now designed using Thesis.  Whether you hire me to implement a website for you or want to do it your self, I highly recommend using Thesis.

So as it is said, last but not least, the change is finally made here on my original personal site.  Let me know what you think.  Make any suggestions or critiques you want.  I appreciate them all and will consider them all in the future evolving of this site and others.  Thank you  for your continued readership and feedback!