23 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
23 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Why I rewrote my website
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date: 2017-11-13
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image: resource:new-site-screenshot.png
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tags: [programming, website]
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---
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I've had a website for around four years now, starting with a python CGI-based site hosted at [1&1](https://www.1and1.co.uk/), and evolving into its current form, powered by [Hugo](https://gohugo.io/).
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Although I'm a web developer, I'm very far from a designer. I really can't design anything!
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## Alternatives
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In the past, I've used services like [StartBootstrap](https://startbootstrap.com/) and [HTML5UP](https://html5up.net/). These allow me to just throw together a site, and not really worry how it looks, because the design is done for me. However, slight modifications I need to make to the theme, end up spiralling out of control and wrecking things.
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## Solution
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After deciding to do yet another redesign, I had an epiphany. Rather than using a fancy, modern-looking design, let's use something simple! The Hugo theme [_Vec_](https://themes.gohugo.io/hugo-theme-vec/) looked _almost_ perfect. I used _Vec_ as a base for a complete redesign of my site. Rather than actually using _Vec_, I used Bootstrap to replicate it closely, with a few optimizations of my own.
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Making the design this simple means there's very little to go wrong. If the whole site looks so simple, it's very hard for it to look quite so bad.
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## Implementation
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I implemented it in just over two weeks, in a [single PR](https://github.com/RealOrangeOne/theorangeone.net/pull/1). In this refactor, I also fixed many things I didn't like about my sites build process. I even installed a [compressor](https://github.com/gschier/speedpack) for deployment.
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Overall I'm really happy how the rewrite looks, It's far nicer and more original than my previous sites. Now, to push it live!
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