[Naked CSS Day](http://naked.dustindiaz.com/) is over. Rather than just re-applying the old layout, I’ve switched to WordPress and I’m building up a new layout slowly. Arturo, Justin and I are working out a new structure and look - meanwhile I’ve started things off by applying [One True Layout](http://www.positioniseverything.net/articles/onetruelayout/). I did [make note](http://web-graphics.com/mtarchive/001664.php) of the technique last October when Alex Robinson published it, but it wasn’t until Monday’s [An Event Apart](http://aneventapart.com/) that I really got around to grasping the concepts better. Speaking of An Event Apart, if you haven’t been to either of the first two, don’t miss the next one. It’s a top-shelf event that provided more education and inspiration than could normally be packed into one day.
So what’s happening here? By ditching the old structure/system/markup I’ve already gained many advantages:
* Gone are the image replacements for headers that didn’t really need them
* Weirdness with MovableType rebuilding avoided - for new posts anyway
* One True Layout for equal height columns, em widths for zoom style font resizing
* Most importantly the markup here is pretty old (in the web sense of the term), so a clean slate makes sense. In this case, I started with the [basic theme](http://www.visual-assault.org/wpTheme_basic/index.html) for WordPress.
Live redesigns aren’t a new concept, I’m choosing to retool this way simply and selfishly because it’s just more fun.
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12 Responses to “Getting dressed slowly”
April 6th, 2006 at 3:54 am
Awesome idea! It will be great to see a new design whatever you might come up with. Any chance you have some screenshots of the old design, or better yet, have any URL’s where the old design still works? I’d love to just keep a screenshot of it in my archives of beautiful sites. I’ve always loved this site’s style and wouldn’t want to forget about it so soon.
April 6th, 2006 at 5:31 am
Joshua, the archives in the frontpage’s left sidebar are untouched.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:45 am
Nate, I’m most interested in seeing how the switch goes. I’ve been sitting on MoveableType for too long, ignoring the mounting problems. I toyed once with TextPattern and WordPress, but didn’t go any further. It’ll be neat to see how it goes for you, see if it can get my off my butt as well.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Nate,
I love the idea for a live redesign! It will be fun to watch the process. It will also be fun to see how community-swayed you guys are (i.e. if you make a piece of the design live and people don’t like it, what will you do?). I’m sad to see the old layout go, but I’m anticipating the new web-graphics.com.
-Nate
April 6th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Thanks for the positive feedback guys. Nate - thats a good question. I think we’ll have to see what happens and use our best judgement. I’m inclined to say we won’t be swayed by popular opinion, but frankly if there’s good rationale, we’re likely to follow suit.
Anyways, thanks again for the kind words.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I too am creating a new site and have decided on giving the One True Layout a try. I’m looking forward to hearing how it all works out for you… One True Layout as well as the transition to Word Press.
I did want to ask, are you saying you’re using em’s as your base unit? I ended up using percentages for my layout boxes and I’m now wondering if that was the best decision for a fluid layout.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Well in terms of WordPress, I first tried using it on the [twinsparc](http://twinsparc.com) site. Honestly it was a bit painful to figure out how to hack up the templates to work the way we wanted. After that, we used it for a client in a more traditional blog type setup and it went a bit smoother. So far on Web-Graphics it’s been a breeze, partially because I’m familiar with WordPress now, and partially because it’s completely blogish.
Ems are a neat way to size your layout (meaning specify layout boxes with em width) because when a user resizes the font size, the entire layout scales with it (sort of like Opera’s zoom sizing). I’m not sure how this all plays into fluid layouts, mostly because I just really not a fan of fluid layouts - but that’s just me.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
I’m really keen to see what this grows into. ‘Organic’ websites are an interesting thing to watch! Using this method of building up a site can really show what’s goin on in the head of the person building it! It’s a fantastic way to pick up new techniques and to learn some things you may not have had the opportunity to learn had you designed and built everything up front.
I’m also using Wordpress. I actually found it easier to contruct a flat site and then add the WP code, gradually replacing the static content. I found that trying to mash templates together for what I wanted turned out to be a mess; it was better for me to go from ground up without templates. That could just be an “I don’t know what I’m doing with WP yet” thing though. ;)
I’m keeping an eye out!
April 11th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Hi Nate… I too am in the midst of re-designing my own site using the One True Layout techniques (although my re-design is going on behind a curtain - not all of us are as brave - hehehe).
Like you, It took Eric’s presentation in order for the technique to “jive” with me. (I am sorry that we did not meet at AEA - I would have liked to have gotten to meet you - having read your site for awhile now)
I have layed out my site using the layout style of OTL, but I am not going to have to use the negative margins in my case. So, my site will be layed out for it’s future use and not in the new re-design. I can definitely see the flexibility it will afford though!
Anyways, on with the show… I am eager to see where you go with your site…
April 12th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
@Dan: Thats really interesting, I wouldn’t have thought that starting from a static template would be easier with WP. Then again, starting with the [basic theme](http://www.visual-assault.org/wpTheme_basic/index.html) is really almost like starting with nothing (in that it’s stripped down to the core).
@Todd: Hey I’m sorry to not have met you at An Event Apart either. Yeah I’m even more hyped on the One True Layout than ever now that I’ve started using it here. It’s easier than it seems when you read about it.
January 28th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I too am creating a new site and have decided on giving the One True Layout a try. I’m looking forward to hearing how it all works out for you… One True Layout as well as the transition to Word Press.
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I did want to ask, are you saying you’re using em’s as your base unit? I ended up using percentages for my layout boxes and I’m now wondering if that was the best decision for a fluid layout.
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