Jeffrey Paul

The more astute of you may have noticed that I’ve recently switched my personal website over to WordPress. My requirements for a home page layout are very simple, but quite strict: a lack of clutter, a clear boundary between posted items, and a clear, one-level navigational structure.

It seems to me that nobody who designs WordPress themes keeps the basic elements of UI design in mind. It took me several hours just to find the theme I’m using now (called Manifest), and even that wastes over half of the screen real-estate available in the default configuration, causing unnecessary scrolling. Who hard-codes pixel values in 2010, when 24″, 1920×1200 displays are $400? (Column widths of 500px, at that!)

So, after a bit of CSS hackery, I’ve got a new website and blog configuration that I’m at least not unhappy-with. Perhaps I will design a custom theme at some point in the future, though I do despise doing web design, it seems that the only way to get things done right (without having to pay a professional) is to delve in myself.

Also worth a mention is a new blog I’ve found, run by a designer I’ve recently met through a common friend. His blog KinoSport easily takes the cake for the best layout I’ve seen on a webpage in quite some time.