Oddball Update

Such are the problems of a web designer. We’re never satisfied with our own blasted sites. In looking at the Oddball Update, I really don’t like what I see. Not that I ever did. When I initially put this site together, it was more out of a desire for a change of location than a change of design. I really did like the design of my old site (that black and purple thing) better, although it was a fixed-width layout. And the more I look at sites with inverted color schemes (light text on dark backgrounds), the more I find them easier to read. Can’t explain it.

So, I am undertaking to redesign the Oddball Update after its brief stint as this ugly, hard-to-read, text-too-small, gray-on-white thing. The new design will be much bolder and easier to read, plus more accessible—the text sizes will be controllable by the user’s browser. I’m also going to make the site skinnable using PHP, such that visitors will be able to select the design they like best and save their preferences. For instance, I know many people prefer reading dark-text-on-light-background pages, so that will be an option for those users. I’m even considering making a few different, randomized masthead images. There will also be a PDA-friendly version of the site (as there is today—bet you didn’t know that).

For a while I debated putting up a “teaser screenshot” of the new design up here while I work on this thing further, but I decided I like the element of surprise better. One day you’ll all come here, and fadoom! New design. (No, your user accounts won’t be deleted; everything there will still be as it was.)

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