I think I need a new look for my web site. Singular, now, since I merged everything back into one space. I decided people find stuff via social media anyway, so why worry about separating topics into separate web sites.
Besides, what a pain to manage.
But now, I think I need a new look and I haven’t a clue what I want. I see two trends in modern website design among the looks I’ve been exploring. I call them the Minimalist and the Maximalist.
The Minimalist is the design you see at the Node.js Blog and a lot of other primarily techie sites (though I am seeing it at New York Times and other major publications). It’s centered, minimal, no sidebars, few graphics—clean and plain. These pages are so trim, they load before you even know you want to see them.
The Maximalist is similar in being typically centered, but the similarity ends at that point. It features graphics. Sometimes, a lot of graphics. Enough to choke a server. They catch your attention, though. And you get a strong visual about the story even before you read the headline.
There are several Drupal themes that support the Maxamalist view, with sliders along the top front page, and full size photo headers on separate pages. I haven’t seen much in the Drupal world that embraces the Node.js Minimalist look, but it’s so simple, it could be easy to create.
The thing is, nothing feels right. I want to use HTML5 elements, and incorporate accessibility, as well as embrace responsive web design for the mobile world. Lots of Drupal themes to choose from, but none have reached out and slapped me across the face and demanded I pay attention.
So I guess I’ll just hang here with my plain black and white and burnt bird look, until something says, “Hi. You like me. You really like me.”
