I’ve recently put some time into re-designing this site. I was after a cleaner look that used images to promote parts of my portfolio and any recent posts filed under the blogging page. I realise many blogs avoid introductory pages to ensure good google rankings, but I was after ‘looks’ before rankings.
The site is now based on the Genesis Framework from the guys at StudioPress. It has some smart SEO options and allows child themes to be added, while leaving the original template untouched. I’ve made very few changes in my child template other than to alter the footer, add the Dynamic Content Gallery to the home page and alter the ‘post info’ area to remove my name as author – as it’s pretty obvious that I’m the only one using this site.
I’ve still got more images I’d like to upload to the galleries listed under my portfolio, but for now I’m pretty happy with the site.
Plugins used:
AddToAny: A simple to install share button placed on either posts and/or pages
Contact Form 7: A very straight forward contact form
Maintenance Mode: Handy when doing upgrades and maintenance on your site if you don’t mind a temporary loss of traffic
NextGEN Gallery: A flexible photographic gallery with some good options
WordPress Download Monitor: See how many times a particular document is downloaded
Twitpress: Send the title of your most recent post via your twitter account
TinyMCE Advanced: Extra features added to the existing editor – for example – the ability to insert anchors or create hover over effects (see my CMS Web Design portfolio)
Genesis Simple Hooks – part of the genesis framework to enable insertion of code within particular parts of the template
Dynamic Content Gallery – Creates a dynamic gallery of images linked to either posts or pages (My home page)
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