About two years ago, I felt the urge this blog needed a design overhaul. First and foremost, responsive design played a huge factor in the call to upgrade as many of the existing WordPress plugins didn’t make the site too appealing on mobile. I called in the guys from PixelKit to do an overhaul. Responsive design wasn’t the only focus though as I wanted the option to apply a different template to posts that were deemed “less news more features.” Here are some examples:
- A feature on the Geisha at Magnum Opus Fine Coffees
- Mensakaba Geishu: Home made ramen with a heart
- Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell
These featured templates had pull-out quotes similar to magazines and bigger photos which extended to both ends of the screen. The top feature image also had parallax scrolling to give the header a 3D-effect. On mobile, the main difference between the news and feature posts was the size of photos and location of the title.
In retrospect — responsive design, HTML5, parallax scrolling (and many more!) were huge deal-makers in the past but can be found in almost any template or blog service today. I contribute a lot to a new passion project called The DorkSide and we’re using SquareSpace for the layout. Mobile and responsive design features work like a charm. Check it out! 🙂
