The re-re-design of R.L. Charpentier Photography’s main site

While most readers visit this blog and think of it as my main page, that’s just not the case.  That doesn’t mean you’re coming to the wrong place.  Keep on visiting the blog, that’s where the most up to date stuff gets posted.

But, for the “front end” of RichCharpentier.com there is a page.  And last year I’d “re-designed” it using Dreamweaver and Flash.  The site has been on my mind, but it’s usually a low priority thought.  But still, it’s been a thought.  And this week, in between color matching and wrangling over the Z3100, I took a few moments to completely wipe the site out and rebuild.  Not from scratch mind you, as I already had an idea in mind…….

If the layout looks familiar to you, maybe hauntingly familiar, it’s because I’ve opted to use the same WordPress Theme that I use on this blog.  “Very Plain Text,” has been a favorite theme of mine for years.  Why?  I guess when it comes to web layout I’m one of those “Less is More” kind of guys.  I really like a simple and clean look when it comes to websites, and Very Plain Text is one of the cleanest themes to date.  Plus I find it easy enough to “tweak.”  If you check out the tool bar at the top of this blog for instance you’ll notice that the pages are laid out exactly the same as on the main RichCharpentier.com site now.  When you navigate between blog and main site it will now be seamless with the exception of the site title.

Over the next few days I’ll be re-filling some pages that need additional content.  I’ve got to build several new pages on my Giclee services, and I’m working on an FTP uploader that will work seamlessly within WordPress.  Then you can upload your files for reproduction rather than e-mail them to me.  That’ll mean larger file sizes will be in play.  Finally…….

Beyond refilling content, I’ve also been working with layout sizing.  There’s been a ton of chatter about Flash and the IPad, IPhone, and IPod Touch.  My main site used Flash previously, and that meant a sizable population of users were being excluded.  So, with this redesign I went with an old favorite, NextGen Gallery, and Smooth Gallery.  All the “I” users out there can see everything on the main site.  And with the layout I selected, navigation should be easy.  Now I know some readers will chuckle slightly about fine tuning for the “I” products, but just so you know, I have more readers using IPhones than you would imagine (according to my stats).

So, the new front end will work for the IPads, Touches, and IPhones now.  I’ll refine a little more, but looking on an IPod Touch this morning I was fairly satisfied.

There you have it folks.  The big announcement for a Sunday morning before I head off to the next Photoshop class I’m teaching.  Don’t forget, next week is the Lightroom Class and I’d love to see you there!

Hope you enjoy the new site, and I’ll take all suggestions about pages and info.  Suggestions on using other themes…..skip them, I like the new layout.  🙂