Viperfish gets a redesign
Written by John Pitchers Thursday, 09 July 2009 08:45
Today, I roll out my newly designed site. Version 3 of Viperfish.com.au finally sees an upgrade from Joomla!1.0 to Joomla!1.5.
It's been almost two years since I last redesigned my site and it really was about time I did the upgrade to Joomla!1.5. I preach it to my customers all day long so I couldn't hold off any longer.
The old design was actually a highly modified Rockettheme template. It was quite unique with it's waxy, splattery logo and transparent design floating above a large fixed and very dark background image. Initially, the feedback was mixed. Some people thought it was too dark and not corporate enough, too "rock band" was one comment. Others thought it was eyecatching and perfect.
It was featured on CSS Mania, Light on Dark and put forward as a possible site of the month at RocketTheme.
Love it or hate it, it proved a success and did wonders for my business and since it was first launched enquiries picked up.
But, that was the old design. Two years in the web dev world is a very long time and to me the site looked old and bland. I'd been tossing ideas around in my head for a few months before I came up with the new look. The emphasis was always going to be on the portfolio. So there it is right up there on the homepage.
The portfolio was put together using Zoo from Yootheme with a custom zoo template. The template file is only about 20 lines of code and the window blind effect is only about 15 lines of Javascript. Zoo is an absolutely brilliant component for developing custom content for Joomla. But, that's another article.
The other main feature is the lack of a menu. Just 2 links at the top of the page and a list or articles down the right. In fact, you can access any article on this site with one click from this page.
I'm still not 100% happy with the layout of the right hand column. It's a bit too text heavy and needs some more spacing. Anyway, I would love to hear your feedback, positive or negative, criticism or advice, let me know what you think of the new portfolio and new design.
Ryan Fields said:
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Absolutely killer. The fading bubbles are cool. Caught me by surprise when they faded in like that. |
Kristen F said:
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The fading on page load is really slow. Takes too long for everything to fade in and I can't scroll or click on anything while I wait for it. |
John Pitchers said:
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Thanks for the comments. @Kristen. I have just discovered that the speed of the fade in effect varies based on the speed of your computer. So, older computers will take longer to fade in the content. It's a shame, I might have to drop it. Thanks or letting me know. |
Noelene said:
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John I really like the shutter blind effect for each site, and as a potential client, it is great to see your portfolio laid out before me - much better than links to web addresses. As a non-techy I am really enjoying your blog. Its very informative and definitely food for thought. Will definitely be in touch. |
