5/29/11

Work In Progress

Ditched Banner Idea for Blog Makeover
I've been spending most of my increments of work time rebranding and creating a new blog over on Typepad. It's given me a new appreciation for how much work goes into these things, even for those who aren't spending over two hours figuring out how to correctly code a nav bar. I plan on sharing a full post (or two) on how I decided to make a change, what tools I've used to feel slightly more adequate, and some tutorials that helped fill in the blanks.

My Assistant
I spent most of Saturday afternoon clearing brush from a fence line in our backyard for a background for a banner photo idea. Then I scrapped it. I also hauled (with help from the poison ivy-covered husband) props out to the other side of my house for another banner idea, spent two hours designing said banner idea, and then scrapped that one this afternoon after coming up with a third idea.

It's been quite the challenge but I haven't felt this excited about having learned something technical and complex since college. It feels good to have set a big goal and then knuckle sandwiched it into submission. This may lead to setting more goals. WATCH out.

I'd like to publicly thank Elise Blaha Cripe for offering her class on blog design and saving my night with some post-class assistance in coding. I heart that girl.

I hope you have a lovely Memorial Day. We're celebrating with a handful of neighbors and remembering those who have served and sacrificed for our country. There will be ice cream and a kiddie sized swimming pool involved.

xoxo,
Rachel

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm impressed! I had to pay a coder to get my Nav bar working! It was the hardest part of the whole blog.

Jordan said...

I've been wanting to switch over too but feel so overwhelmed. I can't wait to see what you've learned in the process and your tips!

Lyndall said...

I've been making my own layouts since I first made a website! Now I use self-hosted wordpress, before that I just used regular html pages. It is a great way to learn how things work! It's also so satisfying seeing the initial design idea come together as a blog :)

If you have any coding or site building questions, feel free to ask!

Anonymous said...

Hello!
Wandered over from A Beautiful Mess. Just wanted to say Hi from across the water. fab blog and can't wait to see your new one. This is something I am just starting on researching for our business as we want to be able to combine the blog and website into one, so much easier to just have the one thing to upkeep then!
By the way I saw a small article on you in MollieMakes magazine and your Style Your Space ecourse, really lovely write up :) best wishes Kirsty

Brittany said...

you definitely have far more patience than i--computer coding and such drives me craaazy. i can't wait to see the new blog. :)

Charis said...

I hope you've had a great day today... sounds like you deserve it after your weekend! x

Fafuna said...

wow, I'm so excited about this! Can't wait to see the new blog!!!

Allison Drew said...

What a great goal! You somewhat of a jill of all trades it seems.

http://onegladmorning.blogspot.com/

Tammy said...

Hi! i just read through the whole style your space e-course and I couldn't be more inspired! my husband and I bought our house last year and completely decorated-mainly from big retail stores. Only now I realized that while it's nice, it lacks some personality. I've always been into vintage decor so now I'm just gonna take a step back and try to personalize our new home. your lesson helped so much- because of budget, we'll need to keep what we already bought but i can't wait to try some of your tips/tricks to make it more "us!" Thank you!!!

coreymarie said...

Rachel! Let me know if you run into any other code questions & I'll be happy to help you out!
xocm

Alexandra Rae said...

Isn't Elise the best? I took her class, and I learned SO MUCH, even though my MAJOR was web-design!

Let me know if you need any other help! <3

Trude said...

It's definitely tough making the switch! Especially when you have so much existing content. Liz over at Paislee Press just made the switch this weekend and shared a link to a tutorial that will help migrate all your content, in case you need it. :) I'm sure everything will turn out beautifully! (After you finish tearing out your hair, anyway.)

RachelDenbow said...

Trude,

SO timely! I was just looking for some help on transferring content this afternoon...off to find out. THANK YOU! I'll be sure to credit if I use it.

Julie Ann Art said...

Looking forward to your post about the process! I too, have recently struggled with a custom nav bar, and I'm still not satisfied! Can't wait to see the new look.