gnujersey.org has a new look. Dave Harding provided the requirements, badges, and feedback. I hacked the css, added the required tags, and made the site look pretty.

There were requirements besides an updated look and feel. Standards compliance and browser compatibility were important. lynx(1) (a legendary text-mode web browser) support was specifically requested. This was easy to achieve because the original code was in great shape. Attractive printer output was Dave’s last requirement. I achieved this with a special print stylesheet that formats the page in black and white for a letter sized sheet of paper. You can see it in action by clicking on print preview. Dave will be distributing printed copies of gnujersey.org at computer festivals and other events.

I always have trouble selecting an appropriate color palatte - but in this case I got a pretty good idea from the start. I latched onto the theme that Jersey is the Garden State and worked from there. I’m kind of caught up in fall, which is one of my favorite seasons, and I’m impatiently waiting for those leaves to change colors. I decided to play off that with the orange link colors and the calendar icon. And you can’t have the Garden State and not have any green, so I added that to the logo and to some of the bullets on the sidebar as well.

Dave and I created each of the graphics using the GIMP or Inkscape. Both of us hacked using vi clones; Dave used nvi, and I used vim.

It’s a very simple design, and I think it serves the site well. If you have questions or comments, let Dave or me know, or post comments to this entry.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 21st, 2005 at 11:21 AM and is filed under Code, Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.