Time for a refresh of the website design. Not an idle whim, but for very practical reasons.

The existing design was launched in 2011, and was a bit of a cleaning up of the design, but it was also reasonably mobile compatible, at a time when mobile compatible wasn’t always the easiest thing to do.

The desktop version was also however based on a fairly complex WordPress template, which within a few years turned into more of a headache than a benefit.

However, over the past few years, building websites for desktop and mobile has become rather easier with the advent of “media queries”, so pages can render regardless of the size of the screen.

So, a rebuild to bring IanVisits up to date, and if a person is going to change the back code, why not clean the front as well, so a refresh of the design.

I’m still picking up a few pieces which didn’t transfer across properly, and now its live, some of the development templates turned out to be less than ideal, but the migration will be completed soon. Any glitches in the design, in the comments below please.

Blogging has also been a bit light recently, for various reasons, but will resume shortly.

As it happens, we are nearing the 10th anniversary of this website being set up. Which is a scary thought.

A history:

The original website, when IanVisits was only supposed to be an extension of my tours

ianvisits-1

The early blog

ianvisits-2

The design from April 2011

ianvisits-3

 

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20 comments
  1. Martin says:

    Good, but the orange text over grey backgrounds for buttons and lists is a bit tough to see.

  2. Derek says:

    I am enjoying all that you publish, please keep it up.

    I must admit that I find the orange text irritating.

  3. Sykobee says:

    Nice, but the orange could do with being darker, or purple.

    Also there’s an empty blob at the top on the right. And the circles / stations need to be a pixel or two further right.

    The drop shadow is a bit too heavy and narrow, but please keep it because I hate the modern flat square depth-free UIs.

    • Ian Visits says:

      The empty box is because you are disabling the thing that helps to pay for the costs of running this website, puts food on my plate and keeps a roof over my head.

      Thanks for that.

    • The Duke of Waltham says:

      I also don’t see advertisements there, and it’s been some while that I disabled Adblock on your website; I think they displayed before the redesign.

    • The Duke of Waltham says:

      …and suddenly I see one. Huh.

  4. MrTea99 says:

    I don’t mind the design but the ‘smooth scrolling’ behaviour makes the site almost unusable with a touchpad. Please could you look into disabling this feature if it’s not integral to the feel of the site.

  5. Andrew says:

    Oh, that is better – was struggling to read on my iPad the other day and couldn’t work out why. I’m not convinced of the need for a change, but it is your website, so good luck! Thank you for the great service you offer to your readers.

  6. John Bray says:

    I don’t like the menu box floating at the top of the screen, partly because it uses up screen space, but mainly because it screws up PgDn scrolling, as the page lengths do not take account of it

    I miss the calendar selector so I can see what exhibitions are running on a particular day next week.

    The change towards small screen mobile focus seems worse on both PC screen (my main access to the side) and my big-screen mobile which I run in desktop mode.

    I love the content though. Have you considered getting one of your transport articles in the London Reconnections magazine ?

    • John Bray says:

      And I don’t like the images moving as I mouse over them. Dynamic changes to pages as I read them fidgets me.

  7. Piran says:

    The design is very ‘fresh’ and ‘light’… but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

    But we seem to have lost the Google Calendar buttons from the events pages, which are a mainstay of my Wednesday mornings when the email goes out. Could we please have them back, please please please?

    For instance: https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/calendar/2016/02/09/chinese-new-year-lion-dance-82881

    • Ian Visits says:

      The add to calendar is back — I had to hunt around for a reliable script as the old one was a bit glitchy.

    • Piran says:

      Ooh lovely! My diary is full of exciting events again. Thank you Ian, and bless your Visits.

  8. Gerry says:

    Sorry, but it does seem to be change for the sake of change, at least when viewed on a laptop. The font seems needlessly and irritatingly small, the orange is not particularly easy to read, and there’s lots of wasted space.

    Can we have the option of still showing the ‘Classic’ version?

    And please can we have a UK Calendar that starts on a Monday, not a US religious one that starts on a Sunday?

    • Ian Visits says:

      The font size hasn’t changed, and is set to the standard 100% of whatever your own computer defaults to.

      The calendar also hasn’t changed.

    • The Duke of Waltham says:

      I think the font is wider, which is probably why it appears to be smaller. The increased spacing all around may also contribute to this impression.

  9. Veronica says:

    So the Ian Visits website has changed and it seems some people have comments to make about things I frankly don’t understand and also about stuff to do with the colour orange. You seem to know what they are on about Ian and have made some changes. I’ve noticed that this bit has changed but highly technical stuff has completely passed me by, which as far as I’m concerned is a good thing. I just want to know that my weekly email from Ian Visits will still keep arriving, which it has ,and that I can read it, which I can. Great website, great ideas for ‘outings’ and for goodness sake keep up the good work Ian. Should we be paying for this? I kinda think so. Is there a way to do this? If there is please let me know but give instruction that can be understood by a 5 year old!
    I previously posted this on the Great Flood post, which I guess just sort of sums me up. Here it is again in hopefully the right place.

  10. jenn says:

    I like the incorporation of the ‘tube map’ style in the design. The good old victoria line… http://www.jenikya.com/blog

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