If you checked my blog over the weekend, you may have noticed that things look a lot different around here! A new design has blossomed (along with these delicious-smelling jasmine flowers in my yard right now) and I’m thrilled to tell you all about it.
My last redesign was in 2013. The world of blogs has changed quite a bit since then, so an update was long overdue. If you’re reading this on a mobile device, the first and most important change you may notice is a mobile-responsive design that works across all smartphones and tablets. That means no more messy sidebars on mobile or desktop versions, plus a lighter, quicker-loading page that puts the content front and center.
Speaking of sidebars, we’re now down to one. Most of the clicking you’ll be doing happens up top, thanks to a new “sticky” menu.
I read every single survey response that was submitted in January (from this post) and I heard you loud and clear: the navigation was in vast need of improvement. This was an area I’d been wanting to overhaul for more than a year, but it was an intimidating project to come up with a clear and concise system, not to mention a hefty commitment to re-categorize and re-tag 640 posts! (And to do so in a way where I hopefully wouldn’t need to touch it again.)
But it’s finished and I’m so happy to finally check that off the list. As you can see above, the navigation is simplified and organized into seven main categories (with several more sub-categories) and the tags are cleaned up as well. Searches are now easier as the results are presented in a neat grid of thumbnails with post excerpts.
Some of you may be wondering… What happened to Mexico content? It’s still there, but tucked under the Outdoor Adventures category. There won’t be many more posts dedicated to the Dream Boat, though we’ll still be visiting our little spot through the end of the year. The hubby and I have been talking more seriously about a major move for our family in the near future, and where we’re looking to put down roots is just too far of a drive from Baja to make it a regular road trip destination. Because of that, we’ve decided to halt any plans we had to restore the boat further, and focus our efforts on saving money and browsing real estate. I’ll be touching on this topic a little more this year, but that’s where we currently stand with the Off-Grid in Mexico series.
Back to the redesign: The overall site layout is wider to accommodate current screen sizes, and all images from November 2015 and on are bigger and bolder, too. (Can you believe I’ve had the idea for this redesign brewing in my head for that long?) A lot of work was done on the backend to optimize the site for faster loading, and I’m continuing to tweak the site here and there. Rest assured that anything out of place will be corrected these next couple of weeks as I comb through the site and resolve a few formatting issues.
In the meantime, please help yourself to a tour of the all-new Garden Betty. I’d love to know what you think! If you’re a new reader, you can navigate to About » The Blog (Start Here!) to learn who I am and what I do here.
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