Well, I did it, I’ve done it, look at me go: I’ve updated Herbal Jazz’s layout for the first time substantially in a year. It’s a big change and I quite like it – and I hope you all do too!

There are a few big things that this redesign brings. Most things are pretty obvious, but I’m still excited about them so I’d like to take a moment to tell you about them. :) However, there are also a lot of bugs crawling around, so I’ll list those afterwards. I’ve spent too long on this design, and I think Stu Robson summed it up quite nicely in a tweet the other day – better to put the site live and have people tell me about the bugs so I’m forced to fix them now rather than putting them off forever! So, first things first, the lovely things.

Lovely things

1. Responsive design
   That’s right! Hoorah! HJ has a responsive layout. Resize your browser! I dare you. It’s been a long time in the making, and I’m pleased to finally have had the chance to put my play-tests to the real test. I’ve had ideas for making the layout responsive ever since I went to a CSS conference in London last year, but I was always too worried about doing anything with them. This time I took the plunge! I don’t think it’s been done particularly well (don’t go snooping at my code please don’t), but for a first try, I’m quite pleased with it.
2. A portfolio
   *gasp!* A portfolio! At last! Where there’s been a link to a portfolio for years, there is now actually a portfolio for you to peruse. It’s mostly full of old illustrations at the moment, and some university work, but I intend to add some of the things that I’ve done on my placement this year and hopefully that’ll make it look a little better. Oh … and it’s going to have links to full sites, too, so you’ll be able to nosey around – I just need to find the files for some of them before I upload them.
3. Nicer typefaces
   Okay this isn’t really a big thing but I’m far happier with the typefaces on here now. Again, still not perfect (still learning…), but I think Adelle and Chaparral Pro are a good choice for the overall look and feel of the site. I hope you think so too. :)
4. HTML5
   And something else I’ve finally taken the plunge with … some basic HTML5 bits and pieces. Just really basic stuff for now, but I’ve used them and I’ve started and that’s the important thing, so I’m happy. The first step is always the hardest, and all that. Hopefully now I’ll be less afraid of using it in the future!

Known bugs

I think it’s important to note that I don’t know about all of the bugs on the site: if you spot something that isn’t listed here, please feel free to add a comment or drop me a line to let me know.

1. Show/hide menu
   At smaller sizes on desktop (i.e. when you resize your browser window), the show/hide menu button disappears entirely after you hide it again. Silly thing.
2. No margin on resize
   Something I thought I’d fixed but apparently haven’t – there’s no body margin when you resize the window/view the site on a mobile device.
3. Colours don’t *quite* match up
   A few things in the footer – such as the links “elsewhere” – aren’t using the same shade of green as the header. I know, that needs sorting out. It’s because of a last-minute change of mind as far as colour scheme goes.
4. Post image headers overlay strangely at smaller sizes
   Yeah need to add a catch for that.
5. Category archives don’t work
   I’m still learning the WordPress stuff. If this were Drupal, I’d be fine, but I’m struggling (strangely) with the WordPress codex. I’ll get to that in the end, though, and any tips that anyone has would be great.
6. Portfolio isn’t quite right
   It stops paging after 6 pages, could do with an extra row of content on larger screens, the images aren’t totally right, and I can’t arrange by category … but again: only just learning WordPress properly, not to mention I’ve never used the Types plugin before this month. It’s all very, very new to me!
7. Meta information doesn’t quite line up
   Yeah I know about this, I thought I had it fixed but apparently I didn’t. That’ll be sorted soon, hopefully.

Anyway … I think that’s it … like I say, any and all feedback is appreciated, whether it’s congratulations or you’re reporting another bug that you’ve found. (And yes, that is some HJ code in the post picture. And yes, that is a note to self that I left in the code.)

I hope you enjoy the new layout as much as I do!