Hello 2021

It was a really tough 2020 and I’m hoping you are all safe and healthy especially in this COVID crisis. It has allowed everyone around the world to rethink the common office workplace and switch to something home-based.

Now, let’s talk about the new site design. So I was inspired by websites using flat-based vectors and SVG’s. For those who are not aware, SVG’s or Scalable Vector Graphics are lighter compared to JPEG and other file formats. The only downside is it could be a target for hackers, especially that is based on an XML file. Although you can use plugins if you use WordPress to make sure your website is secure.

Site Design

Aside from using Adobe Illustrator to design all the vector graphics and icons, I export them as SVG’s to make my website quicker. There are still some performance issues I need to address but it’s unrelated to WordPress or the theme I’m using. It has something to do with my host, Siteground. The last time I redesigned my website I coded it in Bootstrap. It was a nice design but I wasn’t able to add blog posts or edit things quickly like in WordPress. If you want to check my previous site versions you can use the Wayback Machine by the Internet Archive site. It allows you to view the previous versions of a website. It stores a snapshot of a web page, sometimes it’s a hit or miss but based on my website it was able to show some site versions from 2008 to the present.

OceanWP

This is a free theme created by Nicolas Lecocq. What I really like about this theme is the speed, as it allows you to disable some bloatware from different WordPress features you may or may not use on your website. I do suggest disabling them one by one to make sure it doesn’t break your website. OceanWP also has a paid version and some premium extensions. I suggest you get the premium extensions or premium theme if the free theme is insufficient for your website.

Elementor

This is the recommended Visual Editor plugin to use with OceanWP. It’s a nice plugin but I just think there should be options to disable some features like in OceanWP.

What’s next?

I’m currently learning Javascript and hoping I can do this in 4 months’ time. It’s one of my weakest skills since I’m having a hard time understanding concepts. If I do learn Javascript just like when I learned HTML and CSS. I will post some sample code and projects here in this blog. The SVG’s that I have made will be updated in the near future, so expect a minor upgrade to the site design.

I’m also going to put some Bootstrap site templates, or Adobe Illustrator tutorials here just like my old site in 2011-2014. Those were the good days when I was still part of the Adobe Fireworks extension “beta” team. So I hope you check this blog, and if you’re interested in hiring me for your next project, just send me a message.