The Design Process

I’m back in the Beatbots labs again, working on a new site design. It’s going to be a predominatly CSS driven layout this time around, which should be fairly easy to integrate. Added bonus to the CSS layout, it should reduce page load times a fair amount. Presently, I’m trying to decide the best way to implement a lot of the new site features that I see in my head. Like more interface feedback for starters. It looks like the best way to do that stuff is to use Javascript, which would be cool because I’m getting pretty slick at it at work. Problem is, everything I have written so far for Beatbots is done in PHP. So the question becomes … switch to pure Javascript or try to work out a way to combine PHP and Javascript? I’ve done a little research about the later online and it looks like it is possible, I just haven’t tried to do anything like that before, so there will be a learning curve involved. I’ll have to cross that bridge when I get there. First things first, finalize the new site design comps and get the CSS going.

Speaking of design comps, here’s the most recent copy … keep in mind, it may look a bit mismatched. Like the height of the first “CD Reviews” header, totally mismatched with the rest. That’s because I’d get the design that I needed done, the I can skip straight ahead to the coding work, since many if not all of these content areas will be dynamically generated. This design could also use a bit more color. I figured that it would be ok to leave the content space relatively plain, as the cover/staff pictures, adds, etc will provide a lot of the color, but I still think it could use a little more. I’ll probably color-code the heading text (Navigation, CD Reviews, Features, etc) like the design that’s up currently.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think about it!