Overhaul

I can never keep up but don’t stand still.

About the time I was ready to launch my last custom theme, Google started penalizing for mobile compatibility, and I wasn’t designing for mobile. That’s probably why I tend more towards creating child themes of core WordPress themes these days.  When I saw the new twentyseventeen, I thought, “Finally! A theme I can work with.”

I converted the ole website over last weekend, and am currently updating content. Already added new examples for Red Silk Essentials, Alpine Leadership, and FUSJR.

And the sun sets on another design…

Finally! A New Theme

March 10, 2013 We're eady to get on the road again.
March 2013: We’re ready to get on the road again. Does Spring make you want to ramble?

I’ve been talking about it forever (Fall and Oops, Did it Again), but can finally launch my all new theme. It was time to go through the whole site and upgrade the plug-ins and styling on my home-on-the-web. Time to go through old posts and clean up links and pictures.

It. Was. A. Lot. Of. Work.

I had gotten to the point that I didn’t want to post anything because I  didn’t want to have to work that into the new site’s database. A swap over is intimidating enough as it is—although I do them all the time .

Now I can post away, and am considering expanding my content to include a more personal tone. Since, I’m never getting around to that personal blog… I will definitely expand on examples of my work and post articles about some of the questions or tips I’m asked about often. But you may soon also see posts about food, gardening, vacations, dogs, etc. What is a blog for, after all?

April 27, 2013 Time for soaking up the sunshine.
April 2013: Time for soaking up the sunshine.

Oops, Did it Again

So I have this bad habit of neglecting my website. If you read through my posts, you’ll see the trend. I get a bit done during the winter, but once spring arrives any extra time in front of the computer goes out the window—replaced mostly by gardening and travel.

I started writing this post last fall with a great idea to re-vamp my WordPress theme. Now it’s spring again,  the revamp is still on the list, and I’ve trashed the original concept and am going in another new direction. Here’s a sneak peek into what’s on the drawing board:

ideas ideas3ideas4ideas5

In the meantime there have been a few client projects that are definitely overdue to get mentioned. I plan to add them to the portfolio and talk more about the designs with the launch of the new theme. Below are screenshots of websites created by Subalpine Design.

Ziggy Marley Organics

Sonrisas Foreign Language

Cindy Raleigh Fine Art

Everything Old is New Again

…kind of like Spring. My ole flower beds are starting to show the tiny sprouts of daffodils, tulips and crocus.

…and kind of like some of my projects. I wrote in 2011 about the New Year and New Projects which included work with Mark Dudrow and Little Weedz. In February of 2012 I launched new websites for both clients.

For Mark, it was an entirely new WordPress based site to give him an interface to update his calendar and content, the first phase towards an online store.

For Little Weedz, no stranger to WordPress, it was bringing all of her content into WordPress to update photos and content as her business continues to grow—just like her clothing line. The basic design remained the same, but we re-planted the garden (changing the presentation of the menu to allow for more social media links).

And speaking of redesigns, I’ve got some neat ideas for a new theme for Subalpine Design; but I haven’t even completed the to-do list I wrote last Fall (business has fortunately been busy). I was prepared for Winter, but it turned out to be a mild one. Now, a week after daylight savings time kicked in and just days from the Spring Equinox; the hopeful spirit of Spring is emerging with the promise of Summer to come.

Weminuche Audubon Christmas Bird Count

I can’t talk about this project without talking about the person behind the project. I met Beverly Compton over three years ago through my work with the Southwest Land Alliance. Since then, she’s volunteered for my projects as I have hers. She even helped me have one of the most awesome summer jobs I’ve had in a long time when I worked with her at Pagosa Feed & Nursery.

Beverly’s asked me to help with web projects before, and for one reason or another the timing doesn’t always work out for the depth of work requested. I know I can always say no. And she knows she can always tell me that the project has found another avenue.

The timing was just right for me to spend my *Stay-cation slapping together a classic TwentyEleven theme packed with content and links which Beverly did a fantastic job of gathering.

*Stay-cation: While a storm moved through in October, we holed up in the house with the dogs for almost a week without ‘work’ obligations. Then Hubby and I took off a night to spend his birthday in Taos, NM.

Because they usually travel in groups, they were the perfect featured image for the Weminuche CBC website.