Redesigning my website has been on my mind for about three months. I rewrite my “About Me” in my head a few times a week, but never write anything down. I have researched themes and have a good idea of how I want it to look and perform.
“So, Jacki,” you ask, “What are you waiting on?”
The answer to that question is: MY DAMN BRAIN.
See? Last year (well, beginning in 2024), I took on the massive undertaking of redesigning the EngErotics website. And despite all my best efforts, detailed backups (which I still try to recover once a week, just to check), and so much careful, slow progress, we still lost a decent amount of data. The design and most of the big parts stayed intact, and the site looked (and still looks) lovely.
However, we lost a lot of backend stuff that doesn’t make sense to me that we lost. Things like every single alt text added to photos and sales data for the last year only. See also: most of the featured imagery on blog posts… or rather, don’t see also.
Understandably, I’m feeling a little trepidacious about designing a new site offline, then uploading it, crossing my fingers, and hoping it all goes well.
So, I decided not to do that. I’m just gonna redesign my site in real time.
What Does This Mean For You (the reader)?
I mean, nothing. You’ll come to this website (that you’re currently on now) and there will still be words and art and links to my suckers. It’ll simply be evolving.
Sure, for a couple of months, it’ll look different all the time because I’ll be changing things (when I’m in the right brain for it). Sometimes, it’ll be the exact same way for weeks at a time, and that is because my brain doesn’t feel like working on it… which is perfectly okay.
Then there will be times where it’ll look like one thing one day, and completely different the next. The words will change, the art will change, the layout will change. Well, the layout should change only once, except for the addition and removal of menu items. I’m gonna try my best to keep the menu system intact until the very end so that there is some sense of familiarity during all this change.
What Does This Mean for Me (the writer)?
In short: a lot of fun experimentation.
In long: a lot of fun techy stuff, and at least one instance in which I will get stuck on how to fix something. Like when I designed this version of the website, I could not figure out how to not have double photos on my blog digest page. I even asked one of my smarted web friends, Xtian, and he could not help me figure it out.
I chose that entry, because I loved the film “No Other Choice” so much and I need more people to watch it. I have no idea how it got snubbed. Except yes I do: capitalism and related bullshit.
But this blog isn’t about that.
Things I will be adding:
- A new way to subscribe to my Analog Joy in the Form of Lollipops subscription
- Bulk orders of lollipops
- More things to promote myself for work things
- I hate this part.
- I hate promoting myself.
- If you have nice things to say about working with me, tell me, so that I can include that in my worki nonsense
- A more organized blog page where you can peruse the different categories:
- Meet My Yard
- Guest Bloggers
- (more coming!!!!)
- (I have two lined up for the next couple of months)
- (do you want to contribute? let me know!)
- My Favorite Humans
- (more coming here, too.)
- (I have 9 total in the can, including the two that have already been released. Since I, a human and not a robot, am doing all the art and words, these take a lot of work, y’all!)
- Year of Binchy
- (this is over and done, but I’m still really proud of it.)
- (I encourage anyone seeking softness to read a Binchy.)
- NYC
- (oh, I will be going back.)
- (definitely to see Sam Pinkleton’s RHPS.)
- Things I Loved
- (I love loving things.)
- Watch List
- (now defunct.)
- ‘Sleep’ing with Max Richter
- And other ones that I’m not recalling at the moment.
- An explanation of why I am lightly editing my blogs only at the top of my blog digest page.
- I think this is an important part of this blog for me.
- I mean, obviously, I can write the shiny, SEO-driven work. That’s what I do for Only In Your State.
- So if you want the shiny, perfectly edited stuff… read it there.
- Come here for raw humanity in the form of a blog
- I mean, yeah, I’ll try to spell everything correctly, but I won’t edit my sentences to read like anything but the way I talk.
- I truly think school essay writing has scared so many people away from writing, so I’m trying to show them (y’all?) that the process of writing can be fun, rewarding, and cathartic.
- It doesn’t need to be scary.
- Other stuff probably
- Look, I realized this post is almost 1000 words and I should SFTU and get to designing, right?!
So say goodbye to the gnomes, the top scroller, and the Instagram sidebar and say hello to…
IDK, sprinkles?
Are you keeping the color scheme anywhere?
The color scheme will stay intact. In fact I’m leaning into it harder.