visited by snow white

… variations over a basic design.

Sometimes I'd like to see what my design would look like if I change this or that, while keeping the basic layout intact. A series of test pages then usually tells me what I want to know.

The idea is to find out what I like, and what I don't like, as variations over a basic design are introduced by overriding the site-wide stylesheets for single pages. If/when I come up with a variation I like, changes can be transferred to the regular stylesheets.

The chosen theme for variations – snow white – does of course refer to the more plain / vanilla styles I have tested this time. A bit overdone maybe, but alright for testing purposes.

no haste…

I do not suddenly decide to make changes to my designs. Giving an idea a few weeks to mature and grow on me, is the norm. Dismissing most such ideas in the process, is also normal.

Although there are a few things in my design that I am not entirely happy with, changing things just to change them has never made much sense to me. Although I quite often introduce optional variations for how to present content, the design itself has been kept almost unchanged since I launched this site.

I have tested out hundreds of variations for this particular design over the years, of which most are dismissed for being “not my style”. The actual test pages are then filed in a local archive, and usually that's it.

Over the last couple of months I have revisited some of the pages in my local archive, and styled up some more test pages based on early attempts on simplifying the design. I am not much for totally plain / vanilla web designs, but that doesn't mean I can not test out such solutions.

changes to existing design

The test/demo pages I have now put on-line, have lead to minor changes in the regular site design – as seen on this page. For instance: lighter visual divisions, partly semi-transparent section backgrounds, and lighter block-shadows.

Most of these changes will probably go unnoticed even by frequent visitors, as they are subtle and there's nothing to compare them with.

These changes came on top of the changes I made to the design not long ago, as a number of individual design ideas started to come together and fall into place. That one change follows another is not surprising, as that is how it always works for me.

sincerely georg; sign

Hageland 19.jul.2015
last rev: 19.jul.2015

test/demo pages…

Only five out of a dozen test pages are listed above. That should do, as they are all minor variations over a set of ideas. Overriding styles are in the head of those test pages.

same “virtual nature” theme

As I haven't changed much when it comes to the original “virtual nature” theme, the newly introduced changes have had to go with what's already there. I see that more as an advantage than a restriction, as starting with a clean slate would not improve on anything in my view.

My philosophy regarding design – on the web and anywhere else – is that no matter how complex a design is it should always look simple, natural and unobtrusive – like something anyone can achieve. The original design is just that, IMO.

The original theme is also slightly retro with its gray'ish, almost silvery, appearance, and more so with the latest changes. For every new design trend that passes without being taken up, this design becomes even more retro while still being open for the best parts of advanced design techniques as support improves across browser-land.