Today, this blog gets a design refresh with a new theme that presents a minimalist look to the world.

This is version 10.0 of a website running on WordPress that I first started in early 2006 following four years variously on Blogger, Movable Type and TypePad. All these services were stalwarts in the early days of blogs and blogging.

I don’t want to make a huge deal out of what essentially is the installation of a new WordPress theme. It’s a bit like a new wardrobe when you buy a new outfit or shoes, etc – it’s the same you underneath, just perhaps a little better presented.

What I’ve done is given the site a new look and and a better feel with the Twenty Seven Pro theme running on the Genesis Framework. I made some light customisation to the child theme’s functionality and style so it doesn’t stray far from the original design as envisioned by its creator Brian Gardner.

This marks my return to Genesis after a year or so away, tinkering with minor changes in the meantime on other themes and designs. I think Genesis is the best foundation for self-hosted WordPress sites that money can buy, one reason why I started using it five or six years ago.

In working on the minor customisations this past weekend, I enjoyed practising my small knowledge of PHP and CSS. For what I wanted to do, you don’t need to be a coding expert, just have some basic knowledge and help from tools like CSS Hero and the essential ‘inspect’ feature in browsers like Chrome. Not only that, the latest WordPress version now includes very useful functionality such as code highlighting and flagging up errors it spots. That was a huge help.

Best of all, though, was the Genesis developer community on Facebook (a private group) and its generous sharing of tips, tricks and acquired knowledge that helped me surmount a few obstacles that otherwise I’d still be here with today on a site still in development.

Of course, all of this might be moot if you never visit the site and instead get the content via email or RSS subscription. That’s how I get most of the content from blogs and other places I’m interested in.

There are some other things I want to do here so there will be further changes during the weeks ahead. In the meantime, do please check out the new wardrobe if you have a few minutes – I think it looks quite smart.

(Photo at top via Pixabay. CC0)