Many of you who’ve stumbled upon my About page know that I am a self-taught web/blog designer. I don’t have a degree in computer science, nor have I ever cracked open a book on CSS or WordPress For Dummies.
Call it what you want, but I prefer to say that I have attended the school of Trial and Error. Everything I’ve ever done with WordPress has been the result of experimenting, and the excessive use of the Undo button on my text editor.
When people email me and ask what advice I would give for those who are new to WordPress and customizing themes, I give them the same response:
Just experiment – change code, and see what happens.
And so here I am, breaking all the rules of fundamental web design – and what you see now is the result of a two-day experiment that began with a Starbucks latte and a 2-column version of this theme. Ten hours later, I have redesigned my website, without any study of graphic design or typography.
I prefer to consider myself a raw artist – someone who just opens a canvas and paints what I see, so to speak. I realize that many of you may not think my new design is appealing, and breaks the rules of grids or some other theory of relativity.
Years ago when I used to write poetry, I seldom edited what I wrote – primarily because I wanted to capture the honesty of my thinking, or in this case my vision.
When I was younger, I thrived on the notion that I could be different. That I could be like Robert Frost, and take the one less traveled by.
And that has made all the difference.
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