A new beginning - the new theme is in place

The new theme has been added to the site. As I started to convert things I realized I would mess up the current theme anyway and there was really no reason not to make the switch. So the new theme is here, with the dark mode switch. This now means I have some bugs to fix and a whole new playground to play with!

The new theme is not really new as it is based on the old theme, but as I have rebuilt the header from scratch I still call it new. I have also done quite a lot of work to get the dark mode to work properly. The dark mode required a bit of thinking, as I do not want to have multiple classes for everything.

So instead I used the standard IPS classes and I added a set of color variables for the custom code I have created for my databases and Pages. This works quite well because all I want to do is change the colors when changing to dark mode. I have four background colors defined and two font colors. This pretty much takes care of all the basics I need.

I have realized that I might need an inverted set as well for areas like the featured blocks. I need a background color for it and two fonts, one darker and one lighter. Furthermore, I might need a border as well, but I don't use it yet, so I am not sure if I want to add it.

IPS use RGB for their colors, so I may adapt my colors to that as well. It is a bit annoying that they only add the RGB value, even if I understand why. While this makes it possible to add the opacity value separately for each class, it also locks the color values to RGB and prevent me from using hex or HSL.

Regardless, I can not continue making small adjustments to the bugs that can be seen in dark mode, especially, and then focus on the next steps. Right now, I am refocusing the site and trying to figure out what it has to offer for visitors. Who do I create for and what do I hope the site will provide for a visitor, these are questions that are very important as they will determine how I will redesign the different areas.

I am recreating the hero banners with a new structure that will make them to behave a bit more the way I want. Rather than just being a one layer image, the new hero banners will have multiple layers that behave differently. The aim is to have a background color and a vector based image on top that both stretch 100%. On top of that, I will have the vector section image that will be restricted to the content area. This will allow me to control the presentation of that image better.

The content on top of the hero will also be rebuilt. I will use flexbox to create a two section area, with the left still having the text box and buttons. The right side can have different content depending on the area, and I am playing around with different ideas here. I have a lot of isometric images I can use, but I am also trying out characters to help humanize the site a bit. Not only is it fun to create characters, even if I will use stock characters for starters, but it also helps visitors to identify with the site on a  psychological level.

I am considering what to do with the different databases as well. Right now things are a bit scattered about and I am not sure clubs is the best way to handle all things. So I will for example bring in Movies into the general forum and I will create new forums for frontend development as part of the refocusing of the Development section. These will be questions based, as that is mostly what I think people will want to do anyway in these sections.

The Development section will be split into frontend and backend, where I will focus on the frontend part. The plan is to start building a platform for letting others learn about HTML and CSS and then to allow people to become community leaders for different focus areas.  So for HTML and CSS for example there will be areas for the different frameworks such as Bootstrap and Tailwind. If this turns out the way I like it, I will expand on this for the other sections. Management for example will have sections for methodologies like SAFe, ITIL and IT4IT and design will have for the big tools like Sketch, Figma, Adobe, but also a split between UX and UI. And so on...

As you probably can tell, there are a lot of new sections and pages that will need to be built. This is where I really get excited, however, and my Figma is already loaded to start the process of designing new blocks and modules.

Year 3 will be very exciting indeed!