New Host & Future Re-Design
Just a small update to notify visitors that I have a new host, and to ask a few questions about the future of akamike. Oh, and a bonus idea for next year!
New Host
I am now hosted by HostGator, using their shared “Baby Croc” plan. Both akamike and The Art of Valixy should be up and running, there may be a few issues (I know that my portfolio is down, currently fixing it up a little) but nothing major. Oh, and just for the record, I use Namecheap for the domains.
Redesign
The redesign will feature a visual face lift, as well as some technical enhancements. A few things to be expected:
- Integrated Portfolio - Instead of having an external portfolio, I’ll merge it into the main site. I am unsure about this though, so I need opinions. Since akamike acts as a personal and professional (more on this later) blog, I’m concerned that this might cause problems when showing off past work to employers/clients. A simple solution would to have two portfolios: a more formal and professional, external one, and a casual showcase integrated to the site.
- Podcast - The yet to be named akamike/gwr tech podcast will have a section, with RSS feed and embedded player. On this note, I am looking for co-host/guest hosts (there will be a post here and on GW forums soonish) so if you are interested then drop me an e-mail and I’ll keep you in mind.
- More Informative About and Contact Sections - At the moment, the contact and about parts are at the bottom of every page. They work but are quite small, so I’d like to expand them a little more by giving them their own pages.
- followME - This is an idea I have had for a while. It’s basically a page or mini-site for various feeds and displays about my activity elsewhere. Digg, del.icio.us, Pownce, Twitter, Google Reader, Youtube, last.fm and so on. The idea is it’s a key location to find out what I have been reading, watching and listening to while online. It probably won’t launch with the new design, since it’s a bit more work, but it will come!
- Articles and Tutorials - I really should have started these already, but with uni I felt that I should be focusing on my own education as opposed to others (No offence!). I do have drafts of a few articles and since I am done with uni I can put them together without worrying. I suppose, to get the ball rolling, I could do some basic standard tutorials, probably not very interesting for anyone but beginners but at least it’s something!
- Templates and Services for Sale - I’m slowly accumulating a number of unused designs, that I could develop into templates and sell. I’ve been contacted many times about work and pricing of that work, so I think it’s time to have a dedicated services page to give a general idea of what I can do and how much it may cost. I’ll work on free for use templates too, such as the chix0r theme, and I might release the old akamike design for free too (undecided!).
- Search - akamike lacks search! This will be added in the new version.
I have a few more ideas that I am still playing about with, but if you have any of your own please comment and let me know. Even if you feel its a little odd, it might spark up some discussion that leads to a cool addition :)
Cooking Blog
Finally, a little note that I am looking to start a cooking blog at the beginning of the new year (2008). I’m getting into cooking more and would like to branch out from akamike with a separate cooking blog. Ideas for this would be welcome, so far I can think of posting up meal/recipe ideas, restaurant reviews and (if it gets popular enough) interviews with big names in the food industry! This will be accompanied by ideas for drinks, and a photoblog to show of creations of contributors and readers alike.
That’s about it for now. I urge readers to comment with their thoughts, even if it’s an idea on what would make you comment more without having me beg! Oh, how I joke (but please, still comment….I’m lonely……).
The followME thing sounds nice. Maybe I should do something similar myself. :)
As for the cooking blog, it sounds awesome. If you ever need a contributor, feel free to contact me. I’m not the greatest cook, and I’m still learning but it’s something I’ve always been interested in (cooking blog).
Thanks Nyssa. It’s still at the “picking a name” stage, but I’ll keep you updated :)
[...] another, yet related note, Mike Robinson has recently announced he’ll too be redesigning. I can’t wait. All this redesigning [...]