The coolest features of our new site are probably not apparent just by viewing in your browser. We taken advantage of the 960 grid system, developed by Nathan Smith, for the layout of the new template. As you can see, the site utilizes a customized WordPress theme. WordPress (currently 2.7) continues to become easier to manage, infinitely flexible, and a lot of fun to design with.

WordPress uses a JavaScript library called jQuery for user interface functionality, so that is what we used when adding “accordion” and tabbed menus to the site. These are fun to play around with, but the real beauty is that the content is separated from the design, handled by Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and the interface animation, handled by jQuery. If your browser has JavaScript disabled or cannot read style sheets, the information is all still there in simple easy to read HTML. Why does this matter? Because everyday there are new devices coming out to browse the Internet. You cannot afford to design a site that only works for your 24 inch monitor. Preparing for whatever comes next is essential, and the best way to do that is to keep your content clean and simple.

I’ll go into some detail about these different features in future posts and explain how they can be used to help with your Internet strategy and getting your message out to your audience.