One of my self-assigned projects for the holiday break was to rebuild the site — not so much how it looked, but the coding underneath. Inspired by the [SimpleBits](http://simplebits.com) re-do, and armed with my copy of Andy Clarke’s [Transcending CSS](http://astore.amazon.com/johnaugustcom-20/detail/0321410971/002-0355819-1894408), I envisioned sparkling new CSS, built on a clear semantic framework. No longer would the site’s undercarriage be held together with duct tape and angle brackets. It would be strong, straightforward and robust.
But that didn’t happen.
Rebuilding a working website is like changing the oil in a moving vehicle. It’s possible, but it ain’t easy. More dispiriting, I realized that all of the vintage hacks and work-arounds I was trying to avoid have simply been replaced with new hacks and work-arounds, such as the [Inman clearing method](http://www.shauninman.com/post/heap/2006/05/22/clearance_position_inline_absolute). So, for the most part, I chose to leave well enough alone.
But I did tweak a few things. The headlines are bigger, and the comments sections use significantly more whitespace. I nixed the tree border — that was always supposed to be temporary, but it lasted for more than a year. The box under the brad is gone, as are many of the less-clicked items. I’ve removed the links to other blogs, but intend to restore them at a later date.
Share This
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One of the most significant changes is the “Share This” link under every article. It uses [Alex King’s](http://alexking.org) AJAX-y goodness to allow readers to bookmark or email a specific entry.
“Share This” takes the place of “Permalink,” and good riddance. For readers who do want to copy the URL of any article, the headline now serves as the permanent link, which is pretty much what every other blog does. The very idea of listing a “permalink” which is not meant to be clicked, but copied, dates back to a specific time in the webosphere, and, well, we’ve moved on.
There are a few other changes on my wishlist, but they may wait until I bring on someone more qualified to implement them. In the meantime, if I’ve broken something that I haven’t noticed, please let me know. That’s one of the driving-while-changing-the-oil pitfalls.