The latest book from the clever people at A Book Apart, Responsive Web Design by Ethan Marcotte was not only brilliant to read, challenged how to approach web design in this new way, but it had Ethan’s personality all over it, which kept it as entertaining as it was brilliant.
After several successful Flash portfolio sites, I decided to build my new portfolio in HTML5 & CSS3 in an attempt to push myself further. I built the bulk of the site in 3 weeks, from learning HTML5, figuring out how to use jQuery and using the brilliant Handcrafted CSS book by Dan Cederholm. I had picked up the trend of responsive web design, it made sense to me simply because I’ve always believed in using the screen to it’s full potential with fullscreen Flash websites. The site currently doesn’t showcase all of my work, but I intend on rectifying that. It’s not a single page website either, which I love, but unfortunately with all the work in my showcase, it just doesn;t make sense, I did not want to do a lightbox. But it is long, has just enough work, information and it’s easy enough to contact me. Best of all is the responsive design, which makes the site look amazing on computer, iPad or iPhone devices.
I’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response to my site, plenty of recognition online, but the award I’m most proud of is the FWA mobile of the day, making me the first South African to win a FWA for mobile. Best part, it’s not my mobile website, it’s the same site built for multiple devices.
I have some tweaks to make on the site, like adding a full portfolio archive, a navigation problem affecting usability and correcting buttons on the iPad. So expect a refresh sometime soon.