For my final project, a two or three-column layout is the obvious choice; I’m envisioning a three column spread where the content column accounts for 2/3 of the page, and the other two columns split the other 1/3.
Centered layout. Rationale: with high res but varied screen sizes, centered layouts guarantee equal empty space on both sides, pulling the viewer into the content.
Fixed layout size (around 950 px?), based on common convention and convenience for designing. Also, since I do want it to be design oriented, as a personal portfolio, I’m concerned more with it looking good than adapting to user preferences.
I think I’ll lean toward a high ratio of content-to-navigation, since my site won’t be so big that it needs extensive navigation. Also, being a portfolio, I really want the content to pop. I might aim for a .66 ratio, in keeping with the rule of thirds.
Of course, I’ll use CSS in favor of tables, because CSS is the best!
Like 98% of everyone else, I’ll conform to the convention of dark text on a light background. Let’s face it, not even hip kids can take too much light-on-dark. It’s just not friendly to the eyes.
I’d been envisioning a horizontal nav bar at the top of the page, maybe with a secondary one on the left. But after reading the Smashing article, I’ve been converted to the idea of right hand navigation. Plus, the limited content has me rethinking the need for primary/secondary navigation at all.
For my personal portfolio, I don’t anticipate updating the blog portion all that often, although I do anticipate the posts being fairly substantial when I do. So, I think five posts (or teasers thereof) would be plenty to relay the important information. For older posts, viewers can just click on the “blog” or “more posts” links.
For a portfolio site, I don’t want the search box to be overly prominent. Again, the site isn’t so extensive that viewers should have to use the search box to find what they’re looking for. With that in mind, I would place the search box either at the bottom of the vertical nav bar or in the footer.
Finally, here are some pretty sweet themes that more or less fit what I’m looking to do: Aspire, Gridline Lite, Fluid Yellow Black, and Mini.
One day soon, you’ll be able to see something like these, but better, on http://katie-garcia.wordpress.com. And maybe someday after that, just www.katie-garcia.com.
