There have been some changes around here; the site has a new look. The previous design had been around for about a year, and had started to go stale in terms of what’s hot and what’s not in web design. Sure, it was responsive, but I think we’re seeing a transition from a lot of content to “even less is even more”, where metadata is being pushed away to favor readability: Less noise and clutter, larger fonts, more focus on typography and more white space.

When I started to look for a new WordPress theme, I was looking for something like what you see on Medium, which is very clean and an absolute pleasure to read. They also have a new approach to commenting where you typically comment on a single paragraph and not the entire post. It’s bold and I like it. Ironically, I was invited to write on Medium the other day, but I don’t feel that I can produce content of the same quality that I usually see on the site.

After having spent quite a few hours last week browsing through hundreds of WordPress themes around the web, I finally decided to go for North, a premium theme by Okay Themes. Throwing $40 on someone for a theme that will be used on a non-commercial site is borderline insane, but I’m hoping that a change of design will somehow kickstart my writing again, and if it does, it will be totally worth it.

I did feel a little cheated, though, when I, minutes after having bought North, discovered Twenty Thirteen, a new - and very free - theme that will be released with the next version of WordPress. It is basically exactly what I had been looking for. But that’s the way the world turns: At least now I’ve got a more unique theme - many sites will start using Twenty Thirteen - and I help keep Mike from San Francisco, California afloat with my $40.

I’ve spent a few hours this weekend fine tuning North to my needs, and the end result isn’t all that bad. The image handling has been re-written and a new script is being used to display images. Click one and give it a try. Everything is responsive, to the site should be readable on mobile phones and tablets as well as on big screens. I think I’ve removed most of the bugs, but if you find anything, please let me know. Oh, and I haven’t tried the on any iDevices, but I’m pretty sure Mike did.