It’s been nearly four years since the last overhaul of jeremyhissong.com, and after several weeks of development I'm proud to reveal the result — a cocktail of my work along with ramblings and insights that I've deemed to be useful enough to share with the world.
I had a couple of basic requirements in mind when I set out:
- It had to be blazing fast, globally. The previous iteration of jeremyhissong.com ran at an acceptable speed from most locations in the continental US, but since I've expanded to serve an international client base, it became increasingly important for my content to reach a global audience at lightning speed. Research has found that 53% of users will leave a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. In other words — if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load, I lose half the audience right off the bat. I attacked the performance issue from several angles, taking into account everything from the server infrastructure to the simple streamlined UI design which leaves minimal room for bloat.
- It had to be easy to update and iterate. My previous site's codebase had become increasingly inflated and outdated while I focused on my other work. Web technology has advanced rapidly over the past several years, which meant that if I wanted to take advantage of the latest and greatest tools, then a clean rewrite was in store. I've used Drupal and Wordpress in the past, but decided to give Grav a try for this site.
Some other tools that I used during the development process:
- For text editing, nothing beats Sublime. They've built a stellar tool and offer a fully functional free version for you to evaluate. If you like it as much as I do, buy a license to support their development efforts.
- For designs, Figma offers near-Sketch-like capabilities without the price tag. Since I was building this site on my own, I didn't take advantage of many of Figma's awesome collaboration features this time around, though I can also say from experience – their platform makes it a breeze to work with a remote team.
- For local development and testing, MAMP is an idiot-proof way to spin up a local Apache or Nginx server. It requires zero technical knowledge, and it works like a charm.
Since the bulk of my professional work focuses on higher-level experience design and process management, I think it's important to do the occasional deep dive to focus on a specific area of technical work.
I strongly recommend that any project strategist do the same – seize opportunities to explore specialty areas on a deeper level and engage with the tools that your partners use on a daily basis. This not only keeps your technical skill sharp but also increases your value as a collaborator and team leader.
As the bridge between tech gurus and business leaders, the ability to understand, empathize, and motivate stakeholders is crucial to building trust and creating impact.