This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.
It’s been a very long time coming but HillRunner.com is finally going to get a new look!
For the past 15 years, HillRunner.com has pretty much always looked the same with some form of the crowded blue navigation bar on the left. It’s time to modernize the look, which will offer many benefits:
- Easier navigation – the key parts of the site will be easy to find on the top navigation bar, the rest will still be available via links at the bottom of every page.
- Easier to read on all screens – More white space, which is shown to make sites easier to read. Also, fonts will change depending on your screen size, making things easier to read on small screens such as phones. The menu bar also adjusts depending on your screen size to ensure it will be functional no matter what size screen you’re using.
- More modern look – It’s just nice to have HillRunner.com look more like it belongs in the modern era instead of being stuck in the 1990s or early 2000s.
- Easier for me to maintan and modify – This will allow me to more easily fine tune the look of HillRunner.com so it can evolve with modern web development standards and adapt to our growing knowledge about what makes sites easier to read.
- A more dynamic menu – As you can see in the sample linked to below, I can dynamically control what is in the menu, allowing it to include things like the latest blog posts and, if you’re logged in, personalized links.
This change will be rolling out on Wednesday, May 21st, starting around 9:00AM Central time. I would expect most, if not all, of the site to be updated within 2-3 hours.
What you will see Wednesday won’t be the end, though. As we all get used to the new format, I’ll continue making smaller changes to make it the best it can be. However, I want to get started because I believe what we have ready right now is a huge improvement from the current format and it’s simply time to make the move.
You can see a sample of what the new homepage will look like here.
I know this is a big change and it will take some getting used to but I think it’s a change for the better. I hope you agree.
As always, I’m very open to feedback. If you have any comments or suggestions on the new format, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or contact me directly. I appreciate all the feedback I can get.