Done and Done

Alright, the new design is in place. Sorry if things looked a little screwy there. Just so you know, I did not redesign the homepage (aside from tweaking the HTML a little bit). The redesign was just for the internal pages. It’s a little more streamlined than the previous design, and I’m pretty pleased with the result. In case you’re curious, here are some of the things that took place “under the hood”:

• First off, I got rid of the multiple homepage designs. Previously, I had two homepage designs, with the option to set one as your default. I had initially planned to add more designs for people to choose from, but I got so bogged down with the redesign that, when combined with my “real” job, I just didn’t have any time left. I may bring it back in the future, but for now, there’s only one homepage design. And yes, the rotating backgrounds will return.
• The image galleries now use a different method for displaying thumbnails. It’s a lot cleaner and more efficient than the old way (God bless CSS), not to mention more standards compliant. I would’ve put the design up sooner, but I spent a day or so wrestling with this part, but it’s all good now.
• I’ve changed the movie stills page so that I can add stills for movies that don’t yet have full reviews. Nothing super special, but it’s nice to have for those times when I’ve got the urge to take some screen captures.
• All of the database queries have been optimized where possible. You probably won’t notice any significant increase in the site’s speed, but it’s always nice to streamline things as much as possible.
• Finally, the entire site should now be XHTML 1.0 compliant. This is more a matter of personal pride than anything else, but it’s nice to be part of the standard.
• The only major components of the site that aren’t yet in place are the various search engines for the reviews and photo galleries. Until I get something figured out, I’m relying on the mighty Google.

As always, please let me know what you think or if you find any glitches or inconsistencies. I’m sure I’ll be fixing little things here and there in the next few days, but the bulk of the work is done. Now I can finally get around to adding new content…