I finally launched the new ClickWP website, after almost a year of planning, designing, and 4 weeks of furious coding. Along with it is an all new branding by Reese Spykerman as well.
Featuring the ClickWP kid!
I learn a lot on every web project and for this I was glad to work with SASS and Compass again. And with CodeKit 2.0, incorporating them and Zurb’s Foundation framework was super easy.
Foundation made it easy to implement a responsive layout and lots of components and front-end patterns like off-canvas navigation and responsive images. I feel like I actually know what I’m doing with these tools!
I have to give special mention to CodeKit 2.0. Part of the learning and planning leading up to developing the new site revolved around installing SASS, Compass and Foundation on my Mac. I had to get Jinny to help me get it up and running. And then the next week I realized that I could do everything I wanted with CodeKit, without messing with the terminal or package managers. I was annoyed that I didn’t realize v2.0 had dropped a few weeks ago, but the ease of use (and the personality of the app) made up for it. If you’re a web developer who uses a Mac, BUY CODEKIT NOW!
Built with the FastLine Page Builder plugin
Another tool that deserves mention is the FastLine Page Builder plugin. I used this to build out the Support Plans pages and more. I’m generally wary of page builders because they add bloat to the site and can be unstable, but the plugin sure made my work of publishing, updating and tweaking these pages easier. I also thought FastLine approaches website performance smartly. The CSS and JS for each page is generated each time you update it and is saved in the wp-content/uploads folder, so you’re serving static files instead of adding more database queries to each page. They also don’t try to do too much like other page builders. I hope they resist the pressure to add more (useless) modules.
Despite all this, my work is not complete! The ClickWP site will always be a work in progress so here’s to it growing from strength to strength.
