Visualgui Designs

Visualgui is my personal blog started in 2003. It is a space for me not only to practice my writing but also to hone my web design skills. In addition to blogging vigorously almost everyday, I redesign it several times a year. The process is more iterative than comprehensive. The most drastic changes would be the typography. Whenever I discovered a new text face, I would love to set it here first. I focus mainly on readability.

This blog has been powered by WordPress from the get-go. The theme I had custom remained the same with just three files: index.php, style.css, and screenshot.png. That’s all. Even though WordPress has grown into a powerful content management system, I still use it as a blog system and nothing more. Keeping the theme simple allows me to quickly change the design with CSS. Most of the time, I can visualize the design in my head. I know what typefaces I want to use and how to set them on the page. I also can see how I layout my content. When I begin coding, I just modify my CSS file. The process is inspired by JAY-Z. He never wrote down his lyrics. He just went into the booth and recorded.

Because I make changes all the time, I have wanted to put together a page to showcase all the designs I have done over the years. Here are the screenshots dating back from 2004 for posterity.