I’ve been meaning to re-design my site for some time now but it just hasn’t happened. However, that ends today. I’ve re-launched with a whole new theme thanks to Alexander Agnarson.

What? You installed a theme?! I thought you were a WordPress developer!

It’s true, this is the first time I’ve ever gone with a pre-built theme for my site. The main reason behind this decision was time. I may be a WordPress developer and have all the skills needed to build my own site, but I don’t have the time.

To build a responsive WordPress theme in a few hours a week would take me months. Then, after a few weeks, I’d change my mind about how things should look or work. This becomes a never-ending design and development cycle and nothing new goes live.

I didn’t just pick some random theme though. I’m very picky about themes. I first had to convince myself that a pre-built theme was a good idea. I’m not a fan of my site looking like 100s of others out there, but I decided that it’s OK because it’s about the content. Right?!

I also wanted to pick a theme that I felt looked amazing, worked well, and something I could build upon. I’m going to child theme the hell out of this thing; well when I get time.

I also spent time looking at more WordPress themes than I can remember. Most didn’t even appeal to me, some I tried but didn’t work well with my content, and some are just too expensive and I wasn’t about to pay for them. Then I found Alexander’s themes and loved them.

Now that the new design is live, I have to start updating everything else. I’ve already re-written some content while other sections are still out of date. Categories & tags have to be cleaned up too and I just want to get rid of the clutter.

I still feel a little bad about picking a pre-built WordPress theme but I just don’t have the time right now to build my own from the ground up. I’d rather spend more time generating content and being with my family.

So welcome to the new design. I hope you like.