Islay Info Website Receives Major Upgrade

Having a full-time job and running several (Islay) websites, my second full-time job, isn't always easy. Some website visitors or friends send me emails and wonder if I ever sleep. The answer to that is yes, but sometimes I don't get as much sleep as I would like to. And when the biggest website, www.islayinfo.com, needs upgrading it means even more stressful times and sleepless nights. I sometimes feel like a painter who has an idea or image in his head and can't rest before the painting is ready. That's what I occasionally feel with new websites and what I also felt in the last months when I decided to give the Islayinfo.com website a new layout, fresh colours, a different menu and a completely different look and feel. The information is still there but everything around it has changed. I think a change from time to time for a website is good, it keeps people alert and hopefully pleasantly surprised.

The first image top-right is a representation of the Islay Info website as it looked until recently. Due to the ever growing amount of data on the website page loading became slower and slower making a revamp inevitable. In December 2008 and January 2009 the redesign stage started which lasted almost five weeks. A new and more modern layout was chosen, new colours were selected, which should give a better representation of Islay, and the menu has changed dramatically. Themed sub menu's should give the several sections a more recognisable look. Besides the new look and feel the new site should have become more user friendly.

In the pre-design stage I had selected a small number of people from Islay who gave me feedback about the layout and the use of colours. Let me say first that it's impossible to capture each colour from Islay into the website. Those of you who have visited the island know what unique and varied light conditions the island has to offer. For the website I picked a couple of basic, and hopefully recognisable, colours. Each colour used in the website reflects something from Islay, the golden background colour refers to the whisky and the golden sunsets, the top menu bar got it's colours from the sandy beaches, the white stands for the lovely white washed cottages, houses and distilleries and the blue reflects the sky and the sea. Everyone who I asked agreed upon these colours and were enthusiastic about it, hence the new layout and I hope you like it too!

The next weeks will be spend to further enhance the pages and to bring the new colours to the other sub-domains, hence the change of the background colour of this blog several weeks ago. I wish you pleasure in using the new website and you can be sure that I will treat myself to a special Islay dram tonight as well as a good nights sleep! Have a nice weekend! (Click on the image below to access the new website.)