The Time Machine

The changing face of robertmoir.co.uk

Oldest known design... "Black And White", first used around Jan 2001 to Jan 2002.

Very derivative of the sorts of designs I saw around that time. Sadly, I've not been able to find all the graphics used on these pages, but I think the idea still shows fairly well. Designed mainly in Frontpage, used some CSS.

Second design attempt... "Purple Nightmare"... Used from Jan 2002 to about April 2002.

Actually didn't have a name at the time, but I needed to call it something for this "slideshow". I think the name speaks for itself really; while my other layouts stand and fall fairly well when you take into account my (lack of) training in design, tools available, etc, this one stands out like a sore thumb. What was I thinking? Designed mainly in Frontpage, possible with too much Vodka and Southern Comfort. Converted to citydesk halfway through it's "active" period, and this did nothing to improve the design's readability or manageability.

Third design attempt... "Clear"... Took over from purple nightmare in May 2002 and lasted until April 2003.

Very sparse, easy on the eye, and "wide open". A welcome antidote to "purple nightmare". Broadly based on the layouts of some usability sites I had been given pointers to shortly after the release of "purple nightmare". This is the first design made with Dreamweaver and Managed with Citydesk. Layout done with a weird combination of tables and CSS.

Fourth design attempt... "Foobar"... This is where I become unsure of the dates (funny, that usually happens at the start of a history eh?) This one ran from April 2003 for just a couple of months, I think.

Very derivative of what was around at the time. Quite a good layout but altogether too dark and "downbeat" to last for very long. Based on a design from oswd.org, adapted with dreamweaver and Citydesk.

Fifth design attempt... "Sliqua"... I believe this ran from June 2003 until December 2003

Nice bright blue antidote to Foobar's cold grey. Perhaps a little too bright... Based on a design from oswd.org, adapted with dreamweaver and Citydesk. CSS mostly used for layout, one or two tabular hold-overs however.

Sixth design attempt... "Prosimii"... Ran from December 2003 to June 2004

Considerably more professional in appearance than any of the other designs. My first design to use nothing but CSS for layout purposes, with tables used only to represent tabular data.

Works quite well as both a text layout, and with some small adaptations, as a layout for graphics-heavy pages. Based on a design by Haran from oswd.org, adapted with Dreamweaver, editplus, and Citydesk. Some considerable thanks go to Don Vince for his help with debugging the CSS used in this site.

Seventh design attempt... "Sinorca"... Ran from June 2004 to May 2005.

Quite pleased with this one. Worked well but had a few problems with some of the active elements from Trend bleeding out of their designated areas and into the article text area. Also, a few people said it was based on the Microsoft website, which was unintentional if true.

Based on another Haran design from oswd.org, adapted with  Editplus, and Citydesk.

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