New Banner Design

   As you can see right here on this blog page, I've been working on my web site after switching the editing software a few days ago.  I'm getting it closer to the way I envisioned it little by little.  I don't have an extensive knowledge of HTML or CSS, so the whole process is full of trial and error for me.  Tweak something here and there and preview to see what happens -- that's how it is most of the time.  In some spots, I know what I'm doing, but that's only a small part of the whole. ^^;  At least, this blog is now officially a fully integrated part of my site. :D

   My previous flash site was created with a software with maybe a little too many details worked out and built into the templates (great for people who just wanted something quickly), which in tern restricted many aspects.  As snazzy as it was, I really hated the idea that people had to wait for it to load before animated introduction started.  Granted that I did not have a lengthy video (I absolutely hate those that are seen as many dance company and studio sites with no option to skip...) before things got going, I cringed at the thought of someone trying to access my site with a relatively slow connection speed and having to wait for a while... maybe a LONG while.  Long time ago, I once read an article on web design that talked about the average wait time people were willing to give was 8 seconds.   I don't think people would wait that long these days when everything is high speed and practically instantaneous.

   So I'm happy with the static, simple, and 'light' look for a change.  I'm still looking to add a guestbook, newsletter signup form, and maybe even a free e-greeting options, which I once had with my very first web site that I made for Studio Miyabi Ballet Gift Shop on ... AOL Hometown (a free service that's long gone LOL).  I've also coordinated all my related sites (blog, Zazzle shop, and CafePress shop... even my dA journal) to have a consistent branding with the same banner and background.

*My dA journal footer, incorporating the same design.

   I really like the new banner, which came to be quite by an accident.  I was making tubes from "Believe in Tomorrow" to use as web graphics on my new site.  I loved the single butterfly, so I thought of making a divider/border with a bunch of butterflies.  The divider sort of turned out to be kind of 'chubby', but it looked about right for a banner or header/footer.  Originally, the butterflies were in cool colors (icy pink, purple, electric blue, etc) and fit the 'Aurora Wings' theme perfectly, but was clashing with the floral background of warm colors.  I had two choices.  One -- make a new background.  Two -- make another banner with a warm color scheme.  Since it's fall in northern hemisphere, and the warm colors are just perfect right now, I decided to stick with the same background and make a new warm color version of the banner.  I never modified any part of my artwork quite this extensively just to create web graphics, so it was fun, although maybe a bit tedious... ^^;