If you’ve been here long enough, you may not notice too much of a difference to the new website, but there are a ton of changes.
I’ve been using the Rainmaker Platform for years. I got in when it was first launched by the guys behind StudioPress. I wasn’t a fan of giving up all the control but I loved all that was included. Unfortunately, it never seemed to go anywhere. There were a few minor updates, but I never felt they delivered on their promises.
I started designing a new version of the site when StudioPress Sites launched to port it over, but in the end, I cancelled that plan, and stuck with Rainmaker as it was going to be too much work and I was really busy with day tours.
When StudioPress was recently purchased by WP Engine, but there were no comments about the state of Rainmaker, I decided it was time to leave.
My previous site was custom designed by me over the basic Rainmaker Template. I was actually quite happy with the current design and wanted to keep much of what I already had, but I still needed to completely recode everything for the new generic template.
Along the way, I decided to switch back over to Thesis.
Also, I did it all on the iPad Pro. It was more to see if I could than anything. I could, and I did.
If you like busy websites with lots to look at and lots to click, with ads all over, and tons of colors, you probably hate my site or think it’s poorly designed. I’ve had a few people question the simplicity. But I’ve had hundreds of people on my tours and via email thank me for how easy it is to navigate and find everything.
One new “feature” to v14…
I brought back a simple sidebar. I dropped sidebars back in 2010 for a more focused and simplified design, but decided to add my email subscriber list to the sidebar. I kept the email sign up at the bottom of all pages as well to see if one location does better than the other. We’ll see.
Update: It didn’t last long. Too much clutter.