2019 Redesign Notes

Previous Posts

• Planning Out The Redesign
• The Static Website
• Mapping out my IndieWeb functionality
• Migrating from Jekyll to Eleventy
• From Indieweb Monolith to Microservices

Recap

Research Notes

Planning Out The Redesign

• I need to make what I build adaptive. Do not assume one type of content will be utilised more than another because that is what I do right now.
• The design is not doing the heavy lifting I require from it.
• While I have the overall trajectory in the right direction, the website needs fine tuning in all areas.

The Static Website

• I am happy in general with the technical way the static website works.
• I need to re-examine the technology it is built upon, Eleventy looks to be the favoured platform to switch.
• Build time needs to be reduced it is creeping up and taking too long.
• I have some custom areas of my Jekyll build that need to be documented and ascertained if I can get feature parity by it’s replacement.

Mapping out my IndieWeb functionality

• The static site model on Netlify is working well
• Github as my singular code source is the right choice
• Flow on effects from Mastr Cntrl can cause all sorts of consequences (see below)
• The architecture I built organically isn’t bad for a first attempt.
• Heroku feels like it could be an unnecessary complication.
• Can Lambda functions replace Mastr Cntrl or key functions?
• Can I reduce 3 ecosystems?

Migrating from Jekyll to Eleventy

• The move to Eleventy was a good idea
• I have reduced my build time
• There is a lot of flexibility in the new platform for me to do what I need to do

Future Actions

Planning Out The Redesign

• Do a deep dive on the UX.
• Look in to the user interface design at a later date, once I understand requirements better.
• I have yet to review where Mastr Cntrl is not meeting my requirements.
• I have not looked at the overall architecture and this needs reviewing.

The Static Website

• Explore Eleventy and build a POC to demonstrate I can migrate successfully.
• Revisit the design and UX of the current site. Explore this in detail to design a system that works for my needs.
• Investigate improving the quality of my RSS feeds and general syndication content.
• Investigate Avatar loading, caching and progressive loading techniques.
• Minimise external load content such as Mapbox images and Avatars.
• Set some time to review my Netlify integration and set-up. How can this be improved?
• Set some time to review future integrations and what I will be accommodating.
• Automate syndicating to IndieNews.

Mapping out my IndieWeb functionality

• Explore the possibility of Lambda functions instead of Mastr Cntrl.
• Explore the possibility of splitting Mastr Cntrl in to discreet modules with Mastr Cntrl acting as the gatekeeper.
• Add testing coverage to Mastr Cntrl
• Investigate the recurring issues

Migrating from Jekyll to Eleventy

• Plan the redesign based on what I have learned in the rebuild.
• Work on Mastr Cntrl to better support the redesign.

Diagrams and Data

The New Architecture