I have just released a major site overhaul. I rewrite most of the site from scratch. When developed this site (blog software excluded) a few years ago, I was learning. I am much better at coding PHP, HTML and CSS. The old site was not very pretty on Internet Explorer.
So, from the ground, up the site is now more dynamic (vs. static) and easier to update page text. For example I don?t have to update the home page with current events. I update a text file, upload it and PHP will get the most current text.
As far as CSS goes, the site is much cleaner code wise. For page layout, coding tables were an easy way to get items to display where you wanted them on the page. All that is gone now. I have gotten much better at CSS and put items where I want them.
Another improvement is to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). These days, it is all about getting traffic to you site and the best way to do that is by being found in Search Engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc. I won’t go into details for that, unless you are a developer and have websites of your own, you don’t really care.
The site looks much better and cleaner overall. I just noticed an issue in IE6 and I still have some tweaks I want to include (view larger images, url rewrites, making the blog look just like the rest of my site, etc.).
Overall I am very please with the new site.