Behold! The Horrible Fanfare lives again, completely retooled, redesigned, and hopefully, reinvigorated for the Summer months. After a few weeks of coding, skinning, testing and frustration, the site has returned in what will hopefully be the last revision for a while. As fun as it is designing something yourself, it’s far too much of a tedious process for me to make a habit of this every few months; this is revision two, and it’s here to stay.

Now that I’ve indulged my inner web designer, I can get back to what really matters – writing. Expect regular updates every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. There may even be the occasional in between post, if I feel so inclined. Oh, and something else, which I’ll be announcing very soon! But what’s important here is that the site is back.

So, for the technologically inclined amongst you, what’s new, you say?

• Sidebar! Easy access to posts, categories, and search.
• Twitter feed integration. For all those thoughts which never quite make it to post form.
• Garamond is gone. But not really. I’ve simply converted the main Garamond-text logo into a transparent PNG, which means that the small percentage of users without the font go unaffected.
• Cross-browser compatibility. Almost. Everything but Internet Explorer 7 and lower renders the site properly. But the good news? IE8 *finally* renders things the way it should. Rejoice, interwebs.
• Fixed layout. That’s right, things don’t move. But it means that there’s always consistency, and less headaches for me.
• Better portfolio. The photo + writing portfolio sections are vastly improved, which makes navigation much, much easier.
• Facebook Connect. You don’t have to sign up to comment. Click the Facebook Connect button below any post, and instantly use your Facebook account to comment. It even diplays your image beside the comment, which is a lovely touch. And no, I won’t flood your wall with a Horrible Fanfare application. Promise.

And that’s it. It may or may not seem like a lot, but it was definitely a lot of fun to put together. Now go explore, squash some bugs, and tell me what you think! The Horrible Fanfare returns to write again!