Month: September 2012

Blog redesign: October 2012 edition

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Doug Belshaw

(Email and RSS subscribers will need to click through to see the change)

I’ve felt for a while that I should make this blog better suited to mobile interfaces and, in particular, touchscreen devices. This is known as responsive web design and I’ve been particularly impressed with Microsoft’s ‘Metro’ design language leading to a tiled approach on Windows smartphones. To my eyes it seems streets ahead of Apple’s skeuomorphism.

Yesterday, when I was browsing architecture blogs and came across the Contemporist site, it reminded me of that clean, touchscreen-friendly approach:

I did something I always do when I see blog themes I like: right-clicked to ‘View Source’ as you can tell which blog theme is being used. Judging by the CSS it’s a custom job, meaning I couldn’t simply download the same theme.

That was a shame, but it spurred me on to look for Metro-inspired blog themes. I was looking for something with a tiled, fairly squarish look but that didn’t scream Microsoft. Beautiful though it is, the Subway WordPress theme (from €39) was out of the question. I’d have looked like a Microsoft fanboi:

I also found the MetroStyle theme ($45), which I rejected for having too many boxes at the top:

I downloaded and installed the WP Metro theme (£FREE), but I had trouble making it look decent with my content:

In the end, after considering signing up to a course to get the Anaximander theme, I decided to pay $35 for a WordPress theme entitled Metro:

Like many premium themes it comes with an extremely easy-to-use configuration dashboard in addition to the usual WordPress options. Nevertheless, old habits die hard and I delved into the CSS to tinker about a bit!

I hope you like what you see, and if you want to see the ‘responsiveness’ in action, either resize your browser window or visit this site on a mobile device. It’s only my first attempt – I’ll be tinkering around making improvements here and there over the next few weeks.

Any feedback is gratefully received!

Notes:

You can see previous iterations of my blog on Flickr: 2009-10 / 2010-11 / early-mid 2012 /
More Metro-inspired design
I love the theme Colin Wright has at flashpack.co. It’s called Focus ($20) but it’s Tumblr-only, unfortunately!

TeachMeet Mozilla Webmaker Edition: 6 October 2012

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Doug Belshaw

Next Saturday I’m organising an event down at the Mozilla London office with some teachers, educators and parents interested in sharing what they’re up to. You should join us if you can.

There’s no need to be a web ninja. If you’re at all interested in educational technology and how the web can be used in education, then please do come along!

Date: Saturday 6 October 2012

Time: 1pm – 4pm

Location: Mozilla office, Leicester Square, London

Signup: http://bit.ly/TMmozLDN12

Questions? Ask away in the comments. 🙂

What Constitutes ‘Rigour’ in Our 21st-Century Educational Systems? [DMLcentral]

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Doug Belshaw

My latest post for DMLcentral is up. Entitled What constitutes ‘rigour’ in our 21st-century educational systems? I analyse the latest moves of Michael Gove, the English Secretary of State for Education:

What concerns me about Gove’s proposals is the assumption that rigour consists of a very particular method of assessing young people’s knowledge, understanding and skills. I say this as a former teacher and senior leader, as someone who is currently involved in education on a national and international level and, most importantly, a parent. The ability to sit still and concentrate for three hours on examination questions testing feats of memory does not sound to me like a 21st century skill. Which pieces of the complex puzzle of human knowledge, skills and understanding are not captured under such a system? I’d suggest many.

I’m closing comments here so that you can comment over there. 🙂