A Lazy Sequence

Retrospective

A brief history of the development of brehaut.net.

Version 9December 2022 – present

No visual changes with version 9, but the site was rebuilt using a purpose-made static site generator. This update removes the now badly rotted away link blog archive.

Version 8March 2020 – December 2022

As a result of browser support for variable fonts being viable, and high quality free variable fonts exist I switched to Source Serif Pro (variable) from Adobe.

Version 7March 2019 – March 2020

Well, Adobe decided that they needed to make TypeKit, now Adobe Fonts, prohibitively expensive for a site like mine. Instead of ponying up I opted to take the opportunity to move to using only fonts I can host here myself. The advantage is no more third party scripts or fonts required purely for presentation and therefore no more 3rd party tracking, and that’s a win for everyone. The downside is I’ve had to stop using the very nice Omnes Pro. In it’s place is HK Grotesk by Hanken Design Co.

This update also brings a proper dark theme for browsers that support prefers-color-scheme: dark media queries, and a better use of horizontal space for wider screens for images, and asides (these replace heavy usage of footnotes from the earlier design).

Version 6April 2018 – March 2019

This was a big one; a full rewrite in TypeScript. The main goal is easier maintainance of the code and the content. Visually it’s just another small step streamlining the previous version, but a lot of crusty special case views were stripped out, and some improved navigation was added. Probably the biggest change was replacing Prenton with Omnes Pro and Ubuntu Mono with Anonymous Pro.

Version 5October 2015 – April 2018

This iteration is based in a very large part on reading, and rereading, Matthew Butterick’s Practical Typography. The two biggest changes are the removal of almost all color, and a refinement of the font sizes used throughout. Hopefully vistors will find the new blog archive easier to use; it’s certainly less of a mess.

Version 4.1 December 2012 – October 2015

4.1 is really just a line in the sand after I changed up the header and footer. Many ongoing small changes have occurred since 4.0, but the majority aren't not worth mentioning. On the back end, the project migrated to Leiningen 2, Clojure 1.4 and I implemented pingback for blog posts. Finally this history page and the about page were given a much needed shake up.

Version 4 June 2012 – December 2012

The 3.x design was given a big shakeup. The basic structure of the layout is the same, but the colorscheme and typography changed drastically. Otherwise this design attempts to impove the navigability of the site overall.

Version 3.2 June 2011 – June 2012

Minor changes to 3.1; A new title and masthead, including a variation for the home page and archive pages, tightened up stylesheets and a few small improvements to the templating.

Version 3.1 January 2011 – June 2011

Minor changes to 3.0; this update adjusted the bright background to something more readable on the majority of screens.

Version 3 September 2010 – January 2011

Third version of the site, porting the content over to Clojure and CouchDB from Python/Django and Postgres. Brand new, stripped back style. The other big change is that the Miscellany has been retired (and content mostly scrapped). Headings were initially set in League Gothic but moved to Derek Weathersbee's Franchise Bold, everything else is Helvetica.

Version 2.1, 2.2 March 2008 – September 2010

Incremental changes bringing a tidier front page, tumblog style; a new blog, search and a new footer. The first major revision since the switch to Django. Updates included a return to a distressed look, better revision management in the wiki, bookmarks, and a front page with actual content.

Version 2 December 2006 – March 2008

A new site, built with Django Framework and Python featuring a new simple design and the initial use of orange everywhere. The blog was replaced with a wiki (called 'miscellany'). The bookmarks disappeared till 2.1.

Version 1 November 2004 – December 2006

A Wordpress and PHP Hackery powered blog. The distressed design proved difficult to work with, and hasn't dated well. A primitive bookmarks system was built on top of del.icio.us.