I appear to always be bound to update a significant visual component of my writing appearance. So it was only a matter of time before it happened again.
Of course, as with everything. There are reasons behind it, and I aim to talk about them transparently, as that is what I do best. Be transparent.
Overall Design
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Pulitzer theme. It’s very clean and allowed me to focus on writing and not nitpick the visual choices. However, due to its newspapery-feel and certain elements that were beyond my control, I wanted to change to another framework that made it a bit easier for everyone to read and understand.
Luckily, Anders Noren, the developer behind Pulitzer, also created this theme: Beaumont, which was similar to Pulitzer in that it was designed for writers first in mind. Which is something that I was looking at. I’d rather not be spending my time agonizing over the typography, so this was perfect.
Branding is Everything
The original name for this was “Zachary’s Blog”, which is…fine. But there’s nothing to it, and even someone who eschews traditional self-marketing principles can tell you that.
The name that was selected, “Contemplations Of A Raised Ranch” as the name of my first Substack newsletter. That name was to-the-point, and it fits nicely with the blog subdomain, as I refuse to spend any more money on it.
People may notice that it’s a very similar layout to a Substack publication, and that’s the point. Why reinvent the wheel? A homepage, about, and contact page are all you really need. The fonts and colors have already done their entrance, so now I can come in and just do it on my own, since I am a believer in owning your own land.
I do wonder sometimes if I should have kept the Substack publication as-is, but then I realized that Beehiiv is better for my circumstances, so that’s why I use it..
So Now What?
Nothing content-wise will change. Random ramblings and musings will be here, while ZachsThoughts remains the quasi-professional beacon of dim light that it always has been.
We’ll be back soon.