I am beginning to test layout ideas for the website. Obviously, it is in a very rough state at this point, and it is not going to be a huge departure from normal. I only have a few goals I want to flesh out, and then I am going to adapt a skin for the blog to be encompassed by it, and I will leave it be until I actually have some content for it.

The general idea will be for a logo to show in the top left, and an ad or picture to show in the top right. The navigation will then go below those. There will be a footer the full width at the bottom of the screen.

The main content will either have a sidebar on the left or right that is a fixed width, and then a variable width content window that will work with most web browser sizes dynamically. I may limit how wide it can grow, but I probably will not. I may make a choice for where the sidebar goes, or I may let the user decide in their profile. The side bar will have dynamic content or extra navigation based upon what area of the site you are in. If I get fancy, I may make the side bar a constant on the side or just have the content area scrollable, but I am not sure yet if I will get that fancy and that can wait until after I have something useful.

The general exercise here is to see what sort of constraints I will have, and to start getting something solid. I am still waiting on a friend to provide the logo for me. The DB design is beginning to get fleshed out, but I want to make a few mock up pages before I set anything in stone so that I can help solidify my thinking.