Boagworld is back
Posted in News on: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 by Paul Boag
On the 20th March I logged off. No podcast, no twitter, no facebook, no posting, no nothing. But now I am back and this time I mean business!
What a crazy month. I have hosted both the Highland Fling and the Future of Web Design. I have re-built the Headscape website and re-launched boagworld with a new site and new team.
All of this has only been possible by completely cutting myself off from the web design world. But has it been worth it?
An interesting experiment
I dare to think how many hours I spend talking with people via Twitter, reading RSS feeds and adding friends to the latest social network. To be honest I don’t think I want to know.
However, what I can tell you is that going cold turkey for a month and a bit has been an enlightening experience. Without a doubt I have got a huge amount done. Productivity has been outstanding and I am pleased with the redesign of both Boagworld and Headscape.
Despite that, I am glad to be back. Life is about more than increased productivity and I have missed the social interaction of twitter and felt ignorant about some of the big web design stories of the last few weeks.
Time to think
Although I have been busy, the time away has given me an opportunity to think about my job and the podcast. Producing the podcast is demanding and I spend more time talking about web design than doing it. If I continue down this track I am in danger of becoming out of touch with what most of my listeners have to deal with.
Getting my hands dirty with both Headscape and Boagworld has reinvigorated me and given me loads of ideas for the show. In fact, I am intending to use the two sites as a case study over the coming weeks.
If I want the show to remain relevant I have to do either one of two things. Reduce the content or get some help.
The new Boagworld team
Although I am intending to curb the length of the show (I have said that before!), I am more attracted to the idea of getting some help on board. It is time that we produced the show in a more professional manor. With that in mind I would like to introduce three new members of the boagworld team…
Ryan Taylor – Ryan is going to be our producer. He is responsible for arranging guests, writing show notes and ensuring everything runs smoothly.
Paul Stanton – Paul is our researcher and he will work with me to find the best news stories and subjects for each week’s show.
Anna Debenham – Anna is our technician and will be responsible for making the show live each week and doing some of the audio editing.
They are all volunteers and I am incredibly grateful for their help. To learn a bit more about each of them check out our about us section.
The new site
Finally I want to quickly mention the new site. As you can see we have done a complete overhaul and tried to bring it more inline with Headscape (without becoming too corporate). However, I should confess that it was done in a rush. So, if you spot any bugs or problems that need fixing please drop me an email via our new contact us form.
P.S. All good websites have an easter egg. Mine is a page that allows you to stalk me (because I am that vain). See if you can find it. I might even be able to scrape up a prize for the first to succeed.
45 Comments
Comments are for the discussion of this post. If you have other questions / comments then post them to the forum or send me an email
Glad to see Boag World is back with a brand new site! It looks amazing! I can’t wait to hear the next episode. Keep up the great work.
Wow, fantastic. Great works guys :-)
Stunning new site! Interesting to see how you’ve returned to a fixed width layout. The typography is gorgeous.
Can’t wait to hear the podcast again.
Welcome back Paul. The site is beautiful. The cow in the bottom right makes me smile. Time to get back in the forum and waste more time at work (kidding, I work very hard – honest!)
What a great design man. People will be stealing it now ha.
Whats with the cows bums lol?
Simon
The new design looks great! Looking forward to the return of the podcast. Welcome home ;)
Welcome back paul,
first impressions… loving the new design.
Good work!
Well done, new site looks good.
I’ve found the easter egg page, very nice :)
Great new design, but I can’t keep myself from reading boaaworld in the header. I don’t think the cutting works really with the g, not aswell as it works with the p/d/b/q/etc.
Nice to see a bigger staff, and I hope to be listening to a new podcast soon!
Nice refreshing redesign Paul! I like the “ooh aRR” country bumpkin feel to it. I kind of miss your holding page though, that rocked! You used the resizable browser window very effectively… Is it lurking online somewhere to be revisited for those who fancy diving into space again?
Welcome to Ryan, Stanton and Anna! Nice to see some familiar names up on the team, though I have a feeling they’ve all been secretly helping out for some time, no?
Love the cow’s arse at the very bottom!
Paul, congratulations on a brilliant execution of two new sites. I like the fact that you took an em-based approach to the new headscape site. Curious, why go with a fixed design here?
Also, the headscape site appears to be for all intents and purposes a single-page site with inline/popup content. Very nice!
Congratulations again, once again I bow before the master!
Great new layout Paul! It is really nice… love the cow :P.
The only thing is (now that I use Flock) I have the sidebar open and the page scrolls horizontally?! So 800×600 would make a lot of horizontal scrolling. But everything else looks great! Even though “it was done in a rush” it still looks great!
It was inevitable that the width would make life difficult for some people. However looking at my stats it was worth the risk. I wanted the extra space and also to be frank I wanted the design control of fixed width. I perhaps should look at the subject of fixed vs scalable again on the show.
Awesome stuff….I actually came here to take another look at your gorgeous holding page, but this site is a job well done. Can’t wait to hear the next podcast…
Gorgeous! Love it!
Talk about dusty…
We miss you on Pownce too!
http://pownce.com/boagworld/
I love the new design!
It looks great – both Boagworld and Headscape look fantastic!
I love your suggestion of looking at fixed/fluid width again on the podcast – I’d love to get a professional opinion on the subject!
Excellent site Paul!
I wonder, if I getPingd and Twitter, can Alert Thingy make me a stalker? Hmmm….
hey Paul,
love the new designs – u’ve defo been busy!
i’m looking forward to hearing more about them on the podcasts – there was a big hole in my podcast listening in April – welcome back!
I’ve never been accused of stalking anyone before, but you’re worth the jail time Paul!!
That’s the loveliest “post comment” button I’ve ever seen.
Wheres this stalking page?
is this to do with pownce?
Hey Guys, nice to see you back on. I didnt even knwo u were up, til Sulculibur from 77pixels said.. “hey.. why dont you go and post on new Boagworld?”… new? NEW? NEW BOAGWORLD!!??
So here I am..
and yes.. the post comment btn is really pretty.. im serious..
Welcome back Paul & Marcus!
Paul, fantastic work on both sites. Absolutely love it.
Paul, love the look of the new site as well as headscape. That is all.
Speaking of Twitter: http:twitter.com/justinviger
It is time that we produced the show in a more professional manor.
I’d say so ;-)
Seriously, nice work on the new site – looking forward to the return of the podcast.
Great redesign. What I mostly like is the footer. Lovely.
there is the professional world of warcraft power leveling here. welcome.
Welcome back Paul.
love the new look guys. great layout. My only complaint (if you can it that) would be where has the tag cloud gone. it was by far the quickest way to navigate the site. With semantic sites getting more popular it seems like a strange choice. I noted your earlier article from 2006, is your opinion that tagging is useless for allot of sites?
the site is beautiful, especially the footer. Now when can we expect a new podcast?
Welcome back, Paul. We’ve missed you.
Very nice Paul. Love the design, not sure about the logo, and Bert is right, the post comment button is very attractive.
Can’t wait for the new show. I’m thinking about grabbing your grass background image though, and making it a little more seamless of a texture… Maybe this weekend :) Keep up the good work guys.
I’m looking forward to what you have to offer Paul. Thanks for everything past, present and future!
Hey, glad to see your back and I look forward to the return of the podcast.
Love the new site. Very unique and refreshing. I tried up up down down left right left right B A start, but never got to the “stalk Paul” page.
Yay! Boagworld is back, and more beautiful than ever! Love the new design and looking forward the next show.
stalking here?
http://boagworld.com/images/stalking.gif
So close! But no cigar.
Hmmm. Let me think. There is a stalking page at boagworld.com. Where could it be? What could url could I possibly come up with boagworld.com, a forwards slash and a word with ’stalk’ and ‘ing’ in it?
I love the new design–nice work! But that logo looks vaguely familiar… ah yes, now I remember why:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/21/logo-war-red-hat-takes-on-dataportability/
Love the new sites, especially Headscape. Thanks for the Woopra link Paul.
I absolutely love the new site. The layout is very easy to use and has some great illustrations colors. Keep up the good work. You have some of the best podcasts too!