A year ago my wife came to me and asked if I would make her a website. Of course I agreed to do so. Up until that point I had no experience with Wordpress. I was using dedicated content management systems and nothing that was specific to blogging. Since it was a new year, I gave Wordpress a go.

Over the course of 2009 I made many more websites and gained much more experience with Wordpress. My wife, now with a years worth of blogging and community experience approached me again about making another website.

The website was to be a vegan blog for her to post recipes and her experiences as a vegan. Right away, we began work on I Eat Trees.

For the design of the site, my wife requested something earthy and fun. She is a light-hearted girl and she wanted her website to reflect that. I chose a color scheme of browns, greens, and white. To establish a fun atmosphere, I decided to have hand-drawn graphics throughout the site. Playing off of the name, I Eat Trees, I illustrated many trees with large bites taken out of them before deciding on a couple for the background of the site.

I Eat Trees Blog

The blog has a two column layout in XHTML and CSS. I updated my semantic code that I typically use in process of making the site. The new code structure uses simple variables that I can repeat throughout the HTML without having to use redundant code. It also decreases the time that it takes to produce a site structure drastically.

Bite in the tree and fork on the ground... hehe.

My wife and I are very happy how the site has turned out. It is a very simple setup for a blog. It does not use the typical category setup or navigation. Instead the visitors are encouraged to use the search on the top right of each page. Tags and archives are available as secondary navigation.

The site went live on January 7, 2010 and is accompanied by a Facebook and Twitter. With the great success from her first site, my wife and I are hoping for even more with this new site. Great things are planned so keep an eye out for new features at I Eat Trees.