web development | article template renovations

When I finish an article, I feel exhausted. Sometimes, I don't know why I keep up with this everyday. It is a grind but this act of reflection helps me feel grounded. Recently, I have noticed that I don't think like the reader. The articles are meant for the reader too. Being honest with myself, who would want to read these articles in this basic 2000 layout?

Obviously, I don't put much time into the appearance of the blogs. I prioritized on the consistent release of original content. Content is king, no? Since I have developed a stronger writing habit, I felt like I had more time to invest into the styling and templating of the articles. 

When I think of pretty blogs, Medium is the first thing that  pops up in my mind. For those who don't know, Medium is an opening publishing platform where anybody can write on it. Every written article/blog has the same layout and typography.  It is visually attractive and you feel enticed to read on their platform. 

I wanted to transfer that same kind of feeling towards this blog. These are the  small technical steps that have been made.

1. Excerpt/Subheading inserted below Main Heading on the Article-Template Section

2. Feature Image automatically appears below the Excerpt/Subheading on the Article-Template Section

3. Estimated Reading time is provided below the Feature Image ( API provided by Shopify App, "It's Reading Time"

4. Took out the manually inserted images (they were blurry)

5. Styling- width of the image is parallel to the width of the content

What's in progress:

- date to appear on the same line as the estimated reading time

- a larger font size of excerpt/subheading

- larger line spacing ( I didn't even know what that was called)

- larger font-size for the content

In all honesty, I am terrible with CSS. Shout out to all the professional UX developers out there, I respect your craft. It is not easy and I think it is highly underappreciated from my perspective. 

Shopify Community is the only reason I have gotten this far with the appearance of the articles.  Initially, I didn't use their Technical Q & A platform because I didn't want to feel vulnerable nor be at the mercy of a stranger. Asking for help online is not in my comfort zone. 

Driven to 'renovate' my article-templates I had to think like a developer. Of course, it would be too much to bare if you asked the Shopify Community on completely transforming a Debut Theme article template into a "Medium" style blog on one thread. I wouldn't want to tackle that either.  So, I have divided the "Medium" transformation into the smallest possible tasks through multiple threads. These small tasks were also very dry and detailed as possible. To provide more context, I added screenshots to explain the situation.

Fortunately, a lot of the questions asked on the forum were very responsive. I am very grateful for the developers who have contributed to the article template. I don't know if its appropriate to give them a shoutout on this blog. Regardless, thank you.

I will remember this. 

Asking for help is not weak. It would be weak not to ask.