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And Now for Something Completely Different

The newsletter you all know and love is now online, and better than ever.

Written by Carlos Melegrito

Late last week, I was getting ready to publish the next edition of the monthly. All the articles had been written up. The photos for each piece were already in place. The word doc template was typeset, and all I needed to do was export the file as a PDF, then get our dear webmaster to upload it and share it.

I was hovering my cursor over the export button, when a thought had crossed my mind: why did it have to be a PDF?

PDF stands for Printable Document Format. A filetype that makes it easier for printers to process and put on paper. As it turns out, I’ve been sending out— to your phones, tablets, laptops and desktops— a document that’s meant to be printed on paper. I’ve been restricting myself to the physical boundaries of static, lifeless dead trees.

Up until now.

So I decided to build and design a web version of the newsletter. I wanted the ability for me to simply just write a post then publish it, without having to typeset and compress it into a Word Doc. I wanted to use high-quality images, GIFs, or even videos. I wanted to be able to make changes on the fly, or not have to think about the consequences of slow-loading PDFs. I wanted the newsletter to be more dynamic.

This entire website is built from scratch. I avoided pre-made templates because I wanted the site to be unique— while keeping the character I had set up when I redesigned it a while back. This makes it easier for me to maintain and customise as I please.

Plus, it looks gorgeous, doesn’t it?

It looks modern, yet follows the aesthetic of classic news sites like The New York Times or The Age. It’s fast, because it’s minimalist. And it’s responsive— which means it (should) work on any screen size.

So, go around, have and have a browse. In the meantime, I’m going to be tweaking some things here and there. Plus, I’ve got lot on my to-do list for the next month’s issue.

Anyway, I hope you like it as much as I do.