Web Site Redesign - 2012

Welcome to our updated web site design! We hope you’ll like our new “look and feel”. Our general organization and page layout hasn’t changed, so you should find the new site both familiar and fresh. Our changes are centered around four main goals:

Feel free to start exploring on your own, or read on for more detail on each of these goals!

Improved readability and larger photos

Being able to easily read the stories and articles is critical to any web site, and for us at LRR, the photos of our dogs are just as vital. Our new web site uses larger, clearer text, with more contrast to ensure easy readability (old style on the left, new style on the right):

In addition, all our playmate, alumni, Happy Tails and Loyal Order of Labradors(TM) photos are larger than before.

Added visual details

While they aren’t critical to the use of the web site, many subtle new details add character and elegance to what could otherwise be a rather bland page. Keep your eyes open for details like using “drop caps” at the beginning of a page (like the large “W” at the top of this page), elegant “flourishes” marking the end of a page, and cleaner buttons with icon artwork.

Phone and tablet versions

For the first time, LRR.org is now customized for viewing on phones and tablets. Here’s a before (left) and after (right) view of a typical LRR page on an iPhone:

Old web site

New web site

Underlying technology improvements

The LRR web site is a custom, home-grown web application that has evolved over time. As new pages and features have been added, the complexity has increased making it difficult to add new features in one part of the site without accidentally affecting another part of the site. To alleviate this, our new layout has been entirely re-designed using a well-organized web design framework called Twitter Bootstrap. This change has greatly simplified and standardized the computer code required to display text, buttons, forms, photos, and more.