1. Getting a standing desk

I knew the amount of work I was having would be something temporary but still it was affecting me physically, I had to do something about it. The usual running on Jardim da Estrela and Tapada das Necessidades while using the app C25K (Couch to 5 KM) was not enough anymore. So I got the basic standing desk from Yaasa in discount.

I’m impressed with it more than I imagined. Working standing up felt more natural than expected and it felt even more natural to change between sited and standing up, whenever my body asked for it. I know it seems obvious, but putting it in practice is another level.

And this was not the only thing I did to improve my work from home experience.

2. A bigger multitasking screen for my workspace

I started using a widescreen from LG and although the proportions were strange on some movies and games, I noticed that this proportion is perfect to work and my multitasking improved a lot.

Specially when combined with PowerToys from Microsoft. Between all the features, the app allows to have more control on the space each window occupies and their position, with key binding shortcuts.

I used a multiple screen setup before but found the widescreen to be more convenient and comfortable to the eye. And I still go with multiple screens sometimes, when connecting with my laptop.

The different proportions felt strange not only on movies and games, also on websites without a container (with designs that stretch to the window), they looked odd in some situations and sometimes they would have big empty spaces, that could make better use of the widescreen.

My website was one of them.

3. Make my website match with the new widescreen

You can see below how my website looked on wide screens (on dark theme):

I could get used to it, it’s normal to have different experiences between screen sizes… But in the end, I started thinking “I have to look to my website very often”, it would feel strange that the experience was not well optimized and adapted to me.

This feeling was strong specially on blogs.

So I made specific changes to make better use of the widescreen, and this is the result:

The bigger changes were on the single blog page. As you might notice, the table of contents is always open and faster to access.

On the blog list, I could increase the number of tiles per line, but if I did that the transition to the single blog page would not make sense: The left “sidebar” would increase and decrease too many times for my taste.

Now I’m happier working on this website. And I might give extra thoughts to my client’s websites, now that I have a real testing device for wide situations.

More steps to improve my workspace

For now those were the 3 steps I did.

Something that might count as 4th step, I do keep two different desks at home now. One is the standing desk mentioned above, the other has a desktop computer to change when I feel like it.

For next steps, I’ll improve the cable management and I’ve found myself watching videos of other people improving their workspace, with lots of great ideas and extra accessories. I might not resist and start copying some of them in the near future.

Comments

Today marks the day I launch a new website.

A portfolio website including a client area, a blog and dark/light theme.

Why a new website?

The previous website made it’s purpose.

Back in 2014 I was still very divided between graphic design, web development and music. It made sense to have a website divided in those three categories.

But nowadays, with my work being mostly developing websites and plugins, the other two categories became obsolete and could generate some confusion even.

Because of that, it made a lot more sense to start working on a new website, instead of updating the content of the old one.

For that reason, the previous website was outdated for a time, but not anymore!

Needed more interaction with visitors and clients

A new website with a blog

The intention of the previous website was solely to show the projects on the many areas I worked on, because of that it had no good space for interaction with the visitors.

But now, by focusing on my work as web developer (and focusing on English speaking audiences), this new website can have a blog. One unique blog to keep my visitors up to date about many topics and even give some tips & tricks.

A new website with a client area

Although the projects as freelance were a niche comparing to the full-time job and naturally end to have less priority, I felt it was still a good idea to have an area specific for those few clients and ready for eventual future needs.

A client area that allows clients to renew their maintenance, request support, calculate quotes, see specific tutorials and more.

At the same time, this area allows those clients to be less dependent of me, when I can’t help them directly for having a full-time job.

A new showcase of my developed tools

This new website was made using some of the tools I developed from scratch, such as Mr.Utils and Mr.Dev.’s Framework. Tools that can also be used by other developers.

Remembering the old website

Here are some screenshots to remember the previous website.

Comments