Speaker slims down site layout to boost speed

Some web designers, especially those who are well-known within the industry, feel the need to make some kind of design statement when they redesign their personal sites; often incorporating clever effects, animations and transitions as a nod to their audience.

Anna Debenham, a front-end developer based in Brighton, England who's well known within the web design community as a regular conference speaker and writer for the likes of .net, 24 Ways and A List Apart, has gone down a strikingly different route. The latest redesign of her personal website puts the focus not on aesthetics but performance - resulting in a stripped-back aesthetic that's refreshing in its simplicity.

"I wanted to produce a design that didn’t rely heavily on images, gradients, web fonts or anything that would increase the size of the page," she explains. Consequently, the design brings focus to the words themselves.

Metro influence

Although unintentional, her website shares similarities with Microsoft’s Metro UI (or whatever it's called at the moment), with a colourful, typography-led design.

Debenham has also created a mini-site, which is an excellent resource for those wanting to learn about browser support on game consoles. It was built using Twitter's Bootstrap.

Of course, the site is beautifully responsive and a joy to browse on smartphones. It's fascinating to see designers and developers adapting their designs to meet the unique demands of the web in this way.

Homepage requests/size: 10/403 kB mobile, 10/404 kB desktop

This showcase was originally published in .net magazine issue 237.

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Have you seen a great example of a personal site? Let us know about it in the comments!