Achievement Unlocked: Mobile-Friendly CK Redesign (thanks to you)!

Last night Crushing Krisis migrated from a WordPress theme template last updated in 2008 that was literally called "Very Plain Text" to a still-plain but very modern professional theme that works well on mobile devices.

I cannot emphasize enough that this important change is only possible thanks to your support. Thank you so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much. 

That's one "so" for every current Patron!

A CK redesign was originally a Patreon goal attached to hundreds of dollars of pledged monthly support. However, late in 2016 a redesign became mission-critical to maintaining CK's popularity and discoverability due to upcoming changes to Google's search rank algorithm.  

That's why it suddenly became one of my goals for 17Q1. If I waited much longer to make a change, my organic search traffic would begin to plummet - and that's a major way I aquire new readers!

The need for a expedited redesign made using a professionally designed theme a must, but that simply wasn't in my budget for the 2017 before this Patreon campaign.  I could have gone with a free theme, but I've discovered that the age-old adage is true: you get what you pay for. 

Even with my PHP expertise and marriage to a JS and CSS professional, a free theme would take longer for me to customize, leaving CK broken in many ways in the interim. Once I customized it, there would be no guarantee it would be maintained by its developer. Plus, it would not have been as feature-rich for rendering on mobile devices.

By contrast, a pro theme is ready right out of the box and infinitely customizable - plus, unlike my old free theme,  it will be kept up-to-date by its developer indefinitely. 

Luckily, a discount from my hosting provider made the switch to my new theme more affordable, and I will amortize its discounted cost against your patronage for the remainder of 2017. The purchase is already paying for itself in time saved: I was able to get it up and running in just 3hrs.

Going live with the new theme is only the first step in a sitewide redesign. With a major design change comes a waterfall of smaller design conflicts and adjustments. I've already attacked the most-prominent concerns, but I'm sure I'll be chasing down other, smaller issues for weeks across CK's 4,000 posts and 100 pages. 

Plus, I have plans for an all new post-taxonomy that will make finding the content you want easier than ever before (but it involves reclassifying each of those posts).

If you notice anything amiss on CK - especially in how it displays on your mobile device - please comment here, via the CK contact form, or in any other fashion in which you're used to communicating with me.

And, again: THANK YOU SO MUCH. With this achievement unlocked, there are so many big things I can begin to plan for CK in the remainder of 2017.