The James Bond Dossier gets a makeover

New website design dramatically improves mobile experience.

On a desktop the new design is subtly different. The update features more colour compared to the old design.

Today I’m excited to unveil an updated design for this website, The James Bond Dossier.

The redesign has taken much longer than planned but should be worth it as it makes mobile usability significantly better. If you’re reading this on desktop it’ll look much as it did before although some of the colours and fonts have changed.

But if you’re one of the many people who use their phone to visit this site then the site looks very different. And with 60% of all visits to the site now on a smartphone that’s important.

The mobile site looks more like the desktop site with a horizontal menu at the top. You can slide it left and right to view it all.

But it still has a dropdown menu, which is slightly larger and therefore easier to use. You also get a handy search bar on the dropdown menu if you’re having difficulty locating what you’re looking for.

Not only did the old design not much resemble the desktop version but the menu wasn’t as easy to use as it could have been. The new version is shown on the right.

The site was once criticised for having too simple a design, mistaking simplicity of design for lack of design.

It’s simple, yes. But good web design is about making things easy for the visitor, not bombarding them with a million elements all screaming for attention. Less absolutely is more.

Since founding the website in 2002 the dominant colours have always been black and white. When considering the new colour scheme dark red, navy blue and gold came to mind too.

These are now used sparingly on the site such as the top right menu icon in gold. The three gold bands are a nod to Bond’s rank of Commander as well as his Morland cigarettes in the books.

The new theme is fully responsive, meaning it adapts to different screen sizes. And it’s been designed to be mobile first, meaning it scales up rather than scales down as before.

It’s been tested the new design on the major modern browsers. On desktop it works on Windows, Mac and Linux and on mobile it has been tested on Android and iOS.

However, if you experience any problems or glitches, please let me know, including everything relevant such as operating system, version, browser and URL. Just leave a comment or use the contact form to let me know.

All the best,

David Leigh

PS I can take on a small number of new clients right now. If you’re looking for a custom website design then please get in touch to see if we’re a good fit.

David Leigh founded The James Bond Dossier in 2002. A fan of 007 since the age of 8, he is also author of The Complete Guide to the Drinks of James Bond. You can order a copy here if you don't own it already.

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