Website Redesign & New Direction
A Fresh Start
Welcome to the new jamestbarry.com! After letting this site sit mostly unchanged for over a year, I decided it was time for a complete overhaul. Not just a visual refresh - a total rethinking of what this website should be.
What Changed?
Design & User Experience
- Fullscreen Hero Section: A dramatic introduction that sets the tone
- Tab-Based Navigation: No page reloads, instant transitions between sections
- Mobile Responsive: Works perfectly on phones, tablets, and desktops
- Modern CSS Framework: Custom-built from scratch, no Bootstrap or frameworks
- Card-Based Layouts: Clean, organized presentation of content
Content Overhaul
- Enhanced About Page: Better showcase of skills, interests, and background (including my Junior Olympic water polo career!)
- Real Projects: Updated to show what I'm actually building - AltOS, AlTerm, Retro FPS game
- Dedicated AltOS Section: Full page explaining my operating system project
- Blog Relaunch: Starting fresh with regular development updates
Technical Details
Built with pure HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript. No frameworks, no dependencies - just clean, modern web design. The entire site is under 10MB including all images and assets.
Key technical features:
- CSS custom properties for easy theming
- Flexbox and Grid layouts for responsive design
- Smooth animations and transitions
- Auto-hiding navigation on scroll
- Optimized for Neocities hosting
What's Next?
This redesign sets the stage for regular content updates. You can expect:
- AltOS Development Blog Series: Regular updates on operating system design and implementation
- Project Updates: Progress on the Retro FPS game, AlTerm terminal, and other builds
- Technical Deep-Dives: Explaining architecture decisions and implementation challenges
- Occasional Off-Topic Posts: Book reviews, philosophy, and other interests
Other Projects: Retro FPS Game
While redesigning the website, I've also been working on a retro-style first-person shooter in Godot 4.4.1. It's heavily inspired by Marathon (which I play via AlephOne), with influences from Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Quake.
What's working so far:
- Player Movement: WASD controls with Quake-style air control and smooth ground acceleration
- Weapon System: Working pistol with fire rate limiting, 12-round magazine, and reload mechanics
- Raycast Shooting: Hitscan damage system (25 damage per shot) with hit detection
- Retro Aesthetic: Billboard sprites for weapons, nearest-neighbor texture filtering, pixel-perfect rendering
- Game Feel: Mouse look, jump mechanics, collision system all working smoothly
The goal is classic FPS feel with modern polish. I'm using the Jolt Physics engine and GL Compatibility renderer to keep that retro look while maintaining good performance.
Next steps: weapon bobbing/sway animations, muzzle flash effects, enemy NPCs, actual level geometry, and a HUD. The foundation is solid - now it's about building the game on top of it.
Why Now?
I'm working on genuinely ambitious projects that deserve proper documentation. AltOS isn't just a hobby project - it's a complete rethinking of how desktop Linux should work.
Closing Thoughts
The old site served its purpose, but it didn't reflect who I am as a developer anymore. This new version is professional without losing personality, technical without being dry, and ambitious without being pretentious.
Thanks for checking out the new site. Next post will dive into AltOS - why I'm building it, what I've designed so far, and where development is headed.
See you in the next one!
- James