Cobbler's Children Getting New Shoes

My company website has been needing an overhaul for quite some time. Oh, back when my friend Kristin designed it, many seasons ago, it was pretty snazzy. I've touched it up a bit, over the years, including adding a section for testimonials and a link to this blog. I never really did anything with the actual design and layout.

This year, one of my 101 goals was to redesign the whole site, from the ground up. I want to add features which make it easier for my visitors to use, dynamic content which makes people want to come back, and tools which would make it easy for me to maintain and update the site. After all, as a web developer, my own site should be my best advertisement, right?

So, I decided to take a class in website development. In this line of work, you always need to update your skills on a regular basis. I'm always looking for new techniques to add to my repertoire and some of the classes at the local community college (Washtenaw) really fit the need. As a part of this class we are to design a website for a fictional restaurant. Fortunately, we can substitute a real site that we are working on for the assignment. You guessed it, I chose my company site.

So, I've made the first step (a rough redesign of the home page) and am now working on the actual informational structure of the site. You can see my efforts, if you are interested. I would love to hear feedback, positive or negative. Let me know what you think!

So, what classes have you take to update your skills recently?