In an earlier post back in September of 2008, I mentioned my work over at Generations Gone By but we’ve done a lot of small things since then to continuously update the look of this genealogy site.
TNG Template 4
This site was initially built with the Template 4 design included with TNG.
When Sharon Randall approached me for help, she asked if I could incorporate a photo of sculptured tree her son gave her which sits on her mantle.
Of course, I’m always excited to have a client offer their own personal inspiration but one look at the image of this beautiful keepsake made me want to do more than just plug it into a pre-made template. As I stared at her Home page, I wondered how I would manage to work that particular image into the original color scheme of this template.
Perhaps the green and red would have looked okay, but reducing the beautiful tree to a small enough size to fit into the space where the ‘main street” image sits seemed a sinful waste.
Tree sculpture inspiration
The image offered a rich palette of earth tone colors that were difficult to overlook as inspiration for a custom design.
Using the Colorzilla add-on for FireFox, I pulled colors from the image to replace those in the stock template.
Sharon was thrilled to see the cherished gift from her son showcased on the home page of her new genealogy site and in the time since, the site has taken on a life of it’s own, evolving into a thing of beauty that both of us are proud of.
Watch for future posts on details of the site evolution.
