I am now in the final stages of designing the new aidan.co.uk site, the first major redesign since the site was launched in its present form on 8 October 2003.

It’s been a long process and I have had to put back the ’switch over’ date many times. I have had plans to do a redesign going back a couple of years. I have trained myself in html, xhtml, css, php and mysql.

In the summer I intended to work with a web design company to do the redesign, but in the end, I decided to go ahead and do the entire job myself.

I used RapidWeaver, a program for the Apple Macintosh, to output the basic layout, and then customised it extensively, importing the all important php code so the new site will display the existing content, plus the new ’shopfront’ pages.

There have been many hiccups along the way, and even in the final stages I have worked out efficient solutions to coding and layout problems. I have learned a lot and once the new site is live, I intend to get certification in the areas I’ve studied, and become a fully fledged internet webmaster. I will only be using my expertise on my own site and those of family and friends.

The final launch date is going to be in a week’s time, Sunday 30 November 2008. At least that’s only a month or so later than the fifth year anniversary.

I have gone back to running a mailing list. To start with, i’ve added friends, clients and other contacts. Others will be able to sign up from the new site. The first mailout will be sent once the new site goes live and others will follow at regular intervals.

Then I can go back to taking photographs. I have used every available moment over the past few months, concentrating solely on the task of developing the new website. People just don’t realise how time-consuming web design is, especially the bug-fixing part of it.

You can spend a whole day - or night - trying to figure out why a page element doesn’t display properly.

But I’m sure it will all be worth it, and what I’ve learned - in terms of running my own website - is: If you want something done properly, you’ve got to do it yourself.