28 April 2024

Updated Look & Feel

by Lee Fastenau

Are you an old school Apple nerd? Did you learn Applesoft in the 70’s? If not, that’s okay. If you said “yes,” then you might recognize the updated look & feel of the site.

Pencil and watercolor illustration of people using Apple 2 computers. — Apple II BASIC Programming Manual cover art

Backstory

In its recent former life, this site only existed as a Github repository. I tried to make the repo as user-friendly as possible, spending considerable time ensuring all the pages (stored as markdown files) were easy-to-read and formatted as consistently as possible. However, using markdown alone had its limitations. Navigating between markdown files wasn’t very intuitive, I had little control over content layout, and no ability at all to customize colors and typography.

Partial scan of a programming manual with the words 'CHAPTER 2 BEGINNING BASIC' and a short table of contents. — Typography inspiration from the BASIC manual

Github Pages To The Rescue

Turns out the folks at Github had a solution: Github Pages. The short-and-sweet of it is that Github offers free hosting of static websites generated using a tool called Jekyll. To start with, I used a Github-compatible Jekyll theme called Minimal, but soon realized that it too was harshing my creative groove. The feel I was going for was very specific.

Typography sample from a programming manual showing a bold section heading, some normal copy, and some green Applesoft code. — More typography inspiration

The Feel

I own a copy of The Apple II BASIC Programming Manual–it’s the same copy my dad shared with me when I was a kid. Every time I flip through its pages, I’m immediately teleported to a time when Apple was not a household name, when I could barely comprehend the raw potential of the 1MHz Apple II computer sitting in front of me, much less the computer industry as a whole.

This book represents the beginning of my 45-year programming journey. A journey I would have never imagined taking as a kid who was barely able to type. For me, this book still represents possibilities and that’s what I want my website to convey to the Apple II enthusiast community and maybe even to budding programmers.

Conclusion

I got the design mostly where I want it. It’s not perfect and may never be. But I think I’ve managed to capture at least some of the essence of The Apple II BASIC Programming Manual.

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