Hello world once again! A little earlier I finally flipped the switch on Into The Unknown's new design for 2008. Based on a (heavily) modified version of K2, it's a simple but effective layout which I think works well, while remaining not too dissimilar from the previous 'holding' design. There are some minor cosmetic fixes to perform, but for the most part - it's done. For the moment, anyway!
If you've seen the new header image and you're wondering, 'what's that star?' then this may interest you: the amazing background image you can see in the site's header is nothing more than a tiny (really!) detail from a much larger image of the Orion Nebula, at the centre of our galaxy. This is the first of a series of images which will be rotated round, something I think will bring a unique touch to peoples' initial impressions - and our galaxy really is a beautiful, wondrous thing to just look at. The Orion Nebula really sums up everything I'm trying to convey with this site, and my efforts; the great unknown, unimaginable concepts, vast, strange new vistas and environments... Plus of course, the name of this site does draw the altogether more obvious comparisons, which I'm quite happy about.
I'm all for crediting the original source (logically, it would be NASA/ESA/The Hubble Space Telescope Project) but I can't remember where I obtained it from! All I can remember is that to the best of my knowledge, the image was placed into the public domain for use by anyone, anywhere, so we're fine on those grounds. I've also uploaded the original source image for your perusal (it makes an excellent desktop wallpaper).
You can find more images by starting out on Google with a few choice keywords, or you can trip over to HubbleSite.org and begin your quest there. Aaron Gifford has a couple of excellent, widescreen-formatted images from the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes that you can use for your own desktop if you're thusly inclined.
Tags: itu, orion nebula, redesign, stellar
