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Richard DeVeau · Internal
Working tracker for richarddeveau.com — what's shipped and what's still open. Not a public page.
Replaced the old Create Next App scaffold with a no-build single-page site. Two files own everything: index.html (layout) and data.json (all content), with Tailwind + Alpine via CDN.
Dropped the section, its data, and the nav link. Sections renumbered (Artist is now Section 03).
Migrated every image off Squarespace onto Cloudinary — 2 book covers, 15 chapter thumbnails, 33 paintings — all auto-optimized (WebP/AVIF, auto quality, sized to context).
Living the Next Chapter podcast (Light's Out, Cloudinary-hosted audio); softly auto-fading pull-quote testimonials for both books with star ratings + 6 new reviews; full-name signature logo (hero + footer) and a new SVG favicon; In Plain Sight cover enlarged & unboxed.
Pushed to GitHub; Netlify deploys at richarddeveau.com. .env secrets and the large podcast mp3 are kept out of the repo.
Worked through Richard's June 21 email — see "Shipped this round" below.
From Richard's June 21 email, plus internal cleanup.
New podcast episode (In Plain Sight). Added the second Living the Next Chapter interview as an embedded video in the In Plain Sight section ("As Heard On"). The YouTube thumbnail carries the logo, title, and episode number.
Hero quip — bigger & in quotes. Now one large, quoted serif line: "Richard's writing is what would result if Tom Clancy and Louise Penny had a baby."
In Plain Sight hero word change. "more exhausted than ever" → "more single-minded than ever."
Saffron Cruz pull-quote added to home. Featured as a prominent banner in the In Plain Sight section: "It reminded me a bit of early Vince Flynn or Brad Meltzer, but with a more personal, grounded lead."
Group Exhibits restored. Pulled the full list from the old art page and added a Group Exhibits block (1995–2025) under Solo Exhibits.
Awards edit. "Carbon Show 2012, Honorable Mention."
Book hero text-clipping bug fixed. Both book heroes now grow with their content and clear the fixed nav, so the section label and title no longer cut off (desktop + phone).
Section labels more visible. Bumped the "Section 0X" eyebrow labels up in size and contrast.
Tagline updated. "Creative Director" removed — now "Novelist · Painter."
Contact form hardened. Now checks the response and only shows "Message sent" on real success; otherwise points the visitor to email Richard directly. (Netlify form notifications are set up.)
Richard asked about editing the site himself.
Decision: No self-serve CMS yet, and no timeline for one. Current workflow — Richard emails his changes → Gary applies them with AI assistance. It's far faster and more flexible than a traditional CMS, just not yet packaged for a non-technical user to drive directly. Revisit if/when a layman-friendly editor is ready.
The URL currently redirects to the new site; make that redirect permanent (301) once everything's signed off.
Considered swapping the top-left "Richard DeVeau" for a mini signature logo — decision: keep it as text for legibility at small size.