Ana Na’Brel Says Got a Makeover

If you’ve been here before, you may have noticed things look a little different around here.

Okay… a lot different.

What started as me wanting to make a few changes to Ana Na’Brel Says somehow turned into a full website makeover. One minute I was adjusting a section on the homepage, and the next I was questioning fonts, rewriting page descriptions, reorganizing entire sections, and learning more about SEO than I ever expected to know.

You know, normal behavior.

It Was Time for a Change

Ana Na’Brel Says has always been a place for me to talk about the things I genuinely enjoy — traveling somewhere new, getting entirely too invested in a TV show, watching a movie I have thoughts about, or finding a book worth talking about.

But the website itself wasn't really reflecting that anymore.

As my content grew, I realized I wanted the site to feel less like a collection of blog posts and more like an actual home for Ana Na’Brel Says.

So, I started tinkering.

And tinkering turned into renovating.

So, What Changed?

First up: the homepage.

I wanted someone landing on Ana Na’Brel Says for the first time to immediately understand what they're going to find here.

Travel. Film & TV. Books. And plenty of opinions about all three.

From there, I started looking at how everything was organized. The Travel, Watch, and Read sections got some attention of their own so it would be easier to jump straight into whatever you're interested in.

I also spent a lot of time working on things you probably won't notice at all — which, oddly enough, is kind of the point.

Page titles. Descriptions. Headings. Navigation. SEO. How pages connect to one another. How everything looks on a phone versus a computer.

Basically, all of the behind-the-scenes stuff that determines whether a website is actually easy to use.

The Part I Didn't Expect to Enjoy So Much

I've always enjoyed the creative side of Ana Na’Brel Says. Writing, filming, editing, traveling, and finding new things to talk about are why I started this in the first place.

What I didn't expect was how much I would enjoy figuring out the website itself.

There was something oddly satisfying about looking at a page and thinking, Okay, this isn't working. Why?

Then changing the layout.

Changing it again.

Realizing the first version was actually better.

Changing it back.

You get the idea.

But somewhere in all of that, I started thinking much more intentionally about the experience I want someone to have when they visit this site — not just what I want it to look like.

And I think Ana Na’Brel Says is better because of it.

Is It Finished?

Absolutely not. 😂

If I've learned anything from this process, it's that I'm not sure a website is ever actually finished.

There are still older posts I want to revisit, more SEO work to tackle, and plenty of ideas I want to bring to the site.

But that's also part of the fun.

Ana Na’Brel Says has grown and changed quite a bit since I first created it, and I want the website to be able to grow along with it.

For now, though, the renovations are (mostly) done.

So take a look around.

Catch up on some travel stories. Find something to watch. Add another book to your never-ending TBR.

And welcome to the new Ana Na’Brel Says.