jek2kdotcom is the online home of Nicolò Volpato. It makes use of some of latest web design strategies and tools, buts adds a refreshing sprinkling of personal style to make it all the better.

The first thing you’ll notice upon landing at the website is the amazing background picture. While some people might find the fixed background a tad annoying, it’s a refreshing and effective use on jek2k. Perhaps it’s the pose or the grayscale colors, or a combination of the two, but it seems to just fit. Along the same lines, it’s great to see that I can still read the main content with the background still applied — a big plus for Nicolò.

Getting down to it, or maybe just taking a glance at it for those more familiar with WordPress, you’ll see this is a modified version of Hemingway, a theme for WordPress developed by Kyle Neath. Hemingway alone has great usability and even better flexibility once you get into it for WordPress, but what really struck me with jek2k is the fact that they improved upon Hemingway with personal touches.

The pink and black, or green and black, just feel right to me. I would like to see this site developed a little further, encompassing more pages and more chances to to show off Nicolò’s web design skills and even some Flash abilities. My only gripe with the design thus far has nothing to do with the design itself: I wish more of the website was in English. That would really bring everything together for me.

Overall, it is well executed, but I think the personal touches need another step up to make it even better. The added JavaScript (to allow the drop-down appearance of more content) is nice, but not enough to make it really stand out compared to other Hemingway modifications. That effort to add personality to Hemingway is what attracts me to the design, but I think people will be at odds on this one where I am perfectly content. Still, it is a very stylish design and I’d like to see more of it!