Read this one properly — it affects the whole site.

What is happening

The site goes into maintenance for one full week so the behind-the-scenes work can happen without things moving under your feet. When the window opens, everything except this post, author profiles, and the maintenance page goes offline. Comments are paused too.

The timeline

The countdown on this post and on the maintenance page shows exactly how long is left. When it hits zero, maintenance starts automatically — no buttons, no downtime for setup, the site just flips. If you are reading this and the countdown is under ten minutes, that is your cue to finish whatever you were doing.

What is being worked on

This is the full list:

  • Full UI overhaul — cleaner layout, tighter typography, consistent spacing on every page
  • Structure rework — navigation and page hierarchy rebuilt so nothing is more than two clicks away
  • Bug fixing — every reported issue gets reproduced and fixed, nothing carries over
  • Better badges — sharper role badges, clearer hover states, more badge types
  • Performance — smaller stylesheets, lazy images, fewer database round-trips per page
  • Accessibility — screen-reader labelling, focus management, keyboard navigation, contrast
  • Mobile experience — bottom navigation, bigger touch targets, layouts built for small screens
  • Security hardening — sessions, uploads, and header policies reviewed end to end
  • Comment upgrades — better moderation tooling and stronger spam defences

What stays online

  • This post and the maintenance page with a live countdown
  • Author profiles
  • Sign-in for staff, so the work can actually happen

What pauses

  • Comments on all posts
  • The reference pages and the rest of the blog

After the window

The site comes back with everything above shipped. The maintenance page shows a live countdown to the return, and a new post will land the moment it reopens.

Questions before the window closes? Drop them in the comments on any post right now — the staff will answer everything before the timer runs out.