L. G. Hertz Poetry

L.G. Hertz poetry home page with a detailed painting features numerous framed architectural artworks displayed on a classical backdrop. In the foreground, people gather around sculptures. The text L. G. Hertz Poetry with website navigation is overlayed at the top.

Crafting a Digital Sanctuary for Poetry

Our client asked us to create a beautiful online space that honors the tradition of printed poetry and prose while dispelling the myth that the digital screen is ill-suited for online reading of formal poetry. Translating the rich, printed legacy of L.G. Hertz’s poetry into a compelling online experience presented unique challenges that demanded creative solutions.

Ensuring Readability in a Responsive Web Environment

  • Challenge: The client desired precise line breaks in the “Notes for Students of English” section to avoid a “ragged edge” effect—because the unfixed line cut-offs distracted the reader by being out of sync with the underlying structure, disrupting the spelling, grammar, syntax, prepositional clauses, and phrasing. This disruption compromised smooth readability. Standard rules for where a line should end exist in the print world, but they are largely ignored in digital copy. Traditional <br> tags were unsuitable due to their lack of mobile responsiveness.
  • Solution: We inserted non-breaking spaces (&nbsp;) strategically, adhering to standard grammatical rules. This ensured consistent line breaks across devices, maintaining the desired aesthetic and readability. This required meticulous attention to detail and a proactive approach to potential formatting issues.
A page titled NOTES for Students of English contains definitions for phrases and words such as Anima, Sable brush, Head, Awl, Scapula, and Trowel, each with detailed explanations.

Preserving Collection Integrity with Post Ordering

  • Challenge: A significant challenge was ordering over 250 poems to match their exact sequence in the original print collections. Standard “drag-and-drop” ordering plugins were unsuitable for this high volume of posts. They would be inefficient to manage and add unnecessary site bloat and long-term maintenance risks.
  • Solution: We opted for a more robust, plugin-free solution. We leveraged WordPress’s native sorting engine, which sorts posts by date. We programmatically assigned sequential “post dates” to each poem in the database, a technical approach that allowed us to lock in the collection’s order. The result is a stable, fast-loading, sorting system that relies entirely on WordPress core, ensuring the integrity of the collections will be preserved for years to come.
A webpage featuring a book cover titled The Foot Zodiac with an image of a figure holding a bow. Below, a list of titles includes Steep Lot, To My Valentine, and more. The background is white and minimalistic.

Tradition Meets Usability in a Print‑Style Table of Contents

  • Challenge: Readers expect a familiar structure when navigating a table of contents. Readers expect a familiar, alphabetized structure in a table of contents. The time-honored publishing convention is to sort titles based on their most important word, not by the articles a, an, or the. To achieve this, these articles are placed at the end of the title (e.g., “Wasteland, The”), preserving semantic priority and enhancing findability. The challenge was to replicate this sophisticated, print-inspired sorting logic within a dynamic WordPress environment.
  • Solution: We implemented custom logic that mirrors print standards: alphabetizing titles, skipping leading articles, and grouping entries under letter-based headers. This approach ensures that readers can find content quickly and comfortably, while reinforcing the sense of order they expect from traditional publishing. By tailoring WordPress functionality to these conventions, we delivered a solution that blends classic usability with modern responsiveness.
A list of poems titled The Poems A-Z with two columns. The left column includes titles like Adam’s Ribs, Another Muse,” while the right has titles like Lack of Gravity, Letter,” and others. The titles are arranged alphabetically.

Bringing Poetry to Life Through Thoughtful Design

  • Challenge: Designing a website that would immerse visitors in a poetic atmosphere, encouraging them to engage with the content in a thoughtful and reflective way.
  • Solution: We focused on meticulous design and font selection, choosing EB Garamond for its traditional serifs and wide glyph range, reminiscent of printed books. A muted color palette and artistic imagery were used to create a serene and contemplative online environment, akin to a literary sanctuary.
A poetry website design showcases a poem titled The Night the Seaside Funhouse Burned by C.G. Hertz. At the top, a painting of a seaside scene with figures and buildings appears above the poem’s text on a cream background.
lghertzpoetry nijinsky funhouse

The resulting website, LGHertzPoetry.com, successfully translates the elegance and depth of L.G. Hertz’s poetry into a digital format. Our solutions addressed complex formatting and organizational challenges, showcasing our expertise in WordPress and GeneratePress blocks. The site now offers visitors a beautiful and accessible platform to explore and appreciate poetry online, achieving the client’s vision of dispelling the myth that poetry cannot be read online.

Key Takeaways:

  • Tempora’s ability to solve complex formatting and organizational challenges with creative solutions.
  • Our dedication to detail and commitment to preserving the integrity of original content.
  • Our expertise in leveraging WordPress and GeneratePress blocks for unique and impactful website design.
  • Our ability to produce custom code when needed.

Visit LGHertzPoetry.com to experience the digital sanctuary we created.