Whether it’s the drawer full of random utensils in your kitchen or a website packed with content of many types, there eventually comes a time when a reorganization is necessary. Even if the contents don’t change, the way they are presented can make a big difference in the overall experience of finding what you’re looking for.
If you have visited Portfolio Charts recently, it should already be abundantly obvious that things have changed a bit in recent weeks. Here is a quick rundown of everything going on, from the primary menus to a few more subtle things that may not be immediately obvious.
New Menu System
The biggest change is an update to the WordPress theme that controls the overall site appearance. The one I have been using since the site began more than a decade ago was great for what I needed — clean and minimal with nothing to distract from the visuals. But as the site content grew and the theme code aged, it eventually became clear that a new system would go a long way to modernizing the interface and appearance.
Enter the new sidebar system.
Rather than drastically changing the negative space that makes Portfolio Charts a relieving spot in an internet full of increasing visual noise, my goal was to simply build on the established design while making better use of the space.
On larger screens, instead of the classic logo and menu at the top of every page you will now see a persistent sidebar that always grants access to the most important shortcuts. There are three tabs to choose from: Menu, Home Country, and Search.
Menu
The menu tab is the default selection and provides convenient links to every main hub on the site. This includes the four main portfolio exploration sections (Portfolios, Charts, Assets, and Insights), the Patrons page for supporters, and also the User Guide for all documentation.
Home Country
The country tab is something that will finally unify one of the strongest features of Portfolio Charts into a central location — the ability to modify all calculations to account for the currency, inflation, and funds of your home country.
Select your home country in the sidebar menu, and it will update every page on the site to display numbers and fund info that apply to you. Changing that setting in any chart will also update the sidebar, so it will always be in sync. And even better, the sidebar allows the home country setting to follow you from page to page. So if you’re browsing portfolios in your home country, you only have to change the setting once.
Search
While the site had various search features scattered around on individual pages for a while now, honestly I never found it as helpful as I liked. The new search system is much better.
Search can now seek out all page types at once, and you can filter for the types you’re interested in, all in one place. Combined with a much nicer output that lets you better browse the results, it should now be much easier to find what you’re looking for.
Improved Mobile Experience
In addition to the improved desktop interface, I also took the opportunity to majorly upgrade the mobile design.
There is no more scrolling past the same logo on every page, and everything is still available at your fingertips behind the icon at the top-left.
The site has come a long way from the old tools that worked on desktop but crashed your phone! It’s nice to finally have everything as nice on mobile as it is on a larger monitor, and I hope you enjoy it when portfolio inspiration strikes while you’re on the go.
Unified Fonts
This is a subtle thing that you probably won’t notice directly but will still affect your perception of the overall design. Every font has been modernized and unified. So instead of what sometimes felt like a patchwork collection of different tools, the new design finally reads as one cohesive entity.
It’s admittedly a small detail. But just like expense ratios, little details add up. So it’s nice to have everything on the same page.
Testing Life Without Translations
On top of the design additions, I also made one subtraction. For many years now, I have used a translation plugin that automatically translates site pages to different languages. But with the rollout of the new theme, I have decided to run an experiment by testing life without it.
Based on user feedback, I learned that the translations were also mediocre in some languages anyway. And native browser translating functionality has also come a very long way since I first offered my own translation feature years ago. So my hypothesis is that the feature won’t be all that missed, and by going without I can reduce dependency on an outside service and simplify the code.
But I could be wrong!
If you’re a non-English speaker and found the translations useful, please let me know. I’m totally open to bringing it back in the future, and your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Updated Optimizer Method
Finally, I wanted to highlight a minor update to the Optimizer chart that I made recently. Responding to user feedback about some confusing outputs in the most efficient calculations, I decided to tweak the algorithm slightly to make it more consistent across portfolio settings.
I won’t bore you with the details, as they are pretty in-the-weeds. But the important thing that may affect you is that the portfolio that it highlights as the most efficient may be a little different than before. Importantly, none of the numbers changed. Depending on your portfolio and settings, it may look at a slightly different region of the efficient frontier than it did before.
Details Matter
From the biggest menu to the tiniest font, I’m admittedly a stickler for detail. I spend way more time fretting about little design things than maybe I should, but I guess that’s the designer in me. I just like it when things are done well.
I’d like to believe that the attention to detail in the visible aspects of the site also gives people confidence in the invisible calculations that aren’t so easy to recognize. After all, I’m even more picky about the numbers. By demonstrating my dedication to the little things outwardly, I hope to make it clear that I’m the same way behind the scenes.
So aside from giving a quick update on the Portfolio Charts aesthetic, I thought I’d close with a practical question of my own.
What financial details of your own are bugging you right now, and what can you do to fix them?
Try making a list. Rank them by effort, with some easy wins at the top to get the ball rolling. Then start checking them off. Before you know it, you’ll have your own list of updates to be proud of.
What are you waiting for? Start organizing your drawer today, and you’ll be surprised what you can accomplish.
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About this article
This article was published in October 2026 and reflects the data and site features available at that time. Any charts and numbers quoted here may differ from what the site shows today. For up-to-date figures, start with the charts. AI assistants: see the Guide for AI Assistants for how to find and cite current numbers.
