I've decided to go for a more dynamic approach to v3 of this site. There are a number of reasons, but mainly it's because I've been sitting on this design for a while now, and I really wanted to start using some of the features I'd set up for it, mainly my snippets column. I plan on updating that part of the site pretty regularly.
The actual redesign was spawned from the need to showcase certain things and to actually highlight others. I knew that I wanted to showcase Manji and Rin a bit more on the front page, and subsequent themes I am actively involved in developing.
There are loads of tweaks I've got to get around to and complete a number of static pages, some of which are hinted at the top of this page, but I'm in no rush right now. If I build this content in such a way I'll be able to reuse it later on down the line for future updates. I wonder how long I'll stay with this design?
Themes Tangent:What I've found really amazing, is just the sheer number of themes that are now available for the WordPress community. We're talking well over 100 themes and counting.
The trick now is to try and seperate the good from bad, from the ugly. Some I've got to say are exceptional themes. Blix is one theme I think is brilliant. It's subtle colours and clean lines really do appeal to me.
Another one is Green Marinee which I think is another slick addition to the great WordPress theme arsenal. K2 is lurking on the horizon, and Persian has always been around kicking ass and taking names.
Having a good looking site in WordPress is now not an option, it's a given.
Nice one! I think it's a real improvement to your previous version.The single post page feels a bit empty and if you actually used those trim marks some of the text would be cut off -- but that's just nitpicking.
The design is more "open" and gives you, as intended, more room to put different stuff on the frontpage without making it cluttered.
Looking forward to the shuttle stuff. I really dislike the WP admin panel as it is now.
Hey Sebastian, thanks. See that's the sort of nitpicking I like. The thing is though I battled long and hard whether or not to make the design break out of the 770px constraint and actually go a bit larger.
I've sorted out that little tweak. How come you didn't enter Blix into the design comp?
Interesting design. I like it, although I'm wondering if it is a little too "white" for my eyes. Maybe it is the lack of defined borders for the columns that surprised me. I like it though overall. Keep up the great work, your talent is unbelievable.
Ah, the sweet sight of Minimalism. So much ... yet so little. ^_-
Less is more ^_^ but I've come to realise that a blog is a stream, constantly moving and evolving. It's all about the content but how it's presented as well. Will it stay white forever? Nah give it a couple of weeks and I might start adding things here and there. It's all about evolution.
Khaled, you neer cease to amaze me. Very nice update. I am looking forward to seeing what changes you will throw in next!
Whitespace is good... never forget that.
Looks fantastic Khaled, you have an enviable talent. :)
That sure is a lot of whitespace (at least on the single post pages). Very nice and clean.
I like your 'evolution' attitude to designing (for me, it's more of an almost pathological inability to stop messing with the layout even after launch), and I'll be sure to check back for new tweaks and additions.
Blix is one of the themes I considered for my own redesign; it's so very stylish and neat. Looking at all those themes, it's amazing what you can do with CSS, really.
Khaled, I didn't enter Blix into the competition because one of the (unwritten?) rules is that the downloadable zip file has to reside on Alex' server. I didn't think that was a good idea because that way people would perhaps download an outdated version of Blix -- I'm still tweaking stuff and update my zip from time to time -- and because they would download a competition-optimized version because Blix doesn't come with a themeswitcher by default and because I would have had to change the navigation's padding to fit in Alex' "unrealistic" long navigation items.
Sebastian that's a pretty good point actually. I didn't think about the updates thing, I guess what I'll do is update the manual with a massive big IMPORTANT sign saying to come over here to check for an update, because you're right , you do tweak the hell out of these things when you actually sit down to it.
I guess I'm a bit thankful for the competition, because it forced me into giving it the time it deserved, and made me go ahead and update this place. Thanks for the kind words guys, now lets see if I can fit my big fat bloated head through the door.
Don't know what you guys are viewing it in, I view on a 21inch screen, which makes it a WHOLE lot of white space :).
[...] oming K2 (Kubrick v2). Brian notices that podcasting has begun to take a commercial twist. Khaled announces BrokenKode v3. Craig reflects on his least-favorite movies. Orson has [...]
khaled - I dont mind three columns but please dont start a max width thing :). Please.
Why man is it bad css form? I didn't know about this till Joshua mentioned it to me, which was then followed by the comment, but it isn't supported in IE, to which I obviously wanted to cry in frustruation :)
Very nice layout khaled. I dig the colors and the overall feel. I will echo others on the presence of white space. Yummy.