Screenshots of a new 2-column WordPress theme
#Here are a few screen captures of the theme I am currently working on. Notice the home page layout for the older posts, and how easy it is to adjust the header and the main color. Read more »
Archive
Back to pencil and paper
#50 Facial Expressions and how to draw them by Dani Jones and other useful “in-depth illustration tutorials, tips, and video demos” at danidraws.com. Via screenz.de
Updated AdSense Manager Plugin: Ad Slot IDs and Rounded Corners
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The latest version (2.5) of the very popular and useful AdSense Manager plugin for WordPress by Martin Fitzpatrick doesn’t allow you to use the new ad management features that were recently implemented by Google. Previously you could track the ad performance only by their channel IDs.
Since the November 2007 an additional identifier is available for each of the ad units to which you can assign an explanatory title (for example, 200×200 ads, below article, etc.). These slots are also automatically given a 10 digit ID (like 6567667845) which is assigned to a new variable google_ad_slot inside the ad code.
Theoretically, for displaying an ad you now have to know only your publisher ID and the slot ID, while the rest of the ad’s look and feel can be adjusted through your AdSense account without ever touching the JavaScript which you have placed inside the HTML. Read more »
Standards Watch: Design Observer
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I am an avid reader of Design Observer (DO) blog — writings about design & culture. They feature essays, ideas and critique about the issues of design in its broadest sense.
Although the content and the authors are fantastic, the website still uses HTML tables for layout, fixed 10px font size and images (without alt atributes) for section headers.
In order to thank the authors for their amazing writing, I have rebuilt the layout following the best practice of web design, and using well marked-up HTML and CSS. This way DO would be friendly to all user, mobiles and search engines.
View the result: Design Observer with beautiful HTML and standards.
This layout could be easily turned into a WordPress theme which would give the authors greater control over the content and functionality of the website.
Preview of a new WordPress theme
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I am currently working on a new WordPress theme. The reason for doing it is a recent observation regarding the blog design — scrolling large lists of blog posts discourages from exploring individual (and often older) blog entries. Long list of articles are acceptable in archive pages, but the homepage should always be the simplest point for navigation. Do you have any name suggestions?
Introducing and explaining the nature of light
#Amazing and entertaining lectures by the outstanding Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman — explaining how the physicists try to view and understand the world. This is also why I love blackboard and chalk.
Nanoblog, Tumblelog or Asides
#Name it how ever you prefer, but that is indeed true that writing regular posts or blessays takes hours while ideas and cool things are all over my mind. Let’s see how this works out. p.s. using MiniPosts plugin by Erigami Scholey-Fuller.
How Graphic is the Web Design, and How Web is the Graphic Design
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Sorry for such a long heading, but it is the question which by itself is an answer to those trying to understand how the web design is different from the graphic design.
Designer and writer Armin Vit recently asked “[W]hat web sites could be considered landmarks for our profession?”. Ideally one should be able to name
A visual solution that not only enables, but also transcends, the message to become memorable in the eyes and minds of viewers.
He lists few examples from the field of graphic design: “Milton Glaser’s Dylan poster. Paul Rand’s IBM logo. Paula Scher’s Public Theater posters. Massimo Vignelli’s New York subway map. Kyle Cooper’s Seven opening titles”. Read more »
New WordPress Theme: Sans–serif Racer
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Update (October 15, 2008): Sans-serif Racer has been updated with improved CSS (and fixed IE7-only bug), enhanced design and support for the default image alignment classes. Get it here. If you are updating, be sure to back-up the old theme files.
While tweaking the Times Racer theme which is currently used in this blog, I was fascinated by how the sans-serif typeface and the aligned positioning of different elements made it look really harmonic and solid.
After hours of PHP, HTML and CSS trickery, the new theme was named Sans-serif Racer and ready for the release. It features unique border elements, light background shading and, similarly to Agneka Simple, one base color which can be easily adjusted. Read more »
Logos and Names Are Not Headings
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It is a common trend among many web designers and developers to use h1 tag for a logo of a website. Although such decision has no impact on the visual presentation of the content, it drastically diminishes the semantic power of h1 tag.
Every page on the web can be viewed as a single document. Hypertext enables linking and organizing them into groups and sets, which requires that each document has a clear purpose and structure.
Domain names are unique identifiers of those different groups of documents and are the broadest description of their content. Therefore usually they already include the name of a business, person or product (I will refer to them as ‘logos’). Read more »