New Look for My WordPress Blog for 2008

December 28, 2007

Christmas is getting over and New Year is coming. The seasonal theme is getting out-dated soon in a week or so. Also, my blog Binh dot Name is growing from few unique visitors to average 50 per day. I really need a brand new unique look for a professional image.

So far I've been holding back writing and promoting my blog and asked myself Should I Migrate to WordPress MU?. Since then I made the decision to Migrate to WordPress MU and then finally Successfully Migrated to WordPress MU.

I've been showing this Christmas Days theme since 21 Nov 2007 and believe me I really got itchy when looking at it now. Perhaps it is a good choice for a start up blog for a simple look and feel while giving people a clue that Christmas is coming. However, theme become obsolete now. The themes from 7 Free Christmas WordPress Themes 2007 are much better than this.

The New Design

New Year is coming! I need some theme that can meet some very strict requirements. Before continue reading, please open Copy Blogger and Daily Blog Tips in new windows so that you can understand what I mean without having a headache. I want to make my blog look similar to those.

Header

Header should include

1. the logo/site name,
2. site slogan,
3. search box (wordpress or Google)
4. RSS feeds (nofollow links)
5. A horizontal menu that show pages by slug, not full title.
6. Sub-pages should go in drop down, or not shown at all.
7. And other must-have features that the designer thinks fit.

The header should have at least the following characteristics:

1. be lower to save space and possibly allow some 728 banner ad under it. Perhaps 100px height?
2. uniquely identify my blog from others.
3. encourage people to subscribe to my feeds.

The Body/Main content

The body should contain:

1. The Page title
2. Whatever content a blog should have

The body should have the following attributes

1. be at least 468px to fit that size of banner ad and photos.
2. preferably 480px or 500px.
3. Blockqoute should be blockquote.
4. Minimal modification to default styles.

The Side Bars:

1. One sidebar on the left to display most relevant stuff like pages and categories.
2. Two side bars on the right to display relevant links or advertisements. Possibly 150px wide to display 150x150 buttons.
3. A side bar below those 2 sidebars, which is as wide as both of them, to display longer links.
4. Should look professional while saving as much space as possible.

Widgets

Who dare to take a big challenge with widgets? If I will definitely break my way out to design some extra widget place holders such as:

1. the sidebars,
2. the whole pane right below the header,
3. above the post title, OR below it but above the fold
4. below the post content, but before the comments
5. below the comments, before the footer
6. the footer, so that I can change footer

Why? I hate modifying the themes to insert additional content. Do you? Drupal, DotNetNuke and most other Content Management System (CMS) have those, why the most famous one WordPress don't? Too much limitation cause lots of suffering for bloggers.

Every day I waste time on searching for plugins to do very simple job for my blog, still couldn't get satisfied. Then, I need to modify the themes. Then, I need to modify the plugins. They say WordPress require little tech knowledge, my use of it prove the opposite.

Additionally if possible, the theme should have options in the WordPress back-end Options page.

SEO Features

I'm not yet an expert in SEO, yet. However I do have some basic requirements to meet elementary level of SEO:

1. The site name must not be H1 for any pages other than home page.
2. Every page must have a H1 title, including archives, tags, pages, posts, categories, search etc.
3. All styles should be in external CSS file.
4. The lighter the better, so no unnecessary class attributes, use the ID attribute and nested HTML default classes to format elements instead. Example: Don't define a class "PostContent" when in fact the Content is under <div id="content"> already.
5. The main content goes first, then the side bars. No excuses for putting right sidebar in front of the main content.
6. JavaScript for menu? Good idea, but the menu must be written in HTML and dynamic by JavaScript, not use document.write.
7. Ajax? yes another good idea, but please make sure only for sidebars.

The Styles

Technically knowledgable about CSS in advanced level, I would like to have to following styles:

1. The less classes, the better
2. Use ID and HTML element ID thoroughly
3. Smartly format image and objects depend on alignment (barely seen).
4. The less images the better, but must have enough to make the site look neat and nice.
5. The images need to be optimized over 10KB is not a good file size. Consider the dial-up users and the 10s effect.

Am I too tough? The list above is only half of my requirements. If you think you are good enough, go ahead and take the credit. If you up for the challenge?

Free Custom Blog Design

Thanks to Quan Quach from BlinkDagger for writing Win a Free Custom Wordpress Design! I come to realise that Brian Purkiss from plainBETA Design and Blogging is giving out a Free Custom Wordpress Theme

Do I meet the requirements?

Contest Requirements

1. Must be a Wordpress powered blog: OK
2. The desired layout must be a minimalist, web 2.0, like design: OK
3. The blog must be something that I like: OK, but does that mean your friend is reserved?
4. No logo design can be involved: OK, but does that mean you can't do graphic?
5. ‘Designed by’ link must remain in the footer: OK, if it is good then credit is reserved. After all that's the contest all about.
6. The blog already needs to be in existence: OK, you are reading it.

How to Enter

1: Write a post on your blog linking to this post ’selling’ your blog to me: Done

-Why should I pick your blog?

Answer:

1.1 Would you like to design some blog that set its goal to 10,000 subscribers? I'm thinking of expanding my blog to pagerank 6+. Wouldn't you like to get a link back from so high PR site? Then my blog is for you.

1.2 Would you like to design a blog of a fellow web developer and take some nice credit from doing so? Then this blog is for you.

1.3 Would you like to give a hand to someone who help other bloggers and web master live on his blog? Then this blog is foryou.

1.4 Would you like to take some high-requirements challenge and get well-known, instead of designing some simple blog just to throw your business card? Then this blog is for you.

1.5 Would you like to be recognized as a top WordPress designer and get known by the WordPress community? Then this blog is for you.

-What do you want the design to look like?

Answer:

As mentioned above. But I'd love to hear your expert advices if they work better.

-Remember, I have to like your blog in order to pick it. So what’s so special about it?

Answer:

At this stage it is not so special. I only help other bloggers to become better bloggers. I love to help others. So if you help me you are giving a hand to other bloggers, too.

I'm sure my requirements are higher than other bloggers, so will you take the challenge?

2: Contact me with a link to your entry.

Answer: OK, I will contact you after this.

What's Next

If Brian decide not to design my blog, I will end up spending some time choosing some free theme and customize it for my own use. Of course I will make it meet the requirements I set above. If I do, I will distribute it. If Brian does, I might ask him to let me distribute, too. So stay tune for the result.

Update 28/12/2007: I realize some requirements maybe too high for a standard designer, so I don't expect to find or get those immediately.

Meanwhile, Happy New Year and Holidays to anyone who have. If you don't celebrate New Year in your country, why not celebrate it online?

Tags: Blogging, Google Adsense, new-year, News, PageRank, WordPress Theme

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