So what do you think? Its just a little different the last iteration. Following on from the two dark themes that have clothed this site for the past year, I figured it was time to try something new. Something lighter, with less lines dividing it all up. Besides there were a few thing that I never really got around to finishing on my last design, and there were a few things that didn’t work out as well as I had hoped.
Lets get the bad out of the way. Initially I really liked my homepage, with the focus on a single post, some downloads and a couple of sidenotes, but I felt like the less recent stuff was being missed by new visitors, and I noticed I wasn’t receiving the same number of comments as I had previously. Long before I started work on this design I knew that I would be switching back to showing the last ten or so posts on the homepage. I’ve also switched back to a more conventional sidebar, instead of the combination of sidebar and bottom block arrangement that I had with the last design.
Behind the scenes I’ve fiddled with the structure of the site a little, mainly the ‘Projects’ section which replaces the ‘WordPress’ section. All the old links should still work, but there is a chance that I’ll break them so don’t use them, use the NEW links. The switch to a “projects” section was mainly due to the fact that I do more than just WordPress themes and plugins and wanted one section to cover everything.
There still bits and pieces that I haven’t finished entirely, but the goal was to get all the major functionality finished, then get it online and see what I’ve missed (theres always something). So over the coming weeks I’ll be finishing off the little bits here and there. Its not like there are huge sections left, but I’ve changed how some things are displayed which requires me to go through and edit a whole heap of posts…not really looking forward to that.
So have a look around, if you find something that looks out of place, or broken please let me know so that I can check it out. All feedback is welcome.
(5 votes, ave: 4.4/5)
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I’m just one member of the Uni’s web team, my input was mainly through the css and javascripts, the majority of the actual design was done by our designers. I merely translate their designs into css, which can be both very rewarding and frustrating, often at the same time which is why I enjoy it ;)
Did you do the Uni of Newcastle website? If so, I must congratulate you - it’s a beautiful site.
Also, this one is great too.
i like it very much
Grungy is the new trend! :D
Great new look! Really nice & clean, very cool change of pace.
This is like tidy grunge
I really like it. With my previous design I was only displaying one post on the front page and I noticed the same thing you did, fewer comments. You are very good at designing! Really, you’ve got great taletnt.
wow.. very cool, sir…!! >_<
i like it very much :D
btw, how about your old redoable? :P
Nope they are still there they are just inline with everything else now. If you scroll right to the bottom on the homepage you’ll see a couple of them with their special style applied.
“Internally”, ie the folder I put it in, I’ve called it ‘Zipper’, I have no idea why or where I pulled that from, I just needed a name of some sort.
Great look! The “grunge” design hasn’t been around for a while with all this web2.0 stuff but you pulled it off real well.
The redesign looks great! I love the light colors.
Cool! had started associating you with dark themes so this is a nice change. I also noticed that you’ve completely done away with sidenotes/asides.
So does this design/theme have a name yet?
Yes I am, I’m also using a custom field for the extract that appears in the sidebar and on the projects page, because pages in general don’t have extracts like posts. A number of other thing such as the download boxes on singles posts/page are also set using custom fields.
Yes, I’m still planning on releasing a public version of PipeDream, but it needs a lot of work to get it to the point where the average user can just drop the theme in, activate it and then sit back
Its a customised version of a plugin called “WP Movie Ratings” (http://paulgoscicki.com/projects/wp-movie-ratings/). The main change I’ve made is modify it so that when I also add TV Show ratings I can categorise them. Its a pretty powerful plugin straight out of the box.
Realy like the design Dean!
Got a few questions:
-Are you working with custom fields to link to the project pictures in the sidebar? For instance the Hahlo picture?
-Will you be putting “pipedream” online for download?
-The reviews thing, is that a custom build plugin? Realy cool!
Another great looking web site. How do you keep coming out with these Dean?