media143Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read

Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read

Media143 IT Solutions — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:25:46 +0000

Scott McNulty, “Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read”
Peachpit Press | 2009 | ISBN: 0-321-59193-3 | 263 pages | PDF | 8.3 Mb

WordPress has done its part to help spread the allure of blogging by making it very easy to start a blog—and to update that blog after it’s up and running. WordPress isn’t the only blogging tool in town. Lots of popular tools are out there, including Movable Type, Tumblr, Habari, and Blogger. Given all these choices, why should you use WordPress?

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Most Popular Blogs for Web Designers

Media143 IT Solutions — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:46:17 +0000

Every time I visit all of my favorite social media sites, all I end up seeing are the same top blogs ending up in the results, and for good reason! There are some blogs out there (Smashing Magazine, Web Designer Depot, Web Designer Wall…) that have created huge impacts in the web design community, publishing great content each and every day for us to look forward to. So I have compiled a list of the greatest blogs for website designers, developers, and webmasters. These blogs usually include tips, tricks, tutorials, freebies, interviews, and much more to grab the average web designers attention. So without further ado, let’s hit the list (and all on one page, for you Diggers).

CSS: Design Out Of The Box

Media143 IT Solutions — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:30:14 +0000

Are you tired of your typical columned and boxed layout? It is time to learn how to break out of the box and do something creative. In this post, I’ve collected some of the best examples that are designed out of the box. I’ve also provided some quick CSS tips with demo files on how to break out of the box by creatively using background images and the CSS position property.

Example 1: Huge Inc

What really captured my attention on the Huge site is the header design. Notice how the design elements are extended out of the box.

Example 2: Jason Santa Maria

With the amount of effort and details that Jason input on his site, no doubt it is one of the best designer sites around. Click through the posts, you will find that almost each post is unique and has a different stylesheet. Some visual images are within the grid, some are out of the box.

Example 3: A Brief Message

Similar to Jason Santa Maria’s website, each post on ABriefMessage.com features a different image and CSS stylesheet. Unlike the other typical blog sites, the text on the site is perfectly layouted, so it runs around the image (it is like reading a print design).

Example 4: Trent Walton

TrentWalton.com puts the focus on the header, where each post displays a different background image and typesetting.

Example 5: Wonderbra Ultimate Strapless

Although there are some accessibility issues with the Wonderbra site (eg. the font is not scalable), but it is a lovely design. The content and images are nicely put together. At the first glance, I thought it was a Flash site. Then, I checked the source code and found it is done by CSS and a Javascript text replacement, cufon.

Example 6: Fox

Fox – Fringe web site broke the boring boxed layout by using spectacular background images that blend from top to bottom. Also, the slant cuts in between the boxes make it look more interesting. Don’t forget to check the other Fox TV show sites.

Single-Page Portfolio Sites

Media143 IT Solutions — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:20:40 +0000

Are you looking for ideas to design a portfolio site? Maybe all you need is a single-page site? Single-page design works if you don’t have much content, but just want to showcase your work. It can save time and cost because you don’t need to build the CMS and templates. In other words, it’s perfect for the non-coders. Here are 30+ single-page portfolio sites with exceptional design and implementation. Hopefully, they can give you some inspiration.

We Bleed Design

Click on any of the menu buttons at the top and have fun with the scrolling animation.

TapTapTap

A creative way to layout and display the iPhone app information — all on one page.

Luke Larsen

Aquarium themed portfolio of Luke Larsen.

Dean Oakley

Horizontal scrolling portfolio of Dean Oakley.

7 Amazing & Flexible Free Wordpress Themes

Media143 IT Solutions — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:38:12 +0000

In my opinion, a great free wordpress theme is one that contains both quality of design and functionality. There are tons of blog posts out there about “50 free wordpress themes” or something like that. I’m sure you have read your share. But honestly many of those free Wordpress themes are junk, and you probably will never use them.

In this post I wanted to show off 8 particular free Wordpress themes that I feel are great both in design and in functionality. Because of their greatness in these two areas, these themes all share one thing in common. They are flexible! You can actually install these themes on your Wordpress blog and adapt them to your style and blogs message. Exactly what every free Wordpress theme should do!

1. Shades of Blue from Brian Gardner

2. Typebased from WooThemes

3. Agregado from Darren Hoyt

4. Dailypress from Blogohblog.com

5. Theseus by ThemeShaper

6. The Wind Cries Mary from Grab A Theme

7. Colourise from Best Wordpress Themes