Wordpress 2.2.2 is out. It is a mandatory security upgrade. Stop reading and go upgrade.
After upgrading, you can check out the results of the Sandbox Designs Competition, as the template: sandbox bug has been fixed.
| Design | Author | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| SandPress | Arpit Jacob | 26 | First place |
| Moo-Point | Will Wilkins | 23 | Second place |
| Prima | Sunaryo Hadi |
19 | Third place |
with that, I'd like to point to a few really cool designs from the competition, that leverage the dynamic classes of the sandbox1:
Diurnal, as the name suggests, marks the passage of the day by changing hues and header graphics to match the sunlight. Carolyn refers to it as a "poor man's igoogle", I suppose in the sense that it tracks the daylight of the blog itself, not the daylight of the reader. Personally, I think it makes it easier to relate to the blog's author, which is probably better.
Sandpress takes my date-label proof-of-concept, and makes it much slicker. Arpit's graphics are much more accessible and immediate, and it's sure to be a hit.
There are quite a few themes that use some sort of specific aside and news styling. I made some wimpy attempts myself. Many of the designs resort to adding a text label ("quick bits", "quick thoughts", etc.), or using icons. Picnic makes a clean, simple color distinction for them, and it works on an instinctive level. Designing the Obvious indeed.
And of course, I would be remiss not to mention Takimata, which leverages the sandbox body classes (.home, .archive, .single, etc.) to create a unique design that certainly ought to open discussion on blog design. It's reminiscent of Keen, but I'm no fan of javascript, and I much prefer Robert's aesthetic.
- the competition wasn't for best use of the sandbox, it was for best design, so these are merely observations. (back ↩)
10 Comments
Here, here. Diurnal and Takimata are exceptional designs and really deserve recognition. Oh, and also Walk in the Shadows. That has a couple secrets worth learning.
psssh- it’s GPL. there are no secrets.
actually, along those lines, i’ve been meaning to post the *.PSD for that design.
Thanks for your kind words about my theme, Takimata. There were some really interesting designs. I’m looking forward to digging in to some of them and seeing what I can learn. I’d overlooked Picnic. Thanks.
you saved my day when you gave me a hint on how to implement the date stamp. I was about to ditch it from the design.
@Robert-
absolutely. i’m a little snowblind at the moment, but there are a lot of great ideas in there i need to look into.
@Arpit-
happy to help! I’m glad to see someone run with the idea. Congratulations on the win!
@ Adam
I think you did a great job on both your theme’s graphics, my wife (an artist) loves it.
Takimata and Promised Land were exceptional. Great job with Promised Land, Adam.
I think I may be incorporating a menu-concept similar to Promised Land’s on my blog’s single post pages — one day (I think my wife will leave me if I redesign more than once a year!).
I’m sure I’ll manage to use them all, although I’m rather fond of “Promised Land” right now. I’m going to head over to the sandbox site and see what it there again.
The wordpress thing ticks me off a little. I, for the first time ever on my own, upgraded my wordpress installation just a week or two ago, and my heart stopped several times. To think I have to do it again on a day I thought I had lucked out of work due to air/heat index issues annoys me.
I don’t understand why one can’t just change the specific files
instead of doing the whole thing.
thanks, guys
this plugin is supposed to make updating a little less painful, but i haven’t tried it.
mark jaquith used to do a changed files package for 2.0.x, but he seems to have stopped (not surprising, it was pretty substantial work without any official acknowledgement).
eh, i actually used that plugin tonight, and nothing was messed up at least not that i can see.
Post a Comment