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Custom Wordpress Theme Design

A blog about freelancing, web design, blogging, Wordpress and pretty much everything related to making money online, from the comfort of your home.


8 Common Sense Tips For Writing Clean Wordpress Blog PostsNovember 14

I’ve been thinking about writing a post like this one for a long, long time, because it’s the kind of post that would make my life as a custom Wordpress theme designer so much easier. These are not groundbreaking tips or anything, just 8 common sense tips for people who are not very familiar with how the Wordpress editor works. If you’re an experienced Wordpress user, you might as well skip this post.

If you’re a Wordpress theme designer or a web designer using Wordpress as CMS in your client projects, then I think you should really bookmark this post and keep it somewhere safe, because you’ll need it! It will be so much easier to give your clients the link and encourage them to read this post, rather than explaining why their blog posts look bad or why their Wordpress theme breaks, even though the theme you designed works fine.

Table Of Contents

  1. The right way to use copy / paste in Wordpress editor
  2. Using simple styling in your blog posts
  3. Adding images to your blog posts
  4. A few tip
I Am Still Alive And BreathingOctober 29

It’s been almost three weeks since I wrote my last post (ok, I didn’t want it to sound like this). I’ve been pretty busy lately with client projects, but I’m working on a couple of personal projects as well. And because I’m such a details freak, my own projects always get delayed. The design is never good enough, there aren’t enough features, etc.

The image above is not entirely true (I do go out and always feed my dog), but I do have one of those cork boards above my desk and man… post-it notes keep piling up!

On a different note, during the last couple of months I learned a lot of new things about Wordpress. Actually, I keep learning new things almost every day. That’s why I can’t wait to finish work on my secret project! I have quite a couple of tips and tricks to share with you guys.

Which reminds me: I didn’t write for almost three weeks, but you guys keep subscribing! People, stop puting preasure on me! :) Ok, I’m kidding of course. Although I do feel a bit guilty for not wiriting as often as I wish. Well… at least good ideas keep adding up in my Drafts.

Ok, so I only wrote this post to let you know I’m ok (had a nasty flu for a couple of days

7 Tips When Using Wordpress As CMSOctober 12

I promised a follow up on my tutorial on using Wordpress as CMS, where I would put together some conclusions. While these tips are not rocket surgery by any means, I just thought it would be nice to have some closure on that three part tutorial. So here goes:

  1. Always use nice permalinks (/%postname%/ is probably the best for websites). Not only is this a must do for SEO, but it’s also common sense. An URL like http://mysite.com/about makes more sense than http://mysite.com/?page_id=142.
  2. Before starting to work on the Wordpress theme implementation, think about what you’re trying to achieve and pick plugins accordingly. Just use what you need, don’t over do it!
  3. Add a main navigation (browse pages) to your header and if necessary add a secondary navigation (browse subpages) to your sidebar. You can even go crazy and create a dropdown menu as main navigation. I’ll show you how later. ;)
  4. Use breadcrumbs! Breadcrumbs are great for so many reasons: usability, SEO, etc. In terms of plugins, there are many options, but I recommend Yoast Breadcrumbs, because it’s easy to use and I really trust Joost’s expertise.
  5. When it comes to Wordpre
10 More Great Website Designs Using Wordpress As CMSSeptember 16

When I posted the first roundup called 10 Great Website Designs Using Wordpress As CMS, it received a lot of comments, being in fact one of the most commented blog posts. Some of you mentioned other great websites making use of Wordpress as CMS, some of you mentioned you use Wordpress in your own web design projects.

I also received a lot of requests recently, from people who wanted to convert their old websites to a Wordpress driven website. So Wordpress is clearly growing in popularity! That’s why I’ve put together this follow up of cool designs, using some of your suggestions, as well as some of my own finds. Enjoy:

1. Feedback Audio

2. fraai

3. Future Snowboarding Magazine

Agregado: Probably The Best Free Wordpress Theme YetSeptember 13

Darren Hoyt just released Agregado, one of the best Wordpress themes I’ve ever seen. And I don’t just mean free themes. This Wordpress theme is way better than most of those fake “premium themes” out there.

It basically allows you to use Wordpress not only as a blog, but also as an aggregator of various web services, like flickr, twitter, del.icio.us, etc. Hmm… sounds familiar? I wanted to create a similar theme, in order to use it on my Romanian blog. Well… that’s definitely one Wordpress theme I’m never gonna release. I mean… I always say “if you can’t do something original or at least something better, don’t do it”. And since Darren’s theme is so cool, I’ll probably use Agregado with a custom design for my Romanian blog and just do something better with my time.

Agregado also comes with a homepage mockup in PSD format, which makes it easier to customize your own version (although I’ll probably create my own mockup in Fireworks). Darren probably spent a lot of time building this theme, so to realease it as