Adventures in Public Wordpress Theming
Jul 10th, 07 | 5 remarksAll things considered, my first foray into designing a public Wordpress theme was a success. At least, by my account it was. :) I’ve received some very good constructive feedback, which is exactly what I need - not only to develop my skill, but to create a better product.
I appreciate all the commentary, suggestions and advice that has been offered so far. WPDesigner, in particular, was very helpful in pointing out specifics on how the theme could be improved and/or more standardized for general public consumption. I plan to weigh everything out, make any necessary adjustments, and try to create at least a semi-coherent log of my experiences, for future reference when I’m ready to release my next theme.
It’s interesting, creating a public product for the first time. Knowing what to include to begin with, what to leave out, making and recording fixes, setting up a demo site (just got it up late last night), and testing everything on both customized and fresh Wordpress installs has been a terrific learning experience. I’ve already learned so much just in the past two days! It’s very exciting, and hopefully I can refine my process into something that works more like a well-oiled machine, and less like a bumpy dirt road. :D
Today I’ll be working to get as many fixes made as I can, but whatever I don’t get to will have to wait until next week, as I’ll be vacationing in the Rocky Mountains, and on down into the Durango and Mesa Verde areas. I know, I know - my timing wasn’t so great on this release. Live and learn.
Anyway I have no idea if I’ll have connectivity in any of the places we’re staying, so if it’s quiet on my end that’s why! I’ll make some noise and post any/all theme updates when I return. ;)
Hey Charity. I hope I didn’t send you too much information. Have you gotten a chance to install WordPress locally? It’ll help you speed up theme testings and allow you to test with multiple WordPress versions. I have the following installed on my windows xp:
WordPress 2.2
Jul 10, 07 | 12:10 pm” 2.1
” 2.1 + plugins
” 2.0
Hey Small Potato! I just sent of an email to you. :) I appreciate the discrepancies you pointed out, and I’ve fixed most of them already. Next on the list is widgetizing… though it may have to wait until I get back next week. (I still need to pack and I’m running out of time!)
I actually have two staging areas set up. One for theme testing and experimentation, and another for the demo, but I honestly never considered running multiple versions. What a great idea! I’ll have to add that to my list. Creating this theme has been fun so far, and I have ideas for several more. I just need to get my ducks in a row. You’ve really helped with that, thank you.
Jul 10, 07 | 2:11 pmCongrats on getting your work out there…its always nice to get some constructive feedback.
I really like how you’ve seamlessly integrated a photostream and recommended reading in the footer area, although I think the grey is a little dark
Jul 15, 07 | 7:31 amThanks Andy. Appreciate the feedback - but I guess you’re talking about theme in place on DA rather than my Into the Ocean theme? ;)
Jul 18, 07 | 3:07 pm:D yeh whoops, I guess I assumed that the current template was the one you wrote!
Jul 18, 07 | 5:56 pm