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Need inspiraton? Check out these WordPress showcase sites

Sophia Lucero — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:51:56 +0000

Want WordPressThemes.com to build a custom WP-powered site for you but don’t know where to begin? Try browsing through these showcase sites and experience just how innovative and powerful WordPress can be:

WordPress Showcase: the official listing of sites that take WordPress one step further, maintained by no less than the developers of WordPress themselves. From university websites to business, government, and entertainment, this showcase contains the creme de la creme of WP sites.

And one more for the road: Best WordPress sites - N. Design Studio

Happy browsing!

Add Twitter to your WordPress themes for more star power

Sophia Lucero — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:50:58 +0000

Twitter is one of the hottest things on the web right now, and although this microblogging service could overtake (macro) blogging with WordPress, why not take advantage of its popularity and use it to add even more star power to your WordPress themes? Here are several guides that make WordPress blogging and tweeting a seamless experience:

TweetBacks for WordPress:
List all the tweets that are linking back to your blog. TweetBacks are now the new trackbacks!
Twittar - Twitter Avatars:
Display Twitter avatars in your comments section. I know you love Gravatars but if your users haven’t signed up for one, it helps to provide alternatives.
How to Create Your Own Twitter Widget:
Let your visitors share your blog posts on Twitter with a sidebar widget.
Tweet This, a WordPress Plugin for Twitter:
If you don’t want a sidebar widget, how about a WordPress plugin that lets users tweet your blog posts instantly?
How to: Create a “send this to twitter” button:
Now if you don’t want to install a plugin at all, try this single line of code you can add to your WordPress theme files!
How to Create an RSS-Enabled, Micro-Blog with Twitter:
Twitter has probably taken over most aside / side blogs since it’s so much more convenient. If it hasn’t on your blog, and you’ve been wondering how to do it, try this (all you need is your Twitter’s RSS feed).
Juitter:
A jQuery javascript plugin that displays tweets based on a keyword search. Perfect for blogging about the now.

Try porting existing HTML templates to WordPress themes

Sophia Lucero — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:46:35 +0000

Whether you’re currently in creative drought or you just want to spend less time coming up with a new WordPress theme, perhaps you could try porting existing free web templates to WordPress themes.

Hongkiat has listed 38 beautiful HTML templates you can use as base for your next WordPress theme.

Some things to remember though:

Check with the designer/owner first if you can use their templates and if the license you’re applying to the WP theme is compatible with theirs.
Credit them, of course.
Don’t hesitate to put your name on the theme, either!

Styling comments in WordPress 2.7

Sophia Lucero — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:04:24 +0000

WordPress 2.7 has been out for a while now, and one of the biggest new features it has is threaded comments. And they just happen to be pretty complicated to style. So for all the theme authors out there, Andrew Rickmann made a diagram illustrating all the HTML elements and CSS classes used in nested comments. This includes guides for the comment form area.

If you need inspiration for the actual look of the threaded comments, Performancing has 7 great examples you can take notes from.

Tip: Add value to your theme with an options page

Sophia Lucero — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:23:42 +0000

Always assume that typical WordPress users will want to customize their themes, whether they’re willing to pay for them or not. And since you’ll probably be manipulating the functions.php file to widgetize your theme, why not go even further?

Custom Theme Design has written an excellent tutorial on building a control panel for your WordPress theme. This is a great resource for all the theme designers out there.

Will the premium WordPress themes controversy ever end?

Sophia Lucero — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:31:17 +0000

It’s been more than a year since premium WordPress themes first gained attention and finally became commonplace. But the debate over whether one should make or purchase such themes still hasn’t died out. Blogs like Upstart Blogger and ThemeShaper continue to raise this issue.

Don’t think WordPress is for you? Think again!

Sophia Lucero — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:39:21 +0000

If you’re wondering whether a WordPress-powered website can fulfill your needs, you might want to read this post at Performancing. It lists 48 unique ways to use WordPress which you probably never thought of.

And that number is growing. More and more people are turning to WordPress to create all sorts of websites: e-zines, media galleries, real estate listings, online stores, church sites, webcomics, social networks—the list never ends!

Enroll in our services now to find out how the versatility of WordPress can power your website.

Make your feed subscription link within easy reach

Sophia Lucero — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:38:46 +0000

Feeds, which some may know as RSS, Atom, or even XML, are almost as important your blog itself. Why? For the simple reason that it contains the most important part of your blog, the content, in a very portable format. With the help of some smart design decisions with your WordPress theme, you can point your readers to keep up with the latest posts on your blog by making your feed subscription link more visible, and well within reach.

Where can you place that “subscribe” link and that orange icon?

At the very top of the page. If you’re really anxious to get your visitors to subscribe, putting a subscribe link at the very top, above everything else, should catch their attention. You can make use of a full-width bar in a contrasting color to grab their attention.

As part of the top navigation. Putting a feed link in your site navigation should be very easy since it’s just adding another item to your menu. But you might want it to be distinguishable from the rest of the links even just a bit.

At the top of the sidebar. A feed link, perhaps even an eye-catching feed icon, should do the trick when using the sidebar. Some people find their subscription links more valuable than other site elements, including the search bar, and put it at the very top.

Where do you put your feed subscription link? Are there any other clever places that can catch the reader’s eye?

Some of the best free WordPress themes

Randa Clay — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:50:23 +0000

Smashing Magazine has recently posted a list of 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes. If you’re ready to change your theme, this is definitely a list to check out. I would especially recommend the grid based themes.

Try a Sideblog

Randa Clay — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:41:25 +0000

Do you regularly have bits of information, links, news, etc that don’t warrant a full post on your blog, but you’d like to share them with your readers? One common solution is to use “asides” in the body of the blog, but if you prefer these snippets not to appear in between your posts a “sideblog” is a great idea. Several months ago, Michael at ProBlogDesign wrote a good pros vs. cons article about the use of a sideblog, and it convinced me to add one to my home site. I’ve been writing for a couple of other sites for the last 6 months or so, and it frustrated me to have nowhere to share the posts with my readers. A sideblog was the perfect solution.

I happen to be just using a text widget to create the sideblog, but there is a nice plugin that allows you to post snippets to your sideblog by assigning a specific category to them.