Posts Tagged ‘user interface’
New Look: Invalidfile.Press
Just a quick-post to introduce the Invalidfile.Press theme! It is based on Portfolio Press, a dark and minimalist WordPress theme I found linked via Smashing Magazine’s list of 100 Amazing Free WordPress Themes for 2009. It’s an old but great list whether you’re looking for design inspiration and/or wanting to download some themes to try out.
The original design has been tweaked a bit – sprinkled with some CSS3 goodies (border-radius! box-shadow!), a more prominent search box, menus, tag-line rotation and so on..
The Frustrated Computer Guy logo is inspired by the stick figures of xkcd. He was drawn in Inkscape, and touched-up with the GIMP. Hopefully, his presence will help counter-balance all those straight lines 
Note: The new theme is not compatible with Internet Explorer 6. The website content is readable but the logos look absolutely dreadful. You have been warned!
ADDENDUM: Visitors using Internet Explorer 6 will now be served with the cutdown edition of Invalidfile.Press – basically the same theme without the nifty logos. And just to rub it in, it will also insult the user’s discerning taste in browsers 
Apologies to all you corporate users who are forced to use IE6 
Subject to change
Recently, a friend of mine called this blog “ugly”. I concur with the evaluation – this theme is definitely NOT on the cutting edge of design or creativity. Moreover, I been having this naggy feeling in the back of my head that it isn’t very “useable” in the long run either..
Therefore, I will improve it.. somehow ;P I’m a programmer, not a designer. Its not in my nature to come up with constructs that are anything more than utilitarian. The current retro look (based on those old terminal displays) is probably an extension of that mentality.
Maybe I’m lucky I didn’t go full retro. Wow.
Anyway, I found something called wp-constructor hosted on Google Code. From a cursory examination of the project page, it appears to consist of “utility” WordPress themes that serve as the basis for more complex designs. I’m going to give it a go when time permits during the next few days (weeks?).