the non-designer's guide to wordpress (making your site awesome)

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

- Steve jobs

You’re Already On Your Way •  WordPress works pretty damn well

“out of the box” •  Don’t let your theme & widgets

get in the way of that •  Good site design should emphasize

your content, not itself

But…

“Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn't possibly all have good taste.”

- When Harry Met Sally

Good taste is subjective.

Good design: not so much.

Photo: emiliokuffer on Flickr

Look Around. Get Inspired. •  Pay attention to what you like about other sites •  Find & Follow creative curators on the web

and via social channels (like fastcodesign.com) •  Listen to recommendations from designers •  Apply what you learn

Start by making your site your own.

Photo: LeonMMelissa on Flickr

Color

Color •  The easiest way to make any site stand out •  Mix pairs of unusual colors or pick one dominant

color for emphasis •  A little goes a long way,

even monochromatic tones can be powerful

Hex Colors •  Annotation for the combination of Red, Green, and

Blue color values (RGB) •  HEX values are specified as 3 pairs of two-digit

numbers, starting with a # sign

Typography

Type Tips •  Web fonts (@fontface) now allow you to use

a variety of different fonts •  Perfect way to add a

unique touch to any design •  Don’t use too many •  Be careful when mixing

Photos

Show Don’t Just Tell •  Great photos are another powerful way to make

your design stand out •  Create rules for formatting and be

consistent (rounded corners, specific width, right-aligned, etc.)

•  Always credit sources. Don’t steal!

Page Templates

Use Different Page Templates •  Built into many themes •  Creates variety, •  Can enhance different

types of content

Theme Customizer •  Introduced in WordPress 3.4 •  Make changes, preview them in realtime,

before going live •  More options to as theme

developers further integrate it into updates

Premium Theme

Frameworks

Plugins

Plugins •  Choose plugins that add functionality

but allow control over their style/design •  Take advantage of those controls to tie into

your site’s style whenever possible

Sidebar

Triage Your Sidebar Often •  Only include what you NEED to •  Avoid too many third-party widgets (Facebook,

Twitter, Flickr), can slow page load times •  Limit # & size of ads unless

you are making lots of money •  Animated anything = annoying

:(

:)

Default widgets usually need tweaking

Consider consolidation

Other Bits & Pieces •  Create & usa a favicon •  Use built-in text formatting for posts & pages

(H1, H2, blockquote, etc.) •  Less is ALWAYS better.

Simplicty is never a bad choice.

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

- Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Photo: Tsahi Levent-Levi on Flickr

Mykl Roventine myklroventine.com @myklroventine

Thank you!

Headshot: Glimpses of Soul Photography