the non-designer's guide to wordpress (making your site awesome)
Post on 19-Oct-2014
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DESCRIPTION
You don't have to be a designer to make your WordPress site look good. In fact, no matter what theme you're using now there are lots of easy ways to make it look better. Mykl (who IS a designer BTW) will share tips and tricks to take your site design from acceptable to awesome. Presented at Minnebar8 on 4/6/13.TRANSCRIPT
“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