Obsessed

  • Over the last year I have become obsessed with one certain aspect of designing free WordPress themes.

    As I see it, there are 3 categories of people who use the free GPL themes:

    1) People who are code proficient but don’t have the time or a current idea to make their own theme. They can take any theme and mold it to make it look the way they want.

    2) People who have limited or no code experience, but have some skill in design or a friend with design skills. They are the ones looking for the themes that allow them to upload a customizable header.

    3) The third group has no code or design skills, and no resources to have this done for them. They are forced to use themes exactly as they are downloaded without any alterations.

    It seems to me that a CMS is most useful for this last group, because it allows them to do things that they could not do themselves. For this reason, I have been experimenting with creating GPL themes that truly incorporate the title of the blog into the header, making it look at least a little customized. Most people who email me about my themes are asking me to create a customized header, and that is probably the case for most GPL theme designers. I don’t have time to do this for the hundreds of people who ask, so my solution is this: I am trying to create themes that look customized for each individual blog that uses it.

    My first experiment and first WordPress theme was “Morning Coffee.” I tried to incorporate the title with the napkin and doodles, but it is nothing fancy and still leaves much to be desired.

    My second attempt was “Greener Side.” I think the title interacts with the header a little better, and so far I haven’t had anyone ask me to customize the header for them.

    My most recent attempt at providing a customizable header for theme users is “Wordsmith.” This theme uses the blog title to create a header out of word game blocks.
    I think it is a great leap for me in trying to create a custom look for people without the resources to do it themselves.

    My question is this: Is this something that anyone else is working on? Does anyone else feel bad for the Grandmother who is using WordPress for her blog but had to use a very “templaty” looking theme? Does anyone have any wisdom in designing for this niche of users?

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  • I think your right. As a theme designer myself it makes since that creating themes for novices will cut down on some of the headache of answering questions in the future.

    @adazing: You have a great idea to make easily customized themes. I have never seen any other themes which automatically customize site headers like Wordsmith does.

    Another way you might want to consider allowing your themes to be customized is with other options accessible through the dashboard. I am referring to themes like Painter that have options in the Dashboard to customize the theme’s look. Seems to me that you could take a great leap forward in easy customization with something like that!

    Just an idea, consider it if you like. I don’t know a lot about this, since I have never done it before. My custom theme was never meant for publication or customization ??

    –MindBlender 3D

    P.S. I love your themes! They look very well designed, and the Wordsmith header title is a stroke of genius.

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