The Non-designer's Guide to WordPress (Making Your Site Awesome)
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The document discusses essential design principles for creating effective websites, emphasizing functionality over aesthetics and the importance of good content presentation. It advises on aspects like color choice, typography, use of photos, and post formatting, while encouraging the use of WordPress features such as theme customizers and plugins. The overall message highlights that simplicity and consistency in design lead to better user experiences.
The Non-designer's Guide to WordPress (Making Your Site Awesome)
- 2. “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” - Steve jobs
- 3. 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
- 4. But…
- 5. “Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn't possibly all have good taste.” - When Harry Met Sally
- 6. Good taste is subjective. Good design: not so much.
- 7. Photo: emiliokuffer on Flickr
- 8. 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
- 9. Start by making your site your own.
- 10. Photo: LeonMMelissa on Flickr
- 11. Color
- 12. 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
- 15. 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
- 18. Typography
- 19. 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
- 23. Photos
- 24. 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!
- 29. Page Templates
- 30. Use Different Page Templates • Built into many themes • Creates variety, • Can enhance different types of content
- 31. 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
- 33. Premium Theme Frameworks
- 36. Plugins
- 37. 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
- 42. Sidebar
- 43. 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
- 44. :(
- 45. :)
- 46. Default widgets usually need tweaking
- 48. 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.
- 49. “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
- 50. Photo: Tsahi Levent-Levi on Flickr
- 51. Thank you! Mykl Roventine myklroventine.com @myklroventine Headshot: Glimpses of Soul Photography