As I’ve progressed with this blog, I have also gone through a variety of “looks”. With each rendition of the blog, I have further isolated certain key elements and understanding of layout. I’m putting out a request to the designers that read this blog. Here’s a chance to take ownership of the blog and get something in return.
Payment: Negotiable. Can also run ads (text, sponsorship ads, etc) from this blog. I have a Pagerank 6 with Google so that’s really great link love.
Summary: Unorthodox blog layout. That means a step away from standard header/sidebar/content style templating. Keep in mind that the goal here at Technosailor for some time has been to draw the entire blog together. This was the purpose of tags as well as the “One year ago” block. The template should take into account that approach to the site and should take a more “holistic” approach to the site to present the content in a different kind of way. Open to suggestions and guidance. See 7 State Circle as an example of a non-conventional layout (albeit non-blog).
Visual Elements:
- Logo. What Logo? It’s wide open
- Color Scheme. Again, flexible. Minimalistic is good but may not work. I’m really open to the designer’s creativity.
- Graphics. I don’t want a “heavy” site but choice selection of imagery is welcome. Age of Discovery style nautical themes has been a common theme in every template. Is a plus but I am open to another route.
Coding: You’ll benefit less in terms of compensation if I have to work out the HTML. My expectations are, and the purpose for opening this up, is that I don’t have the time to tackle this. Therefore the ultimate requirements are CSS 2 compatibilty, XHTML 1.0 Transitional (minimum) and IE7 compliance. In fact, cross browser compatibility is required and extra per-browser enhancements are cool too. This template must meet my expectations as it represents me!
Required Elements:
- SEO optimized regions for adspace. Expect up to two ads (1 468×60, 1 250×250) on the home page. Room for three is better. Expect 2-3 on the individual post pages (1 468×60, 1 125×125 and 1 300×250) — all ad spaces are open to suggestion but that’s what I think without seeing a layout.
- A box to focus on a feature post. Should not include full content. Maybe a blurb. But this cannot take away from the main content.
- Somplace for recent comments
- Somplace for my recent blog entries list currently on the right side
- Other page elements currently in use are optional
- Flexibility to grow with the blog. Don’t clutter it so much that I have nowhere to expand.
- Must be a complete theme. style.css (in WordPress formatting style), header.php, index.php, sidebar.php, footer.php, single.php, archive.php and potentially home.php.
- Added: Must differentiate between authors in some way. This is a multi-author blog. Get creative.
That’s it. If anyone feels like helping out, please send an email to aaron [at] technosailor [dot] com with your price.
{ 12 comments }
Jesse 02.14.06 at 4:49 pm
check out squible. It would require some customization which it seems you don’t want to do, but it’s definitely different, and pretty darn cool. Lots of places where you could slide in ads.
Jesse 02.14.06 at 4:49 pm
check out squible. It would require some customization which it seems you don’t want to do, but it’s definitely different, and pretty darn cool. Lots of places where you could slide in ads.
Jesse 02.14.06 at 4:49 pm
check out squible. It would require some customization which it seems you don’t want to do, but it’s definitely different, and pretty darn cool. Lots of places where you could slide in ads.
Aaron 02.14.06 at 4:54 pm
I’m looking for a custom theme. I’m not interested in reinventing an existing one. It’s partially about identity. :-)
Aaron 02.14.06 at 4:54 pm
I’m looking for a custom theme. I’m not interested in reinventing an existing one. It’s partially about identity. :-)
Aaron 02.14.06 at 4:54 pm
I’m looking for a custom theme. I’m not interested in reinventing an existing one. It’s partially about identity. :-)
Travis Seitler 02.15.06 at 3:53 pm
Aaron, you do realize that “IE7 compliance” is up in the air so long as they remain in beta… right?
Travis Seitler 02.15.06 at 3:53 pm
Aaron, you do realize that “IE7 compliance” is up in the air so long as they remain in beta… right?
Travis Seitler 02.15.06 at 3:53 pm
Aaron, you do realize that “IE7 compliance” is up in the air so long as they remain in beta… right?
Aaron 02.15.06 at 4:17 pm
Of course, Travis. What I expect is use of IE conditionals (which won’t change) instead of hacks like star-html, etc.
Aaron 02.15.06 at 4:17 pm
Of course, Travis. What I expect is use of IE conditionals (which won’t change) instead of hacks like star-html, etc.
Aaron 02.15.06 at 4:17 pm
Of course, Travis. What I expect is use of IE conditionals (which won’t change) instead of hacks like star-html, etc.
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