Free Blog Design
October 04, 2004 66 | Comments (Closed)
Summary: I’m giving away a free blog design. Complete with XHTML, related files and Photoshop templates. I’ll be giving this to the individual or group (no for-profit businesses please) who presents the best case as to why they deserve to have it.
Update (07/05/04) — This project is no longer active.
Interested in a free blog design and template? You’ve come to the right place!
A little while back I had a project run into a wall. My client (who is a friend) simply decided he no longer wanted to move forward with his blog, which I was in the process of redesigning for him. He’d kind of hit a creative wall and felt he needed some offline time.
I know exactly how he feels.
In any case, this left me with a half finished design for a personal blog. He suggested that instead of holding onto it, that I give it away to one of my readers. After all it was mostly paid for and was far enough along that I’d not have to do significant work on it to finish it off So, that’s what I’m going to do.
If you’re interested, read on.
First, a few details and “rules.”
It sucks that I’ve got to detail this stuff but as I’ve never done anything like this before, and I really don’t want it to spiral out of control, I thought it’d be good to lay down a few casual guidelines. Really, this is supposed to be a fun way for me to give some more back, so the main rule is to keep that in mind throughout.
- I’ll be giving the design to the individual or group who I feel most deserves it. I’ll be asking potentials to make their case and decide from that.
- I’m not going to consider businesses or for-profit professional organizations. They’d have to pay.
- I’m doing this for fun, and to hopefully help someone out. I’m not going to be able to spend loads of time on it, so if you are interested, please realize that I’m donating my time and will be acting accordingly. In other words — it may take awhile to finish off, so be patient.
- I don’t plan to respond to every person who shows interest, just those I either choose or want to hear more from. Don’t take it personally.
- It’s not a custom job. I’ve got a mostly completed design and while I’m willing to make minor changes, I’m going to keep that work to a minimum.
- If you end up being the recipient of the design, you’ll be responsible (in the main) for getting it up on your server, etc. I’ll develop (most of) the site and hand it off, but you’ll need to take it from there.
- While the design is freely given, as “payment” I’d like a link back and credit for designing it. Also, I’ve included a custom photo-illustration with the design, it is the only thing I feel I’d like to retain some semblance of ownership of. It doesn’t have to stay, but I’d like to be notified if it’s removed so I can do something else with it.
The deliverables.
In essence this is just a simple blog design. I’ll be working with the person whom I choose to receive the design to iron out the details and nail down customization, but in general it’ll be given as is.
What I plan on doing handing off is a zip file that includes the following:
- Blog templates coded in XHTML
- Related CSS, images and other files
- The PSDs containing anything needed to cut images for the design
I’ll be building and setting this blog up on my server and passing it off. I’ll not be supporting any further than that.
Great. What does it look like?
Below is a screen grab of what it will look like, click for a larger image. Keep in mind, it’s not quite done. The basics (color, etc.) are non-negotiable. I’ll be more than happy to cut a few initial custom graphics like the name of the blog, navigation and the like, but by and large if you want the design, you’ll have to take it as is and do any further custom work on your own.
Sounds good? How can I get in on the action?
What I’m looking to do is give this to someone who will put it to good use and who will appreciate it. It’s not the best blog design ever, but it’s clean, fairly simple and well thought-out and I think will make someone really happy.
Update (10/15/04) — For various reasons I’ve decided to GPL this design and release it to the public as a template for various systems. First up is Wordpress. Stay tuned for details.
Sound good? Any comments or questions?
Filed under: Web Design
Comments
1. Chris Fenison said:
Whoah! What a unique idea. I hope it works out for you, and for whoever gets the design. I don’t need it, just wanted to let you know that it looks great so far.
Posted on October 4, 2004 10:28 AM | #
2. Gabriel Mihalache said:
Make it a mercy donation to useit.com ;-)
Now seriously, I don’t know who’s ask for something unearned only because you’re offering. You should have made it a quiz prize like Andrei Herasimchuk did with that older Adobe software…
Posted on October 4, 2004 10:35 AM | #
3. Scott said:
Awesome idea Keith, I personally don’y need it, but I hope it goes to the right person :).
Posted on October 4, 2004 11:17 AM | #
4. Hanni said:
I don’t need it but the person who gets it will end up with one great looking weblog!
Posted on October 4, 2004 11:41 AM | #
5. Ryan Brill said:
Nice design you’ve got going there, Keith. I’m curious what it looks like on a longer page, though, once the body background fades to white…? Or does the fade stick to the bottom of the page?
Posted on October 4, 2004 12:50 PM | #
6. Keith said:
Ryan – It just fades to white. Unless it looks really bad once I get it built out and I’ve got to adjust it.
Posted on October 4, 2004 01:47 PM | #
7. Joshua said:
You say unfinished, I say from the screen shot, it looks damn good. I suppose there will be a lot of word of mouth about this, as most of your dedicated readers have designed (or are continuously working on) their own.
Posted on October 4, 2004 01:49 PM | #
8. teli said:
I must say this is a wonderful idea and I’m sure you’ll probably receive some interesting cases.
Please do keep us all posted and let us know when your blog template design finds a home :)
If you don’t mind me being nosey (seeing as how I’m a newbie to your blog and all), what was your inspiration for this design?
Posted on October 4, 2004 03:18 PM | #
9. Keith said:
Joshua – Yes, word of mouth would be good. I’m not expecting a designer to want this, but I get many other visitors who might give it a good home.
teli – Well, it was designed for a client, so some of the “direction” came from him. The photo illustration was just something I was toying around with and thought might work as a fun marquee graphic for something like this. It’s not really functional, but is a fun.
As for inspiration. I get that from nature, TV, billboards, magazines, movies, other Web sites…pretty much all over. It’s got a pretty plain look if you think about it and one of the things we wanted was simple, but not *too* simple.
Posted on October 4, 2004 03:24 PM | #
10. Jeff said:
Blast you! That’s similar to a design I had a while back (which failed miserably) and you’ve done so well with it! Looks beautiful.
Whoever get’s that is one lucky fella, and why are colors non-negotiable?
Posted on October 4, 2004 03:31 PM | #
11. Keith said:
Jeff – Sorry man. Didn’t mean it, I promise! :0) As to why the colors are non-negotiable. Well, I guess they’re not, really, but there is a limit as to how much custom work I can put into this. I’m pretty busy and was worried about how much time this is going to take to begin with.
Posted on October 4, 2004 03:38 PM | #
12. Hans said:
Wow. Immediately reminded me of Justwatchthesky.
This screenshot alone is a heck of a lot better than my current design. However, I can tell that there’re going to be quite a few images… How about making another version where you use only 1-3 (small) images instead? Just an idea.
Posted on October 4, 2004 03:48 PM | #
13. Keith said:
Hans – Yeah, I guess it does bear quite a resemblance to justwatchthesky, albeit a very poor man’s version. Some of the elements are very similar. Totally unintentional I assure you, although I do love that site.
Maybe when I get to coding I’ll make some tweaks to differentiate it a bit more.
As far as how many images, it really depends. This is a photoshop mock up and when I get to coding the template much of the text will be simply styled I imagine. The logo, marquee, the background and maybe the main nav (?) would be the only images.
Posted on October 4, 2004 03:58 PM | #
14. Ty said:
What a cool idea. I’d take you up on it, but I’m hard at work at my (very 1st!) design myself and that’d be cheating.
Just an FYI, it looks pretty “finished” to me and it doesn’t look too much like justwatchthesky although I did notice a similarity. Then again I notice all sorts of similarities to all sorts of sites (your site included, Keith) out there. Good, clean design tends to look a bit a like.
Maybe change the background would be enough? A “real” logo might help too.
Anyway, it’s good work and cool of you to offer it up for free like that. Even though I won’t benefit from it, I think it’s a nice idea and thank you for doing it.
Posted on October 4, 2004 04:15 PM | #
15. John said:
Hmmmm. Non-profits. First, nice, clean design. I hope they appreciate it and better yet, actually use it.
You are smart to hand it off and make them responsible for actually implementing it. I’ve worked with non-profits before and they almost never really appreciate something for free (my company donated my time as part of our “community involvement program”), regardless of what they say.
Years ago I did two web sites for local non-profits and one of them launched after a few years of waiting around for them to get off their asses and get the content together. The other never launched. About two years ago I even redesigned the latter from an old school, frameset and table, layout to a standards-compliant CSS layout. I’d hoped to get them excited about the site and get motivated to finish it, but it was futile. They changed staff and leadership so many times in the past several years that they finally launched a couple weeks ago - with someone else’s (donated and, IMHO crappy) design. If I sound bitter, it’s not so much bitterness as frustration. Because of my situation I had to follow it to the end, I couldn’t burn them a CD and wash my hands of them.
Okay, so two non-profits do not a statistically-valid sampling make, I’ll admit.
People are generally ungrateful and only appreciate products and services, especially web design, when you hit them in the checkbook. Or maybe I’m just a cynical bastard. To quote the palm tattoo of a semi-famous bike builder, “Pay up, sucker.”
John
P.S. If you have them link to you on the site, you’re going to have to keep an eye on them so that the site doesn’t degrade so much under their stewardship that it effects your reputation.
Posted on October 4, 2004 04:30 PM | #
16. Ray said:
LOL
So John… what kind of week are you having? (note: it’s only monday)
So Keith… are you still happy you made the offer (in light of John’s enlightening post)?
Seriously though, very big hearted of you Keith. I am sure the design will find a happy home and live a long and prosperous life. Great marketing idea as well. I’d be interested in knowing your traffic increase over the next couple of weeks ; )
Well done.
Posted on October 4, 2004 04:42 PM | #
17. Keith said:
John – Well, that is why I’m going to “handpick” the winner. Hopefully it’s someone who I can count on not to try and take advantage of me and someone I can work with to make sure they get the most out of it. It could go wrong, but I’m going in with a positive attitude and the hope it’ll be fun and worthwhile.
As well, I do plan on “handing this off” but not totally abandoning it. I’d really like to give it to someone who I can work with to make sure it’s done right. As opposed to the “free Web templates” you see all over (ahem, KGB). This is going to be a hand produced, quality affair…
Hopefully! ;)
Ray – So, yeah, I’m happy. For now! ;0)
Posted on October 4, 2004 04:47 PM | #
18. Matt said:
If no one worthy comes up please consider giving it to the world and releasing it under the GPL. I’d be happy to do the grunt work of turning it into a WordPress theme and hosting it if you decide to go this route. Also once you GPL it other open source systems like Textpattern or Drupal could use it as well. I would promise fame and fortune from the tens of thousands of potential users, but I’m sure you have enough of that already. ;)
Posted on October 4, 2004 05:46 PM | #
19. Keith said:
Matt – Interesting idea. One that I’ll think about, how’s that? Don’t know why I didn’t think of that but…thanks for suggesting it.
Posted on October 4, 2004 06:08 PM | #
20. Dalibor said:
An awesome idea Keith!
Looks very clean and easy to read. Can’t wait to see it in action.
Posted on October 4, 2004 08:12 PM | #
21. Zelnox said:
I love it. The fade-to-white is cool. ^_^
Will you test it here? Sheesh, I want to touch it. Haha.
Posted on October 4, 2004 09:23 PM | #
22. Steven said:
Hi,
Sorry - and I realise this might not make me the most popular guy here ever, but…
Why not just trash it instead of writing an article about an “unfinished design”. It’s nothing special, in fact I could probably download something better for free if I had to and I fail to see why this would constitute an entire article about what is essentially a standard, uninspiring layout.
Please, I’m not trying to rain on your parade but there does seem to be an element of self-righteousness in this article and I can’t WAIT to see all of the “oh *please* can I have that fantastic template design” posts from all the sheep who appear to visit this place.
Really, is this design so great that you have to:
a) post about it
b) offer it up as if its something extra special
and
c) create some kind of lottery to “win” it?
Sometime you just have to let things go, especially when they’re only average!
Posted on October 5, 2004 01:38 AM | #
23. Anthony said:
Hi Keith,
As Matt says I think you should consider releasing it to GPL. I’d love to have a new template as I “used” to be a web designer and have slowly lost inspiration and drive for the medium but still need a web presence. I’ll email you about it anyway, I use WordPress to power my blog.
All the best,
Anthony.
Posted on October 5, 2004 02:09 AM | #
24. Andrew said:
GPL it. Get it as ready as possible for the blogging engines out there (multiple versions of the template for WordPress, MT etc).
Make it nice and easy to install, and publicise it as a ‘free attractive template’ for all those people who want a nice function pretty blog, who don’t have the time to spend on it.
Just my tuppence.
Posted on October 5, 2004 03:08 AM | #
25. Onno said:
GPL would be a great choice indeed ‘cause there are a lot of good publishing tools but relatively few really good templates. But if you decide to give it to a single person is she allowed to modify and redistribute it?
Or even worse: modify the colors? ;-)
Posted on October 5, 2004 03:25 AM | #
26. Boris Mann said:
I’ll make sure it gets turned into a Drupal template if it’s GPL’d.
Posted on October 5, 2004 08:23 AM | #
27. Keith said:
I’ll think about the GPL thing. It’s a nice idea.
Oh and Steve (#23) – whatever. A simple, “I don’t really like it” would have been fine.
Posted on October 5, 2004 08:41 AM | #
28. John said:
Hmmm, yep. Yesterday was definitely a Monday.
Keith (#18) - You have the fortunate position of being in control. I suppose that was the key issue with my, er, “issues.”
And to clarify, the non-profits were very excited at the start. That excitement waned and they lacked follow-through. If they had been cutting checks periodically throughout the process I’m sure they would have a) been a lot more involved, or b) cancelled the project. As it was they left us hanging.
Posted on October 5, 2004 10:18 AM | #
29. Keith said:
John – that sucks. I’m hoping not to have something similar happen. I just thought someone could benefit from this work and I could have some fun with it.
Posted on October 5, 2004 10:22 AM | #
30. Christophe said:
Djeezes Carl,
Steven gave just his honest feedback on this post, and I kind of understand what he means. I still think everybody should be able to just express his mind. That’s what blogging is all about! And from a design perspective, Steven seems someone who knows his stuff.
Your comment didn’t bring anything to the discussion! Very sad.
A guy from Belgium who just likes this site.
Posted on October 5, 2004 01:52 PM | #
31. Keith said:
Christophe and Steve – I deleted Carl’s comment. While I can say that I agree that Steve took it a bit far (by questioning my motivation, having a very attacking tone and not just expressing his dislike for the design) he didn’t need to be ripped like that. I’m not sure what Steve’s real beef is, but he’s got a right to express his opinion as long as he doesn’t go too far.
One negative off-topic post I can deal with…But two, that is where I draw the line.
Having said all of that, I think Steve really missed the point. What he feels is average (and I never said it was a work of art) others may appreciate as something great. I happen to think it’s pretty good and I thought it’d be a nice thing to do to make it available as opposed to recycling it or throwing it away.
I see designs all the time that I feel are less than average so really this could be a step up for many folks. As well, at the risk of “going there” I don’t find Steve’s site anything special either, but I’d never suggest he throw it away.
Express your opinion, just keep it civil or get deleted like Carl.
Posted on October 5, 2004 02:02 PM | #
32. toby s. said:
Well said Keith. I believe that it truly is a nice option. So what, you are getting a little free advertising but the new owner will be getting a new solution. I don’t remember Keith saying anything about it being better than the rest. He just doesn’t want to see his efforts go to waste.
Fair play to that!
Posted on October 5, 2004 02:36 PM | #
33. Zachary Blume said:
Good Idea. I think thats pretty generous of you. I would try to get it, but I already have my design for my site. It’s nice that your doing this!
Posted on October 5, 2004 06:53 PM | #
34. Trevor said:
I think you should GPL it. It’s nice looking, and the more templates available to average folk the better.
Posted on October 5, 2004 08:33 PM | #
35. Mary said:
Well, I think it looks really nice (from what you can tell from a screencap). And I think the GPL idea is a good one – help people use a design, totally change it or not, and not feel/be guilty of “ripping”.
(And if it sounds like a troll, ignore it and it’ll go back under the bridge.)
Posted on October 5, 2004 09:42 PM | #
36. Steven said:
OK - here I go again.
When I look back at my previous post, I concede that I was quite ‘attacking’.
However I’m not going to delete it (or ask you to), even though there are a couple of things which were out of order on my behalf.
I didn’t see some of the posts that people are referring to, but with regards to my site heh, I’m no designer I’m a backend developer who likes to dabble in design (whether I should or not is a different matter), so tbh I wasn’t ever going to win any awards. What I will say is that I’ve gotten a decent job off the back of it, so its served me well - and give that its old and coded completely incorrectly (i.e. spans ;) ) I concede that it could be better (and already is, yet unreleased - for those interested, click my name - i’ve changed my link. No flames, its incomplete - approx 2 days work in total).
Now - with the ideas being tossed around about GPLing the template, that is a MUCH better idea than making it a contest to ‘win’ the rights to it. I hope you can see why I thought it was a bit selfrighteous to offer an average design as a prize to some lucky person. Hey, maybe I was brash and maybe I did miss the point, but that is what I took your post to mean, so… that was my opinion at the time so let the post stay :)
One thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that a good argument can be a great learning experience anyway even though it can get overheated at times.
So, on with the discussion - for what its worth, I can’t stop coming back to this site for these type of discussions; it’s the best around :P
Posted on October 6, 2004 01:34 AM | #
37. Donncha said:
Hey Keith,
Please GPL it! I just imported several templates into WPMU and I’d love to distribute your design in the WPMU tarball!
Posted on October 6, 2004 01:34 AM | #
38. Richard said:
This is a fascinating thread in response to an interesting idea.
Keith: you’re a genius - excellent designer, excellent writer and explainer of things and you run a tight ship here which I visit often. And I appreciate this site and you.
That said, after I read the post I had a weird feeling that it was out of characer and as I scanned down the comments I was glad to see Matt’s comment about taking the templates and GPLing them.
Then I read Steve’s comment and unlike others who ripped into him, it came closee and then went overboard in expressing my uncomfortableness.
I would argue (and am) that the tone of your original post has a problem. That problem is that a template system or design from you (Keith) is worth more than from someone else because of who you are or any other number of variables that put you where you are (you’re popular, you’re good, etc.).
I just had a very friendly exchange with John Gruber (Daring Fireball) about what can happen to voice and attitude when popularity happens. John and you are humble people and it’s part of the appeal of both his weblog and yours and, I would argue, part of their respective “brands.”
So, the way you have described this process is a bit out of that character: “my unfinished work is worth more than some freebie templates from somewhere else.”
I’m sure your work is worth a lot, but it would have been better had you not implied it in the post.
I’m not a designer nor a back-end expert but just someone lurking around and interested in the social dynamics of how all of this works.
I’m now hunkering down for the downpour of: “who the heck are you to comment like that? By the way, many comments in many blogs have that feeling implied in their rips of folks: you have to have a popular, beautiful and of course, valid xyz weblog to have an opinion.
Posted on October 6, 2004 07:45 AM | #
39. Steven said:
I would also like to apologise for labelling everyone else “sheep”, as I recognise that admiring someone with skill probably isn’t the same… ;)
We’re all the same here, I hope :)
Posted on October 6, 2004 08:56 AM | #
40. Keith said:
Steve – Thanks for the clairfication. I guess the real thing that bothered me was you calling my readers “sheep.” I don’t think that is a fair characterization at all.
Richard – I really wasn’t trying to come off like that at all. I guess it might have had to do with the way the idea came about. A client of mine really liked what I was doing for him and couldn’t continue with the project. It was his suggestion and the reason why I decided to look into it was because I get asked by people all the time to use Asterisk as a skin – something that I’m not going to do.
As well the design is currently unfinished. I fully intend to finish it as soon as I know who is going to get it. Now I don’t usually do free work and I figured that’d be a pretty good deal. Subsidized by the fact that I’ve already done quite a bit on it. Maybe I didn’t make that clear, I’ve had a lot going on lately and this might be one of those “half crocked” ideas…I don’t know.
My idea was to present a starting point and work with someone to get that in place. Not fully custom, but yeah, I think that’s better than downloading a free template anyday. But maybe I didn’t express that in my post.
I do not plan to just handoff a photoshop mockup as is…
Anyway, I’m sorry for any confusion, really I had the best intentions with this and I didn’t want to come off as superior or anything remotely resembling that.
(Although I did think my photo illustration thing was pretty cool!)
I think in the end I’ll just make it a bit more modular and generic and GPL it. That seems to make the most sense.
Posted on October 6, 2004 09:01 AM | #
41. Keith said:
I just thought of something that may have caused confusion. I went back and re-read my post and want to make something very clear.
This idea was not specifically intended for a designer to benefit from.
I realize that the majority of my regular readers are designers themselves. This is not the kind of person I was thinking of when putting this up. I do get all sorts of readers who are non-designers and non-tech types who come here for other things.
It was these folks who I had in mind for this. I can see how a designer might see this now and I’m sorry for that, and it really wasn’t meant to be directed that way.
In fact, the people who what expressed interest and also have nice sites have been turned down, in a very nice way, so that it can go to someone who can really use it.
I mean a design and the personal attention of a designer has to be better than a free template, right? I’d like to think so…
But, anyway, GPLing a Wordpress template might be a better idea in the long run, in which case it doesn’t matter.
Posted on October 6, 2004 09:10 AM | #
42. Jonathan Snook said:
Hey Kieth, I think the idea of giving the design to one poor soul is perfectly valid. My site, for example, is nothing special and could certainly use a well designed custom[1] template to spruce things up. As it turns out, this design wasn’t quite what I was looking for so I’ll let someone more in need get their hands on it.
[1] I don’t know about the rest of you but I’d rather my site was unique. one of a kind. has its own identity. That can’t happen with a GPL’d design that gets included in 5 different blogging tools as default templates.
Posted on October 6, 2004 12:28 PM | #
43. David said:
Jonathan, I disagree. Releasing the template as GPL will not create as many people using the template _as is_ as you think. There will be spin offs, and modifications. Like it has happened with Kubrick. It is just awesome!
I would love to get the template. Then give me a day or two and you will know it came from Keith, but it will have my own uniqueness.
Posted on October 6, 2004 12:44 PM | #
44. Richard said:
It might be and coming from you probably will be, ya just don’t want to imply that in talking about it’s worthiness. That’s the rough spot I’m talking about.
Generosity seems to need open-heartedness to be complete. Something tells me you’re both but this post gave me pause (and paws, to type with).
Posted on October 6, 2004 01:31 PM | #
45. Keith said:
Richard – I guess I see what you mean…I really don’t like having to explain my motivation and obviously it didn’t shine through. I can wonder why but I can’t change that fact and it’s really soured me on this whole idea. I wish I’d not done it.
And that’s one of the reasons why I’m leaning toward the GPL idea. To be honest I’ve gotten some great people showing interest, but I’m questioning the level of effort I’m willing to spend now. I didn’t want to stress about this, I really wanted to have fun with it and it’s already degenerated into something else.
With the GPL idea I can make use of it, and let others take it where they want to go. Might be the best road to take now…
Posted on October 6, 2004 01:40 PM | #
46. Ray said:
Oh for God’s sake… let go of the GPL idea and anyone having to explain themselves. It’s a web site! I was excited that you were excited that some lucky winner is/was going to be excited. Now it’s just drama.
FUN… say it out load. F U N
Go have fun and make some lucky, and probably very grateful, bastard happy. Remember, there’s no such thing as work when you’re having fun.
Carry on
Posted on October 6, 2004 07:56 PM | #
47. Dan Jallits said:
Hey Keith,
I recently read your comment that you posted over at Michael Heilemann’s Binary Bonsai. However, I wouldn’t let that disturbance get in the way of contributing, otherwise the “bad guy” wins.
Besides, what the WordPress project really needs is some quality templates contributed by the designer community. I say this, because there seems to be a heavy concentration on the projects development. But for a personal publishing system we cannot expect every user to be a designer. Therefore I am asking you to contribute your design to the WordPress community.
I believe this makes the second recommendation for WordPress. Hi Matt!
Then again useit.com looks mighty 1995ish. Maybe they need it more. Although there is no guarantee they would use it.
Posted on October 14, 2004 07:39 AM | #
48. John said:
Keith:
As you’ll see from the link above, I am creating a blog on tracing the origins of modern liberalism in America, a project conceived in response to an argument posited in Robert Bork’s “Slouching Towards Gomorrah.” Bork argues that the twin evils of modern liberalism, radical egalitarianism and radical individualism, have their roots at least in the Enlightenment, and may be Western Civilzation’s “legitimate child.” I consider that a frightening thought, especially as modern liberalism and its twin evils are portrayed in Bork’s scathing and well-argued book. I hope to use the materials and thoughts collected in this weblog to write a book finding an alternative outcome to Bork’s dismal prognosis.
Posted on October 18, 2004 10:16 AM | #
49. Ruthless Jack said:
I’d love it but i dont think my case is valid - Well actually i can’t think of a single valid reason - other than i’m bored of my Blogs boring template
thanks
Posted on October 26, 2004 05:58 AM | #
50. jAMIE aka J.BOI said:
I’m not goin to ask for it because I know theres more deserving people out there but I do need some help adjusting my blog right now its realli bad and would appreciate it if you could help me out just abit like give me a few pointers on wot to change and how to do it b’coz most of this is still very new to me so yeh.
oh yeh the template that you have made is looking realli good but its looking formal and professional I say its goin to suit sum1 of a older age than I but its still looking realli good for the fact that its not even finnished
But I mainly say that b’coz I love the feel for an anime style template but unfortunately my own 1 wouldn’t suggest it that much so can u leave a comment about how to improve or sumfin on my blog or eni1 else that reads this. THANX . ~o(=^u^=)o~
Posted on October 26, 2004 08:12 AM | #
51. Mark said:
Dan (#47) makes a very valid point. WordPress is crying out for a quality template or two from the designer community because the one with which it ships is terrible. I want to use WordPress but I would feel more much comfortable messing with the templates that come with Movable Type. Keith’s decision to release Blue Blog to WordPress users as GPL is sufficient reason for me to go with my heart and install WordPress as opposed to Movable Type. Like David (#43), I shall alter some of the images/styles to give it my own look but only so that it is not a rip-off of Keith’s original which, from the screen shot, looks superb.
This is excellent news for WordPress users. If Blogger can ship with attractive templates, then why not WordPress? Come on, Matt! Your system is easier to install and use than Moveable Type but I was considering going with Six Apart’s product until I stumbled across Keith’s change of heart.
Cheers everyone.
PS My XHTML and CSS knowledge is decent but PHP scares the living daylights out of me. I do not know what to make of the index template that ships with WordPress. It makes my head hurt.
Posted on October 30, 2004 09:27 AM | #
52. David said:
Are there any updates on the progress of releasing this template? I’ve been looking forward for the release.
Posted on November 17, 2004 04:35 PM | #
53. Tom said:
Yes, I would like to know if there is a release date.
Posted on December 2, 2004 05:20 AM | #
54. Paolo said:
Just a thought:
You could see if anyone at VolunteerMatch could use it. There are plenty of worthy causes that need design assistance and I can think of no better place to search for the blog needy.
Best of luck and I hope your job gets a little more stress free.
All the best,
Paolo
Posted on December 3, 2004 09:52 AM | #
55. Martin said:
gpl? so great! thanks so much for releasing it. Any news about the process or even a release date? Sorry but i am really looking forward to it. :)
greetings
Martin
Posted on December 11, 2004 04:31 AM | #
56. minimoe said:
I really like that blog-site. But I’ve got a question: What font are you using in the text: “Blue Blog Entry Title”?
Posted on December 17, 2004 02:50 AM | #
57. teli said:
Wow it’s been a while since I checked up on this post. minimoe - I believe the font he’s using is “Trebuchet MS”
And now I’m curious…whatever did become of this design?
Posted on December 21, 2004 08:54 AM | #
58. Neil said:
Fantastic design, I’m looking forward to its release…by the way and information on when that might be?
Also, if you have a pure html markup version of the design you might consider releasing it now and letting some users from various blogging platforms fill in the appropriate code to make it into a usable template if time is an issue in the release process.
Posted on January 22, 2005 07:01 PM | #
59. phear said:
That design blew the wind out of me. Its amazing and I crave for it. =) You said that your willing to give this template to people who deserves it. I may not deserve it, but I do really want it.
If you grant me this template, I’ll promise I’ll put a link here and give credits to you =)).
Sincerly,
phear.
Posted on February 5, 2005 08:45 PM | #
60. akspsyd said:
I am trained as a clinical psychologist. I have my doctorate degree, but find myself unemployed because I did not pass the national licensure examination.
My desire is to offer E-Therpy to individuals who would like to be helped with some issues involving relationship, self-esteem or specific crisis mode situations.
This service will help others, give me a temporary job and enable me to prepare to take my exam again.
I am “ignorant” when it comes to web designing. I feel that an eBlog would help me advertise and have contact with people who desire my service.
I feel as though I deserve such a quality Blog as this because I have been working in helping others for 16 years. I hope to hear from you. aks
Posted on February 12, 2005 07:52 AM | #
61. Arturs said:
Hi! I`m running the first and still only one blog type independent publicistic internet - magazine ‘Jaffa Online Magazine’ (www.jaffa.lv), and in very short period we become wery popular here in Latvia, small country in Baltics. But we`re uncommercial, so, we`re spending out time and so on to stay like we are - creative and independent. We`re also as main informatin supporter for a lot of local DIY and non commerical projects. I`m not designer or programmer, but i build up this site by myself using TypePad. So, now, after one year, we need some redisign, and i saw yopur template - it`s exaclt what we need!
Posted on March 29, 2005 04:36 AM | #
62. Iya Santiago said:
Could you be heavent sent? I am looking for a weblog to add to the link of my new website that will contain the GOODMOVES of members of my community. We will send out daily goodmove challenges (e.g. As a step towards gnerosity, prepare a sandwich for your security guard–blog your story). This blog will be the source of our material for radio and TV interviews including print broadcast of good things. We aim to reshape the bleak reality of our country by fidning, doing, supporting and broadcasting all the good things that Filipinos do so that we may likewise provide role models for the youth. It can be likened to an impressionist painting–up close they may seem nothing, just random dots..but when you step back, you have a masterpiece!
Can you help us with this? This is not for profit.
Posted on April 24, 2005 07:07 AM | #
63. elodie said:
hi! are you still giving this template away? because I really find it great and I would love to be able to use it. I guess you would like to know what’s its use would be so here’s my project: I’m in recovery of serious eating disorders, and I would like to share my experience and if possible even try and help someone talk freely of their problems with the blog. I thought I could do with some very neat and nice design as well. Tell me if you can help me with it?
Posted on June 18, 2005 11:25 AM | #
64. debi said:
hi,
just found out about blogging & would like to create some for the staff at my daughter’s school.
Interested in your templates, so if you can help, please let me know.
thanks
Posted on July 4, 2005 06:03 PM | #
65. ian greenwood said:
we are launching a pressure group to help change international trade structure away from selfish gathering of profits into off-shore and trust accounts and to return about 6% to the producer nation only for their climate change reducing projects. Such as quieter and cleaner mass rapid transit for smaller cities and other sustainable transport, therefore reducing their emissions and therefore our over-all climate change. And similarly renewable energy.
The other 6% we are proposing stays in the in the tax-gathering nation for similar projects so would be very useful to the USA.
In my research over the last 3 years, no other way has been found that has the potential to be politically do-able addressing as it does
1. climate change
2. trade injustice
3. loss of manufacturing in developed nations.
Why should you want to help this project? Because the USA needs to regain some credibility in that it is sucking in resources via trade and yet USA and none of the other developed nations are returning enough to the environment. After all, much of Florida is at risk and other very productive areas of land.
whether people yet agree that climate change is a problem, we all should be looking ahead to the impending resources shortages thet increased consumption (has brought?) and will bring.
I am doing my bit while continuing to work as a structural engineer, but am short of time and adequate funding to do all that is necessary, I am being held back by the lack of a web/blog site.
Can you help me? I’d like to be able to add useful links and import data from other sites, always leading people back to the main point that they can DO SOMETHING to add their names to the supporters list without being bombarded, or at least comment. This way the idea can be shaped more quickly and effectively and they can forward to their useful contacts. In this way we can harness the amazing power of the WEB that you all know about, and maybe you can get some more business, if you need it. I’d like to be able to amend the site to keep up to date and delete offensive blog comments.
please email back for a short attachment with a little more information
Regards, IAN at STEERglobal for Sustainability in Trade, Environment, Education and Resources.
With your help we can STEER the world more quickly
Posted on July 5, 2005 02:29 AM | #
66. derorice said:
Hey! i was searching for some good design tips and i just found & read your page… is it true? you are giving it away? or have you decided already? well, if you still haven’t decided - i really like the design, true-i would like some minor changes, but i like it a lot. i have a blog of my own and this would fit right in… well, i hope to hear from you…
Posted on July 5, 2005 05:07 AM | #
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