By Michael on July 16th, 2009
PressPlay version 1.2 just went live on WordPress’s theme directory. It improves on the earlier version with over a dozen tweaks and bug fixes. I’ve included a readme with a changelog in this version, so feel free to skim it over.
The two most noticeable changes: dates now appear on the homepage (and all archive pages), and the default font for posts is now Tahoma. I decided it contrasted with the Georgia headings better. If you hate change and want to keep the font the way it was before, just go into style.css, and on line #24 change the font family to “Georgia”.
I’ve also moved all the comments over to the main PressPlay page, so post any questions there. Enjoy!
By Michael on July 3rd, 2009
PressPlay, the original theme that we use here at Press Playing, just got accepted into the WordPress Free Themes Directory on WordPress.org. Sweet!
For a brief rundown of how awesome it is, check out the PressPlay Theme Page right here on this site. PressPlay’s my first theme, which is why I’m so excited, but I hope to find the time to make plenty more soon.
Thanks as always to WordPress.
By Michael on July 3rd, 2009
The problem with web programming and web designing is that they’re two things that go hand in hand but probably shouldn’t. A lot of designers don’t care about code, and a lot of coders don’t have a clue how to design.
I’m more of the second camp: whenever I try to design a page, I have no unified color scheme, I try giving all my borders a “dashed” style (“just to see how it will look”) and don’t give a second thought to text styles beyond assigning a font. Not a font stack; just one font.
On the second go-round, the changes come and things are gradually smoothed out. But the fact is, basic text is often the last thing new designers think about because they’re too worried about image galleries, tabbed widgets, shadows, and rounded corners. None of the other stuff matters if people don’t want to read what’s on your site. So here, compiled from experience, are eight basic tips on designing text that feels good.
Continue reading 8 Tips for Designing Text that’s Pleasant to Read →
By Michael on June 12th, 2009
After a few weeks of feeling like the folks at Automattic were just about to release the stable version of WordPress 2.8, they’ve finally done it, and the release doesn’t disappoint. Nicknamed “Baker” (for trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker — and since 2.7 was nicknamed “Coltrane”, I’m guessing somebody over there is a big jazz fan) it isn’t the visual makeover that 2.7 was, but it does tweak the design in ways that will make a lot of people happy.
It also has faster load times, a much better code editor, a revamped theme interface and more. The high-profile improvements:
Continue reading WordPress Releases Version 2.8 →
