styledsheet

I agree that the left column is too distracting!

I think red is actually a very distracting color for links, but thats just an opinion..

good luck!

If I were you, I would try to build this first theme by messing around with a complete one (like the default).

The codex is always the best place to start. And, for the sake of a little self-promotion, I wrote a tutorial on adding content to your sidebar:
https://styledsheet.com/archives/2007_03/how-to-customize-your-wordpress-sidebar

Good luck!

pretty sweet looking! i really like the colors!

@alex:

in my stylesheet, i set h3’s in the sidebar to have a background image that does not repeat. you can actually check out my css hover image tutorial, and replace the <a> with <h3>
https://styledsheet.com/archives/2007_03/preloading-hover-images-using-css

If you have any further questions, just drop a comment there- I’ll get it faster.

Ben-

I just checked back at your updated version. Much cleaner, and looks so much better!

great work, it payed off!

OK, here is a third one to try. I think I like this one the best:

https://styledsheet.com/?wptheme=LightsOut200GreyBlue

hmm, not too enthusiastic! maybe I’ll try some other colors..!

Thanks!

regular is up 2..

hahahaha, thanks 4k. this leaves regular still up by 1!

if most like both, i’ll stick with the original!

thanks!

Well, when it’s viewed at 1024 x 768 the “background” is blocked out, so it looks very gray.. and dull!

thats one vote for regular!

well this is no good! looks like I’m going to have to mess around with it!

thanks, 4k!

i’m not 100% on this, but i think xampp will work with vista!

it’s a great tool!

what i would suggest doing is checking out themes that you like on the themeviewer, and spending some time modeling your own themes after those themes. don’t copy them, but try to emulate some of their finer aspects.

eventually you will find yourself innovating, and making beautiful themes!

I love minimalistic designs. Good work!

I do, however, think that the text is too light. I also think everything would look better if your articles were one font-size larger. It’s borderline too small.

good luck!

Not to be harsh, but i don’t really like it.

The main page looks very divided and scattered, the calendar seems out of place, and the links are all different colors…

When viewing a single page, the content drops down while the sidebar moves up (meanwhile the big yellow recent posts post-it disappears). The header to the commentform should not be black, and there should be some margin on the commentform- it’s too close to the left side of the screen.

The search results are no good either. If there is a failed search, the sidebar jumps across the screen. If the search brings up results, the text is black (against a dark grey background) and the links are bright orange. These are poor color choices.

My suggestion would be to drop the ads and try to find more content that you could add to the sidebar. I would center the content, and try to have some organization to the layout (like dividing lines and whatnot). I would also suggest having some sort of continuity in your link styles. It would be helpful to look into fonts, font sizes, and colors.

I do like the effect you have going on up top with the eraser erasing the page (though, i’m not crazy about the erases image). I also like the category-view.

Good luck!

if you dont mind paying a few bucks, i think Mint is the best: https://haveamint.com/