I’ve Got The Design Bug

I said, as I always do, it’s a technical thing. He said it’s more artistic. Maybe there’s no difference? Maybe true artistry is just the ability to be the master of the technical aspects of a project?

Color Scheme Designer 3_1266571455224.pngOK, this is really sad. Helaine is out in SoCal with Stef. I’m home alone. So what am I doing? Reading a book about creating WordPress themes… and I just stopped and said “that’s really cool” to myself.

I am a sad human being. This is what gets me excited.

Last week’s website creation was a lot of fun. Yes, it was tedious from time-to-time, but when it was finished… when I could step back there was a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

I was on the phone today with a technically oriented friend the discussion turned to web design. I said (I always do) it’s a technical thing. He said it’s more artistic.

Maybe there’s no difference? Maybe true artistry is just the ability to be the master of the technical aspects of a project?

Tonight’s book is WordPress 2.8 Theme Design by Tessa Blakely Silver. It’s as compelling as anything Grisham’s written–well it is to me.

Though I’d gone pretty far restyling this blog for WordPress (it’s currently running on Moveabltype) I’m going to start over! This time the design will be built by me from the ground up.

It’s like designing anything else I suppose. I need to think about the physical form. How many columns? How much white space will I maintain to make it readable?

There are sites to help choose color schemes. Think of the big rack of paint chips at Home Depot or Lowes. The idea is similar but done online! You can even upload an image and get a color scheme that’s compatible.

Typetester – Compare fonts for the screen_1266571692455.pngThe website will be designed within a framework–probably the 960 Grid System. The best analogy is designing on graph paper. This makes it much easier to control spacing and keep columns and sections proportional.

Selecting the typography is a little more daunting to me. Sans serif fonts work well for text, but I’m partial to serif fonts for headlines. I’d like the look of the type to be bold but clean. I’m not sure I’ve got the knowledge to pull this off. I’ve been trying to Google sites to use as crutches, but without much success.

I know what I like. I’m just not sure how to get there.

The funny thing is the deeper into the book I get the less worried I am about the actual code that will fill my template. Maybe it’s my naivety?

This is uncharted territory for me and, judging by conversations I’ve had with others, uncharted territory for everyone I know! It’s geekily thrilling.

3 thoughts on “I’ve Got The Design Bug”

  1. It is a matter of style, Geoff. Think of it as painting. You have your canvas, and you are getting together your paints and trying to decide on style and substance.

    Good luck with it!

  2. Adam –

    Movable Type was state-of-the-art when I installed it. It’s still a good program. However, WordPress is much more vigorously supported by a very active community. There are many, many extensions, plug-ins and tutorials. That’s what sealed the deal.

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