The Editorial Team at Smashing Magazine shares a collection of new high-quality free fonts over on Smashing Magazine. Some of these fonts are intended for print publications, but there are several that are suitable for web design, available either to download or through Google Web Fonts. Which ones will you use for your next web design projects?
Konstantin Kovshenin has a great post on one of my pet peeves. The lock-in effect. The rub? When you go to switch themes you find that your content is tied into the theme (or plugin) you’ve been using. Not good.
WordPress has been known for its backwards compatibility for ages. In fact, you’ll not loose your content when you downgrade (provided that you’re using the core features only,) plus WordPress provides several export options that can easily be read by other software and services. WordPress gives you control over your data so you’re never locked in to using WordPress itself. WordPress does not lock you in.
Plugins and themes are somewhat different though, mainly because developers are overlooking the WordPress API and a bunch of features which already ship with WordPress, and tend to reinvent the wheel. Another situation is where plugins or themes introduce some brand new features unavailable in WordPress so they store your data in a unique way which is not what other themes and plugins can understand. If not treated well, the lock in effect can cause loss or corruption of your data …
Harry Roberts presents a primer on technical web typography over on Smashing Magazine.
I recently started subscribing to RSS feeds again after having given them up totally for several months. I was relying on the cream to rise to the top in Twitter and a handful of sites that I would visit every day or week. And now, after declaring feed bankruptcy, I’m back at it again (switching to Reeder as my feed reader was a big part of that decision). I have pared things down though. Here’s my must-follow short list of WordPress and Web Design sources that I’m following right now. These sources let me keep on top of what’s going on in WordPress and Web Design.
One of the barriers theme companies face in going full GPL with their themes—thus enabling their themes to be released on WordPress.org Extend—is a lack of great quality icons with open source licensing.
That’s one reason I’m super happy to see Post Format Icons released by StudioPress. Free, high-quality icons to use in your theme. Awesome.
Will this inspire other web designers and WordPress themers to open source their own graphics? I sure hope so.
What are your favorite open source icons?
A must-read: Jeffrey Zeldman’s State of the web: of apps, devices, and breakpoints.
Parament — a great all-purpose theme developed exclusively for WordPress.com — is now available for use on self-hosted installations of WordPress. You can download it from the official WordPress Themes Directory.
The Designer’s Guide to the OS X Command Prompt
Oldie but goodie guide for basic Terminal commands.
If you enjoyed the Powering Your Design With WordPress article in spring you can now see the presentation that inspired it on WordPress.tv courtesy of the fine folks at the Future of Web Design. Go Check it out!
And speaking of FOWD, it’ll be rolling back into London May 14th – 16th, 2012. I heard some great presentations, met some awesome people, and had a great time there in 2011. I’m sure 2012′s FOWD London will be even better.
As a design inspiration and learning resource, I’m loving Method and Craft, including articles, videos, tips, and interviews. “It’s like looking over the shoulder of your favorite designer.”