The other day I was asked over dinner what I thought WordPress themes were going to look like in 2012. The big themes and ideas — the future! — that sort of thing. It’s something I love talking about and sharing (obviously). I see two big trends making their way through the WordPress community. Here’s what I said.
Category: Design
Vertical Rhythm Project
A project to link the aesthetic and discipline of modernist poster designs to the world of digital and dynamic grids, manifested by a series of WordPress themes, adapted from typographical posters.
Some might know already about but this is worth to get a spotlight. Vertical Rhythm is a really cool project by Edit / Nitzan Hermon.
New High-Quality Free Fonts
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?
Technical Web Typography: Guidelines and Techniques
Harry Roberts presents a primer on technical web typography over on Smashing Magazine.
My WordPress and Web Design Feed Short List
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.
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High Quality Icons for Themes
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?
State of the web: of apps, devices, and breakpoints
A must-read: Jeffrey Zeldman’s State of the web: of apps, devices, and breakpoints.
Design Resource: Method and Craft
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.”
On Designing Generic Themes
Hafiz Rahman of WPLover (one of my favorite WordPress flavored blogs) has some pretty interesting thoughts on designing generic themes. “The best option is to abandon creating generic themes altogether.” What do you think?
A Quest For The Ultimate WordPress Theme
If you’re a WordPress theme designer or developer looking to understand the desires of your users you can’t go wrong with one WordPress.com bloggers quest for the ultimate WordPress theme. It’s one of the best WordPress theme posts I’ve read in a long time.
Questions on Responsive WordPress Theme Design
How To Design A Popular WordPress Theme: Chris Pearson’s Secret
Want to design a popular WordPress Theme? Then you better take a look at what Chris Pearson is doing. He knows the secret of designing a popular theme.
Chris is arguably the most popular and successful WordPress Theme designer in the short history of blogging. Press Row, Cutline, The Copyblogger Theme, Neo-Classical, and now Thesis, have all struck a resounding chord with the WordPress community. It’s impossible to find a blogger that hasn’t run across at least 1 of these 5 themes and admired them.
What’s his secret? Why are his simple-looking themes more successful than others? Can any theme designer duplicate his success?
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