WordPress.org

1. YAWPU
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   Hi, I've been looking around for a real Web2.0-ish looking WP theme with no luck so far.

   Ideally, this theme would have the full AJAX enchillada etc. but my post is more about design.

   By "web2.0" I mean rounded shapes, pastel (+bright) colors, (rather) large sans-serif fonts, white background, buttons..., more or less synthesized here:

   http://mittermayr.wordpress.com/2006/02/03/20-culture/

   I'm surprised no one ever ported to WP some kind of digg or whatever popular site layout (given all that fuss about web2.0 etc.).

   Any pointer? TIA!

2. ladydelaluna
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   not sure if you checked here, but new themes are getting listed here all the time:

   http://themes.wordpress.net

   maybe you can find the look you're going for there?

3. YAWPU
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   Hi,
   Yes I checked the site (and all other theme viewers I could find) but still couldn't find a theme that qualified (to so called "web2.0" criteria).

   Thanks anyway!

4. ionfish
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   Why don't you make one?

5. YAWPU
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   I may do one :) I was just surprised (as I said, given all the fuss) and wanted to check that there wasn't one or several I had missed.
   Thanks.

6. ladydelaluna
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   well, i suppose the "fuss" is probably the issue - the majority of designers/developers out there are divided as to whether or not the hype is valid... so maybe that's why no one's gone to making a theme based on it, when it's not really something that the entire design/dev community agrees on?

7. WarAxe
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   Yeah, I agree with the lovely LadyDeluna. Not everyone espouses the delicate rounded pastels of what you speak... it might sound good around Easter, but will fail come Autumn. :-)

   Really, style can't be put in a box like that... and the AJAX is a bit of a fad, too. There are afew uses for a blog, but classically AJAX is better suited for more of a web application which has different mechanics from a simple blog.

8. YAWPU
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   Thanks for your input!

   Ladyluna: I understand but take AJAX (on the fonctional side) it didn't take too long before some coming up with plugins/themes etc. I wasn't really thinking of "established" designers, more like hobby theme makers that would (more or less) adapt a popular site's layout to WP.

   And the "designers community" seems to have agreed to make today's most popular sites share some of these criteria.

   WarAxe: Would that mean that "everyone espouses" :

   http://themes.wordpress.net/?view_type=filmstrip&item_type=search&page_number=93&count_per_page=12&previous_view_type=slideshow&previous_count_per_page=12
   or
   http://themes.wordpress.net/?view_type=filmstrip&item_type=latest&page_number=242&count_per_page=12&previous_view_type=slideshow&previous_count_per_page=12

   It only takes one... :) (and that sure is fine with me, whatever people are happy with)

   Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that these so called "standards" are the ultimate way to go for blog design, I'm just surprised not to find a theme or two using these.

   Actually, it's not that I'm the biggest fan of this so called "web2.0Culture", it's just that I'm putting together a blog for my 11 y/o daughters, and these, erm, "standards", would at least match my target audience...!

   ;)

   Just my $0.02, for the sake of the discussion.

9. ladydelaluna
   Member
   Posted 7 years ago #
   

   "And the "designers community" seems to have agreed to make today's most popular sites share some of these criteria."

   I'm NOT trying to argue with you for any other reason than to share opinions... but I still happen to feel that Web2.0 is hype. And if there are a lot of sites following the extremely trendy hype, I personally am thinking that they'll be changing their minds soon enough.

   Think about when Flash first came on the scene - I think that's the longest running, overly trendy thing that has ever been brought to the world of design. People have way overused it, and the search engines have only credited sites that started without it, got the attention without it, and then later changed their entire site structure to encompass only flash. You can no longer buy a domain, build a site entirely in flash, and get it to do anything for you.

   I realize that AJAX and other aspects of Web2.0 are different, and as of yet have no negative effects on search engine placements, but I still think it's just a passing fad, garnered to "liven up" the design/dev community.

   Now, that said - as far as finding a theme for your 11 y/o daughters, I'm in complete agreement that a theme with rounded corners and pastel colors and large fonts is ideal for you! Whether it should be labeled "Web2.0" or not is another story... ;)

10. WarAxe
    Member
    Posted 7 years ago #
    

    My Lady, you cut me deep! ;-) I love Flash. Granted, I'm not the best but I have a little knowledge (enough to be dangerous).

    Granted, many places use Flash detrimentally and not to enhance their actual web content... for instance, when you go to those sites that offer these complex highly-polished sites for $150 done mostly in Flash, what comes of it that your content is obscured by a lot of graphic nonsense.

    BUT, when used well, Flash can be superior to any other presentation. We all know some sites that are gorgeous in Flash.

    However, to agree with you... Flash, like AJAX, has limited use for a blog, with the possible exception of the photoblog. Just my opinion.

11. YAWPU
    Member
    Posted 7 years ago #
    

    Of course Web2.0 is hype, as is blogging in some ways. A trend is bond to become untrendy, and be replaced by another trend at some point. As with all trends if you wait long enough you'll be able to say "See, I told you it was all hype..." ;)

    Thanks for sharing your opinions!-)

12. ladydelaluna
    Member
    Posted 7 years ago #
    

    Awhhh... *pats WarAxe onna head* sorry baby, but Flash may look nice, but it does crapola for you when it comes to SEO. I have no issues with a small flash header (but not a navigation scheme unless there's a hard-coded one in there somewhere too)... I was mainly referring to sites manufactured COMPLETELY in flash... SE's can't read the text in a flash file, so you can write killer content, and never get it ranked properly if it's inside a flash file.

    The sites that ARE ranked well, I guarantee you, did not spend their first 2 years as a wholly flash site. They started with everyday HTML/CSS (maybe even php or asp) and got enough attention (ie. links) to get the SE's to take notice. Once that happened, they changed to entirely flash, and then garnered new attention on top of the old, and their rankings are now supported only by links and not by content. And as an SEO - that stinks. :P (Puts me out of the running for a job!)

    But to this day, I still have to tell potential clients, "No, you can't have an all flash site." And that's what kills me... ;)

13. WarAxe
    Member
    Posted 7 years ago #
    

    That's right, I forgot you are an SEO Enchantress. Flash is a search engines enemy. It may be that in the future this will not be the case so much but for now it is. :-(

    I made a little Flash business card page (http://www.stevemooradian.com), but I put the content of my text fields in XML files in the application folder. Would the SE find them?

    Hmm... probably not. Perhaps if I had a set of links to that content that showed up if someone didn't have the Flash plugin.

    I dunno... you're the SE expert. :-)

14. ladydelaluna
    Member
    Posted 7 years ago #
    

    WarAxe - how long ago did you make that site? Google and MSN say it (home.steve....) doesn't even exist (ie. they haven't found it yet) so that should be your first clue... ;)

    My recommendation here would be to make 4 small links below, linking off to .html pages (or whatever type of page you want to make, as long as it has hard text (which would be that text in those cute little boxes)) and try going that route. It would have two benefits, of course, for those who don't have flash enabled, or take a look at the boxes and say "huh?", and it would guide the SE's to some real textual content. No need to say "If you don't have flash enabled, click on these links to see what the heck i'm trying to do..." Just put them there. Even one-worded or whatever.

    On that note - let's not turn this into an SEO advice column... ;) I don't mind giving the advice, but I don't think the WP forum is the place to do it... I'll have a blog up about it soon enough... LOL!

15. WarAxe
    Member
    Posted 7 years ago #
    

    Actually I got thinking about this post again. Web 2.0 is an ethereal and subjective notion at best... and even as organizations hold conferences and try and define it it is nothing that could be captured in a theme. For sure, pastel palettes and rounded corners with the word "beta" after the site title does NOT make a Web 2.0 site.

16. dss
    Member
    Posted 7 years ago #
    

    Here's a handy-dandy how-to guide for your "web 2.0" pleasure

    enjoy!

17. YAWPU
    Member
    Posted 7 years ago #
    

    The expression "web2.0" seems to refer to several notions pertaining to different fields, e.g.: ideology : "social/folks-based" (sharing) stuff; techniques: XXML/CSS, JS, tags, AJAX; etc... and style is one of these. Layout, shapes, colors, fonts, etc. This (at the very least) can certainly be captured in a blog theme, IMO.

    Make (e.g.) a digg-like theme and you've pretty much "captured" the notion.

    Note that I'm really not trying to advocate that so called "web2.0" stuff. Not even am I too fond of the style itself (can be pretty ugly, although not necessarily so).

    Now just for fun : http://www.web20generator.com/

    ;)

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