I’m quite bias. WordPress is the only platform that I’m using right now for website development. I’m not actually familiar with the others (Joomla, Drupal, etc, etc..). WordPress is now the number one web cms technology. But, with greatness comes the people who love to hate successful things/people. Every time I find a wordpress theme I like, I have to scrub the code of all the Mal-ware it contains. I can only image – since I’ve never been to the holy land – that it’s like travelling to the holy land and watching out for terrorists, or being the Pope and having to ride in a bullet-proof glass chariot. I never used to worry about malware when I used wordpress CMS, but now it’s just standard stuff.
It’s easier to download a “free” theme and scour the naughty bits of code from the theme files than to code my own theme. Yes I’m lazy, er no! I’m just short of time. I was about half done converting an old HTML theme into WordPress when I found that the original author had beat me to it. I was happy to see that a really good programmer had taken some of his old HTML templates and updated them for WordPress, one of which I really liked back when HTML templates were all that you had. At least this theme I could trust. It’s a simple straightforward theme that I can tweek when I get feedback from my imaginary readers.
So, the site’s new look is from Michael Heilemann – http://binarybonsai.com/kubrick/ and is available at http://www.freewpthemes.net/preview/barnyard
For those who don’t know, WordPress is a website platform application. What’s a platform application? It’s basically a bunch of files that you load onto a server and after following a how-to article you have a user interface that makes website building very easy. You still need to know some HTML and CSS. If your deathly afraid of looking at programming code, WordPress will work, but you won’t get all the bells and whistles. The best place to play around with WordPress, minus the uploading mucky-muck is WordPress.com Without knowing any code, using WordPress can lead you into trouble since it’s designed to be “hacked” in the fun sense of the word. However, making it open[source] makes it open to Mal-ware attacks. Which brings me to my next point.
Mal-ware and Free Stuff.
Read this article if you are NOT afraid of programming code: Why You Should Never Search For Free WordPress Themes, but for those afraid of code, here’s the skinny: When you use WordPress, there are lots of neat things that you can “add on” called plugins. There are also lots of neat “Themes” that give your site a really, really cool look with almost doing nothing. ONLY use plug-ins and themes that come from WordPress.org.
If your new to the website building world, do not fear! GO! NOW! Build your site! Have fun, and call me when you get there.
Recommended links:
WordPress and Website building links A collection of links that are related to website development and more specifically WordPress
Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change Join Blog Action Day 09, the single largest social change event on the web.
Free High Resolution Textures – Lost and Taken http://lostandtaken.com/ Lost and Taken is a design blog that focuses on giving away free, high-resolution textures.
Original Contemporary Art :: Karen’s Whimsy http://karenswhimsy.com/ Original contemporary art in the form of altered books and collage.
http://www.timeanddate.com/ This site includes lots of information that is time and date related, such as yearly and monthly calendars, countdown counters and the world clock which shows current time in cities all over the world. You can create custom calenders and paste the code into your website or blog.
950 Pixel – CSS Layout: A collection of 224 Grid and CSS Layouts Simplify your CSS designs with these easy Pure CSS Layouts
http://www.freecsstemplate.net/css-template-preview/56.php
Website Calendar Widget – InstantCal.com
Website calendar widget. Announce, share and promote events with a website calendar widget.
http://www.namestation.com/ The intelligent domain search workstation. Name ideas generator, keyword suggestions, dictionary domains, bulk search website names.
Web Hosting Reviews & Rating – Best Website Hosting 2011 http://webhostinggeeks.com/ Review of top 10 web hosting providers. Top web hosting reviews, best web hosting awards, web host rating, web hosting articles and more.
[CG Textures] – Textures for 3D, graphic design and Photoshop! http://www.cgtextures.com/ 50.000+ high resolution textures, free for personal and commercial use!
Font Squirrel | Handpicked free fonts for graphic designers with commercial-use licenses. http://www.fontsquirrel.com/ Font Squirrel scours the internet in search of FREE, highest-quality, designer-friendly, commercial-use fonts and presents them for easy downloading. We don’t have the most, but we do have the best.
https://cosm.com/?pachube_redirect=true Cosm is a secure platform for Internet of Things devices and products. Its API and web service provide real-time control and data storage. Bring connected products to market using our provisioning service. Set alerts, collaborate and exchange data.
Webmaster resource for WordPress themes Joomla templates CSS HTML themes SEO tips Textures and Icons http://com-http.org/ WordPress themes Joomla templates HTML and CSS templates SEO tips and advices Textures Patterns Icons
Morguefile.com free stock photos http://www.morguefile.com/ Morguefile.com free stock photos Free WordPress Themes: Why You Should Never Search For Them on Google http://wpmu.org/why-you-should-never-search-for-free-wordpress-themes-in-google-or-anywhere-else/ Update: I have written a post about where you can find free WordPress themes. So once you get to the end of this and are suitably concerned you… fotogrph | Free Stock Images. Creative Commons Licensed. http://fotogrph.com/ Free stock photos and images, royalty free and Creative Commons licensed. http://builtwith.com/ Web technology information profiler tool. Find out what a website is built with. Free WordPress Themes and WordPress Tutorials at Theme Lab http://www.themelab.com/ A collection free original WordPress themes for your blog with live demos and direct download links. Also has various WordPress tutorials and tips. ThemeShaper | Home of the Automattic Theme Team http://themeshaper.com/ Theme Hybrid: A WordPress theme club http://themehybrid.com/ A WordPress theme club http://www.arrastheme.com/ Great, Customizable WordPress Themes – Arras, Project AR2 and Classical Gamer. Smashing Magazine — For Professional Web Designers and Developers http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ Smashing Magazine is an online magazine for professional Web designers and developers, with a focus on useful techniques, best practices and valuable resources. |