New site design

Over the coming bank holiday weekend I plan to create (yet) another version of slickhouse.com

I’ve spent the past 3 weeks developing sites for work, that I’ve neglected my own. There’s a list longer than my arm of features and design changes that I hope to make - and the pure XHTML/CSS coding I’ve been doing over the aforementioned 3 weeks should help.

For a start, the site itself doesn’t display correctly in older versions of Internet Explorer - but I’ve been developing my own technique that I’ll reveal soon, which resets browser styles prior to calling your own stylesheet. It appears to be a lesser-known method to ensure that your site works, as intended, in as many browsers as possible. I will also write an article about Microsoft’s Virtual PC - which has proved to be a valuable tool in my Web Design toolkit.

I also believe that I’ve mastered CSS and I can’t believe how I managed to code without it. So expect something different, or more of the same - as I attempt to hand-code a WordPress theme from scratch, in a weekend.

Update 1: I’ve updated WordPress both on my development install and on the live site (which you’re viewing now), to version 2.2 and have written up a features list. Before I head to sleep tonight, I aim to have finished a stripped-down theme, ready for creating version 7. I’ll update you on the progress as I go…

Update 2: As of Sunday 27th May @ 19:39 I have finished version 7.01 of the slickhouse.com WordPress theme - which will be released to the public, under a Creative Commons license very soon. It should prove to be an ideal starting point for newcomers wishing to create their own WordPress theme.

Update 3: As of Monday 28th May @ 13:11 I’ve completed the layout and typography - leaving the colour scheme and any additional images/logos for today.