Imagine a vending machine, that gives you all types of free software and operating systems, straight on to a DVD !! The software vending machine ? Yes, a software vending machine, you heard it right. I got to watch this one on TV the other day. It’s pretty cool isn’t it ?

The news was on a Malayalam channel and I am sure we have it somewhere in Kerala. So, it should be in other cities too. Have you ever seen it ?  If you guys know about it, let me know, I need fedora core 8, the latest version. And of course, I would like to check out this cool software vending machine !! Check out their official website here

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Guys, we have a new design, but I did not change the theme, yes this is “copyblogger”.  Inspired by deigners and bloggers out there, I tried my css skills on the copyblogger theme and ended up here, with this design. ( header image needs a color change, agreed redesigned header : brilliant job again by Chirag !!)

So, what I need now is little feedback, good bad and the ugly. If you say, “really good”, I may not work hard enough to make this look even better, so be careful when you comment !!

PS: Thank You Gisele Jaquenod for helping me to fix the sidebar error & Thank You “she” for her valuable suggestions !!

You guys know that I am crazy about blog design and themes etc, but I am not a designer.

I realize, that blog designing is not just about colors and header images but lot of other things, including information architecture and user experience.

I do follow a lot of blogs by wordpress designers. I enjoy reading about their experiences and experiments ; I get to learn a bit about blog layouts, blog architecture and blog designing ( at least I know these terms.right? )

I get enough inspiration from them, especially when I read something like this.

“You might find this difficult to believe…
But 2 years ago I didn’t own my domain name, had never touched a piece of WordPress code and knew nothing about blog design. In other words, everything I’ve done with WordPress and blog design in the past year has been self taught, using trial and error.”

So, it’s possible to learn wordpress designing and coding if you want to. But I was too lazy to try it out myself. Still, after following their blogs for few months, and trying different themes almost on a daily basis, I have learned enough to judge a wordpress theme, even though I can not design a theme on my own.

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“The Blog Herald” recently redesigned their blog. They made a really cute, and sweet theme . Till then, it was just another magazine styled blog. But now, it looks very unique, and easy to browse.

Now, this is what I call a perfect layout, for a wordpress theme. Everything is rightly placed. No distractions, even ads are placed very well. No clutters.

What happened when I found a good blog with a sweet design ?

So, what happened to me when they did this “redesign” thing ? Well, I started reading that blog more, I was being attracted by that design,  spent more time on the blog, and their great content made me spent even more time there, and browse through archives etc ..

I used to read their blog posts, but only from google reader itself and never bothered to comment. But, this new design is taking me to the site from rss reader. Its making me comment. Yes, the design is driving my reading pattern, my activity on the blog, my attitude towards that blog.

The strange thing is, I usually do not like blogs without a header image but this one, I liked it without a header image, and that too too less colors.

and then …

I came back to my blog, and changed my theme hmm nothing new in it right ?  ( You know right, I always look for a reason to change theme ). I am not sure if you guys liked the new design, and would like to know your thoughts on this.

What’s special with Copyblogger theme ?

It has two css files –  style.css and custom.css. Style.css has the most basic layout elements, which you need not edit, unless necessary. Custom.css is where you edit the design ( color,font,font size, background etc etc ).

So you get to edit your theme as you like without destroying the basic structure of the theme, which is really great for someone like me with very less coding knowledge. Yet, there is something I need help with. If you look at the side bar, there is something missing before the search box. A feed icon is supposed to be diplayed there but it isn’t. Any idea why ?

I am happy with this theme .. are you ?

A news for all wordpress lovers and especially those who have self hosted WordPress blogs, WordPress has a new beta version, WordPress 2.6 Beta 1

What’s new in WordPress 2.6 Beta 1 ?

1. Post Revisioning
2. A “Press This” bookmarklet for tumblelog style quick posting
3. Theme previewing as seen on WordPress.com
4. Built-in word counting in the post editor
5. Customizable default avatars
6. Bulk delete, activate, and deactivate for plugins

and a lot more…. the complete list is available here

WordPress 2.6 Beta 1 and me

This time, I decided to try the beta version on my blog. I am using it on a live blog, ( not this one ). It should be interesting right ? checking for bugs and reporting them ? … I am new to this, so not quite sure, what, when, where and how etc. Will keep you all updated. !!

Theme Updates

Now, something about this theme and blog. I removed the flickr part on the footer of the blog. Added tags to each post. Now, I need to make this theme Gravatar compatible. I am yet to finish the about me page and yes, the header image is still blank. Is it annoying guys ?. I am not a good designer, so you will have to wait until I do something about it !! Any new comments or suggestions about the theme ?

Update : I am changing the theme back to the old one to check the issue with Comment box. Thanks Santhosh for reporting the issue.

Yes, I changed my theme again. I had mentioned about a possible theme change here right ?. Thanks to Adii, I have a new theme live here. Well, this is not final. There will be a slight modification soon and I am waiting for the release of the latest version of this theme.

I changed to this theme before the release of the widgetized version, so that I can play with this one and learn how to make changes that I need. Would you like to suggest any modification ? I know the header image is not that good, I will update it soon, promise.

Adii’s theme replaced the Wpdesigner themes that I was using. Can Adii really replace Small Potato of Wpdesigner.com ?

Okay, I got new domain, installed blog and restored most of my old posts. I told her, ok I have done this far. The response was, ” Okay, good, but don’t keep changing your theme”

If you are not the first time here, I am sure you know how crazy I am about themes. Or crazy about changing themes ?. Current theme is something I loved at first sight. I need to give a link to the theme page. Why ? hmm what if I change this one too ? How will you understand which theme I am referring to ? So, here is the link

I love the current theme. But that doesn’t mean that I am completely satisfied with this theme. First let me tell you why I love this theme.

1 It’s easy to read : no strain to go through the blog post. So, it supports the content very well.
2 It looks fresh and Clean
3 It has a good color scheme
4 It’s not so common. You won’t easily get it.
5 It was designed by the theme author for this own website and that means its a special one
6 It was designed by my favorite Designer, Small Potato of Wpdesigner.com

So, what’s wrong with the theme ? Only one thing. I am not happy with the header alignment. Its not like normal headers ok, but still I feel there is something missing, on the header layout. I want the header image to be on the top of the blog title.

What now ? I am thinking about a theme change but luckily ( yes !!) I can’t find a theme that matches all my requirements.

Now, what you guys think about this theme ? Do I need to change it ? I know you are going to tell me to correct the header myself. I am too lazy … still I will not say ” No, I will not try” I will try. Hmm and yes, that’ll be great if I could get any help from you guys … any wordpress designers around ?

Your comments please !!