WordPress
How far you can push the MyKipple Project?
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | Tips, WordPress | No Comments
Since the first book came out I’ve gotten a lot of emails from readers asking me how far it’s possible to go with the MyKipple project and what they learn from the book. My answer has always been the same: With the knowledge you get from the book you should be able to do pretty much anything you want (within reason of course). The reason for such an evasive answer is that more often than not it isn’t the skill but the creativity or vision that is lacking when people get stuck. And trust me, I get stuck all the time.
With the new book I’ve created a new and better example project and once again I’ve gotten plenty of emails asking me how you can “take the design further” and how far it can be pushed. Instead of answering in words I took the end project from the book, created new graphics and turned it into a WordPress theme to be used on my new travel blog called ByLandSeaOrAir.com.
This site was built on top of the MyKipple project. For the most part all I’ve done is switch out the background graphics, messed around with the fonts and changed the CSS box sizes. The new elements are all based on the same techniques used throughout the book and should be easy for any reader to descipher. If you open the site in Expression Web 3 you’ll see that you recognize both the layout elements and the styling that’s been done in the site.
So, to answer the question: There really is no limit to how far you can push the MyKipple project except your own immagination. So rather than looking for boundries, go forward assuming there are none and do whatever you want.
Expression Web 2 Meets WordPress
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 | News, WordPress | 3 Comments
So the Reader’s Companion Site is slowly taking shape. Powered by WordPress and custom designed using Expression Design and Expression Web 2, the site showcases many of the tools and techniques taught in the book including the hidden text sliding doors buttons on the top of the page, advanced positioning and dedicated individualized styles for different sections.
Feel free to rummage around the CSS to figure out how everything fits together. And if you have any questions I’ll gladly post them and the answer right here on the site. Think of this site as a further learning tool and a stepping stone further into the world of web design.
Like I said, this site is powered by WordPress – the best and most popular free blogging platform out there. For many the thought of having to re-design a blog from scratch seems like a daunting task. Others can’t get their head around the fact that just because a site is running on WordPress doesn’t mean it has to look like a blog. Hopefully this site will serve as an example and show you that a blog really doesn’t have to be a blog.
Expression Web 2 is the perfect tool to dissect and redesign themes for blogging platforms like WordPress. If you want to learn how to do this, swing by my official blog where I discuss blog design and the concept of WordPress as a CMS (Content Management System).
