Design – Page 17

Top 12 WordPress themes and plug-ins for mobile devices

October 7, 2010 By Hyde

Now that tablets are becoming mainstream and smartphones are getting better displays and faster processors more and more people are going to be browsing online with their mobile devices. If there was a time to make your website mobile ready it would be now.

If your website runs on WordPress it is as simple as selecting a theme or plug-in that will transform your website for mobile devices. Most themes and plug-ins will automatically detect if a user is browsing from a computer or mobile device and automatically serve the right layout.

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15 Beautiful Fonts for Minimalist Designs

September 30, 2010 By Hyde

When opting for a minimalist design the typography is very important. Typography is always important but with a minimalist design the focus is more so on the content then on a graphic heavy design. The font you choose sets the tone of your design.

If you take a look at minimalist WordPress templates you can clearly see how the typography defines the entire design. Just change the font to something like Courier or Garamond and see how it affects the design.

In my opinion sans-serif fonts are better suited for modern minimalist designs. Serif fonts do better with a “literary” inspired design for lack of better word. Designs that aim for a book look. But then again there are no set rules when it comes to design, that is what challenges the creativity. To bend the “rules” and still deliver a good and usable design.

The following fonts are a mix of free and commercial licenses, make sure to read the licenses to know the restrictions.

Milibus Regular

Minimalist fonts

Price: $30 per type

Neubau

Minimalist Fonts

Price: $29 per type

Alright Sans

Minimalist Fonts

Price: $40 per type

CartoGothic Std

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

Bebas

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

Com4t Sans Medium

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

Houschka Medium

Minimalist Fonts

Price: $53 per type

Urbana

Minimalist Fonts

Price: $24 per type

Expressway

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

Nevis

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

Engel Light Ltd

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

Sansation

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

Junction

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

League Gothic

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

Mentone

Minimalist Fonts

Price: Free

The Best Looking Free WordPress 3 Ready Themes

September 23, 2010 By Hyde

WordPress 3 has added some mayor changes making it more CMS-like than just a content publishing system. Especially the Menu Management is a huge improvement. WordPress 3 hasn’t been out that long so the available free themes that are WordPress 3 ready are limited. If you know your way around WordPress tags and code you can easily make existing themes WordPress 3 compatible.

While upgrading to the latest WordPress version is a must due to security concerns there is no fun in WordPress 3 if your current theme doesn’t support some of the new features. Sure, you have WordPress own default new theme ‘Twenty Ten’, but lets avoid everyone using the same theme like happened with the Kubrick theme.

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New trends in web design: think big, think large, think wall-size poster

September 20, 2010 By Franky Branckaute

Two fundamental rules of web design eagerly taught by most experts until not so long ago were: a) web design doesn’t work the same as print design, and b) when designing a web page, be mindful of prevailing conventions. Both rules are still valid to a certain extent, but not absolutely. [Read more…]

The Best Mini Minimalistic Icons

September 9, 2010 By Hyde

Minimalistic design never goes out of style. The design trends used in a design do come and go but minimalistic is timeless. A good example of a popular design trend currently is the dark background with noise, it can be used in all sorts of design and eventually gets out of style.

When you have an interactive website the icons you use are very important, it should be clear what action they represent and in the case of a minimalistic design they should fit seamlessly.

css3 images buttons
Thanks to CSS3 you can do a lot more with minimalistic one color icons in transparent PNG. On the thumb picture you can see an example of CSS3 buttons using the ‘Default Icon’ 16×16 PNG. By keeping the colors gray in tone with the black icon you can create buttons as easily as adding a class=”button” to your images.

This is just to give you an idea how you can go a bit further then just applying the icons in your website. Most of the icons listed here also have bigger sizes but this selection has the best mini icons out there that fit perfectly in a minimal design.