Who Should Read This Book
This eBook is targeted primarily for the business community as consumers of web design, marketing and development solution providers. It is also of value to those same solution providers such that better understanding of these topics and the issues presented and will help them to better serve their customers.
Table of Contents - 21 pages
- Introduction
- Who Should Read This Book
- Selecting a Theme
- The Golden Rule
- Developing a Layout Criteria
- To Column or Not To Column
- Checking out the Competition
- Some Recommended Themes
- Platform
- eDegree
- Suffusion
- Graphene
- Pixel
- Weaver
- Anatomy of a WordPress Theme
- Page Structure
- Core Structure
- Style Sheets
- Containers
- The Cascade of Styles
- Finding the Style you Want to Change
- Page Structure
- Wrap It Up
- Appendix A
- About the Authors
Sample excerpt from ebook
Developing a Layout Criteria
Fortunately, most themes can be tweaked to match most layouts, but why do that extra work if you know in advance what your layout needs before selecting a theme? The layout of your website will provide the framework for how you present your company to the visitor. Before starting, you should understand some basic web design concepts:
- Above the Fold: The first thing your visitor sees when they land on your website is the top part of your website that can be seen within a window floating on a 20” monitor with a typical screen resolution (currently 1280x1024). Therefore, your layout has to focus on that “above the fold” presentation as its first impression.
- White space: Most visitors have trouble with “too busy”. White space does not have to be “white”; the point is the feeling of space and minimizing clutter so that the visitor can quickly focus on what is going to keep them on your website.
- Soft Colors: There are exceptions, depending on your target market, but, in general, softer colors will help your visitors focus on your content and not be distracted by loud colors.
- Visuals: Sparing use of interesting icons and graphics to convey a message or a feeling.
- Actions: Sparing use of active elements (Slide shows, scrolling displays, moving icons). Generally, one or two active elements is enough. Beyond that, it becomes a circus. Unless your business IS a circus, that might not be a good idea. Remember, this is more of a “target market” issue, as some people like “action” and others are put off by it. (It has NOTHING to do with whether you like it or not.)
