Uzique wrote:
yeah i was thinking more about someone that is current with the wordpress/theme scene knowing a similar starting point... themes are a lot of work. and yeah! i know HIU is still hosted on your server (ty as always) but i didn't think to buzz you about the redesign! i'm probably taking a year out of studying but i want to keep busy/writing so it's now the perfect platform.
things i really like about that football blog:
large image-splash for each blog-post on the home-page (perfect for when im reviewing albums/releases)
the main message layout: perfect typeset/font, nice formatting, the 3-columns with the details on left, main-text focus in centre and footnotes (!) on right.
i really dig that. if anyone could help me get towards something like that then i'd gladly fork over some paypal romance
Current with the Wordpress/theme scene? There really isn't much to be "current" about if you're a web developer. WP works on a really simply template scheme and any decent developer could theme it blindfolded.
Themes are only a lot of work if you have no background knowledge of tyopgraphy/design and you don't have a starting point. Once you know the general direction of where you want to go with a theme/design, it's relatively easy to get it set up just how you want it.
The way he's done it is pretty easy - The starting to each paragraph is a Cufon typeface replace (javascript font style replacement) that he applies to each starting letter. All that does is replace the letter with the font type he wants used on that specific. Much easier ways of doing that now - especially with the likes of Typekit.
Then for each side note all he does is apply a span tag
That has a data-id in the content and is called through javascript and put in the correct place. Pretty cool method after looking into how he did it.
If you want to look into it yourself I suggest you begin by looking at CSS frameworks (I use blueprint, but 960 is cool as well) and then taking a look at typography uses. Don't try editing an existing theme, begin from a developers theme (base theme, some even include frameworks) or start from scratch. Editing an existing theme just gets ultra messy.
I can easily get that set up for you in a few days if you want. Not too hard, I've even got some secret goodies you might love to have (tyopgraphy based). Give me a shout if you want me to take a look at it.