I’ve decided to enter a WordPress theme contest and have been working on this design for a while. I would love love LOVE some constructive criticisms/feedback from any folks willing to spend a few minutes and take a gander:
It’s called Christmas Is Near and it’s a Christmas-inspired theme for WordPress 2.1+ (recommended: 2.3+). It includes a light snowy script by Kurt Grigg. Icons are courtesy of John Marstall (via Icon Buffet).
I’ve tested it in Firefox 2.0.0.11 and IE 6.0. For best results, a screen resolution of 1024×768 is suggested. Let me know if anything looks “off.”
Be honest — What do you think? What should I add? What should I change? How does it look in your browser?
Mara
Oh honey, it’s precious! Just enough snow, not too much, perfect! And I tested it for you in IE7 (which is a pisser, let me tell you), and everything displays as intended.
I have a question for you. How many hours typically goes into both a local WP install and customization? I know each one is different, I’m just looking for an average.
Rick
It looks great Nicki! Where does the title and tagline go? I just installed a Christmas theme for our staff blog–but I like yours a lot better. Best of luck to you in the contest.
Devilish Southern Belle
I think it’s beautiful!
Nicki
@Mara: Thank you. :D
Installing WP is very quick. In fact, it takes longer to upload the WP files to my webhost than it does to actually INSTALL it. When I created my “test” site for the above site, I was done with the upload, install and customization in 10 minutes.
That said, customization times will vary depending on what you want done and/or changed in the default WP settings. Also factor in plugin installation and/or customization.
My test site has just plain-jane WP default settings which work for most anyone (unless you’re me, LOL!).
Did you have something specific in mind?
@Rick: Thank you. :D
I currently don’t have the title and tagline on there. I originally had them in the header, but I didn’t like the way the text went over the header background. I am still working on that part. :)
DSB: Thank you. :D
Mara
Yes, something specific :)
I’ve been just trying to get an idea of how long it takes most designers to integrate a blog (WP or otherwise) into an existing website.
Most of the time/rate quotes I’ve seen have been 3-4 hours, and most designers who quote prices are anywhere from $995-2,500.
I just embedded a Blogger blog into an existing website for a client, and I think it came out great. I added a couple of add-on type scripts (can’t really call them plugins, since it’s not a local install).
It took me 4-5 hours (hard to get exact, since I did 13.25 hrs for her total over the month). I did a LOT of research for this on my own time (and it wouldn’t have bothered me if she hadn’t been nagging me about it all month).
I just wanted to know if I was in the ballpark. It sounds like you’re talking about setting up JUST a WP blog, rather than integrating / embedding into an existing website (which naturally takes extra time).
A local WP install really wouldn’t have been a good idea for her…she wouldn’t want to have to have me do the updates and patches. Blogger was just easy, plus she’s used to Google calendar.
Nicki
Mara: aaaaaah! Integrating it into an existing site *does* take a bit longer, and can be anywhere from a couple of hours to several days, depending on the site’s current setup/structure.
As far as upgrades/updates go, that depends largely on the savviness of your client/user. I’ve set a couple up myself and one user picked up the ball and ran with it (so to speak). The other depends on me to upgrade it for her. I don’t mind, but it’s a big reason why I’d rather not do that again for anyone else … I already have a day job. :P
John
It looks really cool Nicki. I would add a shiny bright red nose to the first reindeer though. (There is my constructive criticism) :mrgreen: