Following on from my last blog post and the helpful comments from Stephen and Patrick I thought I'd post a brief spec here on what I'm looking for with my new Wordpress blog. If anybody can help me out with a custom Wordpress template then get in touch and we'll work something out.
Here's (roughly) what I'm after:
Overall look and theme: Lots of white space, clear breaks between header, main content and side navigational bar. Maybe a cool brightly coloured logo to offset all the white. Basically a fixed width (728) design with a header and some custom tabs leading to static pages at the top (i.e. about, contact etc) of the page. I then want space for a 728 x 90 banner (hence having the page 728 wide, apply within for sponsorship opportunities!) below the header then onto the main content.
Main Body: For the main body of the page I want 2 columns, 1 main column for the blog posts themselves then a smaller column on the right for navigation, ads, widgets and links etc. The main blog posts should also have a BUMPzee widget after every post as well as text links for Digg, Stumbleupon and Delicious.
I also want to have the ability to add a 300x250 block of AdSense ads after every post too.
Right hand navigation/links etc: The right hand column should be 250 wide and contain 9 sections, follow this layout:
250 x 250 ad (another sponsorship slot, got to pay the bills you know!)
About me blurb
RSS subscribe icon link, feedburner stats and email address field for people to subscribe via email
Sponsors (space for 4 120x60 sponsors buttons)
Some of my sites (text links pointing to my sites)
BUMPzee widget
Searchbox
Previous Posts
Archives
Oh, and I need to be able to add some stats code to every page too so I can track visitors etc.
For inspiration here are some site designs (some are blogs and some aren't) that I like, just so you can get an idea of my tastes.
Affiliate Blog - Love the simplicity of this design, and love the links across the top of the page instead of tabs. I would maybe add a splash or two or vibrant colours to offset the white though. But great clean uncluttered design.
Stephen Pratley - As mentioned above (2 links in 1 post!) Stephen has just redesigned his blog and I love the simple layout.
Totesport - Normally I like rounded corners but I do love the "squared off" design of the Totesport site. I love the depth and reflective look of the text boxes too.
SEOmoz - Clean design, love it.
Geekologie - Very crisp and very well laid out.
Dave Naylor - I really like the header on this and the way the logo breaks out of it.
Perez Hilton - The main blog posts are displayed very well, nice and clean and simple and clearly separated.
SEO Black Hat - Nice big chunky and funky text and large icons/buttons. Only thing I'm not keen on is the black backgrounds.
So there you go, please email me at info at ukoffer dot com if you can help. Maybe you have some ideas I haven't thought of? I'm open to suggestions. Thanks.
What I'm listening to right now: Timbaland - "The Way I Are"


Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I am the founder of ShareMyPlaylists.com, ContentNow.co.uk and some other stuff. I have no idea why I'm blue on this photo though but I like it!
ditto
Just to and download one of the 1000′s themes available free, and simply tweak it a little bit.
http://themes.wordpress.net/
Sound idea Frostie mate, except I have no design skills.
I didn’t even tweak mine – I downloaded a theme and used it.
Hi Kieron.
What process did you follow for the transfer from Blogger to WordPress? Do you have a link to a guide? I did it once, then switched back to Blogger again, but may give WordPress another go. Any regrets yet?!
Steve.