A few days ago Lightening sent me an email asking about making the move to WordPress. We had quite a lot of discussion back and forth, I asked Lightening to go and look for a template which had the layout the way she wanted it and then we would be able to change the colors to suit. The template she came back to me with was almost identical to the one I had, so I suggested we use the template base that I had used – Freedom Green – and change the colors. Freedom Green looks like this –
Hard to believe that forms the basis for Life In The Country which looks completely different, no? We had also used Freedom Green as the basis for the scam warning website –
I asked Lightening to visit the Visibone Color Lab, and come back to me with 5 colors that she liked. The only other work she had to do was say yes or no to what we came back with. The other thing we did was create a new header graphic. I asked Lightening to find an image she liked, which she did. I then emailed off and got permission to use the image. We also changed the color of the graphic bar that goes across the page to suit the site. It ended up looking like this –
Lightening now has a site that I actually like the look of better than mine. ;) I love that subscribe button, by the time you read this I’ll probably have changed mine too. And it has inspired me – I think I would like to make versions of this in different colors now. In particular I’d like to make a black one. Make sure you go over and check out Lightening Online.
All of this work is included in the $5 per month hosting price. I think it is a pretty good deal. :)
I think you did a great job on the theme. I agree, I love the rss button – very stylish :D
I’ve already commented over there about that button. It all looks great. I’ll be stealing bits of code, I think, while i revamp my site. I have to do everything the hard way…
I’ve already commented over there about that button. I love it. Everything looks great. I think I’ll be stealing bits of code when I work on revamping my site. I have to do everything the hard way…
Pretty good deal? Snoskred, you have the best deal out there. I’ll be contacting you soon!
Hmmm I’m thinking about my theme right now!
It’s not just a good deal Snos – it’s a FANTASTIC deal!!! This is the BEST decision I think I’ve made since I started blogging. I can’t believe how well the blog has come up! And to anyone out there who is thinking “I don’t think I know enough about technical type stuff to do this”…. Well, neither did I and I didn’t need to!!!! Honestly, you can do this!
This is the only way I could have gone to self hosting as I really don’t understand a lot of the technical side of things. So, if you’re like me, you should grab this deal with both hands!!!!! :-)
I LOVE your blue button Snoskred! Thanks again for all your hard work! :-)
Really lovely – I’m envious. :-)
I have a question about comments. I am moving to WordPress soon and would like to have a box that commenters can check off to notify them of follow-up comments via email. Is that a WordPress plug-in that does that? Or is that a function of the theme I choose? Also, the main WordPress themes site seems to be down. Bummer, because I wanted to finalize my choice this weekend so I could move on Monday. Where else can I get robust, tested WordPress themes? Thank you!
Hi Kathy,
Yes, that is a wordpress plugin. You might want to check this post for a list of wordpress plugins which all work together – you have to make sure they are stable and they don’t conflict, otherwise your entire blog can crash :(
I’ve tested this list for over 2 months now.
http://www.snoskred.org/plugins
The one you want is subscribe to comments, that page has a link to where you can get it.
I highly recommend the templates from Courtney Tuttle – one of the best places to get robust and tested themes which do not contain hidden links is –
http://courtneytuttle.com/seo-wordpress-themes/
Cheers,
Snoskred
thanks so much!
I’d love to get away from Blogger and move to my own domain. What about all the links and search results to my old posts, wouldn’t they all be lost? The no-follow tags that Blogger has implemented is one reason I wish I had never started there.
Brian