Yes, I’ve implemented yet another new template. Actually, it’s an old one that I’ve used before—Scott Wallick’s Sandbox—except this time, I’ve actually put some work into customizing it.
If something looks strange on your monitor, please let me know.
Likewise, constructive criticism is always welcome (i.e., not “For the love of Christ, Marmot, you’ve changed your fookin’ template AGAIN?”).
BTW, if you’re a complete hack like me and looking for a base template to build on, you couldn’t ask for a better one than Sandbox:
The Sandbox is a theme for themers. It has the ability to be easily skinned, so beginners will feel comfortable styling it since they only need to know CSS. More experienced themers will drool at the rich semantic markup and profusion of classes, dynamically generated by a few functions.
It really is fun to work with. And thanks to Sandbox collaborator Andy Skelton, you cam implement Photo Matt-style inline asides as simply as adding a bit of CSS. The CSS for the ones you see here (which look better in any browser other than IE), however, was blatantly ripped off from this site.
11 Comments
I only had to over-ride the fonts settings for this template to get something more eye-friendly. I seems okay, though I would want more space between the masthead and the two columns on the right side.
I’m a bit iffy on the font—I like the Georgia, but I might switch it back to Net-friendly arial.
As for adding space between the columns and the masthead, that seems like a good idea.
Looks pretty good, I think.
i would suggest dash of line-height adjustment and a pinch of letter-spacing (something like em: 0.12;) to improve readability. setting a background color for the body because if you don’t, the browser serves up whatever default color is set (here it’s #ccc) in its preferences.
a complete hack would build their own CSS from scratch. Sandbox is beautiful from a markup stand-point, but overly simple too. i have yet to see it used in a way in which i find appealing (but opinions …). this all said, a theme is a theme is a theme, to each his own.
Thanks for the line-height suggestion. Seems a bit more readable now.
Defined the background color, too. Should be good to go now.
I liked it best when your masthead was the picture of the police line with fire in the background, gave a nice anarchical feel to things.
I’m liking it so far. I just hope my old computersaurus at work can read it. It has trouble with sidebars.
Bill’s asides are wonderful! Thanks for the hat-tip on Sandbox and congrats on a great implementation.
Thank you for the work you and Scott have done on Sandbox… it really is a joy to play with.
The ‘Asides’ lack the bloggers’ point of view, and thereby lack a point of departure for the bitching and strife that normally ensues. They remind me of those “news round-ups” (er, whatever) a few months back.
Polonius: “What do you read, my dear lord?”
Hamlet: “Words, words, words…”
The new template is confusing, uninviting and wordy. Seems unnatural for the screen to be split almost down the middle… Sorry for the negativity…
a-letheia: Thanks for the comments. I know the new asides system may take some time to get used to, but I like them as it gives me the option of linking copious amounts of bullshit without taking up too much space. And unlike the news roundups, they allow people to comment on particular stories rather than trying to hold several conversations about several topics at once. I expect much of the bitching and strife to pick up on the asides once readers make the adjustment.
As for the template being confusing, uninviting and wordy, I will try to work on the styling to make it more user-friendly, although on my screen, it looks pretty decent. Any kind of styling suggestions you may have would be most welcome. The three-column setup has been controversial, to say the least—I’ve gotten a lot of negative feedback about it, but I like it as it keep the sidebar relatively short. It would be easy enough, however, to switch this template to a 2-column one, and I may be able to have it so that readers could switch between 1,2 and 3-column formats.