Diary of a Network Geek

Okay, so this may not matter to a lot of my readers who aren’t designers, programmers or WordPress enthusiasts.

But, it does matter to me.
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen a site and wanted to know what they were running.  Most of the time, I just go over to Netcraft and check to see what kind of server and content management system they’re running.  But, sometimes, when I see that they’re running WordPress, I often want to know more, like what theme the site is running or what plugins it’s using.  The problem is, while I can usually look at the code and see what theme they’re running, it’s almost impossible to get any of the plugins, too.
Well, the other night while looking for something else, I found the WordPress Theme Detector, which can tell me all of that information and a little more.  It’s a free service and all you need to do is put in the URL of the site you’re curious about to get the 411.

That ought to kill a little time while you drop your favorite blogs in there to see what they’re running!
Enjoy!

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words.

Oh, this is cool!

Now, you have got to understand that I am a total office supply junkie. I love interesting pens and notepads and all that junk. I have a bunch of Moleskine notebooks, for instance. And, I’ve been trying to sketch out a new WordPress theme in a sad sort of design notebook I’ve been keeping. Obviously that hasn’t been quite as well as I’d like, but this Web Design Sketchbook may inspire me a bit more.

It’s from a site called HuntingLodge.no, which is in Norway, and there is a store, but it was being upgraded when I wrote this. It maybe working now, though. Basically, it’s just a regular sketchbook, but with printed graphics on it that are like a browser window. So, when you’re sketching the design, whoever you’re sketching it for can sort of see how it would look in a browser window. How cool is that!? I know I’ll end up having to get one of these from them when their store is working again, but, until then, enjoy their “review” of it.

So, you ever want to design a WordPress theme?

Well, I’ve been thinking about theme design for WordPress for a while now. I mean, I’ve done some small stuff, taking the basic themes and customizing them to make them my own, as it were, but I’ve never done anything from scratch. I’m working on it though. And, as I think about it, and work on it, I’ve been finding resources that might come in handy. Here are a few:

• From Web Designer Wall, WordPress Theme Hacks
• From CSS-Tricks, Designing for WordPress
• General color stuff from AdamPolselli.com, “Get The Look”
• More color scheme stuff from pic2color.com, uh, pic2color
• If you’re designing from scratch, like for a new website, you might want to checkout Building With WordPress
• That article talked about several tools that are for more than just WordPress, including YUI Grids CSS and Aptana, which is a free, OpenSource web development tool.
• Then, there’s the Theme Lessons on WordPress.org
• and the book, WordPress Theme Design

Feel free to add your own in the comments!

Um, this may post twice.

Look, I so rarely make pages in WordPress, I’m not sure which way is right, but rather than risk it, I’m just going to post a link to the Zombie Theme page. This will take you to the official, temporary Zombie Theme page, where, naturally, you can download my first publicly available theme. I made it just for the upcoming Halloween holiday. Well, and all the crazy zombie fans out there. (I have to confess, I’ve been reading a lot of zombie stuff lately. It’s a curse, I tell you!)

Anyway, enjoy!

So, now that I’ve gotten a little more used to the inside of the new WordPress, I’m probably going to make some changes to the part that you all see.  I’ll probably play around with the theme here, and on my other blogs, for the next couple of days.  I might not add or change much, but, then again, WordPress has added some cool new features since I upgraded last, so I might end up making some pretty significant changes, too.  In any case, don’t be alarmed if you see bits and pieces of the blog appear and disappear, or colors change or anything like that.  It’s just all part of Uncle Jim’s Master Plan for World Domination, aka Diary of a Network Geek Spring Cleaning/Remodeling.

I’ll let you know when I’m done, too.  Then, probably have you all vote on it.  Or something.

I’m sure most of the hardcore WordPress people have seen this already.
But, for the few of you who haven’t, check out the downloadable WordPress Theme Generator. Please note, though, that it will only install on Windows XP or above.