=>~ $300: WordPress Design for PaddyBloggit.com ($150 for .psd & $150 for coding) ~<=

Template Edited.

 

FOR THOSE STILL IN THE CONTEST:

~~~ andrej, coolwanz & designX ~~~


===> THE CONTEST PRIZE IS NOW $250 <===

Winner takes all! (No second prize this time ..... sorry)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

==> Last set of tweaks upon us!

andrej:

The colours need to be a little more vibrant. What about tinging with green etc.? See what you can do.

coolwanz:

* Search box - can it be a little smaller ... i.e. have a little more border around it?
* 'Share This' button at end of each post.
* by Paddy Bloggit etc. (the name of the person who writes the post)
* Any other tidying up that you think design may need. (Education => correct spelling)

designX:

Your design needs tidying up and the colours need to be a little more vibrant. Again, see what you can do.

I am choosing a designer to complete the project on Thursday 17th of May 2007 at 9.00 p.m. (GMT) - approximately 21 hours from now).


===> By the way I will give a green rep to all those who submitted an entry into my competition ..... <===

 

How much time do we have to edit the templates?

I also wonder if there is anything else besides the colours that shall I change on my template?

I'm going to bed soon, but will edit my entry tomorrow.

 

You have about 21 hours before I choose either you, coolwanz or designX.

I will check into DP about 7 hours from now, and again about 9 hours after that .... and then on and off until I finally choose.

Use your creative skills and come up with your final tweaked design. I think I've said enough at this stage. Most of what I'm looking for is on the thread.

I'll go through the finer details with the contest winner.
All three designs have elements that I like .... the only definite thing I can say now is that I will choose one of them in less than 21 hours.

After that I shall start looking for a good, experienced coder. I will also run a contest for an avatar, link image and a banner for the site - but I'll probably hold off on this contest until the site is active.

Does this clarify my position?

 

Its okay Tetragon, its my hard luck.
Best luck all of you.
Thanks
Shaz

 

Thanks Shaz!

..... I'm sorry that your design didn't appeal to me. I appreciate the amount of time you spent working on your design ..... thank you for your entry and best of luck with your future contest entries. I will green rep you for your efforts when the contest is over.

 

Template Tweak No.4

 

Thanks coolwanz ...............


Will you PM me a direct download link so that I can save your design image on my pc ..... I want to be able to look it over properly tomorrow?

If you wish you can zip your last few design images on NippyZip (one of my sites) and PM me the download link.

If you make any further changes please post it on the thread until I decide on a winner. I'm only using PM here because I can't save your image from the site you have it hosted at.

==> Use NippyZip please .... thanks!

 

sure, mate no problem. I'll do that now.

 

Looking forward to that coolwanz!

andrej and designX:

Use NippyZip if you want to zip and send more than one design to me ..... but still post on this thread. PM me the link if you do.

I will be printing out the latest tweaked designs again tomorrow. Last chance at tweaking guys.

 

Ohhh, I'm joining.. I hope you give this contest more time as I've stumbled on this just now. Expect an entry from me.

Here are my past designs:
http://www.amacdo.com/screenshot/

and a few released themes:
http://themes.wordpress.net/index.php?s=chiq+montes

Thanks!

 

Sorry cdotech .... you are too late ....

Contest is now confined to andrej, coolwanz and designX.

New entries are not being accepted.

I will be choosing a winner from the three finalists (andrej, coolwanz and designX)

==> This is to be fair to the designers who have submitted and resubmitted entries etc. The increase in prize money from $200 to $250 is by way of a 'thank you' to the overall winner ..... for sticking to the thread and coming up with the winning tweaked design. The extra $50 is to reward perseverence on the thread.

Only thing I'll be sorry for is that there will be two people who will be disappointed ..... the only consolation I can give is I will be running another WordPress design contest and I'll be asking all three designers to submit private entries to it. I won't be advertising it publically here.

I will be running a public contest for an avatar, a link image and a banner image for the site ..... you are welcome to submit an entry for that when the contest is posted.

 

I will submit layout in few hours!

Thanks!

 

Feedback to andrej, coolwanz and designX:

andrej:

* Header - I don't like the font you have used with the title 'Paddy Bloggit'. It is, however, in the correct position, it is clear and prominent so that visitors can see it when they enter the site.

* The middle of the header is too dark. The building is undefined, it could be any building in the world, it doesn't do anything for the site at the moment.

* I don't like the 'depressed button' effect of the links in the top tab. I would also prefer the top tab links to be aligned left - this means the avatar image area needs to be moved - in a way similar to coolwanz's layout.

* the search box need to be a little more subtle.

* The beige background doesn't appeal to me - a possible way of making it better would be to use a green colour for the border - a green similar to the one designX used perhaps.

* I like the positioning of the banner - it is out of the way and it doesn't interfere with the posts.


coolwanz:

* The design layout is neat and a user/visitor can see at a glance where everything is.

* The design is still too narrow and it needs to be widened; it contains too much in too little an area. An example of this is the header - there is too much happening in it and it is a little bit too dark. Your header images need to be a little bit sharper .... e.g. the buildings need more definition. DesignX's header is 'photo sharp' in comparison which I like.

* The statue in the centre of the header needs to move to the left possibly. It is too promiment where it is and it looks as if it is Paddy Bloggit. Again, widening the design may help you here.

* The overall green colour used is a little bit too dark. You have to be careful changing it as it may destroy the look you are trying to achieve. Widening and lightening the design may make this a winning design.

* Widening the design might help to unclutter the header image area.

* The W.B.Yeats quotation needs to be written in sentence case.

* The Irish flag needs more definition.

* 'Paddy Bloggit' - fill the title with the green, white and gold (orange) of the flag as you did in a previous edit. Insert horizontal space between the 'Paddy' and 'Bloggit. Widening the design might allow you to try having the text 'Paddy Bloggit' on the one line like andrej/designX.

* Top links area - get rid of the brown triangular image after 'Contact Us'.

* Footer area - too much detail in the image - it might be better off without it.
Suggestion: How would 3 columns look there? -Left: 'Recent Post' Middle: 'Recent Comments' and Right: area for 85x15 images/RSS tag etc.

* At the moment the colour of the posting's header/title is wrong .... changes may solve this.

* Google AdSense box .... vertical lines on the left may make it difficult to integrate them into the colour of the design/site.

* Calendar needs a header/title area to match the other boxes.

* The green/white/gold (orange) line break between posts is good but the white isn't white. Think more about this.

* I don't like the banner placement within the posting area.


designX:

* Header is good, it is very clear and clearly defined. I like the green colour you have used.

* The title 'Paddy Bloggit' - I don't like the font and it would be better to use the same font for both words and insert a space. The colour may need to be changed - I don't know if the black works in the design.

* Title should be the first thing noticed when the page is opened. When the site will have banners the 'Paddy Bloggit' title will need to be stronger to overcome the inserted banner an in particular if rotating banners are used. You may need to increase the height of the area where title fits to make it more prominent - use your design judgement for this.

* Top links area - the font you have used is good. They are neat and professional looking.

* Left Column - 'Paddy Bloggit' box too wide. Coolwanz's 'About Us' layout with avatar better.

* Centre Column - Speech bubble - face it right towards post title.

* Right Column - Google ads on top, calendar underneath, keep widths the same. The calendar need a header/title area and it alos need to match the design of the other boxes.


===> At the moment coolwanz streamlined layout is good but designX's clarity is better .... andrej's design has merit but needs alot of tweaking in comparison with the other two.

Come on .... make your site work for me!

To get this right .... I will defer choosing a winner for another 24 to 48 hours. The designs all have good points but they also have alot of tweaking etc. to be done to them before I can make a decision. I don't want to rush a design change .... so the deadline will be moved on if necessary!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

designX: Read comments above before you start your redesign!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To all:
At this stage I'm willing to answer questions via MSN if it will help clarify design issues .... PM me if you want my MSN contact ....

 

So when is the deadline? I've just come from school.

-----------

I've got these:
design1
design2

Please tell me which template (if any) has better colours. Also, is the search box OK now?

I'm working on the header and top menu tab, too. I'll post what I get soon.

 

andrej:

Design 2 has a better shade of green in it.

As for final deadline ..... that's depends on each person's last tweak of their design. This should take no more than 24 hours. The last set of comments on all submitted designs lists what I like/don't like about each person's design. I want to allow each person time to see if they can use my last set of comments to come as close to 100% to what I want ..... then I choose. A maximum of 24 hours from now should allow everyone to do that. I've analysed the three entries .... up to the designers to make the changes if they can.


Final Deadline is:

Friday 18th of May 2007 at 10.00 p.m. (GMT) ..... I will take Saturday to look at submissions and will announce my decision after that.

 

Here's my tweak

If you feel anything still needs to be changed, just tell me.

-----------------

One detail:


When typing text into the search box, it would be highlighted.

 

Thanks andrej ..........

I'll make my decision on this design by you and the last designs submitted by the other two designers by the deadline tomorrow night.

If tweaking needs to be done with the winning design I'll sort the tweaks with the designer after the contest has finished.


===> Nice touch! ==> "When typing text into the search box, it would be highlighted."

 

In my opinion the title text looks worse now, doesn't sit well imo. Still, maybe the CH thinks differently.

 

Actually I agree with you DaveyBoy. Poor 'Paddy' has been exposed to a dose of radiation!

Also the screenshot of the highlighted search box doesn't match the search box shown in the revised design.

To all:

This contest could go on forever if I keep asking for tweaks .... so I'm not going to anymore .... until the winning designer is chosen .... if something bothers me in the winning design I'll get it fixed then.

I'll be basing my choice on how close the designer has interpreted what I'm looking for and how they incorporate it into their design.