I’m sure there are plenty of bloggers outside of the writing community with the same problem. They use themes out-of-the-box not necessarily because they want to but because they don’t know how to change things. With those Wordpress or CSS newbies in mind, let’s take a non-technical look at some quick HTML and CSS tips and tricks a new Wordpress user can use to improve their blog design. Note: I’m not a designer — these are meant to be practical tips to help non-coders work around common Wordpress design issues on their own. I do not claim that they’re necessarily the best solutions in all cases. If you’d like to share other methods, please do so in the comments.

1. Replace your blog title with a logo

By default, your Wordpress theme might include a blog title link in the header, but to customize and brand your site you want to replace it with a logo. Here’s how to do that. First upload your logo image and have the URL / address for the file on-hand. Then go to the Wordpress templates editor in your admin panel and find header.php. You might see something like this:

<h1><a href=”<?php echo get_option(‘home’); ?>/”><?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?></a></h1>

That code adds a link to your home page (with the text of your blog title). On my business site, this is what the site name looks like without a logo:

If you want to use a logo image instead, you would remove everything between the <h1> tags and replace it with something like this:

<a href=”YourBlogURL.com”><img src=”WebAddressOfYourLogoGoesHere” alt=”YourBlogTitleGoesHere”/>

That code will add your logo in place of the linked blog title. Here is what my site’s name looks like when making the change:

2. Add margins around images or theme areas.

Is your new logo image all the way at the top of the screen or too far to the left? You can fix that by adding margins around the image. Here’s what your logo might look like without margins or padding:

Let’s look at some inline CSS you can use to adjust the margins / positioning of a specific image. Go back into your header.php file and find the logo code you just added. We’re going to wrap that code in div tags (the new code is bolded below). Here’s what you would get (and yes, I know that purists would prefer to do this in the stylesheet, but I’m sticking to inline here to give non-CSS folks easier control over individual images):

<div style=”margin: 9px 6px 9px 12px”><a href=”YourBlogURL.com”><img src=”WebAddressOfYourLogoGoesHere” alt=”YourBlogTitleGoesHere”/></div>

This adds a 9 pixel margin above the image, 6 pixels to the right, 9 pixels at the bottom, and 12 pixels on the left. You can use any margins that you want to — whatever works for your site’s design. Here’s what mine looks like when adjusted:

Note: If your theme’s stylesheet already moves your logo section away from the template edges, you might not need to do this, but you can still try it to see how it makes the logo move and apply the styling to other images as needed.

3. Change colors.

Sometimes you’ll find Wordpress themes you love, but you aren’t quite crazy about the color scheme. Fortunately that’s a very easy fix. Colors are represented by six-digit hex color codes. To change a color, you find the existing code in your stylesheet (style.css for most themes) and you swap it out with the hex code for the color you really want.

Take a look at my business writing blog as an example. I designed this site to be minimalist. As you can see on the live version the background is white. What if I wanted to give the body (the area surrounding the main theme / content area) a dark gray background for some contrast?

First, I would find the body style block in the stylesheet. It looks like this:

body {
background:#ffffff;
font-family: arial;
font-size: 14px;
padding:6px;
}

The #ffffff hex code represents the white background. Next I have to choose my desired shade of gray and find its hex code. I can do that using image editing software or by referring to a hex color chart. I’m going to choose the dark gray with the hex code of #333333. To make my body background gray, I just edit my style.css file and replace #ffffff with #333333. Here is the result:

Pro Business Writing Blog with a Gray Background

4. Change default font sizes.

Some themes have unusually small font sizes by default (I’m always baffled by how many designers think it’s a good idea). It can negatively impact readability. Again, it’s an easy fix. Just find the font size in your stylesheet and increase it. For example, the font size for the main blog content on the blog mentioned earlier is 14 px (you can see that in the body style code above).

I wanted my blog post headlines to be bigger though — 18px. So in my stylesheet I simply went to the area dictating h1 tag font style (h1 tags are your primary headings, like your blog title perhaps). Here is what it shows now:

.post h1 {
font-size: 18px;
color: #ff0033;
padding-bottom: 12px;
padding-top: 12px;
}

Note: The proper section of your stylesheet might be titled differently. For example, it might be called content instead of post, or you might not have post H1 tags — just default H1 tag styles that apply everywhere  on the site.

This is how the blog looks now, with post headings a larger font size than the post body text:

5. Add bullet images.

We all know that it’s important to use lists and bold headings when writing for the Web — it makes the content easier for a reader to visually scan through. But plain old bullet points are boring, and they make your website or blog look incredibly plain. Why not replace them with your own bullet images to either use pictures, shapes, or colors to help draw the readers’ eyes down your page? Here’s an example of the bullet images I use on my business writing blog:

I bring the pink from other areas of my site into my bullet points. You can do that by finding the unordered list (ul) styling in your style.css file and the list item styles for them (li). You would create and upload your image, and then just point your stylesheet to that bullet point file on your server. For example, here’s what mine looks like:

.post ul li {
background: url(images/bullet.gif) no-repeat 0 5px;
padding-left: 15px;
padding-bottom: 12px;
}

That code formats the bullet points for unordered lists (not numbered lists which are “ol” for ordered lists) in my blog posts. However, your stylesheet might format bullets in different areas of your site in different ways, such as your sidebar. If you want to use the same bullet point image for all, you’ll need to edit the list style for each section. I choose to use similar arrows, but gray ones, for my sidebar.

These might seem like very small changes on the surface, but those small design edits add up. You can take any existing theme and truly make it your own (figuratively speaking of course). In about a year I went from knowing nothing about coding to being able to code full css sites from scratch. Now I occasionally design and code my own simple Wordpress themes too. Even if this feels foreign to you now, stick with it. We aren’t all cut out to be designers (I’m certainly not!), but we can all learn enough to help us get what we want out of existing designs.

Cat Alley

by Bobby Chiu
Software: Painter, Photoshop

That sweetheart of a kitty begging its owner for some milk? This is what he does to the neighbor’s dog when you’re away.

What Your Cat Wants

by Serena De Biasi
Software: Painter

This one is definitely my kitty! My computer is turned on all day. It’s no wonder I found a file on world domination!

Fish And Cat at Granny’s House

by Dave Davidson
Software: CINEMA 4D

Looks like the cat of the future, but personally I prefer real cats to their mechanical brothers.

Dragoncat Test

by Matthew Romero
Software: 3ds max

Dragoncat speaks for itself, but I have to wonder what it eats. Dragon-mice?

Super Cat

by Lin Wu
Software: Photoshop

That’s a big angry cat in a wonderful Catland — Catzilla!

Cat Coffee

by Lin Wu
Software: Photoshop

And here’s a kitty’s perfect little dreamland — the place where all cats go to have fun when we’re not at home.

The Cat on the Roof

by Chekrigin Evgeniy
Software: Photoshop

Do you think that you are the only one looking at the stars and dreaming of other worlds? No way!

Cat

by Chekrigin Evgeniy
Software: Photoshop

That’s a moon cat. It visits small children who can’t sleep and tells them stories about wonderful Catland to lull them to sleep.

Cat Toy

by Laura Stevens
Software: Maya, mental ray

Want to hug that little creature? That’s a superhero cat whose aim is to save the world!

Cat with a Tail Hand

by Alperen Kahraman
Software: Photoshop

This cat looks kinda strange, but it’s pretty convenient to have a tail-hand. Don’t you think?

Cat

by Xoan Baltar
Software: Speed paint on Iphone whit Brushes app.

Mafia cat! Be careful playing with this self confident kitty.

Event cat create…)))

by Max Uzkikh
Software: 3ds max, VRay

This cat might be clever, but this also explains why the sand is always out of the box so quickly.

Bad Kitty

by Tamás Tóthfalussy
Software: 3ds max, mental ray, Photoshop, VRay

I didn’t do it! Blame the dog.

Tightrope Cat

by Eric Battandier
Software: 3ds max

That’s a good boy! Cats should also have some fun when we are out.

Website: http://new.typographica.org/

Typographica is an excellent review of typefaces and type books with occasional commentary on fonts and typographic design. The site was founded in 2002 by Joshua Lurie-Terrell.

Louis Verhoeve

Website: http://louisverhoeven.be

Louis Verhoeve is a Dutch designer who has a unique showcase on his portfolio website. He creates great font-based printed designs and book covers.

Silva! Designers

Website: http://www.silvadesigners.com/

Silva! Designers is an editorial design agency based in Chiado, Lisbon, old city. They do typographic design work for magazines, book covers, and catalogs. Their art is definitely stylish and original.

DSTYPE

Website: http://www.dstype.com/

DSTYPE specializes in creating custom typefaces. That includes designing completely new typefaces for every purpose as well as improving balance, legibility, and otherwise fine tuning existing typefaces and logotypes.

Denis Ponomarev

Website: http://www.verstak.ru/

Denis Ponomarev is a Russian typographer and graphic designer. He designs for books, magazines, CD covers, and other prints. His works are more than stylish.

Oliver Daxenbichler

Website: http://www.oliverdaxenbichler.com/

Oliver Daxenbichler is a German designer. His entire website is just one great portfolio showcasing some unbelievable conceptual works.

Frank Chimero

Website: http://www.frankchimero.com/

Frank Chimero’s a graphic designer teaching youth at Missouri S.U. about design foundations and typography. Each piece of his artwork is part of an exploration in finding wit, surprise, honesty, and joy in the world around us. For Frank the work is play, and the play is work.

TypeNeu

Website: http://typeneu.com/

TypeNeu is a typography blog. The website looks like a bunch of wallpapers glued together, showcasing a variety of info about fonts and typography.

Alison Carmichael

Website: http://www.alisoncarmichael.com/

Alison Carmichael creates amazing book covers, print advertisements, and graphic designs. She is an award-winning talent in typography and design.

86era

Website: http://www.86era.org/

86era is the portfolio of Maxwell Lord, a typographer and graphic designer. His works are fresh and you can find a huge collection of them on Flickr.

Marian Bantjes

Website: http://www.bantjes.com/

From the artist: “My ’style’ is always evolving, and if you look at my work you can see multiple interests emerge. People tend to think of me in terms of the swirly, pretty vector art, but it is much more varied than that. I’m quite happy that my work is eclectic while still personally identifiable.”

HMF

Website: http://www.handmadefont.com

HMF is an Estonian design company. They specialize in developing unique, nontraditional fonts and take inspiration from everything that surrounds them. All the fonts are made manually and this is an amazing, though very complicated, art.

Graphical House

Website: http://www.graphicalhouse.co.uk/

Scottish graphic designers at Graphical House show their design skills to be in a highly professional league. You can explore nice visual moments in all of their work. Their portfolio is truly impressive.

Studiosnooze

Website: http://www.studiosnooze.com/

Snooze is a Croatian studio. They provide a broad range of design services, maximizing the true potential of their clients by building sophisticated and innovative solutions that enable them to develop deeper and more personalized relationships with their customers…. At least that’s what they say.

Today Is Sunday

Website: http://www.todayissunday.com/

Today is Sunday is the portfolio of Carlos Guedes, Portuguese Interactive Art Director, visual effects aficionado, and surfer.

Typography Served

Website: http://www.typographyserved.com/

The Served site brings a steady supply of top quality creative work to the table. They comb through projects from the portfolios of the most talented creative people and teams around the world.

Demon

Harpy Demon

F.E.A.R.

Speak No Evil

BOXEL – Demon GIRL

Inocencia Perdida

Demon

Demon Taking Over

Nightmare Collection

My Sisters’ Sorrows Image

Heavens Mutant Children

Demons -And The Afterburn

Chaos Bringer

Scar Tissue

Inner Flame Demon

Teen Magazine Demon edition

Seducer + Destroyer

Have Faith And…

Poison

Quoth the Raven–Nevermore

Nevus Shroud

Darkness Surrounding

Fear of the Dark

Zombie Nation

A Fairy’s Dance

The Dance

To Dance

Dance

Let Your Body Dance

Dance

Joy of the Dance

Life is a Dance

Dance of Tranquility

Go Go Dance Yuri

Autumn Dance

Kerry Dance Room

Fire Angel

Gypsy Woman

Flutter Dance

Pretty Salome

Dance

Fools Can Dance

Candied Apples

Cloud Dancing

BaLLerina

Cosmic Girl

The Ballerina

Debonair

Portfolio: www.birdyandme.com.au

Kelly Smith lives and works in Tasmania, Australia. In 2006 she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Tasmanian School of Art and has since gone on to pursue of a freelance career in both portrait and fashion illustration.

Antoinette Fleur

Portfolio: www.antoinettefleur.fr

Antoinette Fleur is a young French fashion illustrator. She works with a felt pen and creates fantastic images of fashionable Parisians. Stunning and amazing work, frankly speaking I’ve never seen anything like that.

Miyuki Ohashi

Portfolio: www.miyukiohashi.net

Miyuki Ohashi is a Japanese illustrator, depicting glamorous women is simple strokes. Her style is unique and her artwork is truly amazing.

After the web 2.0 stream and during the last year some of developers started rethinking the usual approach to design of the hosting website. The clean CSS style with the 2.0 accent was obviously their aim. Nowadays CSS and web 2.0 approach to hosting website design is the new tendency that is getting stronger and stronger. Just think about it, if we find the website with the large fonts, lots of white space, clear icons and big buttons convenient, pleasant to the eye and easy to understand, why don’t we apply same concept to hosting website design.

I’ve prepared some CSS hosting designs that I personally like. Each one has it’s own unique style and stands out from the crowd. Follow the stream and be one of the first to join, as this is the key for success.

Littleoak Hosting

Website: www.littleoak.net

Hostnexus Hosting

Website: www.hostnexus.com

Virtualspirits Hosting

Website: www.virtualsplits.com

Manshosting Hosting

Website: www.manshostings.lv

Onlineeglo Hosting

Website: www.onlineglo.com.au

Churchmediahosting Hosting

Website: www.churchmediahosting.com

Bullethost Hosting

Website: www.bullethost.com

Crucialwebhost Hosting

Website: www.crucialwebhost.com

Eleven2 Hosting

Website: www.eleven2.com

Vps Hosting

Website: www.vps.net

Micromediahosting Hosting

Website: www.micromediahosting.com

Suprasshosting Hosting

Website: www.surpasshosting.com

Motion-hosting Hosting

Website: www.motion-hosting.com

Webfusion Hosting

Website: www.webfusion.com

They have winners in several categories: best for ambiance/design, best for facilities, best for food, best for location, best for rooms, and best for service.

Since we’re mostly interested in the design aspect of the hotel rankings, we decided to turn our attention to the hotels chosen for the best designs — not the hotel interior/exterior, but the website design. Having reviewed several websites, we thought it would be nice to make some kind of a contest not just for design and look, but for the website usability as well. IMHO, the most luxurious hotels should pay more attention to their online presence.

Thinking about the perfect hotel website (in my understanding) I’ve made a list of several features the judging is based on. I’ll list them below.

• Professional photos of the hotel and surrounding area, preferably changing in flash with a version of the website with bigger fonts for aged people or just fonts big enough in general;
• Icons to change the language of the website (except for US and UK since English is an international language;
• An area to make a reservation on the home page (I don’t want to dig inside the website looking for the appropriate page if I already know I want to stay there);
• A search area for quick access to the info needed;
• Testimonials from some rich people, celebrities, or other notable customers;
• Some kind of promotion to attract potential clients, or at least a section with some interesting news

Here are the screen shots for the websites we evaluated, followed by a table showing how each website ranked

EVASON ANA MANDARA & SIX SENSES SPA, NHA TRANG, VIETNAM

Website: http://www.sixsenses.com/evason/index.php

MANDARIN ORIENTAL DHARA DHEVI, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

Website: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/

RAMBAGH PALACE, JAIPUR, INDIA

I couldn’t find their website, so they are out of the list.

HAYMARKET HOTEL, LONDON, ENGLAND

Website: http://www.firmdale.com/index.php?page_id=8

FASANO SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

Website: http://www.fasano.com.br/site_hoteis_en.php

HUKA LODGE, NEW ZEALAND

Website: http://www.hukalodge.co.nz/

SAINT-BARTH ISLE DE FRANCE, ST BARTS

Website: http://www.isle-de-france.com/

THE SETAI, MIAMI, USA

Website: http://www.setai.com/

BABINGTON HOUSE, SOMERSET, ENGLAND

Website: http://www.babingtonhouse.co.uk/
This one never opened for me so it’s out of the list (a perfect example of poor usability).

ONE ALDWYCH, LONDON, ENGLAND

Website: http://www.onealdwych.com/

THE BULGARI, MILAN, ITALY

Website: http://bulgarihotels.com

HOTEL ASTORIA, ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Website: http://www.thehotelastoria.com/

YASAWA ISLAND RESORT & SPA, FIJI

Website: http://www.yasawa.com/

BAY OF FIRES, TASMANIA , AUSTRALIA

Website: http://www.bayoffires.com.au/

COCOA ISLAND, MALDIVES

Website: http://www.cocoaisland.como.bz/default.asp

G HOTEL, GALWAY, IRELAND

Website: http://www.theghotel.ie/

SABI SABI EARTH LODGE, SOUTH AFRICA

Website: http://www.sabisabi.com/

SINGITA SABI SAND, SOUTH AFRICA

Website: http://www.singita.com/

These are the design parameters that we’ll be using for our contest:
- Up-to date design

- Luxury look

- Unique design approach

- Full screen or narrow

- Quality of the photos

- Colors pleasant to the eye

- The quality of photos

And the measurements are: “0″- not matching, “1″- so-so, “2″- not bad, “3″-good. There’s no “great” here — just my own opinion.

Design Elements

Usability Elements

As we can see the absolute winner when we total the points is the SABI SABI EARTH LODGE reserve. What do you think guys?

Illustration.

Painting.

Drawing.

Graphics.

Mistic Night

Follow me

Walking in the fog

Trees in fog

Fog…

Fmora myhra

Fog

Soul of a fog

Book of fairy tales

Castle in the fog

Fog

11

The Fog

Fog takes the hill

Fog Walkers

Fog is…2

Fog

Demons of the fog

Her Ghost in the Fog

Fog..

21

Fog

Winter arrives

31

The Misty Land

The magic of the deep forest

DaRK FoReST

Some place

The Road to Wirikuta

41

Familiars

Come down