I’d like to introduce the “Optimized Overshadowed” theme that I have spent hours perfecting and optimizing. I’ve taken a WordPress template and have completely revamped the stylesheet, images and design to create a unique experience for blog owners.

The WordPress Theme:

Attractive and Professional Font Replacement:

As you can see, I have applied a custom font to the header and sub-title which I have utilized Cufon for. It also has a nice drop shadow effect to it – I’m always a sucker for those types of things!

Then we have the content area. This area also uses Cufon for the H1, H2, H3 and H4 headers which keep the font family consistent. Perhaps the more important thing here is the SEO. I’ve spent a lot of time fine tuning this theme to give you the best rankings in the search engines as well as modifying the header.php to reflect your blog post title.

Free “SEO” WordPress Theme:

Now that Google is starting to look at page load speed as a ranking factor, I’ve kept this theme very lightweight and all of the images are compressed using Photoshops compression techniques and then compressed again with Smush.it by Yahoo. This ensures that you are serving the content as fast as possible to the new visitor. The backgrounds are all 1px in either height or width and then repeated using CSS, which also increases the page load speed.

I’ve even taken the initiative to compress the CSS for you in which all the whitespace is eliminated. I believe that I compressed the final filesize over 30% less!

Automatic Page Generation in Navigation Bar:

Thats right! If you make a new page in your WordPress admin area, the navigation bar will add the title of that page to the navigation bar, allowing fast access to your WordPress pages. No editing required.

Clean Icons suitable for WordPress:

The sidebar has custom icons to reflect different aspects of a blog as you can see below:

Preview:

Go to http://blogpro.me to preview this theme.

How can you get this theme?

Simply subscribe to the RSS Feed! The link at the bottom of each post will have the direct download link.

Suggestions?

I’m always open to suggestions on how to make this WordPress theme better – Feel free to email me or comment below.

Conclusion:

As usual, stay tuned! I have some great website related tutorials and content coming soon.

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

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I’ll be honest – I hate Internet Explorer 6. Its out of date methods of rendering the web cause me the largest headaches and frustration that I can’t even begin to explain. However, being a web designer, that is no excuse not to ensure that your client’s websites render properly in this browser. 14.24% of their conversions depend on the rendering of that website!

As of December 2009, 14.24% of the Statcounter enabled websites have recorded the visitors using Internet Explorer 6. I thought that the stat had dropped to single digits ages ago, but it appears that I am wrong. Many people still haven’t upgraded from the damned browser that was released over 8 years ago.

Thankfully the browser is slowly dying, at the start of 2009 in January over 23% of internet users were using IE6. I could see this browser sticking around for another 2-3 years at the current rate of depreciation in percentage.

Make sure your websites render (or partially render) in IE6!

Nothing would frustrate me more if I had took the time to write articles that people were coming to through search engines, website referrals, etc. and then to have my website look terrible to the end user. Yes, the content may be “readable” but if the blog looks terrible, they won’t be coming back. TOO MUCH work went into the process to deter the visitor off of my content because of their browser choice.

Take the time to test and fix problems

You can download MultipleIEs (WIN) for this task, as it allows you to run IE6, IE 5.5 etc in parallel with your current Internet Explorer installation. I’ve installed it on my computer and use it anytime I design a client’s website. For Mac users, you could try downloading Wine and using the IEs4Linux installer script.

Problems with my Blog in Internet Explorer 6:

I was actually surprised when everything rendered pretty well in IE6. There was only one major problem that I had to address.

Problem #1 – Transparent .PNGs:

Well, this one was actually pretty easy. I use a script that you can download called IEPNGFIX.HTC which forces .PNG transparency on any image you determine in the header of your blog (or website). The only problem with it is that it doesn’t work with absolute positioning, which can be a pain for some.

The Fix: Add the image classes into the script mentioned above.

Conclusion:

Many people protest that IE6 is a bad browser and want it to be history, therefore not supporting it on their website or their clients websites. Personally, I think that’s a stupid idea due to the 14% of internet users that still use it… why make your job harder by not supporting a browser?

How do you make the IE6 browser behave?

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

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I’m not exactly sure how they would take into the account of Flash and/or Javascript into their algorithms as each website is unique in that sense. Even the size of the HTML – Will larger pages be ranked higher than short summary posts? The Caffiene update is scheduled to hit the Google datacenters in the new year, so start optimizing your site today.

Be sure to stay tuned – I plan on talking about techniques that I use here on my blog to make it as fast as possible for visitors.

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

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How Cufon Is Different:

• Cufon listens to your CSS Stylesheet. Set a line-height, make the font-size larger, add some font-weight… the possibilities are amazing.
• SEO Friendly – If a spider comes on to your blog or website, Cufon will not style the text, allowing them to index it normally.
• Cufon has an option that you can set that allows you to set a colour gradient (IE – #FFFFFF, #1a1a1a will make the text have a white top and dark grey bottom, generating a gradient in between the two values). You can use any CSS2 value and the Cufon system will generate it.
• Unblockable by web browsers (except if they block Javascript, in which case no text rendering engines will work) – No images or Flash is used to create it. It uses VML and Canvas to render the text to the browser.

Cufon may be the text replacement tool of the decade. Allowing you to upload any .TTF font into their website allows you to convert the font into a code that Cufon can read. To activate Cufon for your H1 headings on your webpage, your code would look something like this:

%MINIFYHTML4934ac97a8fc650f2029ce24d5da70a60%%MINIFYHTML4934ac97a8fc650f2029ce24d5da70a61%%MINIFYHTML4934ac97a8fc650f2029ce24d5da70a62%

Not only does it take a few easy steps to set up, you don’t need to edit any configuration files to begin using it. You simply paste the code in your header and select the code to be replaced by the custom font.

Conclusion:

Overall, I think this is the easiest way to put custom text on a website. Due to its ease to set up, the dead simple font conversion, this really makes this the ultimate way to render text.

What font replacement tools or techniques do you use on your website? Is there a better alternative out there than Cufon?

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

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Wow… 2 years ago I bought the domain and invested $200 for a 3 year hosting contract thinking that this would just be for fun. A blog branded as my name couldn’t of been very popular, yet here this blog has grown exponentially each month. I’m truly amazed.

I’d like to thank anyone that has ever left a comment, subscribed to the RSS Feed, sent me an email or even loaded the URL in their browser bar. Without your support, I doubt I would be still here writing content for this blog.

The New Design

As you can see this blog has gotten a very clean makeover, featuring a dark blue header with the large BradBlogging Logo. There are four icons beside the header…

1. RSS Subscribe
2. RSS Subscribe Via Email
3. Contact Brad
4. Add Me On Skype (The option of real-time chat.. a nice touch I think.)

There is also a new slogan to the blog, “Building the Internet… One Step At a Time” which reflects the change in mindset I’ve had for this blog. Before now, this blog has been focused on blogging tips to improve your own blog, but I’ve learned that you can only read so much before it gets redundant. So here is the ultimate blogging tip: Blog. Like anything that requires skill, you only get better by doing.

The New Mindset On The Content:

I’m going to be focusing more on startup websites (reviewing them and giving an opinion on it), XHTML coding tips, Cool CSS tricks and WordPress tweaks that you can do to your own blog and website. I think that this will benefit people more through the content than before.

The Rest of The Design:

Fixed Width, Minor Gradients behind the content and sidebar boxes. Custom code on the sidebar to pull the subscriber count from Feedburner. Overall, a much cleaner design than before.

I look forward to writing more content that will help people in practical blog situations. Stay tuned up to this blog for some awesome articles!

Your Say:

What do you think of the new design? Is it better than the old one?

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

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The program is called XAMPP and contains everything you need to install WordPress in a single installation file (Apache Server, MYSQL Database, PHP Installation). It is as simple as:

1. Downloading the files (Win, Mac or Linux)
2. Installation of the files
3. Launching the program and turning on the following: Apache, MYSQL
4. Installing WordPress like on a normal server

Once done, you can simply download your theme files (and optionally, your posts) to your local installation of WordPress and begin tweaking your code.. Without damaging anything that is on the internet.

If you break something in your files, simply overwrite from your server and start again!

For more information about how to do this, please see the following articles:

• OSSBlogger’s Installation Guide
• DivittoDesign’s Installation Guide

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Ebook: Download

The New Blog Design Features:

• An original logo designed by im3d – I’d like to thank him for the fantastic job he did with the customized B and Bloggervenue.com for the refferal (Oddly enough, through a post that he did on his new logo).
• More organized sidebar with the use of ubër cool icons.
• Dynamic width of content and sidebar depending on your screen resolution.
• A New Favicon – the logo looks great even shrunk
• Link Highlights – any links on the the blog will highlight a light green when you scroll over it.. meaning that it is clickable.
• Search boxes that will clear upon people clicking them – faster searches/email subscriptions.
• Interesting navigation bar, high-lights upon scrolling over it.

Of course, no design that I’ve (or anyone else) coded is perfect. I realize that it might take a while before it is completely polished, or if I decide to add new features to the design.. Can’t really think of anything right now that would benefit the reader.

If any glitches or design errors arise while your visiting the site, I simply ask you to comment on this post or contact me directly via email. You’d be helping me out with problems that I didn’t forsee during the testing that I did. Thanks, and heres to some more great content with a slick new design!

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

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Alright time to get to the point, which is asking the readers of the blog if they would be interested in a “free” custom wordpress theme that I would design and release. It would be simple enough to not distract your readers from your content, but elegant enough for them to notice the aspects of the template. I have a couple of good ideas, but it is always great to have more.

If you like the idea and are curious as to what the template would look like, comment below and throw in what makes a well-designed blog template. It’s just another thought that I had to benefit the readers of Bradblogging.com

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Ebook: Download

• They don’t see a long-term commitment to writing blog posts
• Their budget isn’t enough for a designer to create a template
• Are unsure if “Blogging” consistently (With Quality) is what they like to do.

So if you are tired of WordPress’s default “Kubrick” theme or simply would like to spice up your blog with a new look, I have compiled a list of 100 designs that surely stand out from the others.

Blog Theme That BradBlogging.com Used Before The Custom Design:

A very professional looking template that focuses the reader’s attention on the content.

WordPress Blog Template Location: Available Here

5 Designs That Excel Your Blog From The Others:

A slick blue and grey design that has a unique look to it.

WordPress Blog Template Location: Available Here

This Vertigo Blue template is very simple with a interesting colour scheme.

WordPress Blog Template Location: Available Here

A Newer WordPress Template that uses a Dark Blue theme to showcase the content. It also blends the sidebar in with the other shades, so it attracts the visitors eye to the post first.

WordPress Blog Template Location: Available Here

A dark green WordPress Blog Template that is easy on the eyes. This blog template includes the date of the post as well as a black background for the post title.

WordPress Blog Template Location: Available Here

Dark Blue WordPress Template. Simple and to the point.

WordPress Blog Template Location: Available Here

Subscribe Now For Part Two – Part Four! You will not regret seeing some new WordPress templates that you can use for your unique blog.

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

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Anyhow, enough about me and lets get to the part where you change your title to whatever you would like to say about your blog. If you would kindly log into your wordpress administration area and select “Presentation” (WordPress 2.3.3 and Under – You Should Really Update Your CMS) or “Design” (WordPress 2.5).

Then select your theme and locate your “Header.php” file so we can make the changes to your blog.

Simply now look for the <title> </title> tags in your header file and change the words to whatever you like. Alternatively, you could download the “All In One SEO” plugin and change it through that, but this method is faster than installing a plugin. (Although, It could help you be better friends with Google and I do recommend that you download and install it.)

Congratulations, you’ve just changed your title. Don’t forget to include keywords that your blog focuses on for SEO rankings!!

[tags] All in one Seo Plugin, Blog, Change Title, Google, SEO rankings, Title, Title Browser, WordPress, WordPress 2.3.3, WordPress 2.5 [/tags]

Optimized Overshadowed Wordpress Theme

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Wordpress Theme: Download

The Blog Manual Ebook

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed! Here is your direct download link for the Ebook: Download