Alrighty then! Looks like recent changes to site structure have really dropped a bomb on quite a few regular visitors out there. After switching over to the new default theme last night, I had setup an email notification system to alert me of all errors encountered at this domain (i.e., the main site and all test sites). Of course, I knew that at least a few errors would be inevitable, but I had no idea that I would receive nearly 300 of them!
After examining the nature of these errors, it appears that the bulk of them are the result of either Google showing confusion over the new image directory structure, or people visiting the site with a browser cache full of old theme files. Apparently, a few visitors were actually using some of the alternate themes that I had provided via the previous default theme. So, now that the alternate themes have been removed (temporarily, for a few months), visitors are experiencing errors when they visit the site. Uhh, not so good, especially for them.
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Just a note to let everyone know that I am switching the site’s default theme this evening. The new theme is similar, yet different (drop by to see what I mean), and will be switched over as soon as everything is ready behind the scenes (plugins, etc.). Also, until I am able to update the mobile CSS styles, the site may appear a little bonkers when viewed via mobile device. In the meantime, as the new theme goes live, many functional aspects of the site will also be changing (such as the WordPress 2.3 upgrade). So, as things unfold, please be patient with me, as I continue to work diligently to get everything working smoothly again. And, if you happen to notice any serious errors or discrepancies, please hoot and/or holla at me. That would be just swell. Thank you ;)
When I first began Perishable Press, I intended the site to focus primarily on the creative side of web and graphic design. However, I also wanted to share equally my ideas and experiences involving music, video, and other multimedia avenues of creative expression. Further, because I enjoy writing, and find myself frequently focusing on art, inspiration, and artistic expression, the initial plan encompassed a perpetual exploration and presentation of these topics here at Perishable Press.
Two years later, the original vision continues to change. Perishable Press has evolved into a site that focuses almost exclusively on technical aspects of web design. Although readers may occasionally experience a few digressions into graphic design, photography, and creative expression, these topics no longer represent the primary purpose of the site. Currently, visitors to the site will notice a plethora of content aimed at helping designers, developers, and bloggers excel on the Internet. Over the course of fifteen redesigns, the look and feel of Perishable Press has managed almost completely to evolve synchronously with the content. Almost..
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The minimalist theme is crisp and clean. Featuring a three-column satellite menu-page to reduce clutter and streamline usability, the minimalist theme is designed to present site content with sophistication and elegance.
The minimalist theme is XHTML 1.1 strict, employs nearly valid CSS (ha!), and features browser-safe colors and universal fonts all delivered via concise, two-column liquid layout.
Mindfully detailed and carefully prepared, the minimalist theme provides plenty of room for customization and expansion.
This theme is offered absolutely free under open source GPL. Instructions are included along with a complete set of files and images. Relatively simple installation.
The minimalist theme has been tested with Mozilla Firefox 1 & 2, Internet Explorer 6 & 7, Netscape 7+, and Opera 8+. Note: minimalist looks best when viewed via Firefox.. ;)
Screenshot of minimalist on Firefox
Live demo of minimalist via Perishable Press »
Download minimalist [ v1.2 | ~26KB | .zip | 3817 downloads ]
Previous Versions
For many months, visitors to Perishable Press encountered the highly customized Jupiter! theme. Utilizing sIFR, Prototype, Lightbox, and several other bandwidth-heavy scripts, the Jupiter! theme weighs in at well over 400KB/page when saved as an offline copy. The Jupiter! theme also employs every plugin used here at Perishable Press, resulting in even slower performance for broadband users, and utterly painful experiences for those on modem/dial-up.
Recently, we decided to give Jupiter! a facelift and dump the heavy baggage. The idea was to create a theme aesthetically similar to Jupiter!, focusing on speed and usability without sacrificing essential functionality. The result is Lithium, the eleventh WordPress theme from Perishable Press & Monzilla Media. Lithium is lightweight, accessible, user-friendly, XHTML-strict, and provides helpful features such as tags, keywords, gravatars, as well as comment enhancements and autodiscovery feeds. Best of all, Lithium provides the same overall "look and feel" as Jupiter!, but with better, brighter colors and sharper, sexier details.
Nonetheless, there are yet simpler, more refined themes in the works for Perishable Press. By the time you read this, in fact, the Lithium theme may no longer appear as the site's "default" theme. So, for the record, here are links to Jupiter!, Lithium, and a selection of all Press themes.
Website makeover in progress (again). Actually, this website will probably exist in a perpetually evolving state until the end of time. It is simply too much fun to tweak, build, and learn. I now consider this website a project devoted to writing articles and practicing WordPress, web design, scripting, accessibility, and SEO. So feel free to look around, read some Nonsense, and get into some Business, but don’t be surprised if the universe folds or the sky turns red during your visit…
The latest Perishable WordPress theme, Information, enjoys a fixed-width, XHTML strict layout with a sprinkle of JavaScript for panel dropdowns and double link pops ( i.e., all the trimminz ).. Information will be released to the public in the near future.
Screenshot of Information on Firefox
Download Information (coming soon!)
Headline 2.0 released! — Like the Apathy Theme, Monzilla’s new Headline theme for WordPress is bandwidth friendly, XHTML strict, and employs universal fonts & colors. Also like the Apathy theme, Headline presents as a digital version of the classic printed newspaper. Indeed, whereas Apathy is a full-screen, fluid three-column layout, Headline is a condensed, fixed-width three-column layout that looks great even at 800×600 resolution. The latest version, Headline 2.0, also features additional graphical embellishments, enhanced list action, sharper layout, cleaner code, and improved functionality.
Screenshot of Headline 2.0 on Firefox
Download Headline 2.0 [ v2.0 | ~135KB | .zip | 1674 downloads ]
Previous version
The Apathy theme is a crisp, universal three-column dynamic layout that is extremely lightweight and casual. The theme emulates a digital version of the traditional newsprint format, and validates as XHTML strict. Although the CSS only approaches valid, Apathy appears virtually identical on all modern browsers. If you are focusing on text-based content and strive toward coherent, concise presentation, the Apathy theme will serve you well..
Update: Apathy version 2.7 now is officially released! The new version features a triple-loop, liquid-width, three-column layout as well as a completely redesigned code base and improved graphical interface. Further, Apathy 2.7 includes many new configuration options and provides detailed comments and installation instructions. Plus, Apathy employs strictly valid XHTML, nearly valid CSS, universal fonts, and browser-safe colors. Check it out!
Screenshot of Apathy on Firefox
Download Apathy [ v2.7 | ~96KB | .zip | 2512 downloads ]
Previous versions
The Perishable Press portfolio of themes for the WordPress publishing platform is developed and maintained by Monzilla Media. When complete, our WordPress theme portfolio will consist of 26 alphabetically named themes, a unique theme for every letter of the alphabet. Currently, eight of our thirteen themes have been prepared and are available for public download.
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This website is the product of over three months of code, design, redesign, and eyedrops. It takes advantage of WordPress 2.0, which has been functioning flawlessly. The Monzilla website (and all subsequent sites) will also employ WP 2.0, or whichever version is the most current at the time of design.
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At last we are witnessing the completion of a WordPress theme that should endure at least the next year. If I find myself redesigning the Perishable Press website yet again sometime during 2006, then I should just walk away from it all. The Information skin has plenty of features to keep me busy and lots of nooks and crannies for some serious chillz.
Update (02/07/06): Okay, so maybe I should just walk away from all of this WP business. Here it is, 2006, and I am once again redesigning the Perishable Press website. The last redesign (i.e., the Information theme) employed JavaScript, style-switchers, many plugins, and a heavily hacked WP 1.5 engine. Needless to say, although the Information theme was indeed XHTML-strict and theoretically universal, IE6 choked on it, dial-up modems choked on it, and it would have eventually collapsed upon itself due to its immense, convoluted structure. As much as I loved its look and feel, I had to junk it in order to simplify, streamline, and get serious about future developments. So, I completely erased the old site and replaced it with this fresh, new version, which runs on WP 2.0, doesn’t require JavaScript, and is extremely universal and bandwidth friendly. Plus it validates on all fronts and boasts simplicity and elegance over tricks and gimmicks. How long before the next redesign? God only knows.
This theme is actually a conglomeration of several thematic elements from my first few stabs at skinning an old b2evolution blog. As with the recently released Finished theme, the XHTML markup and corresponding CSS for this skin were downright scary. That may have been because of all the drugs I was taking at the time. But writing the garbage theme was so much fun, I just had to revisit it after sobering up a little. What I found was some real garbage, so I did the time and totally tied it off proper. Before the redesign, it was awful code that produced an awful-looking skin, but now it’s way better because pristine code is producing an awful-looking skin.
Screenshot of Garbage on Firefox
Download Some Garbage [ v1.0 | ~135KB | .zip | 1563 downloads ]
The “Finished” skin is actually an old b2evolution blog skin that I really enjoyed creating. The original markup was hideous, and the CSS was just a mess. But that was then and this is now. Completely rewritten with structural markup and presentational CSS, “Finished” won’t feel so abandoned and alone anymore.
Screenshot of Finished on Firefox
Download Finished [ v1.0 | ~74KB | .zip | 1517 downloads ]
Entropic Delightz! — The disproportionate inverse of Monzilla’s recently released DOS_FX theme. As with the DOS_FX theme, Entropy is bandwidth-friendly, color-safe, structurally sound, and XHTML strict. Very minimalistic and casual…
Screenshot of Entropy on Firefox
Download Entropy [ v1.0 | ~35KB | .zip | 1582 downloads ]
It’s pure DOS, Baby! — Behold, locked in a laboratory clean-room for hours with only archaic operating systems at hand, I found myself amazed by the uncompromising utility of a Windows DOS console. After a few traceroutes I found myself barfing up the illest CSS on the earth — moments later, DOS_FX was born…
This skin is ultra-lightweight, color-safe, image-friendly, and XHTML strict. Other than that, it’s so cool because it reminds us that DOS is really very special.
Screenshot of DOS_FX on Firefox
Download DOS_FX [ v1.0 | ~33KB | .zip | 1628 downloads ]
Perishable Press serves ‘em Bananaz with this release of the Bananaz theme for WordPress. Highly customizable, this unique two-column hybrid design merges fixed-width content with a liquid header and footer. Also, the Bananaz theme employs structural HTML markup and the miracle of CSS to function consistently across browsers while validating as XHTML strict. Plus, Bananaz is configured to support several popular WordPress functions and plugins (see install notes for complete details).
!UPDATE: Bananaz 2.0 now available! Bananaz 2.0 features consolidated and enhanced CSS & XHTML because I just can’t get enough of that good-old, down-home markup-presentation dichotomy. The new version not only features cleaner code, it boasts several subtle graphical & design improvements as well.
Screenshot of Bananaz on Firefox
Download Bananaz [ v2.0 | ~57KB | .zip | 1694 downloads ]
Get your own Casket!! — Presenting the ghastly new WordPress skin fresh from the tomb. Perishable Press officially opens the Casket with Version 1.0…
!UPDATE: Casket 2.0 opened November 21st, 2005! Casket 2.0 features completely rewritten CSS and XHTML code that now validates as XHTML-Strict. So you’ll find no tables in this casket, only structural markup and presentational CSS. Plus, in addition to consolidated code, several essential improvements have been made to key casket design elements. So bury your dead, people of the world, because Casket 2.0 is open for business!
Screenshot of Casket on Firefox
Download Casket [ v2.0 | ~31KB | .zip | 1575 downloads ]
Run and tell the cows to come home because I am have problems.
http://perishablepress.com/press/2005/10/04/tell-the-cows/
