When designing Wordpress themes, a large amount of time is spent writing the same code over and over again. I found it annoying. Granted, I know there are themes out there like Elliot Jay Stocks’ Starkers Theme (which I used), but none of them were quite to my style.
Whiteboard is the result.

The Whiteboard theme is the basic framework of Wordpress.

It is designed to speed up the process of designing and coding a Wordpress theme by eliminating the time spent on Wordpress’ back-end PHP that is used in every theme.

Whiteboard is clean, noted, and compact (only 104 KB in size). It includes all the standard PHP tags and PHP files needed for a Wordpress theme - plus a few extras.

It’s free - no strings attached

Feel free to use it for commercial and non-commercial ventures.
You don’t even need to include a “designed by” link! (though I would appreciate a link… )

Files Included: 404.php, archives.php, archives.php, categories.php, comments.php, footer.php, functions.php, header.php, index.php, page.php, search.php, searchform.php, sidebar.php, footer.php, and style.css.

Extra Features:
Categories Page Template
Archives Page Template
Pagination Posts
Socialization Links (Technorati, Stumble it!, Digg, de.licio.us, Yahoo, reddit, Blogmarks, Google, and Magnolia.)

Download Whiteboard now!

As you can tell, plainbeta looks a little different!
While it doesn’t look like I previously talked about, its new, and custom. So I’m happy.

Why didn’t I use that grid that I was so excited about?
It wasn’t working for me. It’s a great idea, I’m just not ready for it. So that theme will come later.

At any rate.
This design.

The Theme - Pier 3

I have dubbed this theme Pier 3. The three columns and the way they’re formatted just reminded me of a pier jutting out into sea. When I get sick of it I’ll make it available for download as a Wordpress Theme.

Half the time I like it, half the time I don’t - so I’ll probably end up making another one by the end of summer, or the end of the year at the latest.
I already am tossing a few ideas around in my head…

What’s Special about Pier 3?

If you haven’t noticed, the search bar, RSS links, and category links are all contained in a lightweight javascript accordion - though I am considering switching.

Other than that, the color scheme, and the inclusion of PIXELATED, Pier 3 isn’t that different than what I had before.

It’s a nice change, and I hope it keeps me happy until I come up with something else.

It’s still new, so there may be a few bugs here and there - if you see any, let me know.
Further more, I’m still working on it… so it’s not quite done… I still need to format the comments a little more. I don’t like how they are now.

I also updated my “comprehensive” list of design showcases - it now includes 77 showcases!
I’ll be submitting plainbeta to them all today or tomorrow…

On May 5th the World Design Association will be having its soft launch!
I haven’t worked out all the details, but it’s going to happen.

So What is the World Design Association Anyways?

Well.
It’s rather simple.

The WDA is an archive of designers, a high-quality unique showcase, a design forum, and design blog.
It is meant to be “for designers, by designers” - so y’all can feel free to get involved. Since it is for designers, you will not find a single ad anywhere.

If you would like to learn more about the individual components of the WDA, check out the post: Welcome to the World Design Association (I know… it’s a lame title…)

Something to Look Forward To

With the launch of the WDA (which requires a community), there won’t be much content.
That gives y’all an opprotunity to be featured on main pages, such as the home page, the designer’s home page, and the showcase’s home page.

If you’re interested in getting added to the designers archives, or a web site added to the showcase, or become a guest (or regular) blogger - contact me!

Be sure to come back on the fifth for more info!