Posts by kops

1/ Stick in a new div and add your own menu code.

2. Yes – there are several layout options although they all revolve around a basic structure

3/ Yes

This is a hugely under-rated theme on Themeforest and the support from Sarah is first rate.

Interasting and flexible themes that I could use in future projects. The same as anyone else, I guess!

I had to pick out a cart for a client who wanted a fairly simple store with a couple of custom bits and bobs. I chose Opencart on the back of a few reviews and having poked around the backend and seen how simple it was to manage. Additionally, it is a good looking front end out of the box.

2 major issues. Firslty is the complete and utter lack of a support structure. You post on the forum and just pray that the post is answered by the couple of people that seem to run the whole show (one of whom runs a popular plugin shop)

Secondly, and most worryingly, is that if you want to do anything that isn’t included in the standard install, you can end up paying a heck of a lot in commercial plugins for what should be standard features. More often than not, these plugins overwrite core files which means upgrading Opencart is out of the quesiton without a load of hassle, updating plugins and crossing your fingers that the plugin data is retained.

I’m so disappointed – I had really high hopes for opencart, especially as it has a UK bias but the above, coupled with basic funcitonality weirdness like extra product images hidden behind a tab has left me panicking as I need a good looking open source cart.

Can anyone suggest somethign that is a little more fully featured, I can feel safe upgrading and looks great out of the box? It has to be easy for the client to figure out back end.

TLDR : Opencart disappoints – suggest something else pls!

Jon.

I can’t seea ny child menu at all under ‘Portfolio’.

Jon.

It’s all kinds of pointless. It’s a few links taking up about 20 pixels of valuable screen space. I thought we had browser tabs so we could keep a backend link open while simultaneously viewing a front end page.

Hi

Top menu: Not centered properly. Not a great choice of font and the colour gradient doesn’t work too well either. Each letter looks like it’s at about 110% width. The blur effect doesn’t work for me. It’s there for the sake of it. If I have the mouse hovering over any of the menu items, then I can’t cleary see the other top level menu items without moving the mouse away again. These are the most important nav elements of the site – probably best not to obscure them in any way.

nice looking search box but convention says the search button goes to the right of the input box. I was hitting the magnifying glass a couple of times before realising that the [search] to the left was the action button. Not sure about the italicised text ‘type here’ either – unnecessary.

Scroller – When I hit the left arrow, the images scroll fine. When I hit the right arrow, they kind of flick into place at the end (FF 3.6.13). Maybe think about bringing the arrows inside the scroller and increasing the width of the whole thing to 100% of the container div – it jsut looks a little strange when it’s 80% width of the content underneath.

Moving onto the information boxes under the slider, grey on grey on grey is a bit dull and everything is a little cramped. Give every single element in those boxes more air to breathe. Bring the titles down a little from the top, increase the line spacing of the text and the padding around the thumbs.

Sidebar: Move the featured tab to the top right instead of the top left, increase the padding around all 4 sides of each sidebar element and again, increase the line spacing. Maybe a faint horizontal divider between each element would work better?

Footer: Everywhere else in the design, the titles are aligned to the left of the text beneath but here the titles are centered. Not sure about the glow behind them either – you haven’t used this technique anywhere else in the page design and it looks awkward. The post titles don’t stand out enough either (mid grey on dark grey)

The ‘feeds’ image in the left footer area…why waste a whole widgetised area with a solitary image – bang some contact details or a small feedback form in there and move the feeds to a single small icon at the top.

Not saying any of the above is right – just my personal thoughts

Jon.

At first glance, it’s a nice looking design; It’s a little generic and lacking in colour and vibrancy but that’s a personal thing.

What’s missing for me is focus. Underneath the main slider there’s 11 little pieces of information, 12 if you include the strap line but my attention is drawn to none of them as they all have equal visual weight. Try squinting and looking at the design – you see a logo and slider and then just a blur underneath.

Why not have one single focus area under the slider and complement it with the other bits and bobs?

The line spacing is too tight in the top 2 buckets under the slider

The shadow highlights are cool :o)

Jon.

CLINE123 said
I agree, same as the other 100’s of WP themes on TF. My advice to any theme designer out there, as one who buys themes on behalf of clients, pick a few niche themes and own them. By own them I mean let them be chockfull of features and functionality. My wishlist includes:

• More business directory themes
• More Green/Enviroment themes
• More Religious themes
• More E-Commerce themes with catalog functionality instead of purchasing

That’s my 2 cents.

The thing is, any theme can be an environmental or religious theme; A switch out of the background, playing around with a couple of layout divs. a new header and 9 times out of 10 you’re good to go.

I buy wordpress themes here for the functionality – it’s just saves time for me to have a built in video portfolio function or a simple and smart ecommerce function such as sarah neuber’s furniture store or a whole ratings theme like Reviewit.

What I’d like to see more of is more industry-specific themes such as the Ermark Adora restaurant theme with the reservations and ratings systems plugged in or some of the real estate themes here.

It’s also great to see themes where the designer has decided to do something different such as the Kingsize theme and the Screen theme…or even just great quality themes such as anything Parallelus touches.

What grates a little is checking out the new themes for the day – seeing 3 or 4, getting all excited and then rolling the mouse over the preview thumbnail and seeing menu/slider/headline/3 buckets/footer on every single one.

I know imitation is the best form of flattery and there are a lot of themes out there that look similar but offer some great and unique functionality under the hood; It’s only that maybe once a month or so do we see a really unique theme or an industry specific theme.

So don’t worry about the visual look of a theme -that can always be achieved with some judicious murdering of the css file, let’s hold out hope for more unique and creative themes!

Hi,

initial thoughts:

It looks ok, if not a little similar to 100s of existing themes.

The main issue in this design is the text, more specifically the the font size and line spacing. The font size under the 4 buckets (beneath the main slider) seems a lot smaller thean the text in the section previews beneath.

Moving to the section underneath (with the mini slider) everythign looks cramped -the line spacing is too low and because you’ve used a thin typeface for your logo and a lot of padding around your menu items, what starts off as quite an airy feel quickly gets lost in that middle section as everythign is aqueezed too close together.

The footer needs more work – the alignment of the separate footer column contents is off – look at the second footer column alignment compared to the 3 others. Also, for some reason you’ve used a saans serif font for your titles all the way down the page but switch to a slab serif for the footer.

I’m not sure of the relevance of the small slider – sure it looks pretty and fills a gap but does it really need to be there? You already have a main slider, I assume a gallery/portfolio secition planned, 4 images above to show off your content – Is the slider there for the sake of it rather than needing to be there? Try removing that whole row and creating more space and air for the 3 or 4 (hopefully widgetised) areas above.

Finally – not sure that light purple text on grey stands out enough (mid-page banner). Additionally, the inner shadow on the arrows looks out of place.

Jon.

Phenix pretty much sums it up – there’s nothing wrong with the layout but the overall look and feel is not up to scratch.

If we look at the visual style you’re trying to convey which is calm, peaceful green fields etc. then everything has to tie in with that; It has to be consistent.

What doesn’t fit with that look and feel:

The font you’ve used is more at home on the door of a 60s racing car

The pinky prange background just doesn’t work – it looks like a brushed metal finish which clashes with the natural look that you’re striving for.

The embossed logo and effects on the titles give the effect of being stamped on metal.

Your body text is too large and the line spacing needs adjusting.

Your radio buttons in the form shouldn’t align to the right, especially since the checkbox is center aligned. Just align everythign to the left.

The rollover effect on the form submission button looks dated.

Twitter, Facebook and Youtube have globally recognised brands and colours. You’ve made them all golld which is counter-intuitive. Stick with the colours they are known for.

Round off some edges – natural look is soft, not angular.

For a natural look, look for colours and textures that match what yo uare trying to do – look at mayang’s texture website for some great examples. Try even playing with natural fabrics against the same background to create a nice warm natural feel. Jsut not the pink metal llook :)#

I’m not buying the way the form background fades out to the right. Important Content should have a clear defined container, or at least a defined boundary and the way you’ve faded the background out to the right demotes the importance of the content above it.

The spelling is testimonials, not testemonials.

There’s a few more bits and bobs such as the form validation text being too small and red which clashes as a colour but the above should be enough to get you started!

Apols for spelling errors. Big fingers, like sausages, you see.

Jon.