There has been all sorts of positive buzz about the application today. I found the most interesting to be Dan’s write-up on WPCandy and (obviously) the announcement post at WordPress for iPhone. I would also watch Matt’s post, if I were you. Interesting conversations tend to happen in the comments of his blog.

Setting up blogs is very simple, with setup taking only as long as it takes to feed your phone a URL, user name and password. There is also a setting available for choosing how many of your recent posts you would like to view.

As Dan mentioned in his post, this isn’t really something which will appeal to many “hardcore bloggers”. At least, not right away. This really is the sort of app that may not be used right away, but you can bet on everyone who uses WordPress downloading it and keeping it pretty close to their home screen.

What’s next?

What’s most exciting to me about this new application isn’t what it can do now. It’s what it will be able to do before long. Matt Thomas confirmed, on the WordPress for iPhone blog, that the documentation is following closely behind the application itself. But this is just the beginning.

Starting drafts will no doubt prove useful at some point, but the real utility will come through when we’re able to view comments as they are posted to our blogs, no matter where we are. I see this as the most interesting opportunity, when it comes to taking my blog with me. Managing blog settings, updating Plugins, et cetera is great. But carrying my comments in my pocket — that I could get excited about.

Keep an eye out here for updates. How will this app open up new opportunities for theme and Plugin developers? Anyone have ideas? Let me know in the comments.

Small Potato ran a very popular website devoted to WordPress called WPDesigner. Since some time last year Small Potato has disappeared and hasn’t (as far as I know) been in contact with anyone in the development community. Luckily I pulled together this interview with him before he left.

Small Potato in a classic shot, eating an orange.

What first brought you to WordPress? And, if you are bold enough,
what was your first WordPress site?

The search for an easy to modify CMS or blog platform template system
lead me to WordPress. I believe the first WordPress powered site that I
worked with was chinkyface.com.

I bought that site through an auction on SitePoint forums for I think…
$200. (It was was a Photoshop tutorials site.) I had to switch from a manual
system to WordPress for that site, made some money off of that site for
several months, and ended up re-selling it for $500

Why WordPress? Why not Drupal? Movable Type? Dare I say, Blogger?

I use WordPress because it’s easy. That’s it. If the other CMS were as
easy to use, I would’ve never gotten to WordPress. I’d probably stick with
Drupal.

How has WordPress helped you grow in your area of expertise?

Before getting into template design for WordPress themes, I used a lot of
tables for layout, which is self-explanatory. When I started working with
WordPress templates, I had to quickly learn CSS and abandon tables.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment with WordPress?

I don’t know. Working with WordPress was a hobby turned full time Job. I
don’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything. I do what I do because I enjoy
it and there’s really no specific WordPress goal.

Where do you get your inspiration for themes?

For inspiration, sometimes browsing CSS galleries to look at other
people’s designs work, but most of the times it doesn’t. I often stare at a
blank screen until it hits me. I’m really not a web designer at all. I think
I can code XHTML and CSS proficiently, but other those… I just do what I
can.

Could you describe your normal workflow when sitting down to create
a theme? How long does it usually take?

I don’t have a strictly defined process, but what I usually do is
calculate the structure first. Sketch it on paper. Afterward, I transfer the
sketch to a grid paper and draw it over one more time for proper proportions
and etcetera.

Next is taking it to Photoshop, which is the most time consuming part. I
know that some prefer to replace Photoshop with a live web page with just
xhtml, but Photoshop works best for me.

The whole process takes about 6-8 hours for generic WordPress themes.
Extensively customized themes take much longer.

If you could change one thing about the WordPress community, what
would it be?

It’s probably impossible, but I would ask for transparent debates. From
my experience, WordPress-related debates for people involved had a lot to do
with ulterior motives, which is common among debates in general anyway so
it’s not so much a specific change for the WordPress community.

Based on those experiences, it’s difficult for me to trust people in the
WordPress community.

Where do you foresee WordPress going in the future? What’s missing
that’s necessary to take it to the next level?

I have no idea. I’m working on only one area of WordPress, which is
WordPress themes. I’m not involved in plugins, core development, and
etcetera. Therefore, whatever I tell you, the opposite will happen.

Thanks for answering those questions, Small Potato, wherever you are. I’ll be sure to mention here when/if Small Potato ever does return.

If you are a WordPress developer of some sort, themes or Plugins, and would like to participate in an interview like this, let me know in the comments or via email. I’m more interested in video/audio interviews than text, but I’m pretty flexible.

I think I like him already. Full text of interview below.

Used with permission.

What first brought you to WordPress?

I was looking for a better tool for my personal blog. I’ve already
been through a few alternatives, all the way from the scripts of my
own to widely used open source systems, such as NucleusCMS.

So why WordPress? Why not Drupal? Movable Type? Dare I ask, Blogger?

WordPress was gaining a lot of popularity in the blogging circles at a
time. More than Drupal or anything else. It was also an truly open
source software, which I am a big supporter of. And it was a
standalone software rather than a web service, like Blogger. So I
tried it out.

Once I tried it out, it was difficult to leave. The distribution is
small, compared to other systems. The interface is simple and
straightforward. The system is flexible and fast. And there are
thousands of plugins out there. There’s just not much I could wish
for.

What do you believe is the single best addition to WordPress as of
recently?

Widgets was the greatest addition ever. That made my life so much
easier! Widgets are like a bridge between people who want to make
money and people who want to have control over their web site.

In WordPress 2.3, which I didn’t have time to play with yet, I think
the update notifications are a really useful feature. Especially for
those of us, who manage several WordPress web sites with different
plugins.

How has WordPress helped you in your field of expertise?

First of all, it helped to me make some money. WordPress is really
easy to package, sell, and support.

Secondly, WordPress gave me a few new ideas on how the CMS should
work, what should be in, what should be out, and how things should be
organized inside. I’m using these ideas while building and evaluating
other systems.

If you could change one thing about the WordPress community, what would it be?

I love the community the way it is. Creative and helpful and all. If
there is one thing I have to name… well… maybe, realizing that
WordPress is not just a blogging engine anymore. Not even just a CMS.
It’s a platform.

I’m trying to bring up this point with WordPress Bits.

What’s the best part about running WP Bits? What keeps you doing it?

People. As with any blog. People who read, link, and comment, make
it into what it is. There is no post on WordPress Bits that wasn’t
enhanced by somebody’s comment suggesting a better way of solving a
problem.

Sometimes I just write up something because I want to learn more about
the subject. And then I wait for comments and pingbacks to come.

Any words of advice for aspiring WordPress developers?

Two things.

1. Learn WordPress source code. Not by heart or inside out. But get
an idea of how things are organized, what is there, and what is not.
That will save a lot of time when solving problems, and it will also
provide a lot of inspiration on what can be done with WordPress.

2. Keep an eye on the community. See who’s doing what and how. Attend
a conference or meeting. Subscribe to themes and plugins RSS feeds.

Where do you foresee WordPress going in the future? And what’s missing to take it to that next level?

I see WordPress being used for more things than just blogging.
WordPress network already has a few interesting implementations, like
directories (jobs, plugins, themes) and aggregators (WordPress.com
thing). I used WordPress for real estates management and even for a
financial institution. It’s flexible enough.

Two things that WordPress will need to catch up with are file
management and multilingual support. Some work has already gone into
this areas, but I expect to see more in the nearest future. Once
those are covered, there is not much that I can think of.

Thanks so much for the interview, Leonid! I apologize for taking so long to upload it here.

If you are a WordPress developer/designer or if you use WordPress for any unusual website, I’d love to talk to you. I’m especially interested in anyone willing to participate in a video/audio interview. You know where to reach me!

Wikipedia defines the tumblelog as:

…a variation of a blog that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging. Common post formats found on tumblelogs include links, photos, quotes, dialogues, and video.

The article goes on to describe the tumblelog’s tendency to display information, links, and media without much commentary. There are another couple of interesting insights into the definition, including one of Kottke’s, in the full article.

One of the most popular ways to blog in this format is to use Tumblr. Tumblr is well worth a link and a mention, as it has influenced the design technique of many of those interested in short-form blogging. Tumblr’s beginnings stretch back as early as 2005, and it is important to realize tumblelogging goes back much farther than that. It is a technique that has only been formally recognized (if Wikipedia counts as formal recognition) in the past few years.

For those looking to use WordPress as a tumblelogging platform, they very well can. The following reviews offer up the best and the worst (though the worst here are still pretty damn good) tumblelog themes to build on. Some of these require some minor setup, but all of them are unique and worth checking into. I’ve made efforts to provide as much information up front to help you with your decisions, so that you can pick based on the most thorough, solid, well-supported or detailed theme—whichever is your priority. Happy reading.

(Note: Themes are displayed in alphabetical order. Just to be fair.)

• Artueel
• Bloglet
• Braintied
• Elite
• Nishita
• PocketT
• T1
• Tumblelog for WordPress
• Tumble-Hybrid
• Typographic

Artueel, by Erlend Debas

This thin little theme is less than 600 px wide and is framed in a very calming green with some foliage in the corners. One of the best parts of this theme is how it has a relative width, which means it will expand to the width of the browser. This can be nice as it rewards those with smaller monitors just as much as it does those with large ones.

Artueel is designed for only one post to be displayed on the front page, and as such it is statically coded into the theme files. Keep that in mind when it comes to setup time, assuming you don’t like it and, of course, that you can change it yourself.

In a nice gesture, the theme author (Erland) offers up the full PSD along with the rest of the theme files. This is great when it comes to exploring the intricacies of your new theme, as well as making things like color changes and additions to the background. Big thanks to Erland for this one! Keep in mind, however, that these files are also necessary because the site name is encased in and displayed as a graphic, which means it will need to be changed in the PSD and exported then uploaded during setup. That is, of course, unless you don’t mind the default Artueel Blog header it comes with. Yeah, I didn’t think so.

While the green feed icon is nice, it does tend to fade into the background up in the corner.

From a user’s perspective, it is a bit frustrating to not have any rollover effects for a lot of the links on the page. I’m not against subtle color changes or anything, but not having any change at all for the post’s date, category or comment link is a bit annoying.

The validation came through with virtually no issue at all, which is always a welcome find. However, it is a bit unnerving to find manual links in the footer of the page that have been stuck there by the theme author. It’s not a good technique, on two ends. First, most users will be upset to find something on their theme that doesn’t belong to them. They expect to have total control: that is what WordPress is all about, after all. Secondly, Google has proven time and time again that forcing links is not something they take kindly to. Dangerous move, and one I would highly suggest changing.

Finally, I do want to mention that there is no place for links to pages in this theme. As we go through these themes, some will and some will not. Be prepared to have no default action for your list of pages, as the focus is (as it should be) toward the content. With that, here is the quick recap of positives and negatives, which you can see at the bottom of each review.

Pros of Artueel

• Full page width accommodates every screen resolution stylishly
• Layered PSD available with theme download!
• Fully valid and well structured

Cons of Artueel

• Graphic logo and default links in footer add some time to the initial setup
• No link rollover colors in certain areas
• By default no admin control over number of posts on homepage

Bloglet, by Scott Andreas

I should say I am a good friend of Scott’s, so that may make me a bit biased about his tumblelog theme.

The colors, design, and flexibility of this theme make it my favorite of this list. Though I haven’t had the privilege of playing with it myself (not yet released) I have played with it enough to appreciate it.

Bloglet features nice styles for images, blockquotes, and comments. Hopefully one day it will be released into the wild!

Pros:

• Colors are awesome
• Headlines are fun, date blocks too
• Right sidebar pops out
• Clear sans-serif copy

Cons:

• Not available yet! (Missing some polish, Scott says)

Braintied, by Small Potato

• Theme preview (themes.wordpress.net)
• Theme home and download
• Author’s page

No great theme list would be complete without a selection from Small Potato. Although he is currently away from the blogosphere (anyone heard anything from him lately?) and his site has been fairly inactive with its new owner (or new new owner, but who’s counting?), Braintied is still a very visually appealing theme for microblogging.

The actual theme layout almost makes you expect the posts to slide open and closed, using AJAX. But this one’s much simpler than that, instead offering up simple links to single post views.

I can envision this theme holding a series of tutorials, maybe some sort of online instruction manual for something. It’s very clean, compact, and the colors are very nice.

Braintied, though, doesn’t set out to be the tumblelog theme that some of these other themes do. So some of the unique stylings that the others have won’t be found on this one.

Pros:

• Nice dark colors
• Unique compact post listing
• WPDesigner quality

Cons:

• Not the tumblelog quality of some of these themes
• Looks like it should be AJAX, but it’s not

---

Elite, by Stephen Reinhardt

• Theme preview, home, and download
• Author’s page

The sidebar search and styles have a nice feel.

Elite is a darker theme featuring elements of a simple tumblelog. The big navigation is the first thing you notice, and as such I probably wouldn’t go with this theme unless there will be a few pages on your site.

Left alignment is an interesting decision, since most tumblelog designs tend toward center alignment. I’m also a fan of the comments, since they are styled like quote boxes (which is, in my opinion, better than plain styled comments).

Pros:

• Very dark colors, yet still colorful
• Attractive comment styles
• Left alignment makes it stand out

Cons:

• Lacking flashier tumblelog elements
• Left alignment may not be best for everyone

---

Nishita, by Brajeshwar Oinam

• Theme homepage and download
• Theme preview
• Author’s blog

Nishita has been optimized, in the available preview, as a photoblog. This isn’t the only possible use for this clean centered theme. This could easily feature any number of other tumblelog elements.

The archives listing (see preview) offers a nice sized thumbnail next to each archived post, which is very popular anymore. And this is definitely an interesting thing to include, for a tumblelog-ish theme.

It also looks like Brajeshwar, the theme author, is willing to look into enhancing the theme a bit to handle even more items. We’ll see if this is still the case, since it’s been a while since anything new has been said anything about this theme.

Pros:

• Very clean, white, content centric design
• Pleasant link/accent colors

Cons:

• Might not have much to offer, by default, beyond photo blogging

---

PocketT, by Nyssa J. Brown

• Theme home (preview, download, tutorials, FAQ)
• Author’s blog

PocketT is the perfect simple one column theme for those who love clean themes with light colors. Featuring just enough color to take it from bland to interesting, PocketT also incorporates some of the FAMFAMFAM icon set to give it that nice quality that icon-ophiles like myself love.

And yes, I just invented a word.

The footer contains, along with a search field, a little graphic which shoots the user back to the top of the page. Kind of nice.

Pros:

• Simple, light, rounded cornered design
• Uses a popular icon set

Cons:

• Not too flash when it comes to displaying content boldly

---

T1, by Kirk Tardy

• Theme home, preview, download
• Author’s blog

T1 is a theme after my own heart, as it is built on Sandbox (Sandbox is an amazing starter theme for developers, go get it). Any theme built on Sandbox will have my attention, since I use it myself for every theme I develop. Without the available classes and semantic nature of Sandbox, I’m just not at home.

But the appeal of T1 doesn’t end there. It features a random image header, which isn’t that exciting to me but would excite many users, I’m sure. Along with that, however, there is also a bold display style for each of the desired tumblelog elements: photos, videos, quotes, and links. There is even a style for cell updates, which is pretty unique!

Can I say, too, that after seeing a few of these themes with their own sites (domain or otherwise), I prefer it? So can everyone go ahead and make a site just for each theme they release? That would be great.

Pros:

• Patterned background offers more than the average simple theme
• Built on Sandbox, gives a solid foundation for fun to occur
• Fun and creative styles for different content elements

Cons:

• Certain areas could use some polishing up, design wise

---

Tumblelog for WordPress, by Safirul Alredha

• Theme home, download
• Theme preview
• No apparent author blog

A simple gray pattern, white content area, and left alignment spells out this particular theme.

While the design is simple, and everything is easy enough to navigate and manage, there just may not be enough spark to this theme to draw much attention. It does, however, offer some nice styles (though little color) for things like links and blockquotes.

Pros:

• Clean, simple delivery of a tumblelog theme
• Nice styles for certain elements

Cons:

• Possibly too simple, not a lot to keep attention
• A lot of gray

---

Tumble-Hybrid, by Shawn Anthony

• Theme home and download
• Theme preview
• Author’s home

Tumble-Hybrid reminds of the above mentioned Bloglet, in that that links to continue reading the post are on the right in the form of plus signs. And this is actually a fairly intuitive design element, although it does sort of feel like something should open up when it’s clicked.

The plus opens up the full post.

Styles are dished out using a series of categories, as explained on the theme home page (linked above). This tends to be a nice way of setting out unique styles, since sometimes in tumblelogs elements shouldn’t stand out as much as other times. Categories are a nice way of distinguishing when those special times are and when they are not.

This theme, Tumble-Hybrid, does feature a number of very clear tumblelog design elements. Below are a couple of the best examples. The theme is very simple, which does detract a bit from the visual punch of some themes. But which is more important to you, simplicity or flash?

I should say, though, that some of the code behind this theme worries me. The example given, on the theme home page, for spitting out correctly styled quotes (using the appropriate category) doesn’t include the blockquote tag anywhere. Too bad.

Oh, and this is another left aligned theme. Interesting.

Pros:

• Simple to control and use special styles, using categories
• Very clean design gets out of the way
• Attractive and bold tumblelog styles

Cons:

• Evidence of what could be poor coding habits

---

Typographic, by Felipe Lavín Zumaeta

• Theme preview, download
• Author’s blog

Typographic is what comes to mind when I think of a tumblelog theme. There is just enough to it to know what it is, just enough to be able to sort of dissect it and undertand what it is, and yet not enough there that it takes on too much of a life of its own. Really, Typographic looks like a starter theme for tumblelog themes. It makes me want to make it into something really cool.

But that’s not to say that Typographic doesn’t bring anything to the table on its own. The fonts used, for example, are all updated and beautiful. There are also nice quotation styles and even an interesting IDsystem for laying out conversations, which is probably worth a look.

Oh, and did I mention there is an admin panel for the theme, to change how it appears? Yeah, that’s very cool.

Pros:

• Admin panel control makes making simple changes that much simpler
• Ideal styles
• Has everything you picture a tumblelog theme having

Cons:

• Might not be enough for the average user, and require too much customization to make it one’s own

---

Honorable Mentions

• Bonsai, by Julian Klewes
• MH_Tumblr, by Matt Herzberger
• Tumblejack, by Jack Osh
• Display your Tumblr Feed on your WordPress Blog

Thanks to these Resources

• Smashing Magazine’s List of 100 High Quality WordPress Themes
• Tumblr Themes
• The God that is Wikipedia
• Tech Confidential, some background on Tumblr
• Matt Mullenweg and commenters discuss simple Tumblelog WordPress Themes

Have a theme? Tell me!

If you have a theme and would like to see me talk about it at Theme Playground, just drop a comment or send over an email. I have a contact page listed above. Even if you don’t and you work with WordPress, I’d love to talk with you. We are a community, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t act like one.

Thanks, Adam.

The link to bookmark is:
http://ustream.tv/channel/theme-playground-on-wordpress

Tonight’s discussion will last for one hour, as most nights, and be on the following topics:

• Chris Pirillo’s WordPress theme WicketPixie, theme review and tips for use
• WordPress workflow on a Mac
• BuddyPress update and what to look forward to
• WordPress Prototype 1.1 Information Architecture Concepts (a PDF)
• Viewer Q&A

If any of the above issues interest you, or if you happen to have any questions about WordPress (any questions at all) bring them to the chat and I/we will do our best to knock them out.

What if I can’t make it tonight?

Well, shame on you. If you aren’t able to make it tonight, or any weekday when we are livestreaming (Monday through Friday nights) just look for the weekly recap videos on Fridays. They will give you a brief overview of what was discussed.

Of course, if you have questions then they can’t be answered unless you are there. So plan for being there some night soon, so we can help!

Sounds great. Where do I go again?

Every livestream will take place at Ustream.tv on the channel entitled Theme Playground on WordPress. If you forget to bookmark the link above, or find yourself on Ustream, just run a search for Theme Playground and it will pop right up.

I’m looking forward to the discussion tonight. See you there.

Do you enjoy your widget-ized sidebars? Then you have functions.php to thank. Theme developers can also use functions.php to add extra functionality to their themes. Just recently I customized a functions.php file in order to enable a theme options page, a method I’ll share with you later this week.

Here’s what Chris had to say:

One idea that immediately comes to mind is the creation of your own widgets (think sales boxes, special links, product descriptions, etc.). If you define functions for your most commonly-used widgets, you’ll be able to call them at any point in your theme’s code. This makes it much easier to test how certain elements will look on different parts of the page, which is useful for designers and amateur code-wranglers alike.

The benefit of using a user-functions.php, or a custom-functions.php (naming conventions are up to you), is that you can take your functions with you to any new theme you use, making transitions much smoother. He has also, not long ago, talked about adding a custom CSS file to your theme for added control.

Also, be sure to check out Pearson’s new Thesis theme. It looks pretty solid, from where I sit.

Quick Links for Amazing Grace

• Visit the author’s site
• Visit the download page
• See a demo site (Sites using it: me)

The Color

The first thing that jumped out to me about Amazing Grace is that the colors are wonderful. I love how subtle they are; they remind me of Copyblogger and Pearsonified.

This sort of color scheme doesn’t carry with it the usual web 2.0 trends. These colors are very serene, and have a sort of calming effect on me.

The Trimmings

Sometimes a list is just the right way to do something.

• A cutesy RSS icon — every site has something like this nowadays (and with good reason, actually) and this one ties in nicely.
• A nice border effect on all images used in posts/pages (something I’m always intrigued by)
• General CSS styles which are flexible. You can add new sidebar elements with ease of mind, as the styles here truly cascade.
• Polite use of social bookmarks at the end of the most recent post (only del.ici.ous and Digg, which I am okay with)
• Beautiful font choices — main content in a clean sans-serif and outlined in Georgia, yes!
• Two layered navigation

Two Layered Navigation

I would actually like to dive into this one a bit, mostly because I never thought about how useful this separated navigation could be for a blog. The top level navigation is for pages, ideally. There is enough room spread across to easily fit eight or ten pages, if need be.

The second level navigation is intended, by Vladimir, to be used to house a few categories. Me, I chose Philosophy, Church Theory, and Dorky Code — three topics very dear to my heart. But there is room for another or two, and is a nice way to offer a few starting points for new visitors to your blog.

Works for Personal Use

I approve of this theme so much that I am now using it myself (thanks Vladimir!). I installed it only minutes after looking it over, which is always a good sign. And I will say this, too: any theme that can make you want to examine your blog to improve its overall quality is a great theme. Anyone agree?

I made a number of adjustments to Amazing Grace so far (due to my own personal preferences, not Vladimir’s incompetence) including:

• Tweaking the search bar’s appearance, and
• Switching out his photo in the header with a random pull from my Flickr feed.

If you are interested in hearing how I did either of these things, just keep an eye on my personal blog and I’ll post on it in the next couple of days. If some time goes by and you really want to know, just poke me.

I would recommend checking this theme out, whether you are interested in a new theme for your site or are just interested in some quality design in practice. Nice work Vladimir, and keep us informed on your future work.

If you have a theme you would like reviewed, please let me know. I have a number in the pipes, as they say, so it may be a minute before yours hits. But I will get to it. If you are one of those in my pipe, I appreciate your patience with me.