Launching ACEBauer.com on Wordpress as a CMS
I love designing writer’s sites, especially Young Adult Author’s sites, since the subject matter is usually so imaginative and allows me to flex my own imagination muscles. A.C.E. Bauer’s site has been a lot of fun to design. WordPress was set up as a CMS with a custom WordPress Blogskin.
Since this was to be more of a “website” than a blog, I used a custom homepage template that would pull what little bloggy stuff there is into the homepage under the static content. Nested pages are going to get a workout on this site, and at the client’s request I only showed the “child” Page navigation when you’re actually on a “Page”, whereas on every other sitepage only the toplevel “Pages” nav will show. This will allow Bauer to grow the site in what she considers to be a more orderly fashion, as she adds more of her book releases to the site. Because custom tags like this are not yet widgety, we took the “Pages” call out of the widgetized area so it could be customized. We also removed some of the more bloggy elements in the homepage template and in archives and posts, since Bauer already has another personal blog elsewhere. If needs change we can always easily add them back in later.
Bauer’s books are fantasy for young adults, so a somewhat tongue in cheek approach was taken with the design elements, the smaller of which will change with every click or refresh within the site, to give it a bit of fun. Yet, since this site is to be read by both adults and younger folks, readability and ease of navigation were also paramount.
Is there a fun site you have stuck in your brain and can’t spit out? Let Kickass help. Talk to me.
Technorati Tags: WordPress as a CMS, ACE Bauer, Custom WordPress Blogskin, custom homepage template
