It looks good and consistent, but it's very similar to many other themes out there. IMHO...
- blocks in content-top need a 10px top and bottom margin
- the default zen tabs styling doesn't fit in the color scheme
- there are too much lines and borders, especially in the right sidebar where there are boxes-in-boxes
As other person said about the margins in the top 2 boxes. My lord that's a whole otta boxes oO I'm assuming the pager belongs to the box above it, it looks rather isolated out there all on its lonesome, donno if it would look better in the box with whatever it's paging for?
You haven't really built a news site template; you've just modeled one display page, and in doing so you probably are beginning to realize the limitations of Drupal's block system and the /node view.
Blocks are fine for very simple websites, but when you're creating a site of any significant size, you quickly discover they are the weak ankles of the Drupal system. Your best path is to stay well clear of admin/build/block.
Your next steps should be to learn:
Panels
Views
CCK
How to create alternative layouts for various contexts by combining all of the above with the theme system
When you build a news site, you have, at a minimum, three radically different types of displays to design:
The home page, which focuses on recommendation and navigation. Depending on your information architecture, you may need several similar section pages.
Simple list pages, which display collections of similar things and allow the user to burrow down and make choices. The "river of news" or "headline/teaser" view that Drupal provides at /node and /blog is an example of such a page. These pages have a different mission than the home page and section fronts, and the designs should reflect that.
Story pages, which present a single story and all of its assets, but also entice a reader to explore contextually related resources on the site (or elsewhere on the Internet). Many designers fail to recognize that a story page is every bit as important as the other two primary types, and as the proportion of traffic coming from search engines and links continues to grow, the importance of designing a great story page begins to eclipse the rest of the project.
These are just the beginning, of course. The system we put in place last year at the Florida Times-Union has more than 30 content types, dozens of custom Views, and many man-months of custom code.
When you design pages, keep in mind that you also are designing a site, which means that you need to make it clear how pages hang together into a coherent whole. The primary tools for creating a sense of hierarchy are not limited to the taxonomy system and breadcrumb trails; you also need to consider the choices you make in font sizes and other graphical elements. Take a good look at http://www.nytimes.com/ and study how each page type uses a template that helps reinforce its position in a larger sense of order.
There is a good annotated list of Drupal modules being used by major news sites here.
Comments
It looks good and consistent,
It looks good and consistent, but it's very similar to many other themes out there. IMHO...
- blocks in content-top need a 10px top and bottom margin
- the default zen tabs styling doesn't fit in the color scheme
- there are too much lines and borders, especially in the right sidebar where there are boxes-in-boxes
Thanks marcvangend. Yes I
Thanks marcvangend. Yes I agree too many lines and borders in the right sidebar. I will rectify that.
Blocks in content top ... agree again.
Thanks.
As other person said about
As other person said about the margins in the top 2 boxes. My lord that's a whole otta boxes oO I'm assuming the pager belongs to the box above it, it looks rather isolated out there all on its lonesome, donno if it would look better in the box with whatever it's paging for?
works at bekandloz | plays at technonaturalist
Some advice
You haven't really built a news site template; you've just modeled one display page, and in doing so you probably are beginning to realize the limitations of Drupal's block system and the /node view.
Blocks are fine for very simple websites, but when you're creating a site of any significant size, you quickly discover they are the weak ankles of the Drupal system. Your best path is to stay well clear of admin/build/block.
Your next steps should be to learn:
When you build a news site, you have, at a minimum, three radically different types of displays to design:
These are just the beginning, of course. The system we put in place last year at the Florida Times-Union has more than 30 content types, dozens of custom Views, and many man-months of custom code.
When you design pages, keep in mind that you also are designing a site, which means that you need to make it clear how pages hang together into a coherent whole. The primary tools for creating a sense of hierarchy are not limited to the taxonomy system and breadcrumb trails; you also need to consider the choices you make in font sizes and other graphical elements. Take a good look at http://www.nytimes.com/ and study how each page type uses a template that helps reinforce its position in a larger sense of order.
There is a good annotated list of Drupal modules being used by major news sites here.
Good luck.
Thanks yelvington. Some good
Thanks yelvington. Some good advise.
I will study your recommendations thoroughly.
Jan