IT|Redux Redux
Tuesday, February 6th 2007 | Ismael Ghalimi
After more than a year of loyal services, it was about time to retire the original design for IT|Redux, and I am pleased to unveil this brand new one developed by the Benzinger brothers of SolutionWatch fame. Having developed multiple sites over the past few years, I like to consider myself a discerning user when it comes to the design of aesthetically pleasing websites, but Brian and Tim Benzinger have far exceeded any expectations I had for such a project.
The original design for IT|Redux was a customized version of the popular Blix theme for WordPress developed by Kevin Potts. I had modified the color palette, added some elements to the sidebar, and made simple hacks to support the display of PHP content. I liked this design because it was clean and simple, and I am still using it for my personal blog. But over time, the desire to have an exclusive design grew in me, and I asked the Benzinger brothers for some help.
My choice of a partner for this particular project was largely driven by my appreciation for the design of SolutionWatch, certainly the place where you find the best reviews for Office 2.0 applications. What I like about it is the smart use of the sidebar with one or two columns of content, the use of side notes for small posts that do not deserve a full-fledged article, and the almost-religious respect of CSS coding rules.
Developing a new theme for WordPress is a lot more complex than it might seem at first, for you need to accomodate both posts and static pages, comments, archives, and a host of tiny little details that can make the effort quickly discouraging. You also need to deal with plugins that are sometimes incompatible with each other, making development a lot more plainful than it should be. To make a long story short, if you need a custom theme to be developed for WordPress, make sure that you get help from someone who has done it before, and Brian and Tim know this trade better than most out there.
If you’re not familiar with these twin polymaths already, make sure to visit SolutionWatch where you’ll learn about the best online applications out there, Parallel where they conduct their online creative work, and Fourword Apparel where they produce some of the coolest shirts I’m wearing.
Brian, Tim: many thanks for the design, I love it!
Entry filed under: Office 2.0
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Ismael,
The new design is pretty good. It would be nice if there was a page that would list the titles of all articles in reverse chronological order.
Best regards
-Francis
Congratulations!
It’s a Web 2.0 design for IT|Redux.
-Mohammed
Francis,
Your wish is my command.
We now have an archive page, courtesy of the Benzinger brothers.
Best regards
-Ismael
Mohammed,
Thanks, but it’s still fairly 1.0 if you ask me…
Not that there is anything wrong with it by the way.
Best regards
-Ismael
[…] When we upgraded IT|Redux to its new design, we made some changes to its RSS feed as well, and more changes might be made down the road. So, in order to avoid any service interruption, I strongly encourage you to check that your feed reader is using the correct feed URL. […]
Stumbled by this site from Dion’s blog, and the first thing that I noticed was the exceptional clean and usable design. One of the rarest well-put blogs I’ve ever seen! And that includes RWW and TechCrunch. This was is a winner by all means!
Al,
Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated.
Best regards
-Ismael
I love this design! Real smooth and easy on the eyes. Great work.
[…] The Office 2.0 Database is being developed and maintained with the help of many contributors, whom we would like to thank for their support. We would also like to thank the Benzinger brothers from Parallel for the website’s design, which was borrowed from the one they designed for IT|Redux. Furthermore, we are still planning to make some significant improvements to the current design, so feel free to send us your suggestions, and to report any bugs you might find. You can also use this updated form powered by Wufoo for submitting new applications, or adding information regarding existing ones. Last but not least, we will provide additional advertising opportunities for vendors, and are open to syndicating our content through other websites. Feel free to contact us if this could be of interest to you. […]
Gabe,
Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated.
Best regards
-Ismael
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