Minimalist Wordpress themes

Graph Paper Press

Graph Paper Press is a repository for Wordpress themes created by photographer and multimedia producer Thad Allender. Graph Paper Press peddles minimalistic modular designs that can transform your blog from a tubular list of posts into an aesthetically-pleasing portfolio or news magazine website.

useful if you are using WP to make an artist portfolio site.

Worpdress Image Gallery Plugins: Lightview JS

Screenshot showing Lightbox JS displaying an image

A pretty slick image gallery, see the demo here.

Only Problem is, The author of the original code that the plugin is based on has decided to start charging for it, and so the author of Wordpress Plugin will no longer update the plugin.

What does this mean?
that if you use this now, when future versions of WordPress come out, this plugin might not work.

So, what do i do then?

Worry not, you should be able to find a similar (and free) plugin in the community that has a similar look, feel and functionality. Without looking much further, Matt Martz has made another plugin: ShadowBox JS. It seems very similar, and it also supports more than just images (i.e. video, html, etc). and i’m sure there are more.

check it:

ShadowBox JS in the Wordpress Plugins Directory

ShadowBox Demo

Shadowbox Screenshot showing a flash video loading

Pros and cons of working with a free wordpress.com account

If you don’t feel like getting a domain name and a hosting package, there’s a free option: having wordpress.com host your site.

below are some pros and cons that come with this option

pros:

• free to use
• you don’t have to install anything

cons:

• less flexibility (you can’t alter the php code to, say, put in a custom menu)
• they run google ads on your site unless you upgrade - $30 a year
• if you want custom CSS (to twek the design of yor theme), it’s $15 a year
• not your own domain name unless you have a domain registered already and want to pa $15/year
• no matter what, you’ll have that annoying gray bar at the top of your site.

relevant links:

sign up for a free blog: http://wordpress.com/

free features: http://wordpress.com/features/

premium fatures: http://wordpress.com/products/