Designing for WordPress is something that, if you’re reading this, you (probably) either a) want to be able to do or b) can do.  If you answered “a”, I’ve got the perfect screencast series for you!

I launched my blog, Nometech.com just over a month ago where I have really placed a strong focus on my screencasts.  My latest screencast focuses specifically on learning how to design for WordPress.

WordPress design can get fairly complicated, but it doesn’t have to be: in the first episode of the series, the basics are covered: taking an HTML theme and converting it to WordPress. No posts or pages yet, just getting to grips with how WordPress file system works and then expanding on from there.

So…want to learn how to design for WordPress? Head over to Nometech.com and watch the video.

This post was submitted by Alex Denning, a Twitter fan and WordPress blogger on Nometech.com.

Last week I announced the Hack WordPress anniversary contest, and with the announcement, also mentioned a redesign of Hack WordPress.  The thing that I think made this redesign unique and interesting is that it was built upon the old design, with only some stylesheet changes, different images, and a bunch of added functionality.

So, why did I decide to go with a redesign instead of a completely custom new design?   In a recent post over at Pro Blog Design I think Michael pretty much summed it up best when he explained how to redesign and still win.

When a reader visits a blog day after day, they get used to it. They know how the home page is going to look, they know what they will find in the sidebar and they know what decorations to expect around their comments.

The familiarity does wonders in helping them get around your site quickly, but there are no surprises for them. There’s none of the spark and interest you get when you come across a great looking new site.

It only takes one change to break the monotonous familiarity.

Though Michael’s example is focusing on changing one part of your blog (only the sidebar, header section, comment section, etc.), I think the general idea holds true to our situation.  At some point your blogs growth stalls, and sometimes changes need to take place in order to spark interest and hopefully see that growth continue.

If you find that your blog has stalled a little bit, why not make a change to your design (no matter how small)?  Even something as simple as redoing your logo, revamping your website’s header section, or making some changes to the sidebar can go a long way.

Navigation menu is a really important part of a website, both visually and functionally. Though, I noticed that most blogs use a really simple navigation menu. A simple menu can be good sometimes, but if you’re looking for something more sophisticated, I’m pretty sure you’re going to enjoy this list.
Here’s 5 really cool tutorials to help you create a stunning navigation for your Wordpress blog.

Creating Two-Tiered Conditional Navigation in Wordpress

Which WordPress user doesn’t know Darren Hoyt, the creator the free magazine theme Mimbo Magazine ? In this great tutorial, Darren explains how to create a professional two-tiered navigation menu.
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How To: Making a Categories Drop-Down Menu

This was my first post on Hack Wordpress, and seems like you guys enjoyed it. In this tutorial, I explain how to create a navigation bar with a category drop-drown menu.
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Adding a navigation bar to the default kubrick theme

The default “Kubrick” theme is probably the most used Wordpress theme. Though, I think it should be better with a navigation bar. Hopefullt, this tutorial is here to help!
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Wordpress: “Magazine style” Horizontal dropdown menu

One of my last tutorials, published on my blog CatsWhoCode. This how-to explain how you can create an horizontal dropdown menu.

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Using Sliding Doors with Wordpress Navigation

This sliding doors CSS hack allows you to create sophisticated tabs for your navigation bar. Sadly, Wordpress core functions wp_list_pages() and wp_list_categories() don’t allow you to add the required span tag to use this technique.
This tutorial will show you how to bypass this limitation by using a hack, and then you’ll be ready to enjoy sliding-doors for your Wordpress navigation!

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Any other navigation tutorial that should be in the list? Leave us a comment below!

I know a lot of people that have upgraded to WordPress 2.5 have all flocked to the Fluency Admin plugin, but many people probably didn’t know that you can also change the color of your dashboard to a more “classic” WordPress look from within your dashboard.   This was added for people that are slow to accept change.

All you need to do is go into your “Users” tab and select “Your Profile.”  Once that is done, you should see the following:

Here you can select the “Classic” radio button to change to a darker and more familiar blue color.  This change is only saved for the individual user, so other users logged in will need to log in and make the change as well if they want the classic look.

Hopefully future versions will contain more options, but for now, it is at least nice to have a choice!