Aug 18 2008

San Diego Fun – WordPress Site Design

San Diego Fun – WordPress Site Design
Client: San Diego Fun Details: Implementation, Graphic Design, Magazine Theme Technology: WordPress, CSS, XHTML

(Click image to enlarge)

I redesigned Susan’s blog at Got 2 Be Green in December, and I was really thrilled when she came back and approached me to do her newest site, San Diego Fun! SanDiegoFun.net is a travel and information site on destination: San Diego! Planning a trip there soon.. or maybe you live there and are looking for fun things to do? Check out San Diego Fun – Susan’s got it all covered there! We had a lot of fun with this design…

This site was a combined effort between myself and one of our graphic designers, Devin Boyle. I completed all of the development of the templates and the detailed graphic design elements, and Devin completed the main foundation design of the site, including the the header design of the site, which is comprised of photographs chosen by Susan for use on her site. I also designed a nice container on her front page that rotates San Diego travel photos with a nice fade-in-fade-out effect.

The development was challenging! While this is a site that is fully powered by WordPress – this is not a typical blog site. Her front page displays a welcome message to all her visitors, page links at the top of the site, as well as select pages on the left site of the front page. Beneath her welcome message, the reader finds select articles from her site that she has featured in categories such as “Featured Items”, “Family Fun” and “Coupons & Deals”.

Going further into the site, you’ll find a pretty snazzy page navigation system in play in the left sidebar of the site. When you click on one of her internal pages – you’ll find that the navigation menu in the left sidebar drops down to reveal all of the sub pages within that particular page, making navigation really smooth and easy for her readers.

I also implemented a nice polling plugin to allow her readers to interact with the site through the use of reader polls. She is able to change those polls whenever she feels the need to – and can disclose all the poll results on one page of her site.

I also gave her plenty of space for her advertisers and sponsors so she can easily monetize her site.

Susan was really pleased with the final launch of her site and design. I can see she’s been very busy filling that site up with great San Diego content. Best of luck with the new digs, Susan!

Lisa Sabin-Wilson is a creative designer and founder of E.Webscapes. She is the author of WordPress For Dummies and BuddyPress For Dummies, and is a regular speaker at national conferences on the topics of WordPress, blogging and design. Blog | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

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3 Responses to “San Diego Fun – WordPress Site Design”

  1. joseph

    08. Oct, 2008

    I am in need of a webmaster to assist me with the development of a combination website/ blogsite in the Word Press platform for what will be the premier website of everything Tequila in the United states.
    My current website http://www.acamextequila.com.mx is full of information related to the field of Tequila but as you will see it seems dull, uninteresting, no high tech capabilities, and thus lack advertisers. We think the American audience may find it plain and simply boring.
    I would like to start the website design and capabilities of the site from scratch in the Word Press platform specifically the Revolution WordPress theme ?Revolution Magazine?.
    The simple reason I like the WordPress format is the cost and editing capabilities.
    Site plugins will include:
    ? Ecommerce Configuration to include product with images and description, a check out interface with interactive shopping cart to work with PayPal.
    ? Webchat Community featuring audio and video webcam for a chatroom, webinar capable to provide interactive seminars and on-line meetings etc.
    ? Member account password protected login and contact form plugins.
    ? Search engine optimization and analytical traffic tracking etc.
    ? RSS feed
    The site will also include about 20 titled pages offering various content of interest.
    Sample sites to consider for design elements and ideas:
    ? Tequila.net: Like overall, our design needs to surpass this site to be competitive.
    ? tequilaaficionado.com : Content format specifically the features section, User login and blog.
    ? Pocotequila.com : Artwork and advertisement on home page.
    ? Tequilarack.com : ?our Select Brands? use of tequila bottles for preview. In our site by clicking on a specific bottle or brand would take you to a page featuring a company profile and brand description.
    If this project is something you might consider please let me know as soon as possible as I am ready to begin now. And if you could please give me an idea of what this may cost.
    If not I would appreciate it if you refer me to someone that might be able to help me.
    Thanks,
    Joseph@tequilaguru.com
    858-356-7575

  2. Lisa Sabin-Wilson

    08. Oct, 2008

    Thank you Joseph – I’ve sent you a follow up email on this request that will help us get the ball rolling on your project.

    Cheers!

  3. Adrian

    06. Sep, 2009

    I like your website design. It does look like San Diego. Lot’s of sun and the outdoors! .

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