Site History

Since 2005, Darren Hoyt Dot Com has been a blog about CSS, content management, client relations and all aspects of front-end web design.

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March 2010

• Sun 14^th

  Tweets to Remember

  Specific blog posts can be credited with widespread influence of opinion. Can microblogging’s limited format accomplish the same thing?

• Wed 10^th

  Obama Theme, Republican Candidate

  Today Geoff Fox tipped me off to something ironic: the website for Republican congressional candidate Daria Novak is using a WordPress theme I designed back in 2008 for Obama supporters.

• Tue 9^th

  Dribbble, Meritocracy and the Open Web

  Last month I was lucky to be drafted into Dribbble by a fellow designer. It’s a private beta site with a lot of buzz. It will eventually grow and go public which got me thinking about the ramifications.

January 2010

• Thu 7^th

  Design Versatility

  At the beginning of each new year, I do some navel-gazing about where I should be career-wise. I look over my portfolio and take note of things I could have done differently.

December 2009

• Tue 22^nd

  Creating Custom WordPress Widgets

  With each new version of WordPress, the argument whether or not it qualifies as a CMS gets a little quieter.
  In the WordPress core we have widgets, custom fields, custom taxonomies, and with version 2.9, an expansion of get_post_type. Add a few plugins and all sorts of post-types and custom write panels become a reality.
  All [...]

• Fri 11^th

  Feature Suggestions for Gravy

  I released a baseline theme and PSD set called Gravy back in August and am happy sales have exceeded expectations. Just as important, user feedback has shown that the theme speeds up development time and can be used for diverse projects.

• Tue 8^th

  Introducing WPQuestions

  This week, my development partner and I launched WPQuestions.com, a new problem-solving site for the WordPress community, and the response so far has been incredible.

October 2009

• Wed 28^th

  Notes on the Pro Theme Redesign

  Last week, Ben and I launched the new version of Pro Theme Design. For me it was the first opportunity since going freelance to design a concept, logo, layout and content from the ground up, so I thought I’d make some notes on the process.

September 2009

• Sun 20^th

  Better Button and Nav Interactions

  Using a simple button example to remind myself about the fundamentals of user interaction and expectations.

August 2009

• Tue 4^th

  A Design Framework for WordPress

  Gravy is the codename for a new project I’m releasing today. It’s a design and theming system I’ve evolved over the years to help build a ton of my own WordPress-driven client sites.

June 2009

• Thu 11^th

  WPTopics: A WordPress Content Filter

  WPTavern had a discussion last week about the huge number of WP developer blogs that have sprung up. As an experiment I decided to build a WordPress content aggegator that would filter only the most useful stuff.

May 2009

• Wed 20^th

  A WordPress Theme for Writers and Journalists

  Traditional newspapers continue closing their doors as more journalists are striking out on their own to start blogs, news aggregators and hyperlocal community sites built on open-source platforms like WordPress.

• Thu 7^th

  Creating a Flickr Carousel in Expression Engine

  Flickr is still one of my favorite online services in terms of features and interface. The Uploadr tool also makes it an especially easy image-hosting solution for clients who are out in the field, taking their own photos, and updating them frequently.
  Lately a few Expression Engine clients have needed to display their photostream dynamically in [...]

April 2009

• Tue 28^th

  A New Design and Game Plan

  This spring brought a few surprises which inspired the site redesign. The biggest was that my wife got into grad school in NYC so we’re currently scrambling to find an apartment and start new lives. It also means I’ll be taking the plunge and beginning a freelance design career.

March 2009

• Sun 15^th

  Mimbo Pro 2.0 Released

  As Ben Gillbanks already mentioned, last week we quietly released a major upgrade of the Mimbo Pro theme for WordPress. Older quirks were smoothed out, suggestions from the forum were implemented, as well as vital new features we both felt were necessary.

February 2009

• Tue 3^rd

  Best Designs of 2008, from the Client’s Perspective

  Every client I meet with is given a questionnaire beforehand so they can clarify their design tastes. It usually includes links to galleries like StyleGala or Web Creme (or my own Yahoo Pipes gallery mashup feed) to get them started. During the meeting, we discuss their responses and analyze their favorite designs on a large screen projector.

January 2009

• Fri 30^th

  Mimbo 3.0 Released

  The theme is new and improved, but the download page remains the same. Please have a look and go play around with the live Mimbo 3.0 demo.

• Thu 8^th

  Interviews with Church Designers

  Browsing the various CSS galleries is one way to gauge which industries place value on good design. I was surprised these past couple years to see a big surge in lavishly designed church websites. As a non-churchgoer, I wasn’t sure I understood why so many churches suddenly wanted a cutting-edge image for themselves.