Ikiru Design

Armed with a firm desire to create a WordPress theme different from the others that I’ve made and little plan as to what that should look like, I made new theme that was first called “Small Verdana,” then “Old School,” and now the compromise “Retro Verdana.” It is, I suspect, ugly. But it’s also loaded with novelties I once loved and relished.

From the first webpages I ever made — with FrontPage, I must confess — Verdana was one of those fonts that I knew to use and even liked. I’ve also admired the false depth which is easily created by changing border colors. And I’ve always had a undeservedly strong affinity for the color #336699. And “Retro Verdana” has all of those things. And ugly as it may be, I like the result of combining those things. A lot.

To see this little beast for yourself, click here for a demo. Or, since you may well be too lazy, look right below this line.

Essentially, the issue is this: I have strong suspicion that “Retro Verdana” is ugly. Really ugly. Especially to modern tastes, but also to the timeless ideals to which I’d rather aspire. But I also can’t seem to avoid smiling every single time I see it. I can’t help saying: maybe you’re not the prettiest gal, but I’d still love to dance with you.

I can’t avoid the desire to post this theme and share it publicly even though I could be forever condemned as a victim of hideously bad taste. And I can’t avoid relishing in both the unsightly and the nice and novel features which, to even my surprise, I think it has.

So I guess the whole point is that I have two words to say to those who think it’s ugly: I understand. And I have two words for those who admit fondness for it: I understand.

You can download Retro Verdana here, and find its page here.

As I suggested earlier, I’ve been casting around for a plan that would assure that I didn’t again neglect Ikiru Design in the way I recently have been. This is both an issue for my free themes — which I first planned to have at 1.0 on January 1, then January 15, then ???, now ????? — and for general read-worthy content on this site.

On the first problem, I don’t yet have a good solution.

On the second, I have this: one post a week. This is meagre compared to the five a week I average at Frozen Toothpaste, and the five a day I average at Link Banana, but those are different sites with different topics and objectives. Once a week is a realistic goal which I feel confident I can achieve. This is roughly what I was doing before I took an almost accidental hiatus, and if I really commit to it I’m sure it’s something I can expect to manage.

This could also work to force me to do more work on my free themes, as in an inspiration-less week I could still have some easy-to-accomplish CSSing to fill the gap. That’s the new plan, and now that it’s public I hope I’m more likely to stick to it. And that’s not a lot, but it’s something.

I just changed the theme here back to the first theme I ever made: BWO. This is for a couple reasons, probably the most important is that I’ve been using Carter’s Line (which I was using here) at my link blog, Link Banana. It’s also because I’ve been negligent regarding this site and its themes. And I really would like to work on it more regularly.

As the title of these few paragraphs suggests, I’m not ready to say that I’m back to doing this regularly. But I’m thinking about how best to make sure I don’t neglect this so seriously in the future, while assuring that it doesn’t monopolize more time than I can give it.

I’ll be sure to let you know when I figure out a plan.