
Not a designer? Here’s how to make your web apps look awesome - mootothemax
http://tbbuck.com/how-to-make-your-web-apps-look-awesome/
======
huhtenberg
> _Not a designer? Here’s how to make your web apps look awesome -_

Hire a designer :)

\--

I am saying this only half-jokingly. There's always a trade-off. Pre-made
themes are great, but

(a) they are shared and have a mass-production stigma attached to them

(b) they are designed first and spec'd second, which is the opposite of the
normal process whereby the design follows from what it is that needs to be
achieved with it.

The title should really be "great looking designs on a budget" rather than
focusing on the lack of the designer skills. Because if there are funds
available, then contracting out the design and getting exactly what you want
beats the hell out of purchasing a theme.

~~~
hartror
I am in the very early stages of bootstrapping a business[1], I have no
problems using Photoshop or Illustrator from a technical stand point but my
design skills are rather lacking (see link). My plan is to take an awesome
premium theme that has the PSDs and use it as a framework from which to build
a design if not original with be distinguishable as my own.

I wish I could afford the time of one of my designer friends, I know some kick
ass designers but even at mate rates my current budget isn't enough. That said
I am planning on bribing a couple of them with booze and a home cooked meal to
get some advice.

[1] <http://www.relishment.com>

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wvenable
What are other good sites for this kind of thing besides Themeforest? This
looks like a good way to go to get a nice looking website up fast and
inexpensively.

~~~
rgarcia
WooThemes is a pretty good one: <http://www.woothemes.com/>

According to their blog [1] a lot of their templates use 960.gs, which might
make them more friendly to use than ThemeForest.

[1] <http://www.woothemes.com/2008/12/why-we-love-960gs/>

~~~
mootothemax
_According to their blog [1] a lot of their templates use 960.gs, which might
make them more friendly to use than ThemeForest._

Just to play devil's advocate, plenty of themes use 960 on ThemeForest. I
think all of them have used jQuery, but I've definitely bought a couple using
960 :)

~~~
uxp
960gs is a fancy template for math. Lots of sites use the 960gs style, without
actually including the template.

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dglassan
This is the approach I took with Disrupt.fm

I almost convinced myself to spend around $7-800 on a design from 99designs
before I found an awesome admin theme on themeforest for $20

Just because you purchase a theme from themeforest does not mean that your
site will look like 500 other sites that have the same theme. I bought an
admin template so that I could use the styles....not the structure and
layout.You should purchase a theme knowing that it's going to be customized to
fit your needs, not to just drop it in and be done...plus, chances are most of
the admin templates are used on the backend for a bunch of websites that the
public won't see.

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AndyNemmity
I was really hoping for something explaining how to simply make designs that
will work well for any topic, and instead read about how to use a paid for
theme.

Disappointing.

~~~
dpcan
Agreed, I was really hoping for some amazing minimalist techniques for adding
that professional flare to any design.

~~~
doublerebel
There's no magic that makes design professional. If you want a professional
design, pay for a pro template or pay for a pro designer.

------
mootothemax
Hi everyone,

I wrote this post after being asked by a few people to tell them exactly what
you get once you've downloaded the theme that you've paid for.

If you have any questions, please do ask away :)

~~~
SkyMarshal
Thanks for the writeup. I discovered Themeforest recently, but are any there
other good options for buying non-WP themes?

~~~
mootothemax
I've looked at TemplateMonster, who should in theory have lots of themes, but
have found their site such a nightmare to navigate that I just gave up.
ThemeForest doesn't have the most themes, but by and large they're
consistently good.

------
tuhin
At the risk of being seriously down-voted in a Hacker dominated community,
please read the following:

 _Not a designer? Here’s how to make your web apps look awesome_

A) Please hire a designer. You might hire someone who is not very costly and
fits your budget but I cannot over emphasize the value someone who does this
day in day out brings to the table.

OR

B) If you were a designer and wanted to build something, what would you do?
Use one of the million ready made coding junks like "Digg Template" or
"Twitter template"? No you know very well that innovation does not work that
ways. You would pick up a book and learn to program or find someone who knows
it and will help you.

Just because "everybody" thinks they can design or make things "look" good, it
does not mean it is design. Read a few books like the following to get
started:

1)The Design Of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman, Don Norman (basics of
design)

2)Visual Grammar by Christian Leborg (basics of visual design)

3)Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekermann
(typography)

4)Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach To Web Usability by Steve Krug
(basics of UX)

5)Understanding Comics by Scott Mccloud (basics of storytelling- useful in web
interfaces too)

6)The Visual Display Of Quantitative Informations by Edward R. Tufte (useful
in information design and dashboards)

If you have read them and want to learn more, please feel free to contact via
my HN Profile.

~~~
alexfarran
> B) If you were a designer and wanted to build something, what would you do?

Install wordpress and download a few plugins. It won't be the next facebook,
but most sites aren't.

Similarly, if all you need is good enough design that won't scare people away
a theme is probably adequate. You can always hire someone later.

------
jschuur
There's room here for a dedicated site to focus on all the little design
widgets that a developer needs too: Login boxes, modal dialogs, growl style
notifications, mouseover effects etc. There's a lot of individual jQuery
plugins available (and jQueryUI is too spartan), but for someone who is
primarily a backend developer, it can be hard to put together something with a
consistent look.

~~~
wahnfrieden
Take a look at Dojo Toolkit, it has a pretty full set of widgets with
consistent look and feel, and even accessibility built in.

~~~
hopeless
Although the lack of decent Dojo documentation should put you off.
Unfortunately I don't get to make that choice and mostly have to guess /
Firebug my way to a solution. Also, Dojo excels at reproducing a desktop-type
app which might not be what you're after.

------
enjayhsu
Awesome. Being a dev and having no eye for design, awesome place to start.

For some reason, people don't dig the plain white page with tons of controls.

~~~
mootothemax
_For some reason, people don't dig the plain white page with tons of
controls._

Heh, totally - I remember playing with RadControls years ago, and always being
severely disappointed that placing the controls on the page didn't magically
transform it into a masterpiece :)

------
da5e
This is a helpful article, but the theme of the site it's on is really tacky
with its faux wood paneling which sort of takes away from its message about
awesomeness.

------
dmboyd
What are the risks of this? there was an article(1) a while back which went
through the google hits of "free wordpress themes" which had either base64
obfuscated js code directly in the theme code. What are the chances of code
allowing other attack vectors?

(1) - [http://wpmu.org/why-you-should-never-search-for-free-
wordpre...](http://wpmu.org/why-you-should-never-search-for-free-wordpress-
themes-in-google-or-anywhere-else/)

------
swanson
I remember the last time someone posted about ThemeForest, there were
questions of whether you needed the extended license for a SaaS app that
charged money or if the regular license was fine.

The license prices (~$100 vs ~$1000) could make a big difference; was there
ever an "official" answer on this? The terms on the ThemeForest site aren't
super clear.

~~~
mootothemax
_was there ever an "official" answer on this_?

Before I wrote the blog post, I contacted the author of the theme I use on
TweetingMachine (for the tool itself), and he congratulated me on its use.
Given the price difference of what he could be missing out on, that's good
enough for me.

------
tansey
I am a little confused-- why does the theme come with PHP files? Isn't it just
a front-end?

~~~
mootothemax
Makes life easier, as the various design elements have already been split up
for you :)

~~~
tansey
Right, but I don't want to use PHP. I don't understand why it wouldn't be just
a straight-forward CSS/HTML/JS front-end. Is there some code generated on the
server that I'm not getting?

~~~
sjwalter
You can use whatever you like on your backend. This /is/ just a straight-
forward CSS/HTML/JS frontend, however the theme's author has helpfully (un- in
your case) provided the theme's basic structure a set of PHP files such that
you can use it as a template without breaking it apart yourself.

~~~
tansey
Ah, got it. Thanks!

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stevedekorte
FWIW, they don't look "awesome" to me. They look usable and relatively clutter
free though, which is better than many sites. Someone with a sense of
typography could probably fix the layout and colors with minimal effort.

------
dhotson
<http://99designs.com>

Disclaimer: I work at 99. :-)

