Both Andy and I are very pleased to release the Sandbox version 0.9. You may be wondering why the release versions went from v0.6 to v0.9. I got very close to releasing several revisions and v0.9 is the one I think is the most ready.
The major change is that since the v0.6 release we’ve removed the skins options menu. The beauty of the Sandbox is its markup, its highly semantic, dynamic nature. This GUI for flopping between style sheets just seemed like bloat, not value. This is plugin behavior and not for a theme.
But it was pretty cool, and a great learning experience.
Otherwise what we’ve done is slimmed the theme down and made it more accessible for repurposing for other themes. There have been a number of themes that have taken good advice and been based on the Sandbox (just check out Adam’s amazing new theme to see what can be done with the Sandbox).
Now the only way you’re really going to be able to note the line-by-line changes in the markup, such as class name changes, is by digging into the Sandbox Subversion repository. Or you can just download the Sandbox and get started immediately.
Anyhow, we’re both very pleased with how this theme has grown. I’ve been in the process of redesigning some blogs currently and I find that writing CSS for the Sandbox is really a pleasure. It’s just total designing, and that’s not something I’m very good at, but I really enjoy it.
So I hope all those who want to design their own WordPress theme, or build an superior theme for public release will enjoy the Sandbox as much as I have.
18 Comments
very awesome!
i love the formatted readme. your sense of typography beyond amazing.
I think a demo or screenshot would be nice. Even though there’s nothing interesting to show
A demo is on its way. That’s not a tall order.
But it’s too bad one can’t just browse source code.
Excellent. Do you know whether wordpress.com will be updating the version they’re using?
According to my last conversation with Andy, he will be updating the Sandbox.
He was insistent on not breaking a single person’s style sheet, so updating may include introducing the Sandbox v0.9 as a separate theme and providing folks time to migrate to the new version.
I updated both the Kubrick and Spartan style sheets; though not terribly complicated designs, it wasn’t too much trouble. Plus the new classes and structure will allow for a lot more potential.
Hi! I feel like a dummie, asking you for the change about skin GUI via the mailing-list today before reading your post… So next time, I’ll be ready
Thanks again !
just add a
of course firefox only
view-source:[add the url here]like View Source for at least any urlLooks very simple but nice! Good Work!
Josh: It may look simple, but there’s a lot more to the Sandbox. Check out the readme.html to get a better feel for what the Sandbox does and why it’s so powerful. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Jax: Thanks for the great little tip. I frankly just had no idea about
view-source:in Firefox. Fantastic. Thanks.Also, the Sandbox was bumped to v0.9.1 yesterday. as the x.x.1 numbering should suggest, very slight change. There was an empty line at the end of the
functions.phpfile that was removed.Huzzah!
I kinda miss the skin picker, though. It makes it easier to deal with upgrades when you don’t have to edit core files.
Oh well, I had to edit core files anyways, for some of the theme ideas I was playing with (I added a separator element between the primary and secondary sidebars — I think I needed it to clear a float in one of my experiments).
Anyhow, I look forward to finding time to update my current skin to the new Sandbox.
You know, the skins menu was really plugin functionality. And as an example of that, someone actually made a plugin that is pretty much what we removed from the Sandbox, Skinner.
So it’s even better separate of presentation and content! Excellent, eh?
@dougal-
actually, i think using
template: sandboxactually makes it easier, as far as redistributing. since in 2.1+ you can use your ownfunctions.php, and your theme/skin/design lives in a seperate folder, you can upgrade the sandbox completely independently.Re: Zeo,
There’s a live preview now avaiable. Enjoy.
i ♥ having
#accessas a wrapper for#menuAwesome. I’ll be sure to update. I’m working on a theme for my site using it. It’s going slow, but it’s going good.
The best part about
div#accessis it’s totally semantic relating to the content is separates. So it’s thankfully not just a sprinkling of adiv.Jenny: Take your time and good luck, happy designing. I think two months is a good amount of time. So dive right in!
Also, for all those watching the SVN, it’s been bumped to v0.9.2 because of a ridiculous
*/left at the end ofstyle.css. That’s all.The new format is excellent and the best part is its semantic approach.
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[…] 經�?�多番修改，Sandbox 0.9 終於發布，這個版本比之�? 0.6 看得到的最大改動是�?�?有 skin options 的�?�項了，因為 Andy 和 Scott 覺得 Sandbox 最好的地方就是彈性的 semantic markup，�?�是你有創�?，�?�需使用 CSS 便化出�?�?�效果（Adam 的 blog 便是一例），skin options 的�?�項�?�是一個多餘的�?�西，所以在這版本刪除了。 […]
[...] Thanks for visiting! If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. This blog posts regular Wordpress news, updates of themes, plugins, ideas, hacks, quick fixes and everything about blogging, especially with Wordpress. Go ahead, subscribe to our feed!Last Tuesday, May 28, I released an update to the Sandbox theme, version 0.9. Since releasing the Sandbox back in August of 2006 Andy and I have received lots of good feedback. I called it “the theme for themers” and it has had a really positive influence on theme design within the WordPress community. [...]
The Sandbox Designs Competition Begins…
A theme design competition has begun. All themes should be built on The Sandbox theme. The winner will receive as much as $500 in prize money.
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[...] The other day I picked up a couple design books: The Principles of Beautiful Web Design and The Non-Designer’s Design Book. I am only half way through The Principles of Beautiful Web Design and I already got the itch to redesign! Then on the WordPress dashboard there was a link to The Sandbox Designs Competition and Sandbox was updated. [...]
[...] The dudes at PlainTXT are having a competition for Sandbox designs. I first found out about it at Weblog Tools. I thought this was an awesome idea. I’d like to see what other designers come up with. I’ve been trying to work with this theme and make it something neat to look at for this site, but it has been long in the making. Ever since my first domain, girlseyeview.nu. But now, with the upgrade they did, I think it’s going to be easier to work with. They’ve cleaned it up and stuff. But anyway, back to the competition. [...]
[…] El Martes pasado, 28 de Mayo, publiqué una actualización al tema Sandbox, version 0.9. Desde la publicación de Sandbox en Agosto dl 2006 Andy y yo hemos recibido bastante retroalimentación. Yo lo llamo “el tema para los diseñadores de temas” y ha tenido una influencia realmente positiva en el diseño de temas dentro de la comunidad de WordPress. […]
[...] The WordPress Theme competition based-on Sandbox Theme. Enriching and challenging the blog design community in high semantic style. [...]