When I first started writing HTML, I made a lot of design mistakes. In fact, I cringe when I think about some of them (and when I see some of them – damn you Archives.org!). I got better with time, but my best attempts still looked amateurish, and I was laughed out of many a web design forum!

Things started to change when I bought a book called The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams.

The book is now in its third edition, and was well worth the price. This will probably be the only book I recommend, as it’s the only design book that ever did me much good.

You can find anything you want to know online about XHTML, CSS or PHP. Photoshop tutorials abound. But after reading this book, and learning about 4 principles of design – proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast – I started looking at web pages with new eyes. I applied these principles to my own site with a new design, and presented it to my critics – much to my delight, they heaped praise on it, and laughter turned to respect for what I had learned.

The Non-Designer’s Design Book earns 5 flowers and deserves every one!

I built an Amazon store and stocked it with the latest WordPress and blogging books – check it out! I didn’t use a plugin, but instead made a modified template file and included my aStore in an iframe. I’ll make a video or screencast tutorial soon on how to do it – it was super easy!

I am also getting VERY CLOSE on completing the Tickled Pink theme – you should expect an announcement in the next few days. I don’t know if I”ll submit it to the Theme Codex or not – or even whether they will accept it, but I’ll have it available for download soon. I have to finish the accompanying Simple:Press theme, Pinkish, as it will be part of the package.

I’ve also got another theme in the works that uses NextGEN Gallery – right now it’s just a bare outline in Photoshop and I’ll have to flesh it out but it won’t be long before it’s a nice theme for a gallery or portfolio site!

And – nothing to do with WordPress or with the Gardens, but: Congratulations to Senator Barack Obama on winning the Democratic nomination!