Stunning Silence v1.2.3 [WordPress theme]
Update: v1.2.3 has been released, thanks to some requests by Blair. Links across the template are now highlighted on hover, and the RSS feed icon has been moved to the left. The text “RSS Feed” displays on hover.
Update: v1.2.4 has been released, thanks to suggestions. A fluer-de-lis now displays default to the left of the title; users can modify this logo to change it to their own.
Stunning Silence has had amazing reception with the WordPress community so far. Thank you so much, guys! I loved every single bit of feedback and all the compliments.
This new release of Stunning Silence adds some more features and options to the Stunning Silence WordPress theme including new color schemes (detailed in the picture) and other effects.
I must say, when I first released this WordPress theme, I did not imagine the feedback would be so great. I’ve had several people email me asking for help or just complimenting me. Thanks, everyone. I’ll try to respond to everyone’s emails.
Without further ado, I present you a list of the features so far.
Features present so far.
- Color schemes: choose from five color schemes: blue, green, pink, grey minimalist, and light n’ simple. Each one makes the design look great.
- Superior customization: A huge options page with over ten options to choose from, including the color and stickiness of the navigation bar, where the Twitter blurb displays, and custom text in the footer.
- Simple and clean: It’s simple and clean, great for businesses and any blog where you want your viewers to know you mean business.
- Navigation bar: It can stay at the top or scroll with you, you can change the color of it, and whether it is preceded by the text “Navigation” or not. Better yet, specify your own text.
- Twitter integration: a great place to put your Twitter messages is the header, with all sorts of settings. Want it to display on only the home page? No problem.
- Clean fonts and careful typography. Line height, font selection, and weights have all been selected. Fonts used are Arial and Helvetica which are supported on virtually every browser.
- Customizable footer. Add your own text, choose whether to show login/logout links or copyright messages: it is all up to you.
- Integrated search box: the search box is there, and is obvious on first sight, giving your users a quick and easy way to find what they are looking for.
- Widget sidebar: Use the default sidebar if you want, or use the widgetized sidebar to pick your own widgets on the sidebar.
- RSS feed icon: offer your readers an easy way to view feeds with an subtle yet obvious icon in the header.
- XHTML valid. Be sure to offer your users the best. Screen readers and disabled people will not worry when they come across your site with properly formatted designs.
- It is only $0.00. This theme is licensed under GPL and is completely free.
Screenshots.
Download / Demo
Note: I no longer host themes on my servers unless necessary or there is no other place to upload.
Demo / Download (132KB from WordPress official theme servers)
If you need any support, I’m here for you if you ask nicely 
3 Comments:
admin
Tuesday, 23 June, 2009 at 7:24@Blair: I’ve replied to you via your email address. Thanks for all the compliments.
Blair
Thursday, 25 June, 2009 at 4:21Hey Brandon,
I liked your changes to the last version. I decided to spend some time and customize the page to my liking, and you can see the results at my website. I added some javascript on the sidebar and childposts thanks to some code by Mujtaba Ahmed (www.dynamicguru.com/mujtaba).
Customization was pretty easy. It was a bit difficult to find where to change the main body text, but I found it eventually. I would recommend this site to anybody looking for a professional, readable website. Congratulations, and you’re clearly mentioned in my about page as the designer of the theme.
–Blair
Blair
Tuesday, 23 June, 2009 at 2:04Hey Brandon,
Excellent work on this. I can’t believe you’re only 12 years old!
I’ve been quietly following your updates to see what happens. The color and schemes are strong. The twitter update is fantastic. The navbar is intriguing. However, I just can’t overlook the typography in the peripherals. I mean, the basic blog typography is fine, but everything outside of the blog content is really difficult to read. For me, typography is perhaps the most important thing, and it’s so much more helpful to have some basic elements established out of the box.
To be more specific:
1) The meta-data, such as comments and categories, are really hard if not impossible to read. You might consider enlarging the text and putting it against another color. Furthermore, sidebar category titles are the same color as the links, making it difficult to discern when a new category begins. Again, a simple CSS tweak, but it’s nice to see if out of the box.
2) Links do nothing when hovered, which (for me) makes me question if they are links. This is particularly a concern with the navbar, which, to play Devil’s Advocate, follows me down the page and when I hover a word, nothing happens. Combined with the above, I see a sidebar and meta-data that don’t interact with me. I think you see where I’m going here.
You might search “typography” at http://www.smashingmagazine.com, scroll down a bit, and read their “8 Simple Ways…” or “10 Principles…” articles.
I’m not gonna lie. You’re 12 years old, are multi-lingual and have solid computer skills. You’ve got a future ahead of you. Please keep working and doing what you do, and I’ll check back to see if a future update lures me to switch themes!
–Blair