The site utilizes the Google AJAX Search API to put it all together and is a total of 2 pages, the index pages and a CSS stylesheet.

This is very similar to the CyberSearch located on this site, a matter of fact after I setup the Emerging Media Specialist site, I used the new CSS to enhance the CyberSearch page here.

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I keep looking at all the themes that are out there and a lot of them are just cluttered. There is always a lot of talk about how each new WordPress Theme is designed for SEO better than the last. Well, this theme is about as minimal as you can make it and still be readable so I have decided to just let it roll for awhile and see how it goes. It’s like going back to the days of no GUI on the desktop, lol.

I have all the elements setup the way I like and it is already being indexed so it has a good start.

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So here it is. CyberCoder Basic WordPress Theme (Zip File)

If you have any interest in learning to create new WordPress Themes I would highly recommend downloading this theme to play with. It is about as basic as you can possibly make a theme. One of the best ways to learn is to try a few things and see what happens. If you have the ability to setup a sub domain it makes it very easy to experiment with things like this.

I host on Dreamhost which allows me to have unlimited sites. Doing it this way allowed me to purchase and setup a couple domains just for the learning experience and I have never seen a better way to learn. And if you want to sign-up with Dreamhost use the Promo Code (CYBER30HOSTING) without parenthesis for $30 off of the One Year plan.

This Basic WordPress Theme has very little styling with a single sidebar on the right hand side. As usual I have set it up to be fluid width, which is just my personal preference. If you would like to see what it looks like I have it installed on CyberCoded.net as a test site.

Feel free to drop me a comment either here or on CyberCoded and let me know what you think.

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So, how hard would this be?

It took about an hour to get it the way I wanted it. I am alternating the background color and the Adsense ads on each tag page. A good example is the Google Tag Page since it has a lot of posts.

Here is a summary of how I did this:

Create a loop counter. Right before the Loop begins set a variable to zero.

<?php
$x=0;
if (have_posts()) : ?>

At this point I would want the Background Color to change, insert code to test for an even number post, and if this is true, add an inline CSS style for the background that would override the stylesheet.

<?php if ($odd = $x%2){?>
<div style=”background-color:#404040;padding:10px 0px 10px 10px;”>
<?php }?>

Then, where the background color should return to the original state, run the same test for the even numbered post and close the div tag set by the Inline Style.

<?php if( $odd = $x%2 ){?>
</div>
<?php }?>

The final step is to add 1 to the counter for each post, which is done at the end of the loop.

<?php
$x++;
endwhile; ?>

Not sure if anyone else likes this style, but it sure seems to make the excerpts easier to read for me. Please let me know what you think ?

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Minimal styling has been added to the Header. The basic font styling is taken from the original WordPress Classic Theme. I did not add different colors to the Visited and Hover since it was for the header.

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The Theme is two files. Style.css and Index.php. The Stylesheet is empty except for Author and Naming conventions.

Link : Empty WordPress Theme

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The goal for this theme is to use the bare minimum CSS while having a theme that would be considered a strong SEO WordPress Theme.

Why? The more I have worked with WordPress and SEO the more I am convinced that more and more things are getting overcomplicated. I believe that going back to the basics may just be the answer to spring ahead within some of these Niche markets that everyone is spending so much time on. And if nothing else, I enjoy backwards engineering software.

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Having been accused of being a non conformist in the past, I thought I would try and live up to the monicker. So here it is, my new WordPress Blog, with NO THEME.

I am going to do everything like I normally do it, just no theme. There is a CSS file, but it is empty.

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By adding an image to the background and a few little tweaks of the CSS file I was able to get the same result. I think it actually helps augment the video player and video title. To see the results click on one of the URL’s below and click on a video in the left sidebar.

I placed this new page in its own folder to demonstrate the ability of making a dynamic page that can have different URL structures. Using PHP I setup a default variable or you can pass any variables to create the following.

• Page Name
• Page Title
• Keywords
• Description
• API results

Examples : (default variable is “Blog Search”)

http://www.cybercoder.net/layout/

http://www.cybercoder.net/layout/You-Tube-Layouts

http://www.cybercoder.net/layout/You-Tube-Layouts/

http://www.cybercoder.net/layout/You-Tube-Layouts.html

The search box will pass input to PHP and the result will be displayed with the following URL. It is not hard to convert this search box to use any of the above URL structures.

http://www.cybercoder.net/layout/index.php?a=You+Tube-Layouts

This project took approximately 2 hours to complete. The bulk of the time was getting a good image formatted just right for the results. No programming was needed on the actual page as the CSS file took care of everything once the image was formatted. I also use the htaccess file to create the redirects for the multiple URL structures.

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