Wanted: New Default Theme

**Nick** · 01-21-2010, 09:11 AM

We're over six months into development and have a CMS that is close to ready for use on production sites, but we are still using an amateur default theme which, quite frankly, is not a good advertisement for our project, and since Hotaru CMS is open source, we don't have any money to get a proper one done.

Now, I'm not asking for money. Instead, I'm hoping to tempt an aspiring web designer by a link in the default theme's footer, so you can promote your own design services and establish yourself in a new niche early on. If you are well-versed in Wordpress themes, JQuery, W3C standards, cross-browser compatibility and have an amazing eye for good design, this would be a good opportunity to make a name for yourself or your business. Alternatively, if you can foot the bill to hire a professional theme designer in exchange for a link in the default theme's footer, that's a possibility, too.

The ideal default theme would be clean, simple and easily customized. It should use the templates and CSS files provided by plugins, which will also need to be tidied up and made as generic as possible for use with alternative themes and CSS frameworks.

New to Hotaru? See the current default theme files here and learn more about how Hotaru themes work here.

Naturally, you will be invited to join our team and be able to offer your services as an official theme designer for Hotaru CMS. If this is something that appeals to you, please reply here or send me or JonH a private message, preferably with a link to your previous work.

**Jason** · 01-21-2010, 02:06 PM

I'll admit that I am rather interested in creating *the* theme that people will originally identify with Hotaru, like K2 and WordPress, but I'm afraid I don't do "minimalist" very well (as you can see from both my sentences, and my blog design).

That said, I do have a few questions:
* is there a site out there that kinda has what you're envisioning? (e.g. Kinda like the masterful design at j2fi.net, but not so bloggy)
* is there a limit to how many colours will be used? (e.g. I try to keep my theme designs to no more than 4)
* is there a bandwidth concern regarding site design? (e.g. Engadget's homepage consumes a little more than 1.6 MB to load most days)

I've been messing around with the basic theme while trying to get my WordPress import plugin to import my darned posts, so this might be a fun way to contribute even more in the future

**Nick** · 01-21-2010, 02:52 PM

Good questions, Jason and I'll keep you in mind. Now let's see...

1. No. I'd prefer the designer to come up with their own concept, rather than base it on existing designs. Personally, appearance comes second to rock-solid cross-browser, W3C-compliant code that is logical and as generic as possible. For the record, IE6 can be tossed out the window.
2. No limit, but I agree that fewer colors are better for a default theme because it makes it easier to customize.
3. No bandwidth limit, but if a light design helps the demo load a bit snappier, then a light design is the way to go.