The Site That Needs The Revolution News Theme The Second-Most

Say wha?

I’m writing this post for one reason: to win Brian Gardner’s Revolution News Wordpess Theme. He’s having a contest to give away 3 free copies of the theme, which normally costs $99.95 for a single use of the theme, or $249.95 for a multi-use license. The rules of the contest are simple - write a post about why you want the theme and what you plan on doing with it. Brian, this is my entry (I hope I get this finished in time - I just noticed the contest today, and today is the day the contest winner is announced!).

I’ve read all the entries, at least the ones linked directly in the post. I haven’t read through any of the comments to see what entries are there, so there might be a worthwhile entry there, too; I don’t know. Brian, I think you should give a free version to this person. It sounds like the perfect application of your theme, and it sounds like it’s a group that could really use the help. After you give that school your theme, though, I think I’ve got the second-most pressing need for it.

My parents run a small business in Kitchens & More. They’ve got a terrible web site and design. It’s bad on many levels - look, use, feel, etc. It’s using frames - frames! I mean, 1997 called, and it wants its website back. They’re in dire need of a redesign, and I was looking to give it to them. They know nothing about design or websites, so I was going to help them out. Unfortunately, I can only hunt and peck my way around HTML and CSS, so I’m not going to be whipping up a snazzy design any time soon. Brian, this is where you come in.

Before I go on, though, and tell you what we plan to do with the theme, I just want to show you a couple screencaps, because whether we win your theme or not, the site is going to get a new design. Here’s the home page:

And then here’s the inner ‘pages’ of the site with frames:

There’s a need there, don’tcha think? That should answer why I want the theme.

What do I plan to do with it?

I’m going to ask Brian to customize the theme a bit, such as change the colors to match the logo (we’re not going with a dark background, though), and make the home page a two column layout instead of the three column default, and then deploy this theme as their small business website. Once Brian customizes the theme for me, I can take it from there and beef up their pages, content, etc, and my brother, who works with my parents in the business, is going to use the blog function for updates, latest remodel jobs they’ve done, etc.

I think this is an excellent use of this theme. It shows just how much flexibility Wordpress and this theme has. Brian could feature the site (or not ) as a potential use of the theme that webmasters may not have thought of. It’s an inexpensive, flexible solution for small businesses, imo.

I also plan to upgrade to the multi-license version of the theme and use it here and there on several website and blog ideas I have. I’d like to remove Brian’s link in the footer for my parent’s website, but I’ll certainly keep the link for other projects I’m planning. He deserves the credit.

So Brian, here’s my entry into your contest. I’m seriously hoping this makes it in time. After you give away your theme to that school in Appalachia, please help my parents (and me!) out.

Thanks,

Mike