As you can see the new Diablo 3 wordpress theme is starting to take place and is now the default design for this website.  Things are still not 100% and I need to customize many more areas before I am happy with how things look, but at least its usable. I have taken great ains in making this design widget-ready, which is a little troublesome at first.

I will focus on some other projects for a while, but this project will have my attention as far as posting goes, even if the design bit will have to sit back for a while. I especially need to re-design the forum that I have done pretty much nothing with it so far other than just change a few things here are there.

I hope you like it so far.

I am going to start on the new Diablo 3 design for diabloiiiblog.com today since I feel I want to get a flying start with it. I will begin by adding the “wrapper” as soon as possible and then the actual postbit. The sidebar will be a simple version where I will try not to poke things to much so it can remain widget friendly and the footer I will ponder on later as I am sure I want to add something down there as well eventually

I am preparing some advertising spots for the future (you never know) with a 468×60 adspot below each post, a 720×90 spot in the footer, a 300×250 spot in the sidebar and I will try a plugin for random adspots as well. It may sound like a bit to much, but I want to see how it looks and if its not working I’ll remove the areas that are not working.

Feedburner get alot of attention with graphic spots for RSS for posts as well as comments along with a feedburner counter. I am also going to add Technoracti features and work on making the social services sections a bit nicer.

When its in place I’ll start working on the details a bit, like fixing the gallery and the forum so it will look nice and bland with the new design.

It will take a while to get this done since I am home with my son, but I will at least have something to show by the weekend. If you want a sneak preview, please post a comment and I’ll give you a link to see the work in progress.

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I am locking this wordpress theme for now in order to have a design that works, more or less, until O can place my new design in place. This is mostly so I can start setting up the new forum without having it look like hell depending on what theme you choose.

The new theme that will be in place in a few weeks (fingers crossed) is a very light and simple skin that I hope you will like. It will have some Diablo 3 elements, but still be able to be used for multiple purposes so anyone can download and use on their own blogs.

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The new skin is still going through some changes here and there and this time I am showing you the footer that I think is turning out rather nice. As you can see it has changed a bit and I removed the candle from it to make room for the logos for Diablo 3, Battle.net end of course Blizzard.

I intend to make those clickable so they link back to the actual websites of those logos to make it nice and so it will fit nicely with the copyright below where I am trying to honour the Blizzard trademark/copyright guidelines:

What is Blizzard Entertainment’s® copyright / trademark policy for the Internet, specifically for fansites? Can I use Blizzard Entertainment’s® images, text or sound on my web page? Is it ok if I use screenshots I take in-game on my web page?

Yes, within certain limits. We asked our legal department to provide some guidelines for you, and here is what they said:

Blizzard Entertainment® hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non- assignable license to use and display, for home, noncommercial and personal use only, one copy of any material and/or software that you may download from this site, including, but not limited to, any files, codes, audio or images incorporated in or generated by the software (collectively the “Downloaded Content”) provided, however, that you must include or maintain all copyright and other notices contained or associated with such Downloaded Content. You acknowledge and agree that you may not sublicense, assign or otherwise transfer this license or the Downloaded Content and that no title to the Downloaded Content has been or will be transferred to you from Blizzard Entertainment® or anyone else. You also agree that you will not alter, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer or otherwise modify the Downloaded Content.

Also, we reserve the right to revoke this limited use license at any time, for any reason, and at the sole discretion of Blizzard Entertainment®. You may not use our materials on sites that feature defamatory pornographic, or inflammatory content, including, but not limited to, hacks and cheats for any of our games or any other content that Blizzard Entertainment® find objectionable or unlawful.

Are there any legal notices and disclaimers that I need to have on my site when talking about your products?

Yes. You must include all copyright, trademark and other notices as appropriate. Appropriate notices can be acquired from here.

Diablo 3 wordpress theme footer

Until the free Diablo 3 wordpress theme is ready I have added a few other free wordpress themes and included the theme switcher plugin so you can choose a theme that you find to your liking.

All themes are available to be downloaded for free should you want one for your own wordpress blog.

The new design for this blog is undergoing some changes while I try to figure out what goes where and why and I thought I should give you a few glimpses.

The Header

The diablo 3 wordpress theme header

The header area has now been slightly improved and I am preparing the top areas for a breadcrumb, a button of some sort (maybe a RSS icon?) and then a dropdown at the end. The images behind the diablo3 logo has been separated from the overlay decor and changed to fit the Diabloiiiblog.com content, which will be general Diablo 3 information (represented by a ingame screen) and the tale of Mortekai (represented by a aging barbarian). The name of the blog is also added.

The Sidebar

The Diablo 3 wordpress theme sidebar

The sidebar has been poked a bit and now use the box from the Blizzard homepage that I think I will use for banners and promotions. The bottom bit will be made black or metal/stone like with a little icon or title since I don’t want to play with trasparent gifs/pngs if I can avoid it. I might change my mind later on, but that is how I see it now anyway.

The Postbit

The Diablo 3 wordpress theme postbit

The postbit is what I am working on right now and so far I have just moved a few things around and added a diablo 3 icon thingie in the title area’s right corner, which kind of lighten things up a bit. I am not sure if I want to have the context just pasted on the background, or if I want to make it more elaborate, but I guess time and overall graphic intensity will make that decision for me anyway…

I am going to focus more on the postbit once I start to figure out what I want when it comes to plugins and things like that, so stay tuned for more updates on this.