jQuery Blue Theme Teaser

I’ve enjoyed playing around with jQuery so much lately that I’ve decided to take on another project with this useful library — a new WordPress theme, of course.

I typically try to stick to XHTML, CSS, and PHP, but I need to branch out a little. Sure, I used jQuery on the Visionary theme, but I didn’t really delve into its power. This time, I’m going to see how far I can take it without getting too crazy with the code.

The image is just a Photoshop design I put together yesterday. I’m actually pretty far into putting the theme together, although I haven’t gotten much into the functionality yet, just the design.

If you notice the arrow pointing from the sidebar to the main content, you’ll see part of the jQuery script at work. When users click on a link in the recent posts part of the sidebar, that particular post appears in the content box. Basically, I’m taking a lot of the normal page scrolling out of the process. You get a lot above the fold.

I know I said I might scale it back a little with my next theme in a recent comment and I still mean that. I’m taking a break from the magazine/news-style themes for a bit. I want to get back to some simpler designs. Get back to the basics. That’s what I’m doing with the core WordPress part of the theme — I’m gutting it out and putting the simple back into design. I’m just adding some neat effects on top of it. After this theme, however, I might take a break from jQuery.

What do you think of the idea? Any suggestions for design or functionality?