nice one thanks

Nice theme but quite a lot coding issues. Latest posts etc tabs and ‘continue reading’ button messed up on IE (6 & 7). Also not valid (x)html.

Thanks a lot! Simply Ornate is a great Work of Evan Eckard and Din Pattern freebies. Thanks for sharing :)

Looks very nice, for sure, but hopefully you’ll address the markup issues that Jacob stated above!

Thanks

Looks good!!!

WOW! This is an amazing theme. I think I found my next one here :D

Very Good!!

Not the best you’ve ever offered.

When I install it on Link [mpathirage.com] the tabbed recent posts and comment thing make firefox stuck for some times. Does any one have any idea about this?

I think that the writing is not very clear with this theme. When reading a blog I want to see the letters more clearly with a neutral background.

Looks good..

Look at the Subscribers total top right!

Sorry, not really feeling this one

Freebies ! Gotta Love them ! Thanks Smashing and thanks to the guys who did them so people STOP GRUMBLING !

Link [www.dotnetmushroom.com]

I’m gonna have to agree with Dave and Casey — this isn’t quite there yet. The layout and typography is good, but putting the text straight onto that pattern background just doesn’t work — it’s too dark and lacks structure because there’s no bounding box. I think the text should be dark on a light background content box; keep the pattern, but only use it for the page background.

But hey, it’s free :) Thanks anyhow.

ugly … :(

To be honest, I don’t find posting a whole article about one average WP theme interesting. Even if it was the best theme in the world, c’mon, that’s it? One theme and a whole article for another few days? I hope you guys are not running out of topics to write about :-)

don’t like it. sorry!

T_T you missed a closing div

The blue pattern is really elegant and unobtrusive. I can see it on a traditional subject website. I very much like the transparent text boxes too, but not I’m sure if this effect has enough browser support for me to use it. How did you achieve it? Does it work on most older browsers too?

hmm i not really like this theme… :/ very ugly background! but the fading tabs in the sidebar is cool.

ok, so I’ve woken up now and read your notes (sorry for the last comment)………really useful tip on how to use png transparency that also works in IE6. thanks!

———————–
@h-a-r-v
Posting “one whole” article about a theme (good one or bad one), is in my opinion good. Why? Because 1 ) it is a freebie 2) The author/designer deserves some credit in the post 3) It is interesting to read what the motivation is behind the design etc. 4) At one glance of the article you can view of the template suits you, you view the different colors and what it can do, and thus you can decide without having to try it, if you like it and would like to use it.

About the 1 article per few days comment… C’mon, be glad this site exists and be patient or write something yourself and see how difficult en time consuming it is.
———————

This wordpress theme isn’t really up to the smashingmagazine standards (i.m.h.o.). Of course any freebie is appreciated but i do not think it is smashing. I just see a nice background and for the rest just text in this template. Creativity is pretty low on this one. But of course it is just my opinion.

Thanks for the freebie!

Greets,
Friso

For everyone that isn’t really digging this theme, let me just reiterate that “I tried to make this theme as basic as possible.”

No fancy illustrations to work with, no weird plugins or designs, just a focus on typography, layout and a dash of color from the patterned background(s).

This theme was really designed for the ease of modification, so have fun with it! The layout and font styles are taken care of; you can take the foundation and create new flavors or color palettes pretty easily.

Ehh.. ;-)

i dont like it :s, i think that we can vote it before the designers code it!

Hmm… I don’t really like this theme. Even though there is room for modification, I think it lacks… style. The only thing original about it is the background and the text bubbles. Sorry, but I’m a bit disappointed by this theme.

I’ve seen your other themes though in your portfolio and think they are beautiful. You are very talented :). I just don’t like this one design.

Out of curiosity, what is everyone looking for in a Wordpress theme? Feel free to email me directly at evan (at) evaneckard.com

Freebie or not, it doesn’t say much for one’s work ethic to not address such major issues as previously stated. Also, the design leaves out a lot of the accessibility and usability that Wordpress includes. (I.e. direct access to admin, links, etc.)

Yes, its free. And yes, (some people find it to be) a great aesthetic design. However, let us not forget that designers aren’t just here to make things look pretty. This only supports that theory.

To be totally honest, I don’t think this theme was good at all. The HR lines was more ugly than pretty, and also the overall design was rather annoying with the huge numbers etc. I also think that the background-image is demanding way too much attention.

primera cosa de smashingmagazine que no me gusta!

@Jacob - I don’t seem to see any of the errors you’re referring to in IE 6 or 7… can you email me a screenshot? evan (at) evaneckard.com

I like a lot this design… but the plugin doesn’t show any “latest post” or “latest comment”, etc…

Germán
Link [www.iccc.es]

Great work, Evan.
The theme looks quite good.
Take the points from the criticisms and leave out the rest.
The theme suits for a personal blog and I liked the GrayScale version the most among them.

I’m not quite understand with the critisisms here :(

It’s a nice theme.

hey hey smashingmag. i finally got it… April Fools’ Day good one :D

All in all, the theme layout, typography and design is good. The constructive criticism comes down to a couple Link [validator.w3.org], but more importantly would be readability of the content. Design should accentuate the content and not crowd it out. With either a softer background pattern, or a background color for the main content, the theme could polish up nicely.

Good work! I love your patterns.

This theme reminds me the Link [www.jasonsantamaria.com]. Isn’t?

I think that Elena from Design Disease set high standards for a wp theme, Simply Ornate looks like taken randomly from wordpress.org, not worth of smashingmagazine, however Evan’s website is using a worth theme.

I like this theme.

Take the criticism and who knows what will be available in the future, but in the meantime lets enjoy this one. I love the grey colour scheme and will be able to use this.

Cheers very much

Alright ya’ll, I get the hint :)

Well, I really dig this theme, but I must be the minority. To make it all up to you, I streamlined, updated and let loose my HELLBISCUIT.com theme.

I’ve had a lot of people over the years asking for it, and I finally got it updated enough for everyone to use (the original code was pretty ugly). So here you go; have at it: Link [www.hellbiscuit.com]

And yes, it validates. Also, check the readme files for details on how to implement imagery.

Everyone loves freebies! Great theme!

I love the different schemes available.

@WPJunkie yeah we loves freebies but not wordpress.org random selected themes freebies

Very Nice!

Nice themes. I like the typro there.
Thank you for sharing the great stuff.

Roshan
Freelance Developer
Link [www.instantshift.com]

Niiice.

Simply Ornate is a wonderful theme, I recently installed it on my blog as a test and was really impressed.

Link [thisismyurl.com]

wonderful theme…

kereeeeeeennnnnnn :D

Although this theme doesn’t meet my personal likings, I have to say this theme meets the standards when it comes to simplicity. Just the fact that you can create a complete new theme by just changing the background is stunning.

Greate job!

wow what a nice theme!!….

thanks man these are amazing :)

Wow, I’m surprised by the way people responded to this post. If you don’t like the theme you just HAVE to say something right? No one cares if you don’t like it. No one wants your professional opinion. The designer offered this theme for free and I’m sure he spent hours working on it. Posting rude comments to someone who has worked hard on something is like the crappy little kid who comes by and knocks over another kids sand castle. So in my opinion your all crappy little kids with bad attitudes. Where’s your contribution? Save your rude opinions for your own blog oh and I’m sure all your blogs are winning designs..uh huh sure. By the way to the designer: I think the themes are unique and something different and new. It’s always nice to see a new take on the average WP theme. Thanks for sharing. Ignore the punks.