Although, I have been using Wordpress for some time, I must admit I found it difficult to get used to. In fact I find the whole XHTML thing a bit over my head. I took me some time to got to understand HTML, and now this. To begin with, the templates (XHTML of course) on wordpress were, to be honest, in my opinion not that… Well, ERM attractive. But now there is a great selection to choose from, from lots of ‘frills’ to ’smooth and simple’.

I had a rule when I began using a blog, it was that I would design my own template from scratch. However, I was forced to join the rest of the world and download one from the vast collection available. However, customization is a great thing, and if you are one of those people that really want your own blog with its own design but just cant grasp the concept and are a bit lazy. You could do the following: Download the latest version of wordpress. - This is a big step, its easy to use, but only when you know how, once you are familiar with wordpress 1.5, then download a skin that suits your needs. The being customizing, remember though there are some themes /templates that don’t like you changing the layout.

This process is difficult though, especially if you are going for an original look, I have found that one slip of a Div tag or a simple script in the wrong place can completely mess up the design so, do what I never did at the start BACK UP, because the mistakes you made before which a browser would tolerate, are no longer tolerated it would seem!

Wordpress can be hard to get used to, but it is allot less complex design ways that other Blog software, for example I found Movable Type very difficult to manage. And when I had a fatal error on it nobody helped on the forums, now I know I did not pay for it, but some sort of indication would have been nice.

I know I mentioned some great themes, so it would only be fair to mention a link to those themes, which by the way can be found easily by searching google, I would also recommend that you keep a lookout in the support forums on wordpress, I usually found most answers to theme / template designs there! And the bloggies 2005 awarded some blog’s which have some interesting designs. Wordpress has complied a list here