It is no longer required that you pay the $20 to the charity in order to receive the Bedrock theme. If you still want to give to charity, please do. If you just want the theme, then please contact me.

Well it’s here at long last!

After weeks of on-off development, I’m delighted to be able to announce the release of my latest and greatest WordPress theme to date, Bedrock Grid. This theme was initially supposed to be an entry for Design Vitality’s competition, with a desire to win the $1000 prize money for charity. However, due to certain concerns, I decided not to enter the competition.

Due to the fact this was created with the hope of winning money for charity, I’m now going to be releasing it as a Premium WordPress Theme. However, as all the proceeds are going to charity, I’m not sure if it’s right to say it’s premium.

Live Demo

At the time of writing, you’re viewing Bedrock Grid in action. However, it’s not in its raw form.

Check out the raw theme - 1 Sidebar Version or 2 Sidebar Version

The features

Before I tell you the price, let me inform you of its features, and why I think it’s worthy of your money, even if it wasn’t for charity!

The 6 column grid…

Firstly, this is a theme for people who appreciate attention to detail…’pixel peepers’ if you like. Those who love order, structure, and like everything to line up correctly. You see, this is one of the very few WordPress themes which sticks to a strict horizontal grid. Right throughout, from the navigation to the comments box, every section of this theme has its place. You can see this clearly, if you click on the thumbnail.

This is a system of design, which is carefully adhered to in print design, but rarely on the web. However, right now, you’re viewing the beautiful structure of a 6 column grid. Each column is 143px, with a 20px gutter.

Rotating header images…

The header images of 622×190px, rotate with every refresh. Again, this isn’t your average rotating header images. These images rotate without any WordPress plugin, nor do they rotate using the method Chris Pearson uses. No, these images, which you will place in the /headers/ directory of the theme, rotate as many images as you place in the folder, without altering any code whatsoever. It’s a really neat way of doing rotating images, which I may go into another time. However, you can enjoy the benefits of it immediately!

Inter-post ad integration…

This is one of those things every Adsense user wants to know how to do, but finds it difficult to find the answer. Many people would like to be able to place a banner below their first post on the homepage of their blog. However, they soon find out that the banner appears below every post, violating the Google Adsense rules, as you’re only permitted to display 3 content ads on any given page.

Well, your headaches are over. In Bedrock Grid, I’ve done the dirty work for you, so all you have to do is replace my code with your own (or delete it altogether if you don’t want it), in the index.php file. I have it clearly marked in the file, so anyone can understand what to do.

Cool meta styling…

You’ll no doubt have noticed, the post author, post date, comments, etc, all on the left hand side. It’s not revolutionary by any means. However, there are very few WordPress themes which have it. It may be a preference for some, and not for others, but hey, at least it’s different, and I think it’s pretty cool.

Optional two sidebars, or one…

You’re currently viewing the one sidebar version of this theme. However, if you’d prefer to have two sidebars then that option is available. It also sticks to the 6 column grid, and still looks way cool, and may be better suited to your needs.

Built-in author comment styling…

There has been an ever increasing desire among WordPress bloggers, to have the comments on their own blogs, identified from all the comments of their visitors. This has led to the use of a WordPress plugin in order to achieve the desired effect. However, Bedrock Grid has it built-in. In most cases, without changing anything at all, your comments will be styled differently than your visitors.

Built-in separated comments and trackbacks…

Again, this is an issue more would desire to have in their designs, but have no clue how to do. On top of that, very few themes come with it. I can only think of one. Rather than having trackbacks breaking up the flow of conversation in the comments, I’ve placed the trackbacks in an ordered list at the end. Plus, what’s especially nice about the way I’ve done this, is that the ‘Trackbacks’ title does not appear when there are no trackbacks to the post. Cool, eh?

Post image styling…

A simple addition, but it’s nice to know that the images you place in your post will have a complimentary border, and padding to stop to text from touching the image.

Valid CSS and XHTML 1.0…

Somewhat of a standard to be expected these days, but not always found. This theme comes validated out of the box.

Price

Well, as I’ve already stated, this theme comes at a price. However, don’t worry, it comes for the very small fee of $20. Yeah, if you just sacrifice one trip down to the local pizza place, or Chinese take-away with your partner, you can contribute to aid of life-limited children, and their families.

Why the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice?

My little cousin, Keren, was born on 7th April 2006, with a life-limiting condition called Trisomy 18 (a.k.a Edwards Syndrome). The final part of her very short life, was spent in the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice. The NICH was established in 1998 to provide respite and end of life care to life limited children and their families. It receives no funding from the government, and relies solely on the generosity of the public.

NICH helped my family greatly, way beyond what I can chronicle here. Suffice to say, I’m trying to help my uncle raise money and awareness for the Hospice, and you can be a part of it, by simply paying the minimal fee of $20 for this theme.

How can I pay, and get the theme?

To avoid Paypal fees, and to ensure you that 0% of your money is going into my pocket, I request that you go through the following procedure (follow carefully):

1. Go to my uncle’s fund-raising page on Just Giving
2. Donate at least $20, and leave a comment which indicates you came from this site.
3. Immediately after you do the above, email me (reacharmen [at] gmail [dot] com) or use the contact form, and tell me your name, the amount donated, and whether you want the one sidebar, or two sidebar Bedrock Grid WordPress theme.

After that, you should receive an email from me with the theme, within 24 hours.

Terms and Conditions

You may not resell or redistribute Bedrock Grid WordPress theme, or claim ownership of it.
There will be no refund, because your payment for Bedrock Grid is going to charity.
You are encouraged to change the look of Bedrock Grid, to personalise it for your own site. However, please do not remove the credits and links in the footer.
If you absolutely must change or remove the credits, you are required to pay an extra $30. This may be paid when you first purchase, bringing the required donation to $50. Or, at a later date, you may donate an extra $30 when necessary.