Sandbox is a WordPress theme, the distinguishing feature of which is that one can customize it with CSS alone—no need to bother with other files. So an entry in the Sandbox Design Competition can be simply a CSS file. It can also include images. It may not include PHP or HTML, since these are provided by Sandbox itself.
Good things about the competition include:
- It’ll generate a lot of good design (yes, and some bad design as well). Hence it will make the theme options available to WordPress bloggers even
- It’ll be fun.
- There’s prize money: $500 for first place.
- Scott, the organizer of the competition, is one of the designers of the theme. The theme and the competition have the support of Automattic/WordPress, in several ways: Andy co-designed Sandbox; Matt contributed to the prize fund; Sandbox is one of the themes available at WordPress.com.
I can see only one bad thing about the competition. I thought that I’d spent all time on theme design I was going to this year, barring the occasional tweak to the design for this blog. This competition might make me rethink that.
Thanks for the props, Andrew. The Sandbox is really easy and fun to design for. It’s dynamic classes make almost anything possible with just CSS. Rethink! Rethink! 😉