CSS Layout

Designed and created by Deziner Folio, this is truly one of the best wordpress themes released recently. I would have used this theme for my other blog if I know it earlier..

This clean wordpress theme has a very excellent placement for advertisements. The designer has made an effort that the ads to appear on the left just below the search box. This will certainly increases the CTR as a publisher of any advertising network.

I also like the header as it does not take up a lot of space in terms of height. This background is suitable for almost any kinds of logo and typography as well. The fluid design of the theme also make it stands out from most of the current open source wordpress themes.

In terms of Search Engine Optimization, sImpress has made full use of the HTML Headers tag which is very important for the search engines to understand and index the content relevancy. This theme is also highly compact which contributes to fast indexing of the search engine bots.

A great quality wordpress theme. You can download this wonderful theme directly from the page here.

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

It has been a while since we last reviewed on non-blog CSS layouts. Today, I will be reviewing a professional free CSS layout created by Saurabh Bhide, a Student Entrepreneur

The designer has fit in a generous header that blends very well with the entire layout. The top navigation bar is also an excellent place to hold important pages that you do not want your visitors to miss. This three column CSS layout is ideal for most business sites as you can distinguishably place internal and external links on each side of the web page.

Looking through the source codes, you can locate the specific elements to change pretty easily. New Webmasters may have problems identifying which portion to change initially as the elements are not named conventionally. One area of improvement for this layout is that the CSS style file can be commented or have the elements renamed so as to facilitate the customization of the users.

As the layout utilized respective headers such as H2 and H3, it would greatly help for the search engine to know what is your site about. Optimization for search engines is also much easier as the code-to-text ratio is pretty low.

Overall, this is a good layout to use for business related site.

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

Honestly, there are few CSS layouts that can really captured my attention within the first 3 seconds. I am delighted to encounter SpaceBlog layout a few days ago

Created by Graformix Design Studio, this stunning layout uses strong colors and impactful picture for the header. The left side bar is also well separated from the main content to allow the readers’ eyes to rest comfortably from the right to left. I like the design of the footer as well, it distinguishes from the content clearly and neatly.

In terms of the customization, most Webmasters should not have any difficulties fine tuning the layout as the elements are properly named. The designer could have added more comments to the CSS file to further enhance the developers’ usability. The file size of the main and CSS file is also kept to the minimal so as to achieve the highest possible performance.

The only area for improvement for this layout could be the SEO scope. This layout does not make full use of the top HTML headers such as H1 and H2. You can improve this by manually changing the respective headers

Highly recommended for a any passionate blogger.

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

This review is on another layout from the popular FreeCSSTemplates.org

Named as Artificial, this layout demonstrates a good use of spaces in the header with a good blend of dark background. The top navigation also stands out clearly to further improve the usability of the layout. I like the color that they choose for the links as it is very striking and makes you want to click on them

The designer of this layout has also made an effort to create comment in the CSS file to make sure that the Webmasters know where to find the elements when they need to customize the layout further. The HTML and CSS elements of this layout is properly named as well so that customization can be easily made.

In terms of the layout performance, this layout is simply amazing with its light weigh nature. You can be sure that any users in the world will be able to load this layout almost instantly (provided you do not include any large images or processing scripts). A very suitable layout for those who are very concerned about performance.

Highly recommended for a compact blog.

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

NodeThirtyThree.com has been designing CSS templates and layouts for quite a while and I am constantly amazed by their work

The overall design of this layout, HyperGlass, is clean with the content well presented with the layout. The header image of this layout perfectly matches the overall structure and feel. Each blog post is also neatly separated from one another.

With total file size less than 100KB, the performance of this layout can still be further improved by optimizing the images used for this theme. Most users should not have problems loading this layout under 3 seconds.

From the coding point of view, the designer has also named the elements according to the naming convention. This has made customization of the layout much more easy.

A great layout to consider for your blog.

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

As I am browsing through the latest list of free CSS layouts for the last few days, I stumbled upon a simple yet eye catching layout by this passionate Web Designer, Roshan. The layout I am talking about is the ColorsOne.

This is a fixed width blog layout with a right sidebar that bears a nice sub header The content is well distributed and presented gracefully on the layout. The utilization of a generous header makes the whole design looks more elegant as well.

In terms of the coding, there is no comments in the CSS file and you may have difficulties in amending the this layout if you are dealing with CSS codes the first time. However, each of the classes and ids are proper named so most Webmasters should not have any problems tuning the layout.

As you may have expected, the real element that slows down the web page loading is the header image (70 KB) itself. If you are looking for optimal performance, you should try and optimize the header image.

In terms of Search Engine Optimization, the designer has made full use of headers so that every sub headers can contain the targeted keywords that the Webmasters desire. One area of improvement that the designer can do is probably position the sidebar after the content in HTML source

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

Another template well done, FreeCSSTemplates.org

This time round, let us take a look at the template, Canvass. The white background with the various patches of colors is what that attracts my attention most of the time. The content is also given enough space to be presented gracefully when combined with the style of the layout.

The HTML file contains comments that signals the beginning and end of a particular block. Hence, this layout is easily customized by any new Webmasters. This is also the case with the CSS file. The creator of this layout has made future customization an easy effort by including helpful comments in the CSS file as well.

The only image that consumes the most bandwidth is the header. Other than this image, the whole site loads pretty fast and stable. You can go ahead and optimize the images if you are looking for the most optimal performance.

With Search Engine Optimization in mind, this layout also utilize header tags for its categories. On top of this, the creator of this layout has made it that the content appears before the sidebar in the HTML source. This is an extremely SEO friendly layout to have

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

This simple layout is created by StyleShout.com. Named as PixelGreen, this is a two column blog layout that fits nicely with most themes.

This CSS layout is extremely compact as it takes up less than 50KB of space including the images. If you are looking for a lighting fast layout for your site or blog, this may be the ideal layout.

The overall design is nice and the sidebar on the right can be fitted with any additional information and links for the readers’ reference. This layout also allows the Webmasters to include several header links on the top horizontal navigation. This layout has also been validated for its CSS and XHTML.

The CSS file of this layout is well documented and filled with proper comments to highlight the significant blocks for amendments if necessary.

As for the optimizing efforts, it would be best if this layout could display its content before the sidebar in the HTML source view. However, this should not pose any serious issue if the page is not very lengthy. The HTML header tags are properly utilized in the page and this would really help to optimize the page for the keywords.

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

Another layout well done, FreeCSSTemplates.org

This great layout, known as the Aquaria, has a very nice blue header navigation. You can even use the beautiful logo on the left for free with this layout! The overall layout is also very well presented as the content is nicely distributed across the entire layout.

As expected, the index file is properly commented to indicate the start of every block even if it is easy for any veteran CSS designer to figure it out. The CSS file is also well commented to allow easy identification for every element.

With a total of less than 100 KB, this layout does not take long to load completely in the users’ browsers. The designer has also made an effort to ensure that the layout is optimized for the Search Engines as the content appear before the sidebar links in the HTML codes.

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.

As I hardly review any beautiful fluid layouts, I am going to share this great design today, the Spring Leaf

Designed by Kenna at Self Production, this layout validates with the CSS and XHTML standards. Taking up only 100KB, it displays the whole layout almost instantly in most users’ browsers.

The design of this layout is soft and comfortable for the eyes. The header is fixed, therefore, users can always click the top horizontal navigation bar when they are also scrolling down the pages. I liked the list in side bar as it matches the overall environment.

The only thing that needs to be improved is the documentation in the files, in my opinion. As there are nearly no comments in the CSS file, new Webmasters may have problems locating the exact elements. However, most veterans should not have any problems customizing this beautiful layout

Kenna has also ensure that this layout facilitates the Search Engine Optimization by using the appropriate headers tag and placing the content before the sidebar. Good job, Kenna

Overall Rating:

Try out the DEMO here.