Last week, I released a CSS Style Switcher hack that lets visitors easily change the look of the standard WordPress install by swapping out the CSS stylesheet. This is a great first step, but it would be even better if there were a number of different styles out there for people to use.
To this end, I’m sponsoring a CSS Style Competition for WordPress. Please blog about this to help spread the word. 
Styles will be posted on my WordPress CSS Styles page as they are submitted. Visit this page to download example Styles.
Prizes
- First Place
- $70 ($20 from Alex, $10 from Matt, $30 from Geof, $10 from Dougal)
- Your name and a link to your web site listed prominently on my WordPress CSS Styles page
- Your style will be included in the CSS Style Switcher download
- Second Place
- Third Place
- All entrants
- Your style with your name and a link to your web site listed on my WordPress CSS Styles page under a ‘Contestants’ title.
Rules
- Your design must be an original work and you must release it under the GPL license (you retain copyright).
- You can enter as many different designs as you want.
- Your design must be for the default WordPress 1.0.1 template. Don’t forget the Comments section - click the ‘Comments’ link on the sample page to see that area.
- The styling should be done using cross-platform CSS techniques and can include images, etc. following the structure used for my CSS Style Switcher hack.
- Designs I deem to be offensive will not be included.
- You must submit your entry by 11:59pm PST, Friday February 6, 2004.
- Winners will be announced on Monday, February 9, 2004.
Let the games begin!
UPDATED 2004-01-26: Added additional prize money.
UPDATED (again) 2004-01-26: Feb 9th is Monday, not Feb 12th.
UPDATED (again) 2004-01-26: Added additional prize money.
UPDATED 2004-02-02: Added more prize money for 3rd place.
Popularity: 21% [?]
Jieling adds this Comment:
I think this is a wonderful idea
Could you tell me what you mean by releasing the design under the GPL license?
January 25th, 2004 at 8:47 pm
Henning Seljenes adds this Comment:
Release it under the GPL to allow others to modify/redestribute your code under the same license.
January 25th, 2004 at 10:04 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
The GPL license is the license WordPress is released under. It basically means other people can use your code for whatever they want as long as they properly attribute your work and do not charge for it. Here is an article explaining the GPL license.
January 25th, 2004 at 10:08 pm
Matt adds this Comment:
I’ll chip in $10 for the winner and $5 for second place.
January 26th, 2004 at 3:08 am
Geof adds this Comment:
I’ll match the money Alex and Matt have tossed out there.
January 26th, 2004 at 9:57 am
Alex adds this Comment:
That’s really generous of you guys, thanks!
January 26th, 2004 at 10:23 am
eris adds this Comment:
by Feb 6th? so that’s like 12 days away? so 12 days to design something and then 6 days for someone to deliberate over them? will we get a listing of all the entries? what are the factors determined in picking the winner?
January 26th, 2004 at 1:09 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
Yes, I think 2 weeks is a long enough window. I can push it out another week if needed.
The date should have been Monday the 9th (the 12th wasn’t a Monday), sorry about that.
The entrants will be posted on the CSS Styles page as they are received.
The winners will be determined on a combination of aesthetics and usability.
January 26th, 2004 at 1:22 pm
Dougal Campbell adds this Comment:
Oh, I think I’ll join in on the lovefest. I’ll put up $10/$5/$1.
Bring on the stylesheets!
January 26th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
Excellent!
January 26th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
eris adds this Comment:
two weeks is fine.
if i can just keep a daily reminder somewhere, then i’ll remember to design and submit something.
January 26th, 2004 at 2:34 pm
Eaden adds this Comment:
“It basically means other people can use your code for whatever they want as long as they properly attribute your work and do not charge for it”
Alex - you do not understand the GPL. For one, you can charge whatever you like for GPL programs, best read it carefully..
January 26th, 2004 at 9:25 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
You’re right, it doesn’t mean you can’t charge for it. But (from here) it also means someone else can buy a copy from you and distribute it for free.
Also on that page: “The GPL is a free software license, and therefore it permits people to use and even redistribute the software without being required to pay anyone a fee for doing so.”
January 26th, 2004 at 9:36 pm
Eaden adds this Comment:
Alex, glad you worked it out
I hope to submit an entry in the coming week.
January 26th, 2004 at 9:41 pm
akmal's world adds this Trackback:
WP Style Contest!
alexking.org: Blog >WordPress CSS Style Competition
Do you have what it takes to win? I’m a noob, a lot of others can outstyle me. Enter and win ca$h. Visit the entry for more details on rules and prizes.
January 27th, 2004 at 12:22 am
Binary Bonsai adds this Trackback:
WordPress templates are worth money
Alex King has set up a CSS design competition for WordPress templates. I hope I can find the time to join in.
January 27th, 2004 at 4:49 am
dusoft adds this Comment:
I am glad you started this competition. I hope it’ll bring many new fine pure CSS designs.
I am the author of
Absolut Engine news publishing system and in next few days I am going to change it to pure valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS.
January 27th, 2004 at 9:48 am
Good Blimey! adds this Trackback:
WordPress CSS Style Competition
Alexking.org is holding a WordPress CSS Style Competition”>WordPress CSS Style Competition, with 3 prizes being awarded to the top 3 styles submitted to the contest. Entries must be submitted by February 6th. I may try my hand at this, and…
January 27th, 2004 at 1:37 pm
The Indiana Jones School of Management adds this Trackback:
WordPress CSS Competition
Alex King is sponsoring a CSS competition for WordPress.
Last week, I released a CSS Style Switcher hack that lets visitors easily change the look of the standard WordPress install by swapping out the CSS stylesheet. This is a great first step, but …
January 27th, 2004 at 4:23 pm
andreasson.org adds this Trackback:
WordPress lanserar CSS-tävling
Alex King (med flera) sponsrar en stilmallstävling för publiceringssystemet WordPress, sista tävlingsdag är den 6e februari….
January 28th, 2004 at 3:36 am
Elfie adds this Comment:
I need to mention this on WP as well…but is there a reason the “credit” paragraph is a) a p-tag and not a div and b) not in the wrapper? By it not being in the “rap” div, it makes coding pretty layouts somewhat challenging…
January 28th, 2004 at 10:02 am
Alex adds this Comment:
Off the top of my head:
Ptag is more semantically accurate, but is still a block element that can be styled in the same way a DIV can.#rap, but I imagine this does make it a fair sight easier to use it as a footer if you so desire.January 28th, 2004 at 10:11 am
francey adds this Comment:
This is probably a stupid question, but are background images allowed in the competition, or does the style have to be imageless?
January 28th, 2004 at 4:57 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
Designs with images are cheerfully accepted. The Golf example uses images.
January 28th, 2004 at 5:02 pm
mulberry adds this Comment:
look forward to seeing plenty of beautiful design from the competition.
January 28th, 2004 at 9:50 pm
Geof adds this Comment:
Of course, using an image means you have to call it out as a background with CSS … but overall, not a huge problem.
January 29th, 2004 at 9:16 am
halo64.net adds this Trackback:
alexking.org: Blog > WordPress CSS Style Competition
alexking.org: Blog > WordPress CSS Style Competition
Awesome!
January 29th, 2004 at 1:08 pm
Warnadunia.NET: Colorful adds this Trackback:
Some links
Internet download — How long? WordPress CSS Style Competition — I got the information that the only thing edited is the CSS file. AdaptivePath — Yes, MT is powerful. The Friend of a Friend (FOAF) project — about creating a…
January 29th, 2004 at 10:18 pm
Excited Light adds this Trackback:
style switcher
I installed the style switcher hack by Alex. You can switch the layout of this pages now, see style option in menu bar. Currently, I use two design, Fresh Mondrian and mine. The Fresh Mondrian is an entry for WordPress CSS Style Competition. I realy li…
January 29th, 2004 at 10:55 pm
Aderemi's Notebook adds this Trackback:
Weekly Round up
Cricket from the Ice Age - additive, I speak from experience.
Check out the WordPress CSS Style Competition (sponsored by Alex King & co)
New budget airline for Britain
Teen sued by RIAA to appear in Pepsi Advert
15years for a Joke, oh dear!
How …
January 30th, 2004 at 6:31 am
isma adds this Comment:
I’d like to give 7$ for the third prize (that’ll sum up 10$ so far). Hope it’s based on blue
Any idea on how payements will be made?
January 30th, 2004 at 10:45 am
alexking.org: Blog adds this Trackback:
More WordPress CSS Style Entries
I got a couple more WordPress CSS Style Competition entries posted bringing the total to 7 styles. Combine that with the 5 “other” styles and we’re starting to get a nice little collection.
Everything is posted on the WordPress CSS Style…
January 30th, 2004 at 7:56 pm
StijlStek.nl adds this Trackback:
wordpress css competitie
WordPress is een blog programma dat onlangs in de 1.0 versie uitkwam en standaard gebruik maakt van CSS. Er is nu een competitie voor alternatieve stylesheets. Er valt wat te winnen (naast eeuwige roem natuurlijk) maar je moet wel snel…
January 31st, 2004 at 10:09 am
More than blogging adds this Trackback:
CSS Style Competition
Oh, I could have never imagined I was going to participate in a competition for designers :). I’ve just submitted this blog CSS, the one I’ve been playing with, to the WordPress CSS Style Competition. I’m sure I’m not going to win :), but …
February 1st, 2004 at 9:27 am
ICTlogy adds this Trackback:
WordPress CSS Style Competition
Alex King has organized a WordPress CSS Style Competition with prizes for 3 first places and linking to all others.
I though I could contribute a little bit so I’m donating $7 for third place. I know that ain’t a lot of money, but I don’t b…
February 2nd, 2004 at 10:02 am
Sid Carter adds this Comment:
There is something wrong with the CSS-switcher. I am unable to use the sample page for previewing the CSS styles. I am using mozilla firebird 0.7.
Thanks
February 3rd, 2004 at 3:10 am
Alex adds this Comment:
Do you have cookies enabled?
February 3rd, 2004 at 8:52 am
alexking.org: Blog adds this Trackback:
4 Days Left - WP CSS Style Competition
So far I’ve received 12 great entries into the WordPress CSS Style Competition. I hope that number doubles or triples in the next four days. Remember, the deadline is Friday night at midnight (PST).
I’ve started seeing these styles on people…
February 3rd, 2004 at 9:37 am
Todd Ross adds this Comment:
I can’t get the style switcher at http://alexking.org/[...]s/sample.php to actually work. I try clicking on the various styles and it just keeps loading the wp-default style. This doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence in this competition.
February 4th, 2004 at 6:15 am
Alex adds this Comment:
Sorry it doesn’t work for you. You do need to have cookies enabled in your browser as mentioned above. If you had said what browser you are using, I could have tried to reproduce the problem.
February 4th, 2004 at 9:40 am
Todd Ross adds this Comment:
Ah, that was my mistake. I tend to browse with cookies disabled. I’ll try again with them on.
I had only read through half the comments before posting.
Sorry Alex!
February 4th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
DebWire's Blog adds this Trackback:
CSS Style Competition
I *cannot* wait until am desperate for the end result of this competition because, Gawd knows, I need some design help with this blog!
February 4th, 2004 at 7:21 pm
ephi adds this Comment:
oh, am I late? T_T it’s now feb 6 at my place (GMT+0700) but I’m not sure about when will you close it. Just before the day turns feb 7? I always got confused on time.
February 6th, 2004 at 12:35 am
Alex adds this Comment:
That is 23 1/3 hours from now.
February 6th, 2004 at 12:40 am
ephi adds this Comment:
thanks, Alex… I guess that’s *looking at the clock* feb 7, 2:59 PM here. Aw, shoot, I forgot tomorrow is Saturday, office is closed. Oh,well forget it!
February 6th, 2004 at 12:50 am
Noticias adds this Trackback:
Plantillas para WordPress
“WordPress está organizando una competencia de templates y la verdad es que hay unos templates muy bonitos y muy originales”. Se pueden descargar y utilizarlos en tu bitácora. Ver….
February 8th, 2004 at 4:51 am
seriocomic :. rhetoric adds this Trackback:
WordPress Stylee
Alex King, one of the contributing developers of the CMS that runs this site, has set up a neat competition inviting people do design layouts for the default WordPress template.
Based on the success of the CSS Zen Garden concept, designers have had …
February 8th, 2004 at 4:08 pm
alexking.org: Blog adds this Trackback:
WordPress CSS Style Competition Winners
I’m pleased to announce the winners of the first WordPress CSS Style Competition:
The Winners
Pink Lilies
Rubric
Human Condition
Honorable Mention
Aubmach
Dark Fire
Mars Spirit
Toni
There were many wonderful entries maki…
February 9th, 2004 at 6:06 pm
musick for the slave drive adds this Trackback:
new layout/style
so i put up a new stylesheet, via the WP stylesheet competition. i have a couple, but this was the simplest one.. there was a newspaper one that i liked, but it was just a little too flashy. i’m a simple man, i like simple things.
February 12th, 2004 at 11:48 am
TechGnome adds this Comment:
Well….. the switcher doesn’t work for me either…. and yes, I do have cookies turned on…. Been trying it with Firefox… but will also try it with IE and Mozi and FB.
As far as I can figure…. the cookie isn’t being set…. I even looked at my cookie list, and it just isn’t there.
TG
February 12th, 2004 at 3:00 pm
hidden adds this Comment:
Very nice competition…
March 9th, 2004 at 12:55 pm
basicus adds this Comment:
Yeah, great indeed
March 12th, 2004 at 6:36 pm
Mind of Mog adds this Trackback:
SkinningThe Blog
I had wanted to see if I could get the blog to work with a standard template with header like straight out of the box. That way I can have more options, less boring skins. I had worked from a custom layout and removed the default header cause I never c…
March 28th, 2004 at 7:56 pm
Steve adds this Comment:
I was looking for CSS templates and ran into this site. The contest was a great idea!
April 6th, 2004 at 8:22 pm
SubtleHints adds this Trackback:
Hello World - Again
We’re back, hopefully.
June 4th, 2004 at 11:22 am
drupal adds this Trackback:
WordPress CSS Style Competition
November 2nd, 2004 at 7:11 am
alexking.org: Blog adds this Trackback:
WordPress Theme Competition
I’m happy to announce the second annual WordPress design contest here at alexking.org, the WordPress 1.5 Theme Competition!
I’ve put up a new blog for the competition. All information about the competition, including entries will be posted the…
February 27th, 2005 at 10:44 pm
WordPress CSS Style Competition » Peruns Blog - Webwork und Internet adds this Pingback:
[…] Dank den Hinweisen von Andreas und Jens bin ich auf einen Wettbewerb aufmerksam geworden. Auf der Website Alex King wird eine ähnliche Aktion wie auf CSS Zen Garden gestartet. Es werden Leute gesucht die Templates beisteuern, die auf dem Standardtemplate von WordPress 1.0.1 basieren. Es gilt nur die CSS-Datei zu modifizieren. Bedingung: das Template muß unter der GPL-Lizenz veröffentlicht werden. Außerdem sollten die beigesteurten Dateien nach einem bestimmten Muster gezippt (komprimiert) werden. […]
September 27th, 2005 at 9:19 am
★Catå°?ç™½é¼ åŸºåœ°Cat★ » Blog Archive » WP皮肤模æ?¿ adds this Pingback:
[…] æ£åœ¨ä¸¾åŠž WordPordPress1.5 模æ?¿å¤§èµ› ↓ å?‚赛的皮 […]
April 25th, 2006 at 7:41 am
clock — watching time, the only true currency » Many links adds this Pingback:
[…] CSS style competition [via Simple Bits] […]
May 2nd, 2006 at 8:16 pm
Laura adds this Comment:
Another contest this year?
Laura
www.lauraglydaband.com
laura@lauraglydaband.com
November 27th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Alex adds this Comment:
This post is over 2 years old. There is a search feature at the top of the page where you might have found this.
November 27th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Little Money adds this Comment:
I’m so interested in a new contest in this upcoming year! 2007 here we come.
December 31st, 2006 at 5:10 pm
ViD adds this Comment:
Very great templates. Thank You from Russia
February 27th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Shoporakel adds this Comment:
Found this competition throught a link from another wordpress design.
Is something like this planed again ?
June 25th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Mark Münze adds this Comment:
Why don’t you reanimate this great idea ?
July 17th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
PocaPoca adds this Comment:
Are you waiting for the new Wordpress-Update?
Greetings from Germany!
February 20th, 2008 at 4:24 am