We've just released a new free design skin called, "Oak Grove", named after one of our local streets here in Walnut Creek. It's a warm and inviting design, with rustic undertones, and a trustworthy ethos.

There are a lot of extra touches that make this design polished and allow for further customization for each client. There are 3 main image areas on the home page. The third image area can be swapped out with a promo module, so you could have it be an image rotator with links, or any other module.

The name automatically adjusts to fit in the area, but of course smaller names work best. If you have your own logo, you may upload it into that area. We recommend a transparent PNG file so that it merges with the background, or you can have us customize it to look nice.

On the secondary pages if you are writing an article, you can select a paragraph and mark it as a "blockquote" style. This will turn it into a nicely designed pullout quote that adds depth to the page.

All the promo modues have been carefully designed to match the style of the site.

The menu spans the title area in an elegant way, so we recommend 6 links to keep things balanced. If you put more than 6 links they will not display. So if you must have more, it's time to request a hybrid design.

There are a lot of other great features that we hope you enjoy. Let us know what you think.

We've got a great new free design skin that just launched called "Brockmann". If your site is ready for a refreshing new look, you should consider this new design. We'll be introducing a lot of new designs in the coming months, and retiring many of the old designs (you can keep using them, but they will be no longer promoted for new use).

The template is inspired by and named after Swiss graphic designer Josef Müller-Brockmann, who is known for clean and simple design, masterful use of typography, and for advocating the use of the grid system.

We've spent a lot of time making sure that all the modules are custom designed specifically for this template, and the template allows you to upload your own logo, in order to create a more finished look right out of the box without the need for custom design. The home page features a large promo area slideshow with controls and the ability for each image to link to a featured page on your site. We've given a lot of attention to detail, at every level.

We've designed specific versions of this template for different types of organizations, e.g. businesses, realtors, churches, etc. This modern design is flexible enough to be approprate for nearly any client, and it's free! Enjoy.

As I reported previously, we've been in the process of overhauling all our designs templates for different default content type pages. Well, we just went live today with an updated version of the Communities home page. If you have communities listed on your site, you may want to check out your communities page or this sample. It's a vast improvement to the old default template, and it gives visitors a visual look at all the communities (rather than a tiny drop down menu). If you haven't selected an image for that community (in your Admin Control Panel), we include a default image of a park bench as a place holder. But, we recommend you upload a unique image for each community to maximize the effectiveness of this design.

Several versions of the Librarian design skin are now public. Like most templates we offer automatic design elements or features that are relevant to the organizational type. It's a nice addition to our library and a good contrast with some of the more modern, techy designs we've done recently. We've already had several people choose it for their site, as well as others launch off on customized versions of their own.

We've been on a roll lately and that has meant a lot of upgrades and new features for our clients. Our goal is to increase the number of options people have for Free Design Skins, so that everyone can find something that is both professional and a good fit for their website. We're getting there. The new Folsom Series includes 4 different color schemes: red, purple, blue and green. It has plenty of areas for personalization, including: a large standard sized image slideshow area, welcome text, quotes, and modules on the home page, and customizable secondary page images for each page if desired. The light versions of the template are so different in feel, they are hardly recognizable as the same design.

We finished up a new set of free designs last week. In keeping with our San Francisco street naming motif, these ones are called "Laurel" and there are three options for color and accents. They are a high end, modern but elegant design with a prominent image promotional area on the home page, as well as the option for individual unique images on each subsequent page (for those who really want to customize the design). Anyone who uses this template will instantly look like a very established, well funded organization. So go get started!