May 10
‘Veerle theme’ for Netvibes
2007 at 01.11 pm posted by Veerle Pieters
Most of the ‘Web 2.0’ sites that have changed people methods in enjoying the web are coming from the United States. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it makes it kinda easy to forget about things closer to home in let’s say Paris. I’m talking about Netvibes, a service to help you consume and customize the huge amount of information we process in a typical day.
What is Netvibes
To me Netvibes feels like a desktop in your browser of choice, a customized free service that can be accessed remotely from a computer at multiple locations anywhere in the world. In fact it takes me back to the push technology days of PointCast, a program for the desktop that was launched in 1996. PointCast didn't make it because it used too much bandwidth for the dial-up connections back in the day.
But back to Netvibes, for those who aren't familiar with this service yet. You can set your own customized start page composed with what is called 'modules'. These modules can contain a variety of information from a bunch of sites. This is accomplished because you can add an RSS or Atom feed. But there is more to customize, like for example a weather module, e-mail including Gmail from Google, Yahoo! Mail..., a calendar, an events list and even custom bookmark lists. You can group these modules into tabs for flexibility. This brings us to the new features that just have been announced to make it even more customizable.
Pimp your Netvibes
This brings me to the work I did for this European based company. A while ago Maurice Svay, lead designer at Netvibes, approached me to probe if I was interested in skinning Netvibes. I needed to what some clients call "Veerlify" or "Veerlize" :) They specifcally asked me to use my typical style: colorful elegancy. So I am proud to announce that my 'Veerle theme' is one of the 4 new themes in this update. People who know me will know that I like to push boundaries design wise and that's exactly what I have done ;) They've asked me not to focus too much on the technical limits and they encouraged me to do my thing. They would try to find a way around it. Only the popups with rounded corners seemed to be a problem and so they changed it back to straight corners. It's cool working with a programmer that isn't afraid of pushing these limits. In a later version you'll see an update on the icons in the sidebar as well that I have been improving a bit.
Named after its author's name, Veerle Pieters, this theme shows nice rounded modules and elegant new tabs. Veerle did an amazing job by pushing the limits of netvibes skinnability. The result is an exclusive theme showing her talent and style.
Theme creator
It's located in the new 'Create my own theme' tab under the 'Themes' section when you've clicked 'Settings' in the top right corner. It let's you create an infinite number of variations by changing the color. It's as easy as picking a color from the color palette and voilà your Netvibes will change accordingly. You can also choose a specific color by entering the exact value in hexadecimal format.
Wallpapers
In the Settings panel you'll also notice a new entry in the options list called 'Wallpapers'. This let's you change the background image for the header and the module area. A selection of images is included but you can also directly grab pictures from flickr, myspace, twitter or choose a background color! People like me who want things to be pixel perfect have options for alignment, text color and more.
So I hope you like my new theme and I want to thank Netvibes for the opportunity to create a theme for such a popular service.
60served
1
Amazing Veerle! Great job!
2
Heh, been using your theme on NetVibes for like 2-3 days now, I love it ;-)
And of course, added a link to this website on my blog.
See ya soon!
Antoine
3
Great theme. I didn’t even notice the new Netvibes theme options until today.
4
I have been using the theme since the last Netvibes update. Of course you know I love it ;).
Great job Veerle!
5
Wow Veerle! Now I will be able to see your work every day.
Nice work !
6
Awesome theme, and awesome site! How come I never found Netvibes before? Totally love this service - by far the best “online desktop” I’ve seen.
Thanks for the beautiful theme too, Veerle. Hope we will see some more work from you on there soon. :)
7
I was reading this on Netvibes, actually, and as soon as I figured out what you were saying, I switched my theme to yours. I absolutely LOVE your style. Thanks!
8
Awesome! I love you!
9
Great theme, great blog!
10
I’ve always admired your designs and have been inspired to think ahead of the ordinary. This is cool, I’ll definitely be looking into this.
11
Love your theme. I have been using NetVibes for some time now and noticed the changes right away. I saw your theme, but you hadn’t mentioned it on your blog yet or I would have commented earlier.
12
Been using your theme since the day Netvibes released it. It looks great, but the rounded feed windows look pretty bad on any color except the default background. The rounded corners are the fake rounded corners (not transparent pngs) so changing the color results in different colored corners for all the feed windows.Not a big deal, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.
Netvibes is great, and I always enjoy your work. Thanks!
13
This is awesome!! ;-)
14
I was not aware of the NetVibes site…. but after signing up and looking around ... i love it. And thanks for your Skin!
PS I liked how when i first went to NetVibes it localized to me like it knew me…. very coooool!
15
I saw it, but didn’t like the green background much.
Also, reading your site here hurts my eyes… as does any site with light text on a dark background. It’s pretty at a glance, but not very good for reading articles at any length.
Just some constructive criticism, keep up the good work!
16
Gorgeous! Really nice and clean.
17
wow! that really looks great. i’ve never heard of netvibes until now. it looks soo much better than my google homepage (though i’m not sure if i could break away from it).
18
SWEET!
19
Zeer mooi. Harmonieus. Fan.
20
Amazing!
I was a bit in the dark about netvibes. no longer!
21
i’m loving your netvibes style and i’m using it since it is available….
this makes netvibes even cooler…
big thx for that!!!!
22
It’s amazing how such a great service hasn’t taken off yet. Although not a regular user, I’ve known Netvibes since it first came out and was amazed by it’s concept and capabilities. Again, for it to build a lot of hype and to become popular (like mySpace or YouTube), one of the big guys has to buy it and advertise it well. Anyhow, I wish their genuine efforts will pay off in becoming “the next big thing”, which I believe it already is. Just the rest of the world needs to somehow see it.
Glad you Veerle had a chance to work with them!
23
Amazing work! Love it a lot!
24
I really like the way you used those darker colors. If more people started designing with the ‘Low Wattage Palette’ in mind, we would be able to save some energy, which is better for our environment.
25
Wow! Sweet!
26
Wow - long time big fan of the vibes - now using this theme makes it even more fun to use.
27
I never heard of it but I am installing it now :) and you did a good job on the theme! rock on!
28
Vré wijs gedaan!
29
I fell in love with this theme since the first moment I saw it! Simply beautiful, the colors just take the monotony of blue-header rss boxes, calendars, notes and so on.
Excellent!
Cheers.
30
Hi Veerle,
nice article indeed, I have been using a similar program some time now called Protopage. It actually does a lot of the same things, although I cannot have the Veerle theme…
But I will start trying out Netvibes for sure, see if it brings anything new.
Ciao!
31
Netvibes is rocking and with your design it’s rocking even more!
32
Makes me want to start using netvibes again :-) great design!!
33
Great post on netvibes..
I have to admit it is an amazing web-app, and definitely for people on the go… I’ll be back to read more!
34
I was reading this entry via Netvibes, and still it took me some time to realize I could have the look from the screenshot :)
I really like the theme, but the pink doesn’t go very well with my character ;) Anyway I’m going to use the theme for a long time now. Thank you for it.
PS. I didn’t know Netvibes was an European creation :)
35
Nice! I love it. Great use of colors.
36
This is great Veerle! Thanks for your contribution.
37
I’m now using your theme, really great. Thanks for the good job.
38
Thanks for bringing Netvibes to my attention, don’t know how I missed it before. Really like the theme too.
39
I must agree with other folks here, you did awesome job. Again! :)
I don use this service, but I’m big fan of your work and style.
40
I love the new NetVibes theme girl keep on rocking!!
41
Am I the only one who doesn’t like the theme?
I think it makes my netvibes very cluttered and titles hard to read. And I don’t think anyone can disagree when looking at this screenshot.
Nothing personal Veerle, but I’ve seen better work of you. I will stick to another theme.
42
Your design looks very fresh and reminds me of a sunny summerday - like your other work does, too ;-)
I haven’t used Netvibes yet, since I use iGoogle, but hey let’s give it a try :)
43
Veerle,
Must agree with Achtentachtig here, not such a great design. I have seen better.
44
Achtentachtig
The “clutter” is in your content. I can’t imagine any theme being able to make use of that sort of arrangement. If you were only interested in using this web site (NetVibes) as a bookmark solution, wouldn’t it be more efficient and appropriate to use an application like Digg, or similar web sites? (Or possibly just use your browser’s bookmark folder?) I myself am not a NetVibes user, but just from what I have seen, NetVibes seems to have provided far more content and uses than simple bookmarking. Additionally, the titles are clearly visible to me.
Which brings me to my actual comments: I think the theme is fine. It again demonstrates Veerle’s knack for producing color selections that just “feel” right. Veerle, is there any particular type of color palettes that you tend to prefer over others (compliments, tetrad, monochromatic, et al)?
45
Achtentachtig said:
That’s like saying if you put 200 folders on your desktop and claim that the OS sucks because you don’t find the right folder anymore. Think about it, who’s fault is that, yours or the system? It’s you who put the content there that way, so you made it cluttered. There isn’t any theme that would solve this problem. The only thing that is arguable is that you don’t like the colors because they are hard to read for you. No theme will fix the problem you are referring to. It boils down to that you are in control. I agree with David Cassidy here.
Peter said:
Who said mine is best? I never claim such a thing, I only show my theme. You turn this into “good, better, best”.
David Cassidy said:
I love to use colors that are more vivid and have a certain level of contrast. In some cases they can be complimentary. These type of colors have my first choice, well, generally speaking. It all depends of course from job to job. For this job I presented 2 color versions that I both like. One of the other color schemes I used had grey-blue and anthracite dark grey boxes. Ultimately Netvibes decided to go with the one with a green background and pink-ish boxes and I must say this was also my first choice.
46
Thanks for the theme. Unfortunately, I find the contrast between the dark green and red a little much for my eyes. Anyways, that is my 2 cents.
47
Your theme is not loading some technical fault maybe, but the design looks good and exciting, and Netvibes is pretty kool thou Google ripped them with iGoogle. Maybe you could do a theme for them as well….
48
Zeeshan said:
Isn’t it only fitting that Google should have a similar product for it’s users? I mean, if you really want to go that route, NetVibes ripped off Yahoo’s My Yahoo!, or the millions of other portals out there that provide their users customized content.
It would, however, be interesting to see a port for iGoogle like you mentioned. I am sure that Veerle is much too busy for that and that Netvibes probably would not appreciate her giving away the work she was comissioned to do to one of their leading competitors.
49
nice done.. congrats!
50
Awesome color choices! I love the palettes that you choose.
51
Nice interface. Didn’t know about the existance of Netvibes. Gonna try it right away.
I’m looking forward to what web 2.0 will bring in the future.
52
hey veerle, GOOD JOB on the Netvibes skin…
been a big fan of your site and your work for quite some time and finally ‘delurked’ today.
once again, good job!
53
very very good :)
54
Looks awesome. Well done. Signed up yesterday and using the Veerle theme.
55
Good job! tnx
56
Hi, I can´t sleep so a browse through net and found your pages, I´d like to say you that I like your work. So be cool, xy64
57
Absofuckinglutely awesome.
Thanks veerle for another drop of greatness…
58
Congrats Veerle!
59
I went and played with Netvibes a bit. It is interesting, but something is lacking it what it delivers. Your theme gave it a professional feel though. Quite nice.
60
wow this site is really cool! love your site too!