This is a dark 2 column skin for Sandbox-10. It has a nice contrast of colors.

It doesn’t matter if you have widgets or using the default sidebar, all elements should look consistent.

The posts column has a width of 550 pixels so, it is recommended to use images no bigger than 500px wide. The side bar has a width of 200px, so images bigger than 180px are not recommended.

One of the things I like the most about this skin is that all user comments are displayed in speech bubbles.

default sidebar

sidebar with widgets

comments in speech bubbles

This skin is compatible with the following browsers:

Mac:
     Firefox 2.0
     Safari 3.0.4
     Opera 9.21
     Shiira 2.2
     Camino 1.5.4

Windows:
     Firefox 1.5
     Firefox 2.0
     Opera 7.20
     Opera 8.53
     Opera 9.51
     Internet Explorer 6
     Internet Explorer 7

Linux:
     Firefox 1.5
     Konqueror 3.5.2

This skin is one of my personal favorites.

UPDATE: This skin is also compatible with Sandbox versions 0.9.5 and 1.2 on self-hosted blogs.

Check the Change History to see what’s been modified, improved or fixed in this skin.

This software is licensed under the CC-GNU GPL.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Where possible, please include a link to this page for attribution.

The CSS Code:

/*
* Dark Lake Skin for Sandbox-10 (v.1.0.5)
*
* CREDITS:
*
* Header and Body image:
*	Jonathan Gent (http://www.sxc.hu/profile/jcgent)
*
* Design, CSS code, background and other images (including color change of the admin bar):
*	Juan Wong
*
* Skin URI: http://sandboxskins.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/dark-lake-for-sandbox-10/
*
* Release date: 20071218
* Last Modified: 20071223
*/

/**** ELEMENTS ****/

body {
	background:#000 url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dl-bg.jpg') top left repeat-x;
	color:#aaa;
	font:normal .8em Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
	margin:0;
}

img#wpstats {
	position:absolute;
	top:0;
}

h2,h3 {
	margin:0;
}

img {
	border:none;
    margin: auto 10px;
}

a {
	color:#994;
	text-decoration:none;
}

pre,code {
	font:1em 'Courier New', Courier, Fixed, monospace;
	font-size:100%;
}

code {
	color:#9396CB;
}

pre {
	display:block;
	color:#ccc;
	overflow:auto;
	text-align:left;
	border:1px solid #222;
	line-height:1.3em;
	background:transparent;
	margin:10px 0;
	padding:0 20px 0 30px;
}

/**** IDs ****/

#wrapper {
	background:#000 url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dl-contentbg.jpg') 0 215px no-repeat;
	width:780px;
	clear:both;
	overflow:hidden;
	position:relative;
	margin:0 auto;
	padding:0;
}

#header {
	background:#ccc url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dl-headerbg.jpg') top left no-repeat;
	width:780px;
	height:215px;
	clear:both;
	overflow:hidden;
	margin:0;
}

#blog-title {
	text-align:right;
	font-size:2.3em;
	margin:10px 20px 5px 0;
}

#blog-title a {
	color:#777;
}

#blog-description {
	color:#333;
	font-weight:bold;
	font-size:1em;
	text-align:right;
	margin:5px 20px 5px 0;
}

#menu ul {
	list-style:none;
	margin:0 0 15px;
	padding:10px;
}

#menu ul li {
	display:inline;
	padding:0;
}

#menu ul li a {
	color:#ff0;
	padding:5px 10px;
}

#menu ul li a:hover {
	background:#333;
}

#container {
	clear:both;
	overflow:hidden;
	width:570px;
	float:left;
	margin:0;
	padding:0;
}

#content {
	width:550px;
	overflow:hidden;
	margin:0 0 100px;
	padding:0 10px;
}

#content h2.page-title {
	margin:0 0 15px;
}

#content .hentry .snap_preview blockquote {
	width:490px;
	background:#000 url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dl-quote.gif') 0 0 no-repeat;
	overflow:hidden;
	margin:0 auto;
	padding:0;
}

#content .hentry .snap_preview blockquote p {
	text-align:justify;
	background:#000;
	margin:0 0 10px 35px;
}

#content .comment blockquote,#content .comment.alt blockquote {
	width:100%;
	overflow:hidden;
	margin:0;
	padding:0;
}

#content .comment blockquote {
	background:#a48b37;
}

#content .comment.alt blockquote {
	background:#7f7f7f;
}

#content .comment blockquote p,#content .comment.alt blockquote p {
	text-align:justify;
	width:400px;
	margin:0 auto !important;
}

#content .comment blockquote p {
	color:#dbcc98;
}

#content .comment.alt blockquote p {
	color:#c9c9c9;
}

#nav-above {
	display:none;
}

#comments img.avatar {
	position:absolute;
	bottom:0;
	left:25px;
	margin:0 0 -68px;
}

#comments-list,#trackbacks-list {
	margin:10px 5px 0;
}

#comments-list h3,#trackbacks-list h3 {
	color:#f90;
	margin:0 0 10px;
}

#comments-list ol {
	list-style:none;
	overflow:hidden;
	margin:0;
	padding:0;
}

#comments-list li {
	position:relative;
	display:block;
	height:100%;
	margin:0 0 100px;
}

#comments-list li.comment p a {
	color:#fff !important;
	border-bottom:dotted 1px #eee;
}

#comments-list li .comment-author {
	position:absolute;
	bottom:20px;
	height:35px;
	margin:0 0 -70px;
	padding:5px 0 3px 10px;
}

#comments-list li .comment-meta {
	position:absolute;
	bottom:0;
	margin:0 0 -75px 55px;
	padding:0 0 5px 10px;
}

#comments-list li.comment,#comments-list li.comment.alt {
	padding:15px 0 0;
}

#comments-list li.comment {
	background:transparent url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/bubbletop-brown.gif') 0 0 no-repeat;
}

#comments-list li.comment.alt {
	background:transparent url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/bubbletop-gray.gif') 0 1px no-repeat;
}

#comments-list li.comment p,#comments-list li.comment.alt p {
	display:block;
	text-align:justify;
	margin:0;
	padding:5px 10px 10px;
}

#comments-list li.comment p {
	background:#a48b37;
}

#comments-list li.comment.alt p {
	background:#7f7f7f;
}

#comments-list li.comment .comment-author,#comments-list li.comment .comment-meta {
	text-transform:capitalize;
	background:transparent;
}

#comments-list li.comment .comment-author {
	background:transparent url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/bubblebottom-brown.gif') 0 5px no-repeat;
	border: none;
	display: block;
	width:100%;
	height:50px;
}

#comments-list li.comment.alt .comment-author,#comments-list li.comment.alt .comment-meta {
	text-transform:capitalize;
	background:transparent;
}

#comments-list li.comment.alt .comment-author {
	background:transparent url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/bubblebottom-gray.gif') 0 5px no-repeat;
	border: none;
	display: block;
	width:100%;
	height:50px;
}

#comments-list li.comment .comment-author span,#comments-list li.comment.alt .comment-author span {
	display:block;
	margin:40px 0 0 55px;
}

#comments-list li.comment a {
	color:#994;
}

#comments-list li.comment.alt a {
	color:#d8ccff;
}

#comments-list p {
	color:#dfdfdf;
	margin:0;
	padding:5px 10px 7px;
}

#respond {
	margin:0;
	padding:25px 0 0;
}

#respond h3 {
	color:#f93;
	text-align:left;
}

#primary {
	float:right;
	width:190px;
	padding:0 5px;
}

#primary ul,#secondary ul {
	margin:0;
	padding:0;
}

#primary ul li,#secondary ul li {
	list-style:none;
}

#s,#searchsubmit,#error404-s,#error404-searchsubmit,#cat,#noresults-s,#noresults-searchsubmit {
	background:#333;
	border:solid 1px #774;
	color:#ccc;
}

#s {
	width:120px;
	padding:2px;
}

#searchsubmit {
	height:23px;
	padding:2px;
}

#calendar_wrap {
	border:solid 1px #222;
	background:#000 url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dl-calendarbg.jpg') top left repeat-x;
	padding:7px 0 0;
}

#wp-calendar {
	margin:5px auto;
}

#wp-calendar caption {
	margin:0 auto;
}

#wp-calendar thead {
	background:#222;
}

#secondary {
	display:none;
}

#pages,#categories,#archives,#search,#secondary .linkcat,#rss-links,#meta {
	overflow:hidden;
	clear:both;
	margin:0 0 15px;
}

#pages h3,#categories h3,#archives h3,#search h3,#secondary .linkcat h3,#rss-links h3,#meta h3 {
	color:#f93;
	text-align:left;
	margin:0 0 5px;
}

#primary .textwidget h3, #primary h3 {margin: 25px 0 5px; color:#f93;}

#pages li,#categories li,#archives li,#search li,#secondary .linkcat li,#rss-links li,#meta li {
	margin:5px 2px;
}

#footer {
	clear:both;
	background:#524a23;
	height:30px;
	border-top:solid 5px #453c1e;
	text-align:center;
	margin:0 0 20px;
	padding:10px 0 0;
}

/**** CLASSES ****/

.skip-link {
	display:none;
}

.error404 h2.entry-title,.noresults h2.entry-title {
	color:#f00;
}

.hentry {
	margin:0 0 40px;
}

.hentry h2.entry-title,.page-title {
	color:#f93;
	font-size:1.5em;
}

.hentry h2.entry-title a {
	color:#e8d44b;
	text-decoration:none;
}

.hentry li {
	list-style-image:url('http://sandboxskins.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/bullet.gif');
}

.entry-date {
	color:#f60;
}

.published {
	border:none;
}

.hentry .entry-meta {
	border:dotted 1px #333;
	font-size:.9em;
	background:#111;
	padding:10px;
}

.edit-link a {
	color:#f00 !important;
	font-weight:bold;
}

.form-textarea textarea,.form-submit #submit {
	background:#333;
	border:solid 1px #774;
	color:#ccc;
	margin:7px 0 0;
}

.xoxo {
	border:solid 0 #fcc;
}

.xoxo li ul,.recentcommentsavatar {
	border:solid 1px #222;
	padding:7px 5px 0;
}

.xoxo li ul li {
	padding:0 2px 5px 5px;
}

.xoxo li ul li a {
	display:block;
}

.sidebar .widget {
	margin:0 0 20px;
}

.sidebar .widgettitle {
	color:#f93;
	text-align:left;
	margin:0 0 5px;
}

.sidebar .widget li {
	margin:5px 2px;
}

.sidebar .children {
	border:none;
	margin:0 0 0 10px !important;
}

.sidebar .cat-item a {
	display:inline;
}

Enjoy!

Change History

• 20071219
  • Fixed how categories widget was displayed
  • Fixed categories hierarchy
  • Changed WP Admin bar colors and bg image
• 20071222
  • Styled the “Nothing Found” page (page title, search field and submit button)
• 20071222
  • Fixed bug in IE6 only where blockquotes in every other post where affected by the rules definitions of the blockquotes displayed in comments. This was visible only on the ‘front page’.