Sencha Touch Theme Contest Winners Announced

May 09, 2011 | James Pearce

We are very pleased to be able to announce the winners of our first Sencha Touch Theme Contest. In the contest, we asked you to take our simple Roookies application and use SASS and CSS alone to make it look wonderful. Our panel of five judges then assessed the entries on aesthetic, technical, and compatibility criteria.

Without further ado, congratulations to our winners (view in Chrome or Safari on desktop browsers):

1. First Place: Onyx by Paul DeVay
   Technically, this theme got a huge thumbs-up from the judges for its use of -webkit-background-clip: text and -webkit-animation-* in the toolbar and iconography to create a gently changing color scheme. The cutout effect also impressed, with its use of SVG, and the overall look and feel of the design exuded a discreet and well-stated elegance. Paul wins a MacBook Air and an iPad 2.
2. Second Place: Basic by Amanda Martin
   Sometimes less is more. This theme, with its simple, white appearance, makes sure that the content — itself a set of diverse visual images — gets the focus of the viewer's eye. Judges also liked the bold images used for the icons, and the faint dotted lines guide the eye to the layout of the application as a whole. Second prize was a RIM BlackBerry PlayBook and an iPad 2.
3. Third Place: Stitches by Matt Baker
   We saw many themes with textile, metal and stone design — each very appropriate for touch-oriented mobile applications. The judges felt this to be a strong example of the genre, with a subtle leather texture, stitching motif, and matching toolbar font. Matt wins an iPad 2.

We would also like to make some very notable mentions for some of the other submissions that nearly made it into our top picks: Scrapboook by Diki Andeas, Paddles by Brett Barros, Reeematch by Bert Timmermans, Landing by Isaac Johnston & Sebastian Berlein, 3D Nostalgia by Steinacher Beda, and Last Minute by Simo Moujami.

Overall, we were blown away by the inventiveness and creativity of all of the entries — a reminder, if one was needed, of the power and flexibility of CSS, and the fact that mobile web technologies make it easier than ever to create unique, and beautiful user experiences.

Thanks to everyone for entering, and congratulations again to our winners!