Flynn's Paws: My Thoughts, My Gripes

Tag: theme

  • Trying Premium Theme: Eight

    Tonight and for $55.00 (a double-digit numerical value), I purchased a Premium Theme! That’s right! I’ve got 30 days to try out my new WordPress theme.

    The layout of this theme is VERY simple. And this time I like reading SMALLER fonts. I noticed LARGER fonts make reading MUCH slower. More spaces in between lines/paragraphs and contents/sidebars tend to distract me.

    The meta data  underneath the post title: “Written on [datetime stamp] by [author]” section for the ONE and ONLY excerpt found on the “index/front/home” page, followed by links for Edit, Categories, Tags and Comments section for the “single view” page.

    The content is to the left of the sidebar widget. Five of my main/parent pages fit VERY nicely on the top navigation bar. But the “Site Title” feels too bulky for the small box on the upper right hand corner and on the lower left hand section of the footer. The “Search” form is located on the upper right hand corner.

    The footer has the “Tagline” and default fields for RSS Posts and RSS Comments. Credit for the theme designer is given as usual here.

    The most recent post entry is shown as an excerpt. The same goes for “Sticky Posts”. “Rate This” is shown on this excerpt.

    “Recent Entries” show only the Post title; the meta and comments. “Recent Entries” can be changed via the “Reading Settings” of the Dashboard. A maximum of five “Recent Comments” is shown as excerpts.

    Eight by Automattic

    Featuring a design by renowned web designer Elliot Jay Stocks, Eight will transform the look of your blog. Even better, Eight’s custom highlight color feature, custom background, and custom header, let you transform it right back and easily create your own blog design. Read more about Eight →

    Options: Widgets | Menus | Theme Options | Background | Header | Custom Design | iPad | ExtrasTags: art, blog, craft, magazine, artistic, dreamy, faded, grungy, handcrafted, textured, black, gray, red, tan, white, two-columns, fixed-width, responsive-width, custom-background, custom-colors, custom-header, custom-menu, featured-images, microformats, rtl-language-support, sticky-post, theme-options, translation-readySupport Need some help? Visit the Premium Themes support forum to get expert advice.

  • 20111013-Trying Theme

    So for the past few minutes and while I was busy deleting more pages, I received this message:

    Howdy! Your current theme, Dusk, has seen an update in the form of a brand new theme, Dusk To Dawn. For more information, check out our blog post introducing Dusk To Dawn to the world.

    I’ll try it later.

  • Trying Theme: Steira

    Here are the combined blog entries for trying Theme: Steira:

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  • 20110926-Tweaking Again

    I’ve changed my mind again. Instead of displaying latest entries as the “front/home” page, the “blog” page will be for the “posts” and the “contents” page will be for “front page”:

    The “table of contents” is really not a page of pages because there is a sidebar widget for “Page”. Rather, this “front/home” page is to show where/how to navigate around my weblog site.

    Unlike the long introduction(s), such as the “Welcome” page, which has been renamed to the “Dedication” page, this “contents” page is short and sweet. And this is for those who doesn’t have the patience to read everything.

  • 20101925-Tweaking Again

    Instead of taking my mid-afternoon nap, I decided to tweak my pages. I ended up creating two “parent” pages because I want the logical placement of each page.

    So there really should only be three parent pages: about, Flynn and book.

    Because my brain doesn’t under English well, it tried to force the “contents” page to stand alone when it really should belong as part of the “preliminaries” as found in a “real book”.

    As for the “welcome” page, that is now titled the “dedication” page. Now this, along with the “contents’ page is place properly in the “front” of the “book”.

    The “topics” page had to be created as a parent to my other pages of topics, which could be found under “categories” or “tags”. I didn’t want to delete these “orphans” and now they have a home.

    The two main pages: “About” and “Flynn” have links to its sub-pages. So there was no need for me to created menus for each one.

  • 20110924-Tweaking Again

    Here is a run-down of my tweaks under “Appearance”:

    • Themes — “Twenty Eleven” because it’s 2011.
    • Widgets — “static” on the right footer, “variable” on the left footer.
    • Menus — seven basic menus. May have to redo/delete “contents”.
    • Color scheme — light background with dark fonts, not the other way around.
    • Link color — bloody red to contrast the dark background and header.
    • Layout — One-column, no sidebar.
    • Custom background — all black, all the time.
    • Custom header — black, white and gray to compliment black background.

    The “front/home page” has been streamlined further to show an EXTRA LARGE image; to correct for “proper” grammar and spelling; and to improve “dedication”. ‘Showcase Template” has been used for this page only. Three widgets are used here, too.

    The Links have been updated. I’m still not sure about the rest and will keep those set to “private” until I change my mind.

    I may delete more pages and media, too. Heck! I feel like deleting my blog forever!

  • Trying Premium Theme: Minimum

    For 30-days, I am trying a “Premium Theme”:

    Minimum by StudioPress

    Minimum is a stunning execution of “less is more”, which allows you to express everything you’re about, with very little effort. Read more about Minimum →

    Options: Widgets | Menus | Theme Options | Background | Header | Custom Design | iPad | ExtrasTags: black, custom-background, custom-header, custom-menu, featured-images, fixed-width, gray, left-sidebar, one-column, right-sidebar, sticky-post, theme-options, threaded-comments, three-columns, translation-ready, two-columns, white

    Support Need some help? Visit the Premium Themes support forum to get expert advice.

    I love the “Theme Options” (or Genesis – Theme Settings via “themes.php?page=genesis”). It’s got five sections:

    Default Layout

    • Content-Sidebar
    • Sidebar-Content
    • Content-Sidebar-Sidebar
    • Sidebar-Sidebar-Content
    • Sidebar-Content-Sidebar
    • Full Width Content

    Navigation Settings

    • Primary Navigation
    • Include Primary Navigation Menu?
    • Enable Fancy Dropdowns?
    • Enable Extras on Right Side?
    • Display the following:
    • Today’s Date
    • RSS feed links
    • Search form
    • Twitter link
    • Secondary Navigation
    • Include Secondary Navigation Menu?
    • Enable Fancy Dropdowns?

    In order to use the navigation menus, you must build a custom menu, then assign it to the proper Menu Location.

    Breadcrumbs

    • Enable on:
    • Front | Page | Posts | Pages | Archives | 404 Page

    Breadcrumbs are a great way of letting your visitors find out where they are on your site with just a glance. You can enable/disable them on certain areas of your site.

    Content Archives

    • Select one of the following:
    • Display post content
    • Display post excerpts
    • Include the Featured Image?
    • Image Size:
    • large (1024×1024)
    • medium (300×300)
    • thumbnail (150×150)
    • featured (500×250)
    • portfolio (160×100)
    • Select Post Navigation Technique:
    • Older / Newer
    • Previous / Next
    • Numeric

    These options will affect any blog listings page, including archive, author, blog, category, search, and tag pages.

    Blog Page

    • Display which category:
    • [All categories, etc.]
    • Exclude the following Category IDs: [Comma separated – 1,2,3 for example]
    • Number of Posts to Show: [enter your number here]

    [Save Settings] [Reset Settings]

    Enable on:

    Front Page Posts Pages Archives 404 PageBreadcrumbs are a great way of letting your visitors find out where they are on your site with just a glance. You can enable/disable them on certain areas of your site.

  • Trying Theme: Selecta

    Well, I’m trying yet another WordPress.com theme:

    Selecta by Obox Design

    With a featured posts slider on the front page, a wide, one-column template on image and video posts, and archives displayed in gallery format, Selecta is well-suited for blogs which focus primarily on showcasing videos or images. It comes with six color schemes, support for video, image, aside, gallery, quote, chat, and audio post formats, custom header, custom background, and four widget areas — one in the left sidebar and three in the footer. Read more about Selecta →

    It’s good for now.

  • Trying Theme: Toolbox

    Well, this time I’m trying Theme: Toolbox by Automattic. After checking how the deleted post looks like via my subscription “Reader” online, this is how the message looks:

    Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

    It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

    Below this message is a LONG “Search” bar.

    Below this “Search” bar there are three columns:

    • Recent Posts,
    • Most Used Categories, and
    • Archives – Try looking in the monthly archives. 🙂

    Now, if only I know how the “Post Formats” work and look, I might learn something.

    —

    Addendum: The blog entry below 20101210-Trying Theme was originally Posted on 20101210 at 174632 PM PDT:

    This morning I’m trying yet another recently added WordPress.com theme:

    Toolbox by Automattic

    A semantic, HTML5, canvas for CSS artists and an ultra-minimal set of super-clean templates for your own WordPress theme development. Read more about Toolbox →

    Dammit! It’s so clean! I love it! All I did was retain my paid CSS upgrade stylesheet and only changed the background color to the body element. It’s refreshing to have the text alignment “centered”. There will be lots of tweaking to do tonight.

    HOWEVER, where’s my time/date stamp! It’s critical to have the nice element. Why? Again, it’s because I blog on the go. Although t’s not quite like Twitter, at least those spooks, err, I meant, readers of “The Blogging Path” know what I’m up to and when my precious thoughts occurred!

  • Trying Theme: Pilcrow

    Here are the combined blog entries for trying Theme: Pilcrow by Automattic.

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  • Trying Theme: Clean Home

    I am currently trying Theme: Clean Home by Mid Mo Design. This is the ONLY WordPress.com theme that works well to allow SOME transparency to the background image of “The Shepherdess (1889) By William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905).

    Other themes, such as “Koi”, “Liquorice” and “Neutra”, allow for full transparency of the background image but it makes reading difficult. With “Clean Home”, one could barely see the image without using the “zoom feature” or compromising the reading.

    The “zoom feature” of my internet browser handles well (either “zoom in” using “Control and Minus sign” or “zoom out” using “Control and Plus sign”). By using the “zoom featuer” one could see the background image in it entirety.

    For the “Display option” found under the “Background”, I set the following:

    • Position Background Position — Center;
    • Repeat Background Repeat — Tile; and
    • Attachment Background Attachment — Scroll.

  • Trying Theme: Manifest

    Here are the combined blog entries for trying Theme: Manifest:

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