Flynn's Paws: My Thoughts, My Gripes

Tag: themes

  • 20090918-Trying Theme

    I’m back with the free theme here at WordPress.com: `Dusk` because, once again, of its time/date stamp feature, followed by the categories and tags element. I  found a `color scheme generator` for my light, purple and gray color based on the default background color #556677 as per the `body element` found on my paid CSS stylesheet upgrade.

    The `before` and `after` content feature was added as a text for the #footer element and the #title element, both of which only appears for the FireFox browser and shows up blank for the Internet Explorer browser. I removed that feature from my CSS stylesheet.

    I’ve tried other themes:

    • `Unsleepable` for sub-pages on the main menu of the right sidebar.
    • `Blix`  for pages AND posts viewed without sidebars.
    • `Kubrick`, `Pool`, `Sapphire`, `Sunburn`, `Black Letterhead`, `Connections`, `Andreas09`, `Solipsus`, `Almost Spring`, `Fleur De Lys`, `ChaosTheory`, `Sandbox`, `Rounded`, `Contempt`, `Misty`, `Quentin`, `White As Milk`, `Redoable Lite`, `Garland`, `DayDream`, `P2`, `Silver Is The New Black`, `DePo Masthead`, `The Journalist v1.9`, `Hemingway` for time/date stamps primarily.

  • 20090918-Old Theme

    I’m back with the free theme here at WordPress.com: `Dusk` because, once again, of its time/date stamp feature, followed by the categories and tags element. I  found a `color scheme generator` for my light, purple and gray color based on the default background color #556677 as per the `body element` found on my paid CSS stylesheet upgrade.

    The `before` and `after` content feature was added as a text for the #footer element and the #title element, both of which only appears for the FireFox browser and shows up blank for the Internet Explorer browser. I removed that feature from my CSS stylesheet.

    I’ve tried other themes:

    • `Unsleepable` for sub-pages on the main menu of the right sidebar.
    • `Blix`  for pages AND posts viewed without sidebars.
    • `Kubrick`, `Pool`, `Sapphire`, `Sunburn`, `Black Letterhead`, `Connections`, `Andreas09`, `Solipsus`, `Almost Spring`, `Fleur De Lys`, `ChaosTheory`, `Sandbox`, `Rounded`, `Contempt`, `Misty`, `Quentin`, `White As Milk`, `Redoable Lite`, `Garland`, `DayDream`, `P2`, `Silver Is The New Black`, `DePo Masthead`, `The Journalist v1.9`, `Hemingway` for time/date stamps primarily.

  • 20090916-Trying Theme

    Well, I’m trying another free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Andreas09 by Andreas Viklund and Ainslie Johnson

    Tags: three-columns, white, light, custom-colors, flexible-width, rtl-language-support, sticky-post, left-sidebar, right-sidebar, widgets

    Its got three columns where one sidebar is for archives and the other sidebar is for links.

    I don’t have a custom header but at least its got custom colors, a tagline and navigation/menu bar.

  • 20090916-Old Theme

    Well, I’m trying another free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Andreas09 by Andreas Viklund and Ainslie Johnson

    Tags: three-columns, white, light, custom-colors, flexible-width, rtl-language-support, sticky-post, left-sidebar, right-sidebar, widgets

    Its got three columns where one sidebar is for archives and the other sidebar is for links.

    I don’t have a custom header but at least its got custom colors, a tagline and navigation/menu bar.

  • 20090915-Trying Theme

    Haha! I changed my mind again from `Solipsus` to another free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Connections by Patricia Müller

    A super classy two-column theme with widgets and a customizable header.

    Tags: custom-header, green, two-columns, fixed-width, right-sidebar, widgets, sticky-post, light, rtl-language-support

    I’ve modeled the sidebar against one my favorite reading material used daily during morning mass. The sidebar sports the following widgets in the order in which they appear:

    • Text widget for welcoming the readers my weblog and its tagline.
    • Search form for submitting queries.
    • Page widget for the main menu of eight parent pages.
    • Flickr widget showing photos of orgone and orgonite.
    • Text widget of `recommended reading` of four books authored by DB.
    • Askimet widget showing the number of spams blocked.
    • Blog stats widget showing the total visits.
    • A gravatar widget of useful links.

    But this time, instead of the time/date stamp appearing underneath the post title or page title (for that matter) when viewed in `archive mode` or `front page mode`, the meta information appears as an `Archived Entry` when viewing ONE post entry at a time.

    This would be my compromise between the time/date stamp and a nice custom header sporting a cloud formation, which is really a sylph!

  • 20090915-Old Theme

    Haha! I changed my mind again from `Solipsus` to another free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Connections by Patricia Müller

    A super classy two-column theme with widgets and a customizable header.

    Tags: custom-header, green, two-columns, fixed-width, right-sidebar, widgets, sticky-post, light, rtl-language-support

    I’ve modeled the sidebar against one my favorite reading material used daily during morning mass. The sidebar sports the following widgets in the order in which they appear:

    • Text widget for welcoming the readers my weblog and its tagline.
    • Search form for submitting queries.
    • Page widget for the main menu of eight parent pages.
    • Flickr widget showing photos of orgone and orgonite.
    • Text widget of `recommended reading` of four books authored by DB.
    • Askimet widget showing the number of spams blocked.
    • Blog stats widget showing the total visits.
    • A gravatar widget of useful links.

    But this time, instead of the time/date stamp appearing underneath the post title or page title (for that matter) when viewed in `archive mode` or `front page mode`, the meta information appears as an `Archived Entry` when viewing ONE post entry at a time.

    This would be my compromise between the time/date stamp and a nice custom header sporting a cloud formation, which is really a sylph!

  • 20090915-Trying Theme

    Okay, fine. I’m back with a free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Solipsus by Tiffany Nguyen (Rikkye)

    A black and brown two-column design with flowers, clouds and a sun.

    Tags: two-columns, fixed-width, dark, rtl-language-support, left-sidebar, widgets, sticky-post

    I’ve modeled the sidebar against one my favorite reading material used daily during morning mass. The sidebar sports the following widgets in the order in which they appear:

    • Text widget for welcoming the readers my weblog and its tagline.
    • Search form for submitting queries.
    • Page widget for the main menu of eight parent pages.
    • Flickr widget showing photos of orgone and orgonite.
    • Text widget of `recommended reading` of four books authored by DB.
    • Askimet widget showing the number of spams blocked.
    • Blog stats widget showing the total visits.
    • A gravatar widget of useful links.

  • 20090915-Old Theme

    Okay, fine. I’m back with a free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Solipsus by Tiffany Nguyen (Rikkye)

    A black and brown two-column design with flowers, clouds and a sun.

    Tags: two-columns, fixed-width, dark, rtl-language-support, left-sidebar, widgets, sticky-post

    I’ve modeled the sidebar against one my favorite reading material used daily during morning mass. The sidebar sports the following widgets in the order in which they appear:

    • Text widget for welcoming the readers my weblog and its tagline.
    • Search form for submitting queries.
    • Page widget for the main menu of eight parent pages.
    • Flickr widget showing photos of orgone and orgonite.
    • Text widget of `recommended reading` of four books authored by DB.
    • Askimet widget showing the number of spams blocked.
    • Blog stats widget showing the total visits.
    • A gravatar widget of useful links.

  • 20090911-Old Theme

    I’m back on a free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Sandbox 0.6.1 by Andy Skelton & Scott Allan Wallick

    A theme with powerful, semantic CSS selectors and the ability to add new skins.

    Tags: white, left-sidebar, theme-options, widgets, two-columns, one-column, three-columns, right-sidebar, flexible-width, microformats, rtl-language-support

    The Current Skin is:

    Three-Column Minimalist 1.0 by Scott Allan Wallick

    Minimalist style with left and right-sidebars

    The left sidebar is for archives of my weblog. The right sidebar is for the orgone, such as the Flickr.com group pool, links to vendors and recommended readings. The length for both sidebars are almost even. I had to increase the gravatar image of a small white flower against its green leaves to 128 pixels. This compensates for the shortened gap of the left sidebar.

    The main colors to my paid CSS stylesheet upgrade are mostly gray and blue:

    • Body and block quote #eee;
    • Header #ddd;
    • Content #fff;
    • a: #006699; and
    • a: hover #3399CC.

    I had to remove the light blue to purplish background color to something more monotone like gray but lighter than dark. I didn’t want to present anymore weird symbolic weight to color coding for TPTB and thought that the gray tone would symbolize something more neutral, neither red nor purple.

    The `Front page displays` has be set from [My] latest posts to:

    • Front page: Home and
    • Posts page: Archives.

    I wanted to keep track of the many times people viewed that `front page` (aka `home page`) and if people would view the archives page of `Blog pages show at most`: 3 (three) posts instead of 15 (fifteen) posts, which I felt was too long to view at one page.

    I pray that this would be the VERY last time I’d tweak the overall appearance of my WordPress.com weblog.

  • 20090911-Trying Theme

    I’m back on a free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Sandbox 0.6.1 by Andy Skelton & Scott Allan Wallick

    A theme with powerful, semantic CSS selectors and the ability to add new skins.

    Tags: white, left-sidebar, theme-options, widgets, two-columns, one-column, three-columns, right-sidebar, flexible-width, microformats, rtl-language-support

    The Current Skin is:

    Three-Column Minimalist 1.0 by Scott Allan Wallick

    Minimalist style with left and right-sidebars

    The left sidebar is for archives of my weblog. The right sidebar is for the orgone, such as the Flickr.com group pool, links to vendors and recommended readings. The length for both sidebars are almost even. I had to increase the gravatar image of a small white flower against its green leaves to 128 pixels. This compensates for the shortened gap of the left sidebar.

    The main colors to my paid CSS stylesheet upgrade are mostly gray and blue:

    • Body and block quote #eee;
    • Header #ddd;
    • Content #fff;
    • a: #006699; and
    • a: hover #3399CC.

    I had to remove the light blue to purplish background color to something more monotone like gray but lighter than dark. I didn’t want to present anymore weird symbolic weight to color coding for TPTB and thought that the gray tone would symbolize something more neutral, neither red nor purple.

    The `Front page displays` has be set from [My] latest posts to:

    • Front page: Home and
    • Posts page: Archives.

    I wanted to keep track of the many times people viewed that `front page` (aka `home page`) and if people would view the archives page of `Blog pages show at most`: 3 (three) posts instead of 15 (fifteen) posts, which I felt was too long to view at one page.

    I pray that this would be the VERY last time I’d tweak the overall appearance of my WordPress.com weblog.

  • 20090910-Not Satisfied

    Okay, folks! I’m not getting any more satisfied with the appearance of my weblog as much as being quite impatient with TPTB.

    As a result, I went back to the light purple theme: Sandbox. But for how long will I keep this theme? I may have to stop blogging altogether and get a real JOB or once again go legal.

    The current theme has three columns with the `Front page display` for the three most recent posts on the left, the `archives` widgets on the middle and `orgone` stuff on the right.

    The time/date stamp, which appears visible underneath the post entry title, is VERY important to me but not so much as the meta data of tags, categories or comments of which all three are hidden.

  • 20090907-New Theme

    Sorry, folks! I’m trying yet another free theme here at WordPress.com:

    Solipsus by Tiffany Nguyen (Rikkye)

    A black and brown two-column design with flowers, clouds and a sun.

    Tags: two-columns, fixed-width, dark, rtl-language-support, left-sidebar, widgets, sticky-post

    PROs:

    • Header is closer to the top, unlike theme`Dusk`, which has a header that pushes my content and sidebars too low into the middle of the screen.
    • Instead of dark blue color of the former, this latter is dark brown and black.
    • It has a left sidebar unlike most other themes, which uses right sidebars.
    • It also has flowers, one sun, one cloud and one frowning face.
    • The date/time stamp, along with comments meta, is located underneath POST titles.
    • No meta appears underneath PAGES.
    • This theme features the < hr > element as a flowery design. Neat!

    CONs:

    • It’s dark but not too dark to hurt the eyes with contrasting, brightly-colored fonts.
    • The letters appear too small but editing my paid CSS stylesheet upgrade helps to increase the font-size to 84% (via the `body` element).
    • There is no custom header.
    • There is no navigation bar with drop-down menu feature.
    • There is no tagline: see reason below.

    Since I still wanted to RETAIN the image of Dante’s Satan in Inferno and the brief welcome message to describe what to do with this weblog, I removed a parent`home` page, which had the same greeting as shown on the `text widget` (which is currently located uppermost left hand portion of the sidebar):

    `God’s goal: be sunny life`. (This is my blog’s tagline).

    Having a left sidebars means I could set my `Front page display` to latest posts instead of setting the `Front page` to `Home` and the `Post page` to `Archives`. My purpose is to allow a short introduction when viewing my weblog through the `front page` via a mobile, cellphone.

    The sidebars may change as I continue to tweak the appearance of my IMPERFECT weblog site.