If that’s the phrase that’s rattling in your skull right now as you look at yet another, albeit old, blog theme, I apologize. I’ve been damn obsessed, lately, in trying to find a theme that I can modify that will give me what I want without looking like a crammed up, un-navigable mess. I rather liked the last one which was built on the Sandbox structure. However, it was an absolute nightmare to even attempt to modify. Not only did the Sandbox CSS have to be tweaked to fit things, so did the six CSS stylesheets of the Diurnal theme need to be tweaked. I was making adjustments last night, keeping careful track of what I was changing and something broke. I sifted through code for six hours trying to find the problem, but couldn’t. So I put back this “Wyeth” theme.
I’ve thought about hiring someone to do a custom design for me and I spoke to three designers and was astounded at the price they charge. One was $700, another was $550 and another designer knocked the price down from $500 to $350 when I said I didn’t want custom graphics. Now, I’m not going to say they didn’t deserve the price they asked for. Two of the designers had exceptional portfolios and they designed themes for some very sharp, commercial sites. What really got me mad was when I replied to one of the designers, thanking the person for their quote, and said I didn’t have the budget for it, I received a nasty reply back that was, I quote, “Then it’s obvious you don’t want quality.” Jerk.
I know I’m not asking for a simple layout. I’m also possibly asking for Wordpress to do something it can’t do. I want a front page that has a large excerpt of today’s post with links to recent posts beneath. I want a further section that will grab three random posts from three of my writing categories that will post an excerpt. This action doesn’t seem to be one that WP can do. I then want a link that will open the blog proper (content with full recent posts, and sidebar). I don’t want custom graphics, icons, and I don’t want something where I have to go in manually and re-categorize a post just to “feature” it.
Finally, add into the mix the latest version of WP does away with categories and goes to tags and well… it’s just frustrating all around. I haven’t upgraded to WP 2.3 just yet. I’m still reading and watching how others are dealing with it.
So, anyway, that’s what’s up with the merry-go-round of site themes lately. It’s what happens when you don’t have a hidden test site. That, and I’m reckless and like to experiment live.
8 Responses to “What the Hell is Going On?”
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I like this theme. I also really like the graphic at the top.
Oh I’d spread by word of Internet who the jerk was — that was inexcusable and highly unprofessional.
I like this theme, it seems to say “light in the dark,” but I enjoy reading your blog. What it looks like is not as important to me as what you have to say. I’m probably not typical of blog readers, I guess.
Bev – I do like this one, too. It took me a couple of years to figure out just how to do the paper tear effect this way.
Jim – Thanks! Can’t wait to see what you can come up with.
Leaf – I had the fingerless gloves, but never the leather pants. lol
Ben – I do like those magazine layouts, but nearly all of them require changing content by hand behind the scenes. Color me lazy, but I want WP to do it for me.
Wordpress can do almost anything… have you looked at the Magazine-Style themes? A link shoudl be in your dashboard, but just in case…
http://themeplayground.com/309/the-best-wordpress-magazine-themes-available
With a bit of editing they may well be what you’re looking for.
Check out Gridlock too, I tried it when I was looking -wasn’t for me, but I seem to remember it had some of the functionality you’re looking for. (Its on that page I linked to above)
Unfortunate about the lack of colour in most of them.
Hehe: reckless. Some people ride fast motorbikes, and some people experiment with their sites live. They both wear leather pants and bad-ass fingerless gloves I bet.
Jayne, I’m willing to build a new theme for you that will do all those things you listed, and I’ll do it for free. I love doing that sort of thing, and what you’re asking for isn’t all that difficult. Also, 2.3 doesn’t actually ‘do away’ with categories at all – by default, categories are kept separate from tags unless you deliberately run the script that converts them to tags.
Let me know if you want me to build your new theme, and then we’ll talk even more specifics. :)
I really do like this theme. I’m a little bit more paranoid than you though. I made a test site to play around with things because I do have a tendency to really mess things up.