I’m quickly coming to the realization that I did not pick the easiest  theme to modify–and I’m becoming very frustrated.  The theme I selected has php and css files that look considerably different from the last theme I used.  This isn’t that much of an obstacle, however, as it just takes some determination to figure out what everything’s function is.  It’s not too hard, just time consuming.

There are a lot of things that I am having difficulty with, however.  First, I’m starting to wonder if it is possible to change anything structurally!!  Every time I change anything in the php or css files in my child theme, nothing seems to happen.  Again, this is probably something that will just take some time for me to figure out.  However, the biggest obstacle I’m facing is trying to get a slideshow working on my homepage.  When I first saw this theme, its designers boasted that it was easy, all ready in the widgets area of the Dashboard.

Well.  None of the widgets are working properly.  Every time I add a widget, whether it’s the slideshow or simply a Search box, either nothing happens or the whole layout of the site changes completely.

I have been able to make a couple of changes, however.  I adjusted the padding in the header (I think), I changed my header image, and I changed the content on my “About Me” page.  The latter doesn’t have anything to do with the theme, but at least I accomplished something!

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So I’ve installed my child theme (I actually installed last class–about 2 weeks ago), and I have done a few things to change the appearance.  I’ve altered the colors–I’m still not too sold on them–and I’ve added a new picture for my “logo.”  And I have to say that I’m not convinced I like that either.  I was very excited abut getting a new theme for my site (I couldn’t stand the way it looked before) because I thought it would be an easy, simple, immediate “fix” for all my issues with the site.  Now I can’t seem to get things to go where I want them…

Well, looks like it’s a lot more complicated to make it the way I want it, after all!

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So we’ve finally been given the go-ahead to install new themes on our site!  Of course, since I did create this site for a class, there are certain requirements I have to follow, but for the most part, I’m free to design the site however I want. Before I change things around, I thought I could use a post that shows each of my pages as they are now (in all their boring glory) so I can keep a record of my progress through this process (see posts Getting There…, Progress? What Progress?, Web Design is slow-going, and Web Design-Sept 21 to see all the progress I have made).  I’ll keep it simple:

Home page:

Blog Page:

Portfolio page:

About page:

Contact page:

Hopefully, my site will be much improved very soon!

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As part of the requirements for my second Professional Website Installation, I need to choose three themes I think will be best to use for my revamped website.  The three themes I am exploring are Fotofolio Landscape 1.1.1 by Wordspop, TastyShowcase 1.0 by Theme Lab, and Selecta 1.0 by Obox Design.

Fotofolio Landscape:

What I like:  This theme is very simple, clean, and has a consistent layout throughout its pages.  Some positive features of the site include:

• Widget-ready sidebar
• Auto-image resizing for thumbnails
• How-to guide (much like the Wiki for WPFolio–big help!)
• Slideshow built within the theme

What I don’t like:  This theme, though it is a portfolio theme, is geared towards photographers–this might make it more difficult to post writing.  Some negative (or lack of) features:

• Footer is not widget-ready
• Left sidebar–may detract from site

Tasty Showcase:

What I like: Again, a clean, simple theme; easy to navigate.  Positive features:

• Multiple widget-ready areas: Sidebar, Footer, and Home Footer
• Karmic Flow slider included in theme
• Consistency across pages

What I don’t like: The demo is a bit repetitive–the sidebar and footer widgets are identical (but this is something I can avoid), the Home Footer also feels a little repetitive as well.  It feels like I would have a lot of unused widget areas.  I’m afraid I might just like this theme for its slider (which I could download into any theme).

Selecta:

What I like: Clean, simple, easy to navigate (I seem to have a theme going here…)  Positive features:

• Many widgetized areas:
  • Header panel
  • Index header panel
  • 2 sidebar areas
  • Multiple Footer areas
• Video slider included
• Portfolio page
• Automatic Image resizing
• Cross browser compatible

What I don’t like: This site might be a little too simple.  There are many widget areas–most will go unused by me.

There are many similarities between these themes, yet they are each unique.  This is going to be a tough decision.

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When I first created my website, I was excited by the prospect of having a space of my own on the web.  I spent almost all my free time tweaking my site, playing with HTML and CSS, changing colors and fonts, and so on.  Now, as my semester–and life–progresses, I’m finding it harder and harder to be enthused by this project.  This isn’t to say that I don’t like having a site, but the upkeep is very time consuming, and time is something I just don’t have a lot of!

In the past week, I have done a bit to my site.  I added new pieces to my Writing portfolio, and I changed my Home page to feature one of those pieces, rather than a simple navigation page.  I suppose I’m happy with these changes–after all, they follow guidelines for the Professional Web Site Installation (I think), but I still feel like there’s something missing.  I’m not sure if it’s just because my zeal for making this site the best it can be is dwindling, or I simply don’t really have anything to put on the site.

This week in class, we will be finding a different theme to use for our websites–this will make our site even more original, as we won’t all be using the WPFolio theme.  I’m both excited an nervous about this new theme.  I’m excited because it will be a chance to make my site more of my own, but I’m nervous because I’m not exactly sure what that is…

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