It seems like it’s the season for website theme changes as not only have a few of my regular reads (e.g. Sarah, Jon, Stu, Jason) changed their blog themes, but The Register and Amazon.co.uk have rounded some of their corners out (Amazon.co.uk now seems to have reverted to their previous look since I last checked earlier today) and now my blog!
The theme I’m currently using is a pre-release version that was XHTML compliant on a test installation, but that soon changed after I added my content into the mix together with a variety of third party gadgetry. It’s a CSS-based design with no tables used for layout.
I thought it was a good time to upgrade to WordPress v2.3 (with post preview), housekeep a few redundant plugins and move away from the JavaScript heavy K2 theme I was previously using. I’ve also installed Sarah’s BlogRush alternative, but having a few issues getting it to work with FeedBurner feeds [edit: later found the issues were caused by not RTFM].
If you spot any gremlins at work, please let me know!
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I have to say I preferred your other theme to this new blue one.
That’s a fair comment, Paul. Is there anything in particular you like/don’t like about it?
I suspect the colour scheme will be getting tweaked…
Your old theme had real character. I thought it was terrific.
This new one just completely lacks character. The pale blues, square edges everywhere, and lack of even simple graphics makes it seem cold and lifeless. To be honest it kind of looks like one of those style-less themes applied to a Linux techie blog or one of those Google ad laden “Celebrity Wallpapers” sites.
To give you one example of the glaring difference - the image in your “Great Sales Page Graphics” post used to look like it belonged here. Now its the only bit of life on the page. Stands out the like the proverbial dogs bits.
I’m trying to find a way to finish this comment with something positive… I guess a color overhaul would be a good start. I’m no style expert but I think that would go a long way to adding some life back to the site.
Thanks, Paul. Comments noted!
I do like the new theme but I do think another colour may be needed (says she with a black and white theme now!). Maybe use the second sidebar as at present everything’s in the first and pushes the footer down too far.
As for the plugin, let me know what feeds you’re having problems with. Unfortunately they don’t all follow the same format so I have to pick out the right info from each which is frustrating. I wish everyone followed suit!
Thanks for the feedback so far. I’ve tweaked the design some more and added a few more images to make it a bit more visually appealing. I’d rather side with less images than have too many to distract the reader. Hopefully, I’ve addressed the balance better.
Yeah, it’s quite and edgey, straight lined theme, but I kinda like it
Sarah, with regards to the problems feeds, take burty’s for example; I’ve tried his FeedBurner and WordPress RSS URLs without much joy. Both yours and Gary’s feed URLs are in my What Others Are Saying blogroll category, but only yours seems to work. Any clue?
Will, looking much better. Really like the look now.
As for the feeds, that’s strange as Gary’s works fine for me! I don’t suppose you’ve had a look in phpMyAdmin to see what’s in the _linkposts table?
I’ve got his Feedburner feed in my list which has worked fine. Feel free to drop me an email with any sensitive data and hopefully we can get it working for you
I like it. With all this new themage about, I should consider changing osWorld. I’ve been working on a new design, but you know how it is when it’s something that isn’t high on the agenda. Maybe I should get my arse in gear and get it finished.
Sarah, I checked the linkposts table and there was only one row; yours. I then ran the SQL query that interrogates the links table and that led me to find out what the problem was.
The problem was located between my keyboard and chair! Somehow, I’d missed the bit in the installation instructions that says,
It must have been late when I originally installed it!
Thanks for the pointer.
Well, Gary, apart from wanting to move away from my last theme that looked like it was thrown together over a long period of time (it was), I’m wanting to explore the benefits of being a WordPress theme builder.
Hey I just popped back to see how the theme updates were going. The new theme looks miles better than a few days ago. Now that its got some better colors the layout looks really good.
Will, glad to hear you got the plugin working. I’ll admit, I get myself confused when I add a new link still. I’ve put the RSS link in the standard link box before!
Thanks for your feedback, Paul
You might consider bumping up the font size for your post headings.
Thanks, Paul. I’ve made a few more tweaks today including increasing the post title font size.