• Well, I need some thoughts here. I have two wordpress sites, both of which were themed using the famous “Bus full of hippies” theme as a template.

    First: http://www.k-jet.org

    This site used to be hand-coded HTML, but I jazzed it up with WordPress. Content aside, let me know what you think of the theme. (The content is probably boring to most people, although the old advertisements are kind of neat)

    Second: http://www.wordwisp.com

    Like the first site, I made this theme using the G.I.M.P. with public domain images (thanks wikimedia). I would say the theme is 99% done, but my question here is: what to do about content?

    I already owned the domain, so I figured I would make the theme match the imagery of the domain… It was fun to make the theme but I have no idea what to write about – what are your thoughts on having content whic is fairly unrelated to the theme and/or domain?

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • I’m not a fan of the wordwisp theme as a whole, though I do like the k-jet one quite a bit.

    I really can’t imagine what kind of content would be on wordwisp except maybe ancient text reviews or something lol.

    Thread Starter thermador

    (@thermador)

    well, I wrote some content for the second site that might be a bit more fitting, so at least that will help. what would you change about the wordwisp theme to make it more appealing?

    k-jet… looks great at the top, looks boring when you scroll down just a little ways. Maybe you want to extend that background on down the page? Do you like it when you Page Down to the part that’s just all white with content in the middle? A lot of blog visitors will just naturally scroll down to the bottom of the page. Have something visually interesting down there.

    Wordwisp — kind of a cool theme. I’d want to see the ability to “turn” the pages, some kind of Nav to get to the next post. Not that the graphic of the pages needs to move, but just being able to cycle thru posts. I guess when you get more posts. I dunno about what content you should have, I’ve never thought of anyone making a blog before they knew what they wanted to write about.

    Good luck with your sites!

    I think the Wordwisp theme is very original, but it does need some added functionality. It would be great for someone interested in antique books or calligraphy. The theme size switcher is a very cool feature. How did you do it?

    Thread Starter thermador

    (@thermador)

    Wordwisp — kind of a cool theme. I’d want to see the ability to “turn” the pages, some kind of Nav to get to the next post.

    Thanks. I looked into this, but as far as I can figure, that wouldn’t be possible in WordPress without some really advanced coding to automatically paginate overflow from the first content div into another content div on the right side. I could get rid of the sidebar and replace it with the second content div (i.e. the second page), but I think I would have to use something more than HTML, CSS, and PHP to get it to call the proper content from the database and display it correctly… AJAX probably. Maybe not though – I’m not skilled at all with PHP or AJAX at all however, so maybe someday, but for now the scrollbars will have to do.

    I think the Wordwisp theme is very original, but it does need some added functionality.

    Such as? Let me know, and I may be able to add it.

    The theme size switcher is a very cool feature. How did you do it?

    I knew I’d have to make a theme switcher for a theme that has a fixed height, so I used the Theme Switcher Reloaded plugin and then created several copies of my original theme. I renamed each theme (at the top of each theme’s style.css file) what I wanted it to display in the theme switcher menu – “1: Large” etc. Then I scaled/adjusted the background image for each theme, uploaded the image, and then adjusted the CSS stylesheet to fit the new background.

    I think the Wordwisp theme is very original, but it does need some added functionality.

    After a second look I might be wrong. As long as it’s widget ready it should be good to go. I guess the only problem would be for people who put way too much crap in the sidebar.

    When I look at the small version in FF3, you’ve got copy being cut off in the main post area.

    I still think you’ve done a beautiful job. Hope you can figure out something to do with it.

    KJet is a nice illustration. How hard would it be to set up a circuit diagram that could be tiled in the background?

    I really like the idea behind wordwisp. I love those old illuminated manuscripts. Part of me wants to see what you can do with more thought on the book metaphor, but then part of me feels like you’re trying to squeeze a horse though a mousehole. Mixing mediums that are incompatible.

    If you were to take up the metaphor of actually writing, the scribe working on a sheey of vellum before it bound, a sheet of old paper on a wooden desk in the background. Maybe the glow of a candle from one side, and a few drops of ink on the wood. And in the center, this yellowed parchment that stetches downwards off the screen. Maybe add some of those little margin illustrations they used to have.

    Thread Starter thermador

    (@thermador)

    I’d want to see the ability to “turn” the pages, some kind of Nav to get to the next post.

    Well, that part is done (link). I was able to get AJAXed WordPress to do this. It’s pretty neat. Any excess overflow is automatically handled by the fleXcroll AJAX scrollers. The only thing I need to figure out is how to make AJAXed WordPress change its pagination settings based on theme size, but for now, the medium theme works best.

    KJet is a nice illustration. How hard would it be to set up a circuit diagram that could be tiled in the background?

    Very hard, tried it when I originally designed it. Couldn’t get anything to work that didn’t look like a complete hack job, so I gave up.

    When I look at the small version in FF3, you’ve got copy being cut off in the main post area.

    That’s what the scrollbars are for. Looks fine to me ❓

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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