Why not use a different theme? Inove isn’t the easiest theme to customise.
Thread Starter
micdk
(@micdk)
Thanks. That could be a solution – do you have any suggestions? It is difficult for me to see if a theme is easy or hard to customize… I just need a theme that works as a website.
Most themes will work as well for a web site as they do a blog. It helps if you have an idea of what kind of layout you want first (1 column, 2 columns etc) and focus your search on that.
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/tags/ might help in that respect.
Ignore any comment or post enhancements if you’ll be using pages only.
Try not to be too swayed by color. It’s usually far harder to change the layout of a theme compared to changing its colors – although themes with lots of graphical elements (patterned backgrounds, rounded boxes etc) also have their own problems.
If you are comfortable using XHTML, CSS, PHP and WordPress tags, go for themes that don’t have custom options. They’re often the easiest to hack. If you’re non-technical, then look for themes that offer custom header and sidebar placement options.
Make a note of the last time a theme was updated. One that hasn’t been touched for years is far less likely to work effectively with the latest version of WordPress compared to one that has been updated recently. Take time out to read any comments posted against the theme. They might forewarn you of any possible problems.
Happy hunting!
Thread Starter
micdk
(@micdk)
Thank you very much for the good advices esmi.
I have been searching for a suitable theme for a long time but just can’t find any… I need a very simple website – 2 columns, narrow page with space for a header (picture as wide as page but not as wide as the screen and with no drop-down menu), white page with a hue/shadow (not sure what the area left/right, outside the page is called…). Links to other pages (disclaimer, terms of use, etc.) in the footer/end of page. That is it! No search field, no space for comments, date and all the other blog stuff….
Guess I was a bit naive and thought it was real easy to make my own website using wordpress. I am not comfortable using XHTML, CSS, PHP etc. but I don’t consider myself to be non-technical… hmmmm… probably somewhere between.
I wonder how much it would cost to get a customized theme but I don’t know any good place where they offer such thing (and how do you know if the quality is good enough.. security, stability, SEO, etc…).
You should be able to find a free theme in the Theme Directory that comes pretty close.
I wonder how much it would cost to get a customized theme
Rough guess: $200 – $1000 depending on the design complexity, source graphics needed, extra functionality etc.
how do you know if the quality is good enough.. security, stability, SEO
Unless the theme includes extra functionality beyond what WP normally offers, security shouldn’t be an issue as that’s handled by WP.
Stability can only be assessed by throwing different content into the site and then viewing it using varying screen resolutions and browsers. A good theme should use W3C compliant markup & CSS that will maximise its chances of performing effectively across as many browsers as possible.
In terms of SEO, have a look at:
http://quirm.net/2009/07/02/wordpress-search-engine-optimisation/
Includes some comments about choosing the right theme but you can also use to, essentially, work backwards and apply some of the ideas to a theme. For example, does it display a unique meta title based on the post title on every page? Do hard-coded page elements – such widgets, search results or comment displays use semantic markup with good use of headers?
If you’re going to spend hard cash on a custom theme, don’t use the guy down the road ‘cos he knows a bit of web stuff. Use a company or individual with a web development track record who can supply references – that you can contact – on request.
Thread Starter
micdk
(@micdk)
I guess I have to find a new theme and then mess with it (have tried to do so but I usually give up after a few days…)
I really just need a website that looks like a piece of paper, with sidebar, floating on top of a white background, casting a shadow – links to the other pages in the footer. Real plain and simple (and perhaps boring but people needs to focus on my text and pictures and not pretty frames etc.)
If anyone knows of a theme that looks like this then please give me a link.
Good to know that there are helpful people like you esmi on this forum – thanks once again, I will use your advices.
Mike
Website is not online so I can’t show what I mean.
You could printscreen ^^
You know, if I wanted very simple website, I wouldn’t bother with wordpress, I’d rather download simple html template, customize a bit and here it goes.
Anyway if you still want to customize inove
3) How do I add links to the footer?
It’s very simple
1.Open footer.php in the inove folder.
2.Now you have to add the code:
<a href="URL">LINK_NAME</a>
if you want this link to be in the first line of the footer add the code after 36 line, before “</div>” in the blank line.
if you want your link in the second line add the code after 39 line, before “</div>”.
Removing home link in the header http://wordpress.org/support/topic/275778?replies=5
If you want to remove divider lines you could look at the code, but I’m not a good coder, so I’d simply open the divider lines images in the img folder and fill it with white color, and save.If you cant find the image you want to change you can use firefox plugin firebug, im using it myself, its very good https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843.
2) How do I remove links/drop-down menu in the header?
ooops I don’t know how to do this ^^ I can guarantee its in the header.php after I tried to delete it, the menus gone 😀
ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP BEFORE DOING CHANGES TO ANYTHING
Good luck in the creation of the website 😉
Thread Starter
micdk
(@micdk)
Thanks rate4d – that was very helpful.
Actually I plan to make a couple of websites – one simple and another one more sophisticated. I will try and look for a simple html template for the simple website, good advice.
I can’t find the divider line in the image folder, all lines in that folder are white but the one that irritates me is black… I might be able to find it with firebug (your link doesn’t work but I found it) – it seems to be something similar to Web Developer but that add-on couldn’t help me (probably because I don’t know how to use it..)
I wish there was a guide that could explain all the things that people ask for again and again, how to remove/change/add this and that (if that is possible).
Thanks again for your help.
Thread Starter
micdk
(@micdk)
BTW – Are there any differences whether I use a simple html template or a wordpress theme as regards to SEO? I really know little about SEO (if any) – does the search engines look at the code or just the text on a website???
The basic website that I am talking about needs to look something similar to these sites (these sites are in no other way related to what I am going to use a website for…):
http://www.acnenomore.com/index.html
http://www.blog-ebooks.com/Blogging_For_Profits.html
Where do I find such a simple template/theme?? Do they have a name or another term (other than real plain…) that I can use in a Google search?
does the search engines look at the code or just the text on a website
Both. Text content takes priority but the markup used with the text is also taken into account. For example, a short phrase within heading tags has greater weight than the same phrase in simple paragraph tags.
Thread Starter
micdk
(@micdk)
Thanks, maybe you did answer my question but I was thinking about the code used for making the site… is there a difference if I use a html template or a wordpress theme (or something else)?
WordPress tags are actually functions that generate markup, so the final pages are no different to those created via an HTML template.
Have a look here vladimirklimsa.com I hope that I resolved some questions based on wordpress forum: remove date, remove name of page, remove comments are close
Thread Starter
micdk
(@micdk)
Ok, so I guess it doesn’t really matter if I use html template or wordpress. I hope someone can help me find a suitable template similar to the links I posted… I have searched for way too long and my project is stuck because of this.
Thanks for the links neurotranslator, not sure I can use the first one (is it spanish??) – the other ones are helpful.
