Theme customization for n00bs – for theme developers

SFGary
(@sfgary)

19 years, 6 months ago

There are people who just want to blog and there are those who are willing to spend time learning css, php etc to make and mod themes etc. I probably speak for a lot of bloggers of the first type that want to be able to change headers, sidebars, colors etc but don’t want to spend time learning css or any other language needed to make these changes.

If theme developers who provide the ability to mod their themes spent a little time to create an app that bloggers can use to change colors, header images, sidebar widgets etc etc it would grow the WP community even faster than it is growing now. An example I’ll point to is Cutline by Chris Pearson. In the version up at WP.com I was able to change the header image easily. In the hosted version, his theme is way more powerful in that I can change virtually every part of the theme but as I said before I don’t want to spend the time, if I can avoid it, to learn all these new languages.

I know its a labor of love for a lot of developers who put up their themes for free but I am sure some of us would be willing to pay for themes that can be modified w/o having to go thru the the learning process of a new language or spend time incessantly in help forums bugging experts.

This is just an idea so don’t shoot the messenger 🙂

Gary

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

whooami
(@whooami)

19 years, 6 months ago

someone needs to edit your tags. I really doubt the neccessity of a tag called “for?”

as far as your remarks:

There are people who just want to blog and there are those who are willing to spend time learning css, php etc to make and mod themes etc. I probably speak for a lot of bloggers of the first type that want to be able to change headers, sidebars, colors etc but don’t want to spend time learning css or any other language needed to make these changes.

In the simplest of terms, thats one of the reasons why wordpress.com exists .. those that dont want to learn, isnt it?

I honestly cannot imagine having any sort of web site and NOT wanting to learn the technology needed to maintain it, and maintain it well. Thats part of being a web master, after all, isnt it?

Suggesting that theme developers, in essence, peddle to the lowest common denominator (no disrespect intended) by providing more than a working theme, that validates, etc.. (meets all the otherwise normal requirements of a WP theme) is a little much to expect. They have already done enough work.

As for purchased themes, those are out there, and for those that want em.. fine. There are also plenty of theme creators that do paid work.

whooami
(@whooami)

19 years, 6 months ago

.. and besides, there would still be the same amount of “n00b” posts here, even if theme designers did ALL they could.

the plain fact is that nearly 50% of the questions asked here have already been answered elsewhere. People just dont want to read, and that has nothing to do with theming, and everything to do with how lazy most people are.

We dont need better themes, or better apps, we need better users.

edit: thank you to whomever edited his tags 🙂

vkaryl
(@vkaryl)

19 years, 6 months ago

Brava…. great posts, whoo….

obscure
(@obscure)

19 years, 6 months ago

>I honestly cannot imagine having any sort of web site and NOT wanting to learn the technology needed to maintain it, and maintain it well. Thats part of being a web master, after all, isnt it?’

Nope, that is part of being a geek 😉
Those of us who like to poke around in the code are the exceptions, not the rule. WP (and other blogging tools) were invented expressly for those who don’t want to have to maintain a site. Just as most journalists can’t operate a printing press and most drivers never look under the hood of their car, most bloggers want to blog, not build or maintain sites.

Having said that I do think that something that isn’t worth investing time and effort into can’t be all that important. Learning to change colours takes all of half an hour and if it isn’t worth that much effort then it probably isn’t worth doing.

Chris_K
(@handysolo)

19 years, 6 months ago

all that being said, this “issue” does seem to be what the Canvas lads are taking on. Worth a look?
http://www.freshpursuits.com/canvas/

Thread Starter SFGary
(@sfgary)

19 years, 6 months ago

Thanks Handysolo for the link, I will definitely make use of their efforts. Also thanks to obscure for saying what I wanted to say.

To Whooami: I do respect your opinion but I still can’t buy into it. I spent some time this weekend digesting your comment and I still cannot shake my feeling that blogging is a form of self expression on the web. WP, Blogger, themes, widgets etc are all tools to enable people to express themselves well. However content is still the fundamental reason why we blog. Speaking for myself I go to other blogs for content and move on within seconds if there’s nothing worth reading. Good looking blogs are a plus but a plain page such as this forum page is fine by me.

I still plan to continue using WP and the available technology if I can learn how to use it and if I run into trouble I will have to depend on you experts that know way more about it than I do. However it would be a whole lot more productive for me if I don’t have to open the hood and figure out how things work.

whooami
(@whooami)

19 years, 6 months ago

oke, I can buy all that. Do I believe that it’s neccessarily the best thing? No.

This is admittedly a tad off-topic from just themes, and I’ve said it before, but people (in general) that just want to toss up an application like wordpress and blog, while they might not realize this, are _dangerous_.

The dynamic nature of php neccessitates having an active, involved web master behind the site. Case in point, the still thousands of un-upgraded blogs out there running versions with well known security issues.

That point has little to do with coding, but someone who cannot be “bothered” to upgrade surely wont be looking under the hood much.

And thats one other reason why sites like blogspot and wordpress.com exist and flourish — having someone take care of the tasks that might seem mundane to some, but make the Internet a safer place for ALL of us.

Thats what I really mean when I say:

I honestly cannot imagine having any sort of web site and NOT wanting to learn the technology needed to maintain it, and maintain it well. Thats part of being a web master, after all, isnt it?

Thats not geeky, thats being a good neighbor 🙂

Disclaimer: I am somewhat of an elitist, and I wont apologize for believing that (generally speaking) some indviduals should not have web sites, especially web sites that use dynamic languages like php or perl.

Just like some people should not drive. If you cannot keep your tires inflated to the reccomended pressure, you dont need a car, and honestly I dont want you on the freeway in the lane next to me.