Do you mean visible from side to side in the browser rather than centered in the entire post? I’m sure there are some out there, though they are hard to find. I don’t know why people still insist on the narrow screen view in the middle since the majority of users are using wider screens with higher screen resolution now. It’s such a waste of space and too many people believe in the newspaper reading theory, that people won’t read anything wider than a two-inch column width or they will get bored. Silliness. There is research proving and disproving this all over….END OF RANT.
Okay, here are the places to check. I recommend the first two because you can 1) see the theme or 2) test drive it on the site you are viewing with styleswitcher. Awesome.
Organic Shadows v.3 features a styleswitcher so you can actually test drive the various themes on that site.
Blogging Pro features a whole category of WordPress Themes
The official” WordPress Theme List
And if you want to use a theme you like but one that doesn’t stretch across the screen, you can force it my changing the margins and padding in the style.css.
Just look for the main sections, usually labeled with a # like #page, #header, #content and so on, and change the margins to 0 or 10px or something. Experiment and see if you like it.
Be sure and fully REFRESH the screen while you are experimenting and checking in your browser. That will clear the memory and allow you to see the changes.
thanks for the links and tips. Many of the templates say that are compatible with WP 1.2. I guess I will find out if they work with 1.5 too.
You can try the one I recently finished. It expands and contracts with the visitors’ different browser resolutions and is for WP 1.5:
http://www.bbiverson.com/spirit/
Other feautures:
- Fluid 3-Column Layout
- Percentage-based widths
- Adjustable gutters
- Image backgrounds (all columns can be different)
- Any column longest, with or without borders
- Source ordering, the center column is coded first
- Header and Footer
Don’t trust that v1.2 themes (styles) will work with v1.5. If you are using 1.5, make sure the theme says it is for 1.5. There are major changes in this version and the styles changed big time, too.
Lorelle, the “newspaper reading theory” is still valid in another form. It’s not that people aren’t willing to read anything wide, but it sure enhances readability if lines aren’t too long (and yes, there’s research to back up that claim, and all that). Also, in the (book) printing industry it’s a given that optimal linelength is about 10 words…
Even so, for people that really want full-screen themes, I plan to develop one soon.
With all the sidebars and three column layouts, few sites feature totally across the screen layouts, but what I like is REAL ESTATE, developing your property rather than building a tiny house among 4000 acres. If you got the space, fill it.
Now, I’m an tree hugger, so this only applies to websites 😉
The narrower the width of the post, the more people struggle to “see” a decent layout in older browsers and computers. And with more people “getting old”, having larger type and easier to read layouts help “us”. I have tested my own original layout which is full width with a 160px wide left sidebar and I’m telling you, it is amazing how many different ways it can look across the spectrum of computers out there. The majority of the things I see still crowd things in the right wider column, so I battle with this in my designs all the time. Simple simple simple.
I say use the real estate you have…. but that’s my humble opinion. And I, for one and many, are looking forward to some “wider” screen themes real soon.
I agree Lorelle.
Out of all the themes displayed on my site I tend to use Arzel XT2, Placid and Mallow the most. And the reason? As you say, use what screenspace you have and don’t waste it. They are all wide themes.
The Placid theme has a nice feature too though I must admit, the ability to go narrow or wide – this would be nice in a lot of the themes.
Each to their own choice though. Just my 2p 🙂
My personal animus towards full screen designs is the complete absence of support for the CSS max width in IE. Still – my Fujiyama template is ems based and will expand in relation to the font size, and my Maximus template is full width regardless. Both will run off the Gemini classic index file for a fuss free install. All are included in the very fine Odyssey theme pack and are available for download at http://not-that-ugly.co.uk/?p=41 thanks to the fine efforts of NTU. The pack also includes some really nice styles / themes of hers. Why not give it a spin. ?
Thanks for that link. I tried the themes containe within and found some good ideas. However, a few problems I noticed:
With Arthurium, there’s no gutter below the footer using IE, whereas there is with Firefox. Also, the comment overflow bar shows by default using both IE versions, but not with Firefox. This is the case with all of the themes in the pack.
With Maximus, when I initially go to the weblog using IE 6.0, I don’t see the weblog title in the header. I have to go to another link and then back to the homepage to see it. I tried this several times and got the same results. I have no idea why this is happening. The header shows okay from the get-go using IE 5.0 (and Firefox), though the WordPress link in the footer is a different color , another small problem found with all of the themes contained in the pack.
It is difficult to have a theme look the same with all the different browsers and versions out there. I struggled getting mine to display just right, in all but IE 5.0. (I’m still working on that thorn in my paw.) The problem is even moreso with fluid layouts. What works with one browser can totally break the appearance in another browser.
I am also now officially a wide template fan. I have been looking for stuff like this for a while now!
Thanks for the information
Anyone knows how to turn off the narrow screen on Placid theme? I mean, i want to keep it always wide. Anyone?
Thanks, I would apreciate some help.
