A close look at the spring wildflower Marsh Marigold
After putting off updates to my WordPress theme for so long, I finally plowed through it today. While still a work in progress, I at least got it to a workable point while I try to figure out some legacy post issues in my way. An added bonus is my theme is now fully “responsive,” making the impending Google Search algorithm updates a little less threatening. Hope it looks OK for those of you reading this on your mobile device.
This new theme is capable of essentially handling an entire site redesign with a lot of slick features, but it will remain on the to-do list until I can find a good replacement for the features I have in my current image gallery.
I also hope to be smarter about the way I make my customizations. One reason I fell behind in making updates to my previous theme is that I created custom tweaks in various theme files. I hope to do all of that now with the use of child themes, so each time my core theme is updated by the creators, I won’t overwrite all of my changes.
Please let me know if you find something not working for you. A lot of my old sidebar content is now in a “flyout” sidebar – just click/tap the hamburger menu button in the upper right. I think it creates a simpler looking page, with still having access to a lot of extras.
Mark,
The new theme is looking really good!
I think Google’s emails about not being responsive is going to get a lot of people updating.
I decided to go with another theme even though my current theme had a responsive update. Figured it was a good time to make the change to something that has a lot more flexibility and ease of use.
Look forward to all the tweaks you add here.
Used to be that mobile devices promoted they could display full versions of websites without butchering them up, now it seems it is going the other way. A lot of times I really hate the mobile version of a site (like my credit card company) because a lot of the features just don’t work.
Thanks for the feedback Kevin.
The mobile part of themes kind of puts me off as well but I do have to say I enjoy not having to zoom in and scroll around to read a post.
It is frustrating that you get a themes because you like the layout and features and then the responsive part just lays it all out in a column.
I’m certainly guilty of leaving a site because I didn’t want to zoom and scroll around to read a long article.
Looks good on Chrome on my Nexus 10 tablet, Mark. I tend to stick to the standard WordPress themes for my blog, and about the most adventurous I get is trying a plugin or widget.
Thanks for letting me know Tom.
Love the shallow depth of field on the marigold. I’m looking on a mobile device and it looks great!!
Good to know and thanks Howard!
Love that macro of the flower. I’ve had my theme for years just not in a place to modify it or change it. I will check this out when I’m on my computer as I’m only seeing this with my phone.
Thanks Monte. Yeah, switching blog themes is probably not on one life life’s exciting moments list. 🙂
This theme looks very promising, Mark, and I’m sure you’ll quickly get it “finished and professional,” as you always do. I’ve worked with child themes before and for the most part it’s the smart way to go…especially if you think you might want to continue support and modifications over a extended period of time. I look forward to seeing how you continue to develop your new look!
I switched to a magazine style theme last October and have been very pleased with it as my blog undergoes changes to fit with our current mobile lifestyle. My most recent blog modification efforts focus around performance (caching and image compression) and security.
Hey Brooks. What??? doesn’t it look professional now? 🙂
I had no idea about child themes when I was messing around with my old theme, so I will do that from now on.
Could you let me know what you use for image compression? I do have many security items running now, and I think for the most part it has helped me combat the daily spam and hack events. But I did manage to almost lock myself out when I took my blog down for maintenance. The plugin I used for “maintenance time” didn’t recognize that my login page is now hidden – and when I checked in another browser, it wouldn’t even get me to the hidden page. Fortunately I never logged out of Safari!
Of course it’s now at a professional level for 99% of the photo blogs out there but not to the Mark Graf professional standards I’ve come to expect when visiting here. 😉
For image compression I’m using the “EWWW Image Optimizer” plugin. It has a batch mode which allowed optimizing/compressing all my previously uploaded images and then it compresses each new image upon upload. I’m satisfied with it at the moment.
Not so fun, I’ve locked myself out of my blog. Luckily I was able to access it through FTP, delete a plugin and modify the .htaccess file to get me back in. FYI, I’m currently using Wordfence for caching and security — again satisfied.
I really like the image you are using for a background. The body of the post is nice and clean making it easier to read and having the links etc as a flyout keeps the post uncluttered as well. Now you’ve got me thinking of a redesign.
Thanks for the feedback Steve. I had some notes lying around about my old theme that were dated 2010, so I figure it was about time! 🙂 I do like the clean look also.