Free Technology Tutorials

WordPress 3.0, due to be out around mid-2010, will be getting a new default theme. So, if you love Kubrick, I’m sure you will still be able to use it and customize it, but it won’t be the default with the next release–at least not in its current form. If you would like to provide input on what the default theme should be, look like, features it should have, etc., then be sure to stop over at WP.org and post your 2 cents.

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/342819

Since I don’t participate in those forums any longer, I’ll just provide my thinking here.

In a nutshell, I don’t really care what the default theme is. The first thing most people do once they get WP installed is change to a custom theme anyway. So putting a lot of thought and effort into what is the “default” theme may be important to WP and its image or brand, but it’s not important to end users…in reality, the default theme is really nothing more than just one of over a thousand GPL themes anyone can install in just a few seconds through the theme installer in the WP admin.

Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not trying to throw a wet blanket on the theme initiative and I’m sure it’s important for WP to show that they are staying “up to date” and on the cutting edge. Simple fact is, WP is hands-down the best blog software (and fast becoming the best CMS software) available today–open source or proprietary. So, best of luck with the default theme initiative, but I’m far more interested in how WordPress MU will be incorporated into WordPress–which is also due to happen in 3.0.

I’ve edited the WordPress Pixel theme (1.9.7) a bit to change the colors. You can download the files below…I’ve only included the changed files, so you will need to download the original theme and then add files from the zip below. To make the changes, simply download and extract the zip, open the original theme and replace the footer.php, style.css, and screenshot.png files with the ones in the zip. Then copy the educhalk folder from the images folder in the zip and add it to the images folder in your theme. That’s it…refresh your browser and you should see the changes. You can preview the themes by using the theme switcher dropdown in the header of this site.

Pixel Red Downloaded: 173 times.

Pixel Blue Downloaded: 164 times.

Pixel Green Downloaded: 143 times.

Pixel Yellow Downloaded: 132 times.

The following videos demonstrate creating a custom WordPress page template. These videos cover the very basics as a starting point for non-techies…if you are already an expert, then there is nothing here for you . More detailed information about WordPress templates can be found in the docs on wordpress.org

How to Create a Custom Page Template in WordPress — Part 1 of 2

How to Create a Custom Page Template in WordPress — Part 2 of 2

Commenting is a great WordPress feature and is one of the key things that really makes a blog a blog. However, more and more people are using WordPress blogs for things other than blogging. Many people are now using WordPress very effectively as a content management system or as an easy-to-use web site. As a result, a lot of people are wanting to remove the commenting feature from their WordPress blog (web site). The following video tutorials provide step-by-step instructions on how to remove the commenting feature from the default WordPress Kubrick theme. The techniques I demonstrate in these videos can be applied to virtually any theme. Enjoy!

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

In older versions of the iNove theme, increasing the header height was difficult because the header, nav bar, and footer were all part of the same image. However, in iNove 1.4.5 the header is now a single image, so increasing the height is simple. See the following video for step-by-step directions.

I’ve customized some of the files in the iNove 1.4.5 theme to change the theme colors a bit. You can view the changed themes by clicking the dropdown in the header and selecting a theme. I have only included the changed files below, so you will need to start with the complete theme (download at NoEase) and then add the files below. I’ve created a short video to show you how to make the changes.

iNove Red Downloaded: 509 times.

iNove Blue Downloaded: 561 times.

iNove Green Downloaded: 409 times.

iNove Purple Downloaded: 380 times.

iNove Yellow Downloaded: 374 times.

If you have tried searching for themes in the WordPress database, you’ll know it can be a bit frustrating…not the best search features in the world. Fortunately, if you are searching for themes in the new themes upload directory in WordPress 2.8, you can simply leave the search field empty and browse all 850, or so, themes directly in your admin area. Not ideal, but it actually doesn’t take long to scan the 34±, pages of thumbnails to see if any capture your interest.

The following video is intended for the non-techie who wants to learn a little about editing a WordPress theme. I’ll post follow-up videos over the next few months covering several tips for editing WordPress themes. If you are an experienced coder, then this is not for you, but if you want to remove the comments link from your WordPress theme and have no idea how to go about it, then this, and future videos in this “non-techie” series may be for you.

The following video shows a couple of nice improvements coming out in WordPress 2.8. I think the new theme uploader is going to please a lot of WordPress users.

Disclaimer: This is not any type of official release or feature notice…I am not affiliated with WordPress…I’m just a WordPress user who has installed 2.8 and am showing you a couple of features I consider to be cool improvements.

In the following videos I demonstrate how to edit the default, Kubrick WordPress theme using Photoshop. The first video covers the various images used in Kubrick and shows where and how they are used…parts 2 and 3 demonstrate how to edit those images and make some basic css adjustments to accommodate your changes. I demonstrate how to:

1. Create a custom header
2. Customize the footer and background
3. Change the color of the background or add a repeating background graphic
4. Remove the blog title and tagline from displaying over the custom header
5. Make the header clickable

The Kubrick psd (Photoshop) file I use in the videos is available for download here:

Download Kubrick PSD Downloaded: 2137 times.

How to Edit the Kubrick WordPress Theme — Part 1 of 3

How to Edit the Kubrick WordPress Theme — Part 2 of 3

How to Edit the Kubrick WordPress Theme — Part 3 of 3