Thanks for the advice! I'm using a self-hosted version.

There version for WordPress.org is not exactly the same as the WordPress.com version.
Read > http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

If you were to consider implementing a flexible-height featured images in this theme in the future, it would be hugely appreciated. For applications such as mine this would make the theme highly versatile. The ability to have flexible height headers is great, but right now I have to choose between flexible height and header images that match the pages (featured images). It would be great to have flexible height featured images and not be forced to choose between these two features.

Thanks a lot~~

I did look at http://starrymantle.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/fellowship-of-the-ring-gimli/ and the image doesn't look stretched to me right now, so perhaps you were able to solve this issue on your own.

amishhacker, how did you change the allowed height of featured images?

Thanks!

There is a difference between Custom Header Images and Featured Images. Although they happen to serve the same purpose in Twenty Eleven, they're actually two separate functions, which is why they behave differently.

Custom Header Images can be flexible height or width in Twenty Eleven. This is the image (or series of random images) that displays on every post by default unless a Featured Image is set for the post.

Featured Images are set per post, and these are a fixed width and height of 1000 x 288. There is no way to crop featured images to a flexible width/height the way you can for the custom header.

Sorry for any confusion; I hope this clears things up!

.category-danger-zone #branding a img {
	display: none;
}
.category-danger-zone #branding > a {
	background: url(YOUR_IMAGE_URL);
	display: block;
	width: 1000px;
	height: 288px;
	border: 1px solid red;
}

Replace YOUR_IMAGE_URL with the URL of an image you have uploaded to your media library.

To change out the header for a category page other than the "Danger Zone" category, change the ".category-danger-zone" parts of the selectors to ".category-YOUR-CATEGORY-NAME".

I think what is happening is that the featured image "widget" is automatically cropping the featured images to a height of 198px, and then the cropped images are being "stretched" to a height of 300px by the code I listed in my original post.

Hope this helps a little! I'd really appreciate any advice anyone is able to give.

I'm using Twenty Ten with a custom CSS layout. I changed the size of my header using this code in my CSS:

#header img {
height 300px;
}

That worked great. However, when I re-created and uploaded my posts' featured images to the same size, they don't display properly. The appeared stretched vertically.

My main page can be seen here: http://starrymantle.wordpress.com/

And an example of a post with the stretched featured image is here: http://starrymantle.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/fellowship-of-the-ring-gimli/

In the second link, if you look at the properties of the featured image, you can see that it is shown to be the proper size (940 x 300), but still appears stretched.

Could someone please help me out? It is much appreciated. Please let me know if there's any further info I can provide.

apologies for being forward and asking again, but any update on the CSS code for the custom header images?

Thanks~

First off, since the header image will be inserted into the CSS rather than through the theme script files, it will not resize with the browser window as the standard headers do on 2011.

Secondly, if you are looking to have a different image for each category you have to create targeted CSS for each and every category. If you add a category later, you have to create more CSS for that category.

This requires a bit of manipulation and I'm on my way out the door so it will be a while before I can give you the code.

I recently posted a question in another forum (support) asking about custom header images for different category pages.

(http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/custom-headers-for-different-categories?replies=8#post-966795)

The outcome from this post was that as category pages are created on the fly it is not possible to assign custom header images.

Today I came across this post (http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-remove-the-header-of-a-category-page-and-to-edit-soundcheck-hero-slider?replies=6) which suggests that it's at least possible to play with the header images for category pages.

So, at the risk of sounding like a skipping record and wasting everyone's time (apologies!), is there any way to display a custom header image for different category pages via CSS?

Thanks so much for your help~

My main concern is to pick a theme that will allow me to use it as "Just Jennifer" said on explained in the other thread: "On some WordPress.com themes you can set up a Custom Menu to highlight/display certain categories on their own pages and you can also run multiple WordPress.com sites, though that would mean buying not only the domain and mapping, but also buying mapping for subdomains."

Now I'm trying to figure out how I find those themes she referred to. Not sure if the theme summaries highlight that feature or not.

I presume I can always upgrade to a premium blog later? (I use a premium for a portfolio that I have under a different name.)

There's a persistent and unsubstantiated belief there is such a thing as a premium blog upgrade here. That's simply not true so let's clear that up.

Yes, all free hosted WordPress.com bloggers can purchase the available upgrades inlcuding premium themes. Each upgrade is specific to one blog, for the stated purposes only, and is only in effect for a single year, when it must be renewed. There's no there is no such thing as "premium blogs" and nothing else changes when you purchase an upgrade. You get what you buy and nothing more than what you buy.

Same Rules Apply – The upgrade does not enable the permission to use advertising, any kind of prohibited code, or upload additional themes or plugins.
With the upgrade, your blog will still be hosted here at WordPress.com,
which means that you will not have FTP access to your files and you
will still be required abide by our Terms of Service.

I think you may be referring to purchasing a Premium Theme in the future. http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/premium-themes/
Add more options for site customization, exclusive designs, and support direct from theme authors with a Premium Theme upgrade. Pricing for each
theme can be found under the Premium tab in the Appearance → Themes page of your dashboard. Premium themes are priced per blog, for the lifetime of that blog.

Here is how the image looks on this new blog. (No entries yet...will start posting tomorrow.) http://punditpie.wordpress.com/