Sidebars
A custom Images sidebar has been built into Ideation & Intent. This sidebar will display images from the latest 10 posts that have image attachments. Up to 8 images will be displayed for each post and each image links directly to the post it is attached to. http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/ideation-and-intent/

The theme has 3 columns, the first being the post, the second being the featured photos, and the third being the widgets. In the blog that we're using, there is no photo column. Also, the featured or most recent post doesn't appear as in the example of the theme. In the example, there's the photo as well as the post. In our blog, there's the avatar and then just the first line of the post.

I'm trying to figure out if it's because it needs more photos or the 3 column layout only is a result of paying for customization or what? Any help is appreciated!

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions/comments.

Of course! You always have good ones too. :) I love seeing you in the forums.

@designsimply- so what you're saying is that even the free Typekit trial tier of 2 fonts on a single website, limited to the 200 or so fonts in the trial tier, is not accessible to those with the Custom Design Upgrade?

No. But it could be removed in the future.

I agree that too much choice is often overwhelming for the majority of users, but sad to know that others will be essentially penalized.

I wouldn't consider it a penalty personally, but I understand why you might think of less options that way. :-/

Maybe we need a course on basic design principles like, or as a part of, learn.wordpress.com? :)

Actually, a big part of the Custom Design upgrade tries to give you the best possible options in the right way to avoid average people without design backgrounds needing a class on design principles to use the tools. Predefined color palettes with a set of colors that work well together is a comparable example.

I agree that too much choice is often overwhelming for the majority of users, but sad to know that others will be essentially penalized.

Maybe we need a course on basic design principles like, or as a part of, learn.wordpress.com? :)

I would like to change the size of the side panel if that is possible though?

Indeed. Here is an example to get you started:

#main {
	width: 64.59%;
}

#tertiary {
	width: 33.775%;
}

To get that set of rules, I right clicked the main content area, selected the "Inspect Element" option and looked at the selectors the Yoko theme is using in the CSS panel on the right. Yoko uses #main and #tertiary for the left content area and right sidebar. I decreased the width for #main by 10% and increased the width for #tertiary by 10%.

You should change the percentages until you find numbers that work the best for you.

Aside: @justjennifer, you are correct about Typekit advanced fonts mode, but there is an extra charge and there's not a way to add fonts without paying an additional fee (probably what amightywp mean). Also, note that advanced font mode will probably be phased out in the future in favor of a different/better selection of custom fonts and a simplified interface with less options overall (because we've found that too many options often results in a poor experience and for the majority of users and we're always working to improve that kind of thing).

wp - http://lettersfromchangning.wordpress.com/

If you need information about how to use Ideation & Intent (or any theme, in fact), you can find it on the theme's Showcase page http://theme.wordpress.com/

CSS is theme specific. If you have custom CSS and later change themes, you need to delete whatever CSS you have in the Editor, otherwise, you’ll get undesired results.

To ‘reset’ a theme, you need to delete the CSS in the Editor, make sure the “add to existing CSS” radio button is checked, then save. Things should go back to normal.

When you alter a theme’s stylesheet, you only need to put in the Editor the modification/additions to the CSS, not the entire thing.

I actually did try with a typekit but never made it work for some reason...

Unfortunately you can only use a font which is in the list which is included in your Custom Design upgrade. @amightwp-I may have misunderstood you, but when using the Advanced Mode for Custom Fonts, is it not possible to use additional fonts in a kit from Typekit?
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/custom-fonts/#advanced-mode

Thanks

Unfortunately you can only use a font which is in the list which is included in your Custom Design upgrade. You also cannot upload a theme which has been purchased elsewhere on to WordPress.com.

I apologize for this inconvenience!

You do not need to load the design tools unless you have the Custom Design upgrade, which it appear that you have not purchased. All of the very same functions can be accessed from your dashboard.
Appearance > Header
Appearance > Background
Appearance > Theme Options (applicable only to some themes)
Settings > Reading (set a static front page)
Site Title and Tagline > Settings > General

However, no changes you try out aside from those such as Custom Background, Custom Header and Theme Options which are stated on the theme description pages for each theme will be visible to visitors unless you purchase an annually renewable custom design upgrade and do the required CSS editing.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/editing-css/
When using the theme customizer please be sure you are using a browser and version of it found here http://browsehappy.com and you have enabled third party cookies. http://en.support.wordpress.com/third-party-cookies/

Have you purchased the cusom design upgrade?

I'm in the process of choosing a theme for my new blog, and everything was working fine. At some point, the header & the background color option was disabled. I checked "help" and the forums, did everything suggested & it's still not working. Not sure what happened or what I did. I did clear my cache & cookies, reopened the browser, & restarted the comp. No luck. Any suggestions?

Thank you for that, I did try the site with Pinboard but wasn't too happy with the way it looked so I'm back to I&Intent. I did apply what you wrote but can't get the header image the right size now so have removed it altogether till i manage. Also can I use a font for the header that isn't in the list already? Or is there a way to import a template that I have bought from another site, i.e templatemonster etc?

Kind regards
Diana

The showcase page about Ideation and Intent doesn't mention any way to edit or remove the images sidebar, and I don't see any theme options for that theme, so I do think you'd need to use CSS to hide it.
http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/ideation-and-intent/

To hide the images sidebar in the Ideation and Intent theme, add the following to your WordPress.com blog's Appearance → Themes → Customize → CSS panel:

#sidebar-gallery {
     display: none;
}
.column-3 .site {
     width: 853px;
}

Note that I also included a rule to adjust the overall width of the content container since hiding the images sidebar left a gap on the right.

how can I get the photo side bar to display just one static image? Or if that's not possible, how can I remove the photo sidebar altogether?

Thank you