WordPress.com

1. jdanforthappell
   Member
   Jul 25, 2011, 10:06 PM

   Hi guys,

   So I'm looking to make an online portfolio site with for my marketing copywriting. I've signed up for wordpress.com and have a theme I found, Portfolio Press, that'd I like to use.

   Now I know that the free WordPress.com site won't let you install a theme that isn't in their list of 120 free themes or whatever.

   What steps do I have to take in order to install this theme? I'm not very web-savvy. If I pay to have a custom domain from Go-daddy.com to point to my WordPress.com site and used WordPress.com to host my files, what steps should I take to be able to use this custom theme that I've found?

   I've tried looking into this on my own but I'm hopeless... It's all so confusing, every new direction brings me further and further into areas that I don't understand.

   Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

   The blog I need help with is jdanforthappell.wordpress.com.

2. auxclass
   Member
   Jul 25, 2011, 10:16 PM

   Nothing short of VIP hosting (which starts at $ 2,500 a month I think) will allow you to use your custom Theme on WordPress.COM. All getting a domain name will do is let you change the URL of your blog (my site has my own name and mapped here) - the restrictions are a security issue.

   Many of the Themes here can be changed with just checking some boxes, then there is the CSS option to change the look of a Theme but there is not much support for the CSS so you should be a bit familiar with it.

   My advice is to look at the Themes,there are some guides on features but I forget them at the moment.

   What exactly do you want the Theme to look like?

   For more on the difference: http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

3. jdanforthappell
   Member
   Jul 25, 2011, 10:20 PM

   Wow. Really? $2500 a month? That's... steep.

   I wanted it to look this:

   http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/portfolio-press

   Pictures that when clicked on lead to individual pages with more info. I need a portfolio for my copywriting work. But I want it to be image-centric.

4. thesacredpath
   Staff
   Jul 25, 2011, 10:25 PM

   You would have to self-host a site at a third-party hosting service such as godaddy, bluehost, etc., in order to be able to upload themes you find on the internet. Figure an average cost of $10 to $25 per month all things considered.

   You also then have the added responsibility of doing all installations, all upgrades, all backups and all troubleshooting. If something goes wrong, you have to fix it.

5. auxclass
   Member
   Jul 25, 2011, 10:43 PM

   Themes are not my strong point but that Theme looks a bit familiar - look at all the Themes, I think there are some that have a summery sort of like that front Page where you see more than one Post in some sort of grid.

   All Themes can have a click on an image and go to a Post or Page or bigger picture.

   With a bit of luck one of the others will pitch in with a Theme sugestion.

6. mmadfan
   Member
   Jul 26, 2011, 12:30 AM

   What about Twenty-Eleven? Do people here who've worked with that think it could be customized to be similar? It does have a number of different post formats & looks very customizable.

   Chateau, the new theme with a "grid" of posts after the most recent ones on the main page, might also be a possibility. I know from reading timethief's posts that you can put an image in a custom excerpt so that it shows in the excerpted portion of the post. That's a very elegant theme that could look very professional and I think could work well for a portfolio.

   You might want to look at the "magazine" style themes, since they are often geared toward blogs with a lot of images.

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