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HELP, PLEASE!!!!

  1. subtitlinglab
    Member

    I am new to this and according to what I have seen, none of the themes are working like they are presented.

    You see a really nice theme, full of sections and very complex, and you choose it but all you receive is an almost blank page ALWAYS.

    Is it supposed to be like that? What´s the point in choosing a certain theme if when I do I CAN'T load my own contents and make it look like the theme I chose.

    Why not having ALL the original sections filled with sample text and photos and you can go freely deleting the sections you don´t want or changing the text and photos for the sections you want.

    I tried many themes (like 20 or so) and it´s impossible for me to actually make this work. I can´t understand why if I choose a theme looking in a certain way, I am given a blank page instead!!

    Please, can somebody help?

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

  2. feartheseeds
    Member

    Each them you choose will start blank. Then you fill it up by adding your own content -- writing, photos, widgets, videos...

    You should start here:

    http://learn.wordpress.com

  3. subtitlinglab
    Member

    OF course I want to add my own content. I am just talking about structure, design. I mean that when I choose a theme, it is because it has a certain design. That´s what I am choosing. If I wanted a blank page to add my own contents in a random way, I would choose the default theme and stop worrying.

    I mean that themes are never like they are presented when you see them and activate them. A clear example is Ideation and intent, a very complex theme. But if you activate it, you are left with nothing...

  4. auxclass
    Member

    Many people have content in their blog and want to see what that content looks like in the new theme - that is why it pulls your content - there is a demo page somewhere here that does have fake content in it - or used to be - the "previews" also used to have fake content - never seemed to look right either

  5. raincoaster
    Member

    You say you are picking complex, customizable themes and are upset that when you activate them they don't look like they should. You have to customize them. Most of the new themes have several different post formats, and some of them show nothing in the front page but Featured Posts. If you have no Featured Posts, you see nothing. Same with Featured Images.

    You have to work with those themes for a few hours to get them tweaked the way you want.

    Your alternative is to choose a simpler theme.

  6. subtitlinglab
    Member

    It's a crazy approach that WordPress has, in my opinion. It should be the other way round. You choose a them and you get exactly the theme, and you keep deleting parts of it until it fits your needs. No, the opposite way, when you have to create the supposed theme from scratch. Totally crazy...

    Why not offering a customizable template 100% like the real thing, with yadah, yadah text that you can change, and all the original sections and structure.

  7. raincoaster
    Member

    How good are you with code? That is how themes are truly edited in WordPress.ORG, the world you're talking about there.

    If you want to use a customizable theme at WordPress.com, you have to customize it. Only stands to reason.

  8. subtitlinglab
    Member

    LOL... I am not good with code. That´s why I want to use the same theme I am choosing and just changing the sample contents for my contents. That´s really logical to me...

    However, I tried to copy an HTML table and add stuff inside (text, videos and that) and it seemed to work rather well as the front page. Is that a really bad idea?

  9. raincoaster
    Member

    The short answer is yes. After all, you will have to update it by hand forever.

  10. subtitlinglab
    Member

    Updating will not be a big problem, I think. I was just worried about the content display, in case it would create problems with original the design.

    Because I read that you could not modify the HTML in the free WordPress.com. However, that´s exactly what I did in a certain way.

  11. timethief
    Member

    You cannot build or use your own custom theme built from scratch at WordPress.com.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/ftp-access/
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/adding-new-themes/

    The only themes we can use are those found here > Appearance > Themes
    This is a multiuser blogging platform. All blogs wearing the same theme are using the same underlying template and we cannot access the underlying files and edit templates or themes. http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/editing-themes/

    There are two free themes, Sandbox and Toolbox designed to allow maximum flexibility for CSS editing and creating new “skins”. Toolbox is more modern and includes a lot of support for CSS3 and HTML5, so it is really only limited by your skills and knowledge.

    If you have CSS editing experience the upgrade will allow you to stylize the appearance of themes you find here > Appearance > Themes, but will not allow you to change the functionality, by editing the underlying template. It does not allow you to remove footer links to the theme designer or to WordPress.com. Also note that CSS is theme specific, so you cannot use the CSS stylesheets from other themes with the themes at WordPress.COM. http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/custom-css/

    See also > WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: The Differences > http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

  12. subtitlinglab
    Member

    Thanks so much to all of you!

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