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so what do you think of the new themes?

  1. sulz
    Member

    * Ambiru — i love the header (green and turquoise i like), the look is very very clean until you get to the bottom whr the categories and archives look like it doesn't belong thr. and no place to put widgets =( but if thr is it wouldn't look as clean as it does now. allows comments on pages which i like, but pictures run off the edge if one doesn't change the size.

    * Emire — it has an uncluttered look but pictures run off the edge too unless altered (unlike regulus which just cuts it off - much better for newbies like moi). very user-friendly - widgets-able and large enough fonts (i'm not sure if one can change the font i have not tried it - regulus theme overrides all font changes except colour).

    * Flower Power — the red is a bit too overpowering for me, and for some reason instead of being centred, the blog is aligned to the left (am using firefox). sidebar too skinny and it doesn't link to my pages. otherwise it's an ok feminine theme.

    * Supposedly Clean — as it's named for, this theme has a clean look too. pictures still run off but it links to my pages at the sidebar. has some theme options, like aligning of sidebar (left or right?) and header options (red, blue or green?). nah, can't beat regulus in the header dept. but it's good.

    * Solipsus — i really like this one but it doesn't allow comments in pages, neither does it link to them and pictures run off. =( otherwise it's perfect.

    what i would like - enable comments on pages, override picture size, customisable headers!

  2. generaldisarray
    Member

    Ambiru is awesome, but it needs two changes badly: (1) widgetization and (2) unnumbered lists need a bullet character.

    The rest are all very good, although they aren't really to my tastes.

  3. taraden
    Member

    I am completely in love with Emire....love the look the feel, but I am having issues with some of the features. Mainly the fact that certain things do not show up for older posts on the main page, but things that show up for "the current post" for example...comments..and categories. It is such a sexy theme though....I totally want to switch from Regulus, but for now...I think I will wait, see if these features are added...or heck..maybe I will just cave and switch, ARG! Decisions...decisions...

    Perplexed :?

  4. sulz
    Member

    taraden: i was exactly likr you when i first saw solipsus! i even did change but the look was somewhat distorted by the picture-running-over-edge (and no links to pages) so i switched back to regulus. i'm going to figure out soon how to solve that pic problem (help, anyone?) and i will switch asap.

    you should just switch, we only live once =P

  5. cornell
    Member

    Meh!

    I haven't found a theme yet that suits my needs perfectly.

    There are issues or quirks with every theme that puts me off using them.

    Not being able to edit the themes, I just have to deal with it. I can't even remember what I'm using on my wp.com blog right now.

  6. wank
    Member

    Phu's themes are beautifully executed but they bore me rigid. They're very impersonal, which is what makes them so popular, but just too bland for me.

    I just gave Supposedly Clean a test run -- I'm afraid I don't like this at all. I don't like the right-aligned text in the sidebar, or the fact that it's bold, or the stupid ticky-box-style pseudobullets. The sub-Squidfingers flowery background seems completely disconnected from the rest of the design, ditto the comments styling. It doesn't feel clean to me, it feels all over the place. I have absolutely no idea why this was chosen when there are so many better themes around.

    Solipsus is nice enough but Beccary still does this sort of thing better (I don't think she'd have chosen blue links, for example). I also think we have enough Beccary-style stuff already and would have preferred to see one of Gail Dela Cruz's competition themes instead.

    Flower Power is squished. I don't mind narrow templates per se, but if you're going to do this you need to center them and make the font smaller. Again, I don't see why this makes the cut when he could have gone for Rounded v2 or Isla, but then I think Matt's sense of what girls want from a template is a bit skewed.

  7. sulz
    Member

    wank: does matt make the final decision on what goes in theme selection? you're right about that, even i don't fancy flower power to the others less feminine. not that i'm looking for a feminine theme. i'd much prefer a theme like regulus, simple uncluttered look with customised header. the more customisation the better.

  8. drmike
    Member

    I haven't found a theme yet that suits my needs perfectly.

    There are issues or quirks with every theme that puts me off using them.

    You're preaching to the choir. Heck, I can edit mine off site and I still don't like them. :)

    It has been mentioned in the past that most of the themes around here lack feminine designs.

  9. timethief
    Member

    Perfect Template Where Are You?
    Change is the only ‘constant’ in the universe. As time passes who we are ‘within’ and how we look upon everything ‘without’ changes. Consequently, our blog content changes too. Seeking the perfect blog template is like chasing a rainbow. The important thing about chasing rainbows is that the transparent colours arching over our lives will come and will go: it's the content that will remain.
    More?
    Well, you'll be able to read the rest two hours from now at http://bloggersblurt.wordpress.com[she said grinning because finding this post on the forum kicked started her blogging today].;)

  10. knoizki
    Member

    I would hope they make more themes like the Blix0.9.1. It's pretty functional from widgets sidebars, clean archives categories & "email me" page. One thing tho is that the header cannot be cuztomized like the Regulus. But so far, IMO, Blix is yet the best Theme.

  11. thechroniclesofmunchkinland
    Member

    I don't understand why, in the new themes (or now all themes?) clicking on a category under a post (filed under: personal) takes you to all wordpress posts filed under personal.

  12. taraden
    Member

    @ sulz

    Hee Hee....you are probably right, I should just switch!

  13. timethief
    Member

    Go for it - test drive a new template today. :)

  14. drmike
    Member

    Chronicles, it's been that way for months now. See here and here. The category links within your sidebar stay within your blog.

  15. options
    Member

    hello Jenna (thechroniclesofmunchkinland),

    this is a unique, unmatched .com 'Global Tags' feature, so to speak.

    it makes possible an easy access to "a zeitgeist of what’s popular in the last 48 hours" in the 'Personal' category.

    please note, this cited quotation is from a post in the official 'wp.com news blog' which has been filed under: 'WordPress.com, Introduction, Tags, Categories, Community' categories.

    now a little fun: just try to find any other related posts in this blog filed into the same categories... (try to click sidebar categories links too)

    ADD:
    hey, Mike, intended to post message above an hour ago but been interrupted by urgent phone call: see most of my sidebar category links are not even shown on the sidebar at all.

    btw, found several related to this issue tickets in the trac assigned no 'nobody'. i.e. as far as I can get it, this bug aint going to be fixed.

  16. thechroniclesofmunchkinland
    Member

    Not a fan of this. I didn't like displaying all of my categories because I have too many and I like my layout to be nice and tidy. Perhaps if WP made the option to make categories pull down like the plugin, that would work. But now I have to display my categories in order for people to find my writings on the same topic.

    That's just straight up annoying.

  17. wank
    Member

    Yeah, I've complained about this bug on multiple occasions but nobody cares :(

  18. podz
    Member

    What's the bug?
    Not having a drop-down or clicking on a category link in your own blog only shows the category posts of your blog?
    From reading this thread I'm not clear in what exactly the problem is.

  19. wank
    Member

    Basically, post category links take you to a different place to sidebar category links, without any title attributes or differences in link text to tell you that this is the case. When you click on the category links on a post, it takes you out of your blog and onto the global wordpress.com page for that tag. Sidebar links still work normally; I've had to change my sidebar header to 'Local tags' to make the difference clear.

    This is confusing, violates accessibility guidelines, and all feedback on it (before your time, Podz, not blaming you) has been ignored.

  20. podz
    Member

    Ah ... makes sense.

    If the category under the post links to your posts in the same category, and the sidebar categories also link to the posts in your category then how might you - if you want - also go to find other people using that category / tag / call-it-what-you-want ?

    What you say is logical but if that change were to be made then people who like to see the Global tags might be annoyed if that is not available from their blog. The global tags are a good way of finding new blogs here.

    How can this please all of the people all of the time? Is there a workable solution for this? Are many people annoyed by this? - that is not a challenge for a pile of feedbacks :)

  21. bloggenbent
    Member

    Actually, Beccary's Thirteen-theme fits the purpose of my blog perfectly. It's even got the right 'logo' baked in. My blog is a political blog from a centrist perspective (which means nothing to you americans! ;) ) but it was like Beccary made the theme with my purpose in mind. :)
    Bloggen Bent

  22. drmike
    Member

    Podz, I think maybe using a label something like "WordPress.com Tags:" would be helpful for those tags within the posts. Much like how most people do Technorati tags. (I think I've suggested that in the past as well. :whistle: :)

    When this feature rolled out, there was a bit of an outcry here in the forums over it.

    Options, do you have the "Show hierarchy" option checked with the widget?

  23. wank
    Member

    Podz: there's a biggish thread on the global tags mess here, in which options suggests the eminently workable solution of editing templates-function-category.php. Change the output of the_category from 'view all posts in [categoryname]' to 'view all posts in [categoryname] ON WORDPRESS.COM' in the link titles (caps optional ;) ) and I would be perfectly happy.

    (In an ideal world there'd be some kind of labelling next to the tags as well, but as this would involve tweaking individual themes that's obviously out of the question.)

    It's not that it can't be done, or that it's not easy to do, or even that it would take longer than thirty seconds to do, it's that Matt refuses to do it.

  24. options
    Member

    uhm, I am sure just simply adding an apropriate 'title' to Global Tags (GT) is definitely not enough (though now GT lacks even this trivia), cause this feature is being complicated with a Subcategory bug (they ain't displayed on the sidebar) which completely breaks a navigation on my (and, it appears not only mine) wordpres.com blog and make it nearly unusable. [let alone all web/usability/design standards (which wp for some reasons is so proud about) and a common sense, or rather total lack thereof]

    my actual proposition to remedy this issue was also very simple indeed: list an appropriate GT for each category in the square brakets labeling it by the capital 'W' like this:

    Filed under: LocalCategory [W], AnotherLocalCategory [W]
    ------------

    where a 'LocalCategory' is link to local blog's category, whereas 'W' is a link to .com's GT which have the same name as a 'LocalCategory' (w/ an appropriate 'title' attrib.), and this absobloodylutely simple thing is all I really want and beg during for almost two months.

    I posted this propostion in the forums thread which wank mentioned above as well as on my blog in the http://options.wordpress.com/2006/04/11/comments-on-global-tags-are-mess/ article. both has been read by the PTB, funny no replies or any actions yet though.

  25. hatbox
    Member

    <i>It has been mentioned in the past that most of the themes around here lack feminine designs.</i>

    Those "feminine" ones are a bit over-the-top...then again, it might get some of the middle-schoolers off MySpace and actually writing...

    My input on the new themes:

    Ambiru - beautiful header. I also usually like a fairly narrow content space, but ended up finding this one too narrow when I tried it; also, the font in the pages was too small, 9pt or so. Also, it lacked a search box.

    Emire - clean, but a little corporate.

    Supposedly Clean - no customization for the sidebar content, and the "The author does not say much about himself" bit basically forces the user to put a bio in the front page, which not all of us want to do.

    Solipsus - pretty, but the buttons in the sidebar detracted from the look.

    What I ended up going with: Regulus, because it was the most customizable and the only layout that allowed a custom masthead. It would be nice if more layouts supported that.

  26. timethief
    Member

    Ditto.

  27. drmike
    Member

    Hopefully someday more theme authors will write in that feature. :)

  28. sulz
    Member

    regulus is the best theme for anyone because of the ability to choose one's header. i think when wp adds more themes, they should look for a theme's customisation ability.

  29. timethief
    Member

    Yes suz I agree with what you say about customization ability. It's key.
    On Regulus which I'm using too the four changes I would make it are. (1) Use the whole space. [What is it with these skinny mini narrow blogs? If they were models they would be starving to death. Is there a "geeky" reason they all have to be so narrow? If not could we please have the full page model like Andreas 09. (2) Put sidebars on one side. (3) Put a sideblog on the other. (4) PLEASE [she said in a begging tone] replace the horrid old lady lavendar coloured font and create "contrast" so the links pop-out to the eye rather than blending into blahness.

    Colour is extremely important to me. I'm a warm colour person (gold, rust, russet red, tomato red) - cool greens, mauves, lavendars, grays and insipid blues remind me of dental and doctor's offices, laboratories, institutional or corporate hallways - *GAG* me :P {how does one use an emoticon to depict vomitting?] Anyway the basics of working with colour and contrast as well as design are well known to artists yet in the blogosphere they seem to be unknown. Why is that?

    I very much appreciated Joen's visit to the forum. Unfortunately I did not even notice his posting until the following day. But it was good to have a designer here explaining what was already included in Fauna 5 [not that options didn't do a good job]. The fact that the header and background colours on Fauna 5 can be changed was important to me. There is the capacity for "dailies" and "mini" sideblog posts which also attracted me to the theme. The header and the background colours did not but VOILA they can be changed.Now that's cool.

  30. sdrane
    Member

    I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress.com recently and started with the Contempt theme. It rapidly began to seem too professional for a fledgeling book blog, so I looked for a change. Currently I'm using Regulus because it had a header image which fits my blog's name (Mirkwood) quite well, though I had to sloppily edit out the huge white butterfly on the right.

    I have an issue with the way the links look on the blog, but it isn't too bad since I can force them to have a particular color by editing the html. I fear that people new to the Internet wouldn't know that a word or phrase is clickable ;).

    I just hope I don't get it into my head to change the theme again, since it is a *hugely* time-consuming OCD-magnet.

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