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1. kiehas
   Member
   May 19, 2011, 1:20 AM

   hi there!

   I try to find the best free theme for my travel/photography blog.
   what I would like to have are the following things on the main page:

   1.) excerpts of the posts
   2.) thumbnail next to the excerpts
   3.) a list of the excerpts and thumbnails
   3.) if possible customized background picture
   4.) if possible customized header picture
   5.) not too overloaded and narrow columns

   the first four points work pretty well with the morning after theme I use now.
   but the problem is that it is three column, so the main column, the list of excerpt posts on the main page, gets pretty squeezed.

   Is there a way to make the morning after theme two column? Or can I enhance the width of the main column? Or can I use the wasted space left and right to the central white area? i don't have a CSS upgrade ;)

   the gardena theme uses its space pretty well, but I don't see a possibility to make a custom background or header pciture. I also played around with the journalist or twenty ten.

   thanks a lot!

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

2. raincoaster
   Member
   May 19, 2011, 1:34 AM

   1) you can do this with any theme if you use the More tag
   2) ditto if you use the Custom Excerpt function
   3) wouldn't that just be a list of your posts? I'm not sure what you mean.
   3b) very few themes have that, unless you learn CSS and buy the custom CSS upgrade
   4) most themes have a custom header, but they're not that popular with photoblogs because they compete with the central image
   5) Stay away from Fjord and you should be okay.

   You don't need to use all the columns a theme presents. Just don't put widgets in those sidebars. You cannot use the "wasted space" but with the CSS upgrade you could change the width of the central column.

3. kiehas
   Member
   May 19, 2011, 1:57 AM

   thanks for the reply!

   regarding the columns/sidebar/widgets: I put "calendar" and "recent posts" into the primary sidebar.
   the secondary sidebar is empty. under appearance > widgets it only reads "The widget area only appears on the home page.", there are no widgets in there.

   nevertheless, I get a secondary sidebar showing "recent posts" (so they appear double (in the primary sidebar where I put them and also in the secondary sidebar, where I did NOT put them) as you see when you click on my username) and also "pages".

   how can I deactivate them?

4. happypoppeye
   Member
   May 20, 2011, 7:40 PM

   I would look around at other photo/travel blogs and see what you like. There is a lot of custimizable options on most themes...

5. timethief
   Member
   May 20, 2011, 8:28 PM

   @kiehas
   Did you see this reply in your other thread? http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/three-column-two-column?replies=2#post-607188

   Regarding locating other themes you can use the Themes Showcase. it has search filters for specific features. http://theme.wordpress.com/

   You can also use the wordpress.com global tag pages to locate other photography blogs and see which themes they use. http://wordpress.com/tags/photography

6. justjennifer
   Member
   May 20, 2011, 8:31 PM

   If you want the sidebar empty of widgets, just add a blank text widget.

7. timethief
   Member
   May 20, 2011, 8:33 PM

   Yes indeed and that's what TSP told him in the other thread I linked to above. http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/three-column-two-column?replies=2#post-607188

8. justjennifer
   Member
   May 20, 2011, 8:37 PM

   Thanks for pointing that out tt. Have a good evening...

9. timethief
   Member
   May 20, 2011, 8:42 PM

   You too. :)

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