I’ve gotten the itch to “redecorate” this blog, so be warned that things here may appear a bit unstable for a while.
Much as I like this new theme, called “Elegant Grunge,” it has some shortcomings. If I can’t tweak them to my liking, or learn to live with them, I’ll probably be moving on to something else. Sorry to be a tease, but I hadn’t realized this before I changed.
For example, the grunge behind all the text is a fixed bit of art. The main column for posts cannot be made wider, even if I delete one of the sidebars. As it is, it’s going to be too narrow for some of my older posts and images.
The other thing I’ve noticed is that links don’t show up as obvious links. They aren’t underlined or a different color. If you mouse over a link, your cursor will change, but links aren’t obvious otherwise. I think I can fix this eventually, but maybe not.
Anyway, you’ve been warned.
I know how you feel. I’ve been feeling the itch myself. The last change was SUCH a chore. I do like your Sitemap page. I may try something like that myself if I can figure out how.
Search through WP info for “shortcodes” and they explain how to set the parameters. I used [archives limit=30], [archives type=monthly format=option showcount=true], and [archives format=option]. The categories list at the end does not update automatically like the shortcodes; it’s just a copy/paste of my drop-down categories list.
I’d wondered about the categories list. I remember complaining (on the forums) about the inability to do archives by categories or tag when they first announced the shortcode. Being able to produce archives by tag would save me from having to manually update the appropriate contents page after each new post!
One of the old themes (“Misty Look” or “Connections,” I think) offers a nice archive page template that updates automatically. It’s a shame all themes don’t have it.