Changing themes. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Or maybe it is. Depends on your point of view, I suppose.
Anyway, after a brief flirtation with Oxygen and a dangerously long examination of several premium themes, I’ve decided to return to The Morning After. I may just chuck a lot of the CSS tweaking I’ve done in the past two years and start fresh with the original CSS. My changes had become such a mess of patches and fixes that I didn’t know what half of them were for anymore.
Particularly troublesome was font control. I’d gone from no font changes to a mix of some CSS changes of my own, changes using TypeKit, and changes using WordPress’s font customization options. Time to start over with a clean slate.
When I switched to Oxygen, I mostly overlooked its narrow measure for posts. I was thinking about the number and location of sidebars, the placement of widgets, the appearance of featured images, the multiple menus, the presentation of comments, the look of the header, the fonts, and that beautiful slider. But until I actually installed it and could experiment with it, I didn’t fully understand how the slider worked or that images appearing in it have to be a minimum of 750 pixels wide.
Of course, that’s the problem with any new theme. Even if you accept all the defaults of the new theme, there will be minor adjustments and probably some unforeseen problems or features you just don’t like.
But, hey, it kept me busy and off the street for a couple of days.
The reality I believe, after three years of blogging, is that what you have to say is the real point. I have been to plays where the stage was almost barren of any props or scenery, and felt that I had seen an incredibly powerful performance. Your voice is the most important factor in your success.
That’s what I always tell myself and my readers probably aren’t that concerned about what theme I use (other than those who obsess over such details as I do). My background includes a lot of art and graphic design as well as writing, and I just can’t help tweaking my presentation on occasion. It’s as much a part of the creative fun as the writing. Moreso when I don’t feel any pressing need to write about something.
and that’s a good thing after all )
Definitely!
Finding a new theme can be tough! It can turn into quite a project…
It has. I’ve gone back to the prior theme but have yet to vanquish the urge to change. I keep thinking it will pass if I can hold out long enough …
I’m not keen on Oxygen and I was so busy with my own theme issues and post moving I didn’t witness it on your blog. I love this theme ie. Opti. I don’t know how much of the appearance is a result of your CSS editing but I think It’s definitely a keeper because it showcases your content so well. The only thing I’m not keen on is the dead gray color in the header background. It makes me long for another color to appear there, a subtle one though.
Hey, welcome. You’re my first Opti visitor. Just started installing it last night. Still tons of tweaking and decision-making to come, including colors, fonts, etc. I couldn’t resist the way it organizes and displays multiple topics/categories. That’s something I’ve wanted and needed for a long time. Yes, that gray looks pretty formal and businesslike. Not quite what I’m shooting for. Stay tuned.
I like this one better. Clean. Neat. Should display well. Love the bar across the top. and your groupings at the bottom.(Can’t wait to see how you modify it.)
You are so much more ambitious – I’m either too lazy to change themes again, or don’t have enough time/patience to mess with it and write and read. Always amazed at your energy.
But as it kept you off those cold streets!
It’s pure laziness and boredom. Not feeling well enough to be getting out (horrible cold), or focused enough for video games or serious writing. Not bad enough to sleep all day. Just trying to sort of halfway engage the brain.