Even with all the themes out there in the market, we are never satisfied. Any theme we download is never complete although when we choose it, we make sure it is as close to what we want as possible.

Once we have downloaded it and put it into our WordPress, its time to look at it to see how we can make if fit our needs.

There are many and varied opportunities to change it by using various plug-ins and widgets to choose from.

The first thing we tackled after the set up, was the RSS feed as we wanted an accurate count.There were two options to choose from to alter the default, Feedburnercount and Feed count 12.

I chose the later as it looked and was easy to install. Once uploaded, there were several different options I could choose from, I went into the publicize area and made sure I checked the awareness API service. I chose where I wanted to put it, and I was ready. The theme I was using was an older one and sometimes the option I chose doesn’t work in that case you will need to use Feedburnercount.

If you wish to show how many subscribers you have you can do so by using the following bit of code.

Twitter

Do you want to display how many twitter followers you have? Rather than using the twittercountlet there is a plug-in you can use, which is called Tcounter. This uses the twitter API so make sure you have it. After extracting the file from the download, place it in the “/wp-content/plugins/” directory. After that it’s just a case of placing it where you want it viewed.

There are different ways of doing this, one of which is outlined on Sitesketch.

Sidebar

By using the plug-in Sidebartabs you can organize it as you want it to appear. To make it blend better with your theme you can then go to the relevant page on the WordPress plug-in directory and follow the instructions to enable you to alter the styles.

If you feel very adventurous, you can follow the instructions on WP Pro and build your own design of the sidebar. Be patient with yourself as it can be a learning curve.

The third option is to use a jQuery. This is fast and it looks good. You will find the full tutorial on the page as it shows you how to create the jQuery option.

Comments Area

Improve your comments area to make people want to interact with you. No extra plug-in is necessary with the up to date WordPress downloads. All you have to do is enable threaded comments. You also have the option of changing items around to suit the way you want to view it and CD Harrison has written an article explaining how to do this. As he has covered it so well I will just point you in the direction of his article.

You have now made a vast improvement to your overall theme, and made it more of your own.

We are once again are with a wordpress.org theme. I love the way these guys and gals roll out themes with such amazing ease. The whole wordpress.org ability to have so many people willing to share on such a scale is a tribute to them and the way they handle things. The themes, the widget, and the plug-ins that are so willingly worked on and offered to the community as a community service is amazing.

The theme that we have been offered here by WP Shower is called Portfolium.  It is based on a grid design of 6 by 5 which gives you a portfolio of 30 images which show up on the home page.

This is a highly flexible theme which is of use to many photographers, artists, and/or architects who can use it for displaying their work.

There is a demo video on their website on how to install and set it up correctly but unfortunately it was a little like a speeded up Charlie Chaplin movie. It was far to fast to be of any use. It would be better to use stills and make it into a slide show with a stop start mechanism. It was a pity that that was spoilt but at the same time you need to remember it must be able to be seen by all including those that can not see. If there had been sound to go with it, it would have covered that side of the law.

The theme itself works very well with a good header sporting a drop down menu as well as all the necessary links and static pages.

Clicking on the photos we are confronted with a blank red color which I consider a mistake as there are many people who are convinced that the color red gives them seizures especially on the TV or on the computer.
Whether it does or it doesn’t isn’t really the question, it’s a matter of being compliant with the disability laws of many countries.

You are given the options underneath to move on as a slide show which is an excellent feature that has been built in.

Below this you will find a cluster of thumbprints of photos for you to click on to get taken to other parts of the theme.

The home page doesn’t call itself the home page but is in fact the name of the theme which I presume you would have changed to the name of your site.
Your about section appears as a Bio. This is where you can place your personal info and the information about your photographic portfolio or studio.

There is a huge blog area as you can put in up to 30 different areas with photographs.

All in all this is a very good way of displaying a photographic or any other type of portfolio.

You can incorporate your Twitter and your Face book as well as get people to join your RSS feed.

The area for your Contact information shows a Google type map where you can pinpoint your address as well as put in your information such as address, Email and phone numbers.

All in all, this theme pretty well covers it all without having to resort to plug-ins.

It’s always nice when a designer offers a free theme to the WordPress community. Many times designers are far too busy to have time to do a freebee for WordPress but let us face it it’s a good advert for any designer to have one accepted by WordPress. They can afford to be picky as far as quality is concerned and of course they will be. They don’t want to let their reputation get tarnished. With the current offering that is certainly not happening.

Paragrams is a WordPress theme designed by WP Shower.
The theme itself is built on a grid design. This theme is simple and easy to use.  Well thought out and with several custom features included you can use it for several different types of blogs. I can think of several things I could use this for besides a magazine lay out.  If you wanted to use it for a photo area in the front it would be a neat way of showing what you are blogging about in each section.
There are some neat drop down menus for you to use situated in the head area of the blog on the right hand side.
The left side which gets your immediate attention is of course where your blog name would appear.

The head area is a combination of your name/logo area with the right hand side in two strips with the top one containing your search, your RSS subscribe area as well as your Twitter and Facebook connects. Under this you will find your drop down menu for your Home/ Main Page area, with Categories, your static about page and your contact page.

Your RSS feed gives you three areas that you can subscribe to such as Google, Live Bookmarks or My Yahoo.

Your contacts area takes you to where you can insert your Google map for your business plus an area where you can install information about your company and your staff.

Click on any one of the photos below in the 3 x 2  grid and you will be taken into the blog heart.

These Categories are what your blog is about.
A photo appears on the left with your index on the right.
They have the various areas of your blog posts with the relevant comments that have been entered as replies. Under each post the comments appear and at the bottom you have an area where you can leave a comment. They ask the comment maker to leave name, email and website URL which is always handy.

Your pages will all appear in the index including a section for you.  Archives, your RSS entries, a section for comments made via RSS and a blogroll.

Your Blogroll is basically your links area and will lead you into WordPress,
In this area you are taken into the basic heart of WordPress where you will find themes, Plug-ins suggestions and the basic documentation of WordPress.org.

I did not see a dashboard set up or a place for widgets and plug-ins but I am sure being WordPress they must be there. I just didn’t find them.

I don’t know about you but I am always on the outlook for new and interesting looking themes and templates. Change is always good and keeping your blog or website looking fresh and new and interesting is very important.  It’s also important to use the 303 plug-in when you do, so your visitors do not get lost. One of my favorite times of the day is when I give myself free reign to browse the internet for new themes. I think I could make my own media library just from the themes I have collected.
Let’s have a look at a few of the free ones.

The first I am going to show you is Dark Red

Made with a dark maroony red top and a black background, it immediately gives a striking image. The nine network rules really need reading. To view the theme click on the link above, to download the theme click here.
It has a bit of a difference in layout as it has the “About” and the “Recent” below the first two posts. It is an interesting layout.

Gossip City is next up

Here we have a lovely clean white space usage with a mixture of soft colors in horizontal stripes with a three column background. You have a photo scroll bar of thumbnails under which you have your menu categories and the right hand side is set up to be monetized. Presented by Designdisease, this is a well thought out theme.

Yoghourt

This is an interesting looking them with a combination of a dark black edging moving into browns and then with a crisp clean area for the actual blog writing. Everything you need is right there and the instructions form part of the theme blog. I really liked the way Jeremie had put up the author/blog owners profile on the front left of the main page.

Fluid Yellow Black WordPress theme is next

Presented to you by SkinPress this theme is just as it says Yellow and black.
The yellow is the stripe across the top which the black forms bold vertical sidebar to the white blog space.  RSS Feed is built in as is search facility. You have two sections in the sidebar for your menu and categories.  It forms a bold and modern statement to the world.

Xplosive reloaded is looked at for you

Simple but effective this theme has a rippled red header with gray and black areas below.  This is your basic three columned theme with  RSS feed capabilities. Your menu area is across the top, with categories and archives on the right.

The next theme is called Red Stamp for a reason

It looks like a stamp with the perforated edging. It is a two column design which is totally unambiguous and clear as to what you have to do to get it up and running. It would be a wonderful theme for any philatelist or even someone wanting to create that far away feeling.

Have fun choosing a new theme or just download them all.

Good themes are always good to have in store for when you want a change of scene. I have collected together a few which are both good news and good value as they are free. I find when I am look for a theme I can never find the one I want. It’s when I am not really looking I come across the classy ones. With the result I have started to collect the good ones for in case and for later. I always have a selection on hand nowadays ready and waiting to be put into use when the opportunity arises. I have listed a few of my favorites below.

Infinity

Here you have a modern trend to dark background with I see four columns but it is described as having three. There is a thumbnail strip across the bottom and unfortunately it is not widget ready although the designer is intending to upgrade the theme that has not yet been done.

Next is Outdoorsy

This has a distinct feeling of spring about it. I think it must be something about the yellow daisies. The parchment paper look to the writing background has always had a good feel to it and here we have a theme that gives you a totally fresh as a breath of spring feel. It is widget ready and only 655kb with two columns and  a background of grass with flowers.

I felt curious about Curious Demo

Just because of the name of the theme I became curious. It is widgetised and ready for you merely to upload the theme and set yourself up on the net.
Your basic two column design with widget area on the right it comes tested for Xhtml and is tested for cross browser application. You can change some of the background colors.

Brightness is next on my list

Here is a two columned theme from DailyWP which has been formatted in a Magazine style. It comes ready to load and activate by clicking on the design section in the dashboard in WordPress.

Japan Style

This theme which is another free download is available from WordPress themselves. It is produced in an interesting Japanese style with graphics and with a three column layout. It has a contact form as well as both radio and check boxes.

Biz Theme

This theme comes in four color ways with three columns. Links to your social networks are in place along the bottom but it is not widget ready. This comes to you courtesy of Elegant WP Themes

Scruffy is up next

Scruffy is far from scruffy. Widget ready and available for free download you are basically free to do what you want with it. Unfortunately there is no support owing to the designer having other commitments.

Pixel

Another free template theme is available called template. This has a layout which consists of a two/three column and is ready for Feedburner provided you are signed up for it. You can place widgets in 6 different areas and have dropdown menus for the various categories. It uses the WordPress control management system. All in all it’s a good one to look at. It does have a dark background and is compatible with most browsers.
Have fun looking at these few.

There are so many aids on the internet if you know the name of the article you are looking for. The trouble quite often is when you are starting out you don’t know what the name of the item is that you actually need. Geek language is a language all of its own and often people need to design internet and web design have no clue as to where to start. Hopefully some of the various articles you stumble upon might lead you to understand a little more if layman’s terms are used.

Malo is our first framework

This CSS framework is remarkably simple and yet fully and easily customized.  You can nest in columns should you so wish and layouts of different sections are easily created. Columns of 5, 4, 3 or 2 are easily made.

BlueTrip is next up

This provides you with a full display of what is available and what can be done. Simple to work with and only requiring you to add your images and which styles sheets you want and you can immediately start work. As it is open source the download comes as a Tar file.

A one Liner

This is CSS with a difference. The designer only uses one single line to create the necessary grids he requires. He has called it “1 Line CSS Grid Framework.” A full visual is available as to how it works.

WordPress related Theme frameworks

WordPress has a means of its own in Reptile. This enables the theme and WordPress to work together is a more versatile manner by providing additional helper functions.

Not called a framework but a theme

Vanilla is not called a framework but acts like an intermediary between WordPress and which doesn’t require knowledge of PHP. It appears to have everything you need handy including controls for widgets.

Mark it up on Whiteboard

Whiteboard is for WordPress and is a framework. This is the latest framework and is fully compatible with WordPress 3. It is a free download and has several updated features in this, the latest download. All the necessary items you need in WordPress are handled here saving you an immense amount of time.

Time to play in the Sandbox

This is two column and very basic. However it is ready for widgets and is also easily customized using CSS.

Do you need a Buffet?

This is a WordPress framework to create themes without having to alter the basic codex of WordPress. With this framework the designer is enabled to create a theme not just with them in mind but also the end user. Items can be added or deleted by the end user when you use this as your basic framework.

Framework by Carrington

With 4 basic frameworks to choose from you are sure to be accommodated here. Carrington framework covers all the possibilities you might be looking for.  They also have a Pro Business Theme available to purchase.

Frameworks do save time and when you need inspiration they are also of help. Sometimes just seeing a layout will set your mind in motion.  Frameworks come in various different shapes and sizes as well as what tasks they perform for you. Not everyone does everything and sometimes it can be a bit of a mix and match to get the right combination of what you actually want to achieve and to also take that repetitive work off your hands.

We are going to view a few of the available ones that are on line and ready for you to download.

First off we are going to look at one called Elements

The program called “Elements” is a CSS based and it works with folders.  It has an incredible structure which is extremely easy to use. This makes working with your existing files easy or you can set it up to work on its own.
Icons can be set up in your framework when using Elements.

Number two on our list is BluePrint CSS

This is a simple yet easy to use program which you can use as the basis of your design and then build on top of it.  Because of the ability to reset problems of browser incompatibility can be avoided. You also have to available plug-ins for items like tabs or buttons. The program has tools for each step of your project.

Next up was Tripoli

Tripoli is also based in CSS but was meant and designed for HTML 4. What it basically does is take what you have already worked out and makes it browser compatible across the web. Full instructions for its use and the entire available file are a free download.

Is Content King?

Content with Style is the name of the next system available. Here we have a selection of 5 basic layouts all tried and tested available to download. The author give you an extensive article on how to achieve what you want which both makes good sense and good reading.

Grid 960 is a system to end all systems

This is a total system across the board which has all the shapes and kinds of grids you could wish to put together. You can use any of them separately or combine them at will.

Grids or Typography Both are important

The system called Typogridphy is based on the system above and has a full download which includes things like the Lists, Glyphs and Headings. As always it’s in a CSS format and one of the neat things about it is that you can zoom in on the layout to see items closer.

Do you want it Fluid or Liquid?

This program called Emastic gives you both options. You have the option of deciding what page width you want to use and also decide in what manner you want to fix that. There is a full tutorial on line as well as several Demos.
Typography, Plug-ins and Templates are all available.

Well you have food for review for the day.

Themes as they come out and good as they are: Are seldom customized to your use immediately. This is where you need to look at the use you are going to be putting them to and what your ultimate object of your blog is.
Whatever you intend doing there are things you can do to optimize the speed and decrease the bandwidth usage. Both of these will be appreciated by your visitors. It means they will have faster loading times.

1. Smaller loads load faster

To improve your loading time, one item often forgotten is to use a tool such as Smush.it. This is a lossless tool for your graphics and photographs. Here you can adjust your image until it’s at its best as far as viewing is concerned but at the lowest rate you can get it without losing the color you want.

2. Favicon your site

You know the branding tool for your website such as the Y on yahoo and the
W on WordPress? Well, these are called favicons and to add to your professional image you really require one.

You can log on and make one for your own site at Favicon.cc. Put your thinking cap on and see what you feel fits your site. To insert it into your site you need to use this code.

which you need to place in your header.php of the themes directory.

3. Give your images Style

It’s a good idea to keep your website or blog styled. Use the same type of image style for all your titles or captions of your images. Set the function and use that on a regular basis. You set it under the .wp-caption section.

4. Header

You know that sometimes you see the Header come up first before the rest of the page loads? Well, that is done by using code in your header file after the tag in the closing section. It makes for faster loading as the rest is downloaded behind this function.

5. Is your CSS heavy?

CSS code can sometimes be on the heavy side when the designer has left all the steps in. This can be reduces by using a CSS code Compressor. There are several available for use on the internet.

You can also make your Java smaller with their compressor. WordPress has a plugin which can help you minimize the rest of your scripts called W3 Total Cache which you can download.

There is nothing more soul destroying than being hit by a virus or a Trojan and having all your hard work wiped out. For this you need a backup of your website and also your database. The one without the other is only half the job done. Remember all those hours you sweated to find all the information and the how you carefully organized it into the way you wanted it? Well, it can be gone in a minute if you don’t back it up.

Learn how to back up and choose the best equipment

When all is said and done, when you need it, you need the best available.
One of the plug-ins available is from WordPress itself. This allows you to back up your WordPress core section as well as several other items to the database.

Take a look at BeiFen

One of the best sources is Bei Fen where you can decide what to back up.
Here you can pick and choose what to back up. The joy of this one is it takes on click to enable you to restore the missing data.

Store remotely

It’s a good idea to store your data remotely in addition or instead of your website or your own machine. By using wp Time Machine you will be able to do just that. You have several choices as to where you wish to store off line, and it makes sense to have it somewhere where it can’t get hit at the same time.

Images also need to be backed up

Here you can zip files of various items and get them sent to your email this can of course be on web email rather than to your personal on computer email. For this you would use WordPress backup.

The next is Linux based

This plug-in called WP S3 Backup automatically updates the backups to the Amazon S3 server. You do have to pay for it, but it is remarkably cheap, especially when you realize you are now always secure. It has to load into a zip file at a particular time. You actually schedule it.

More than just a backup

WP-DBManager is far more than just a backup system it allows you to do many things with your database besides backing it up. You can restore it or repair it; you can empty sections of it. You can optimize it and you can even delete the backed up database. You schedule it and then optimize it.

You want easy?

By using the WordPress Admin Panel this Plug-in allows you full backup of all the data related to the site where ever it is. It is called WordPress EZ backup.

DBC Backup Does scheduled daily backups

This plug-in can zip files or doesn’t as you require and then create a backup protected way on your server. A hash key will protect it further automatically which it will store in a totally safe manner.

It’s always good when we find a host of new themes that are available and this selection is a veritable treasure trove. I have been roving through the themes, and it’s a delight to find such a high caliber on offer for a free download. Several of the designers are new to me, and I love seeing new people come into the field of design. The art of design it very rewarding and with the internet grown exponentially on a daily basis we need a new designer to become available.

Far from Fearless lemon Twist is the first in a long line up

This has a lemon green background to it with a two column layout. The main blog section has a white background for ease of reading and the side panel on the right has your menu as well as a search bar. Your main sections of Home, About, Archives and portfolio are listed across the top as is the contact page. It’s always good to see the contact page included.

A free theme from WordPress in Germany

This simple plain blue design is two columned and elegant. It has three bands of blue color going from dark to light. Called Adreu r2 this has proven to be extremely popular. You have your various headings across the top together with a search bar. RSS feed is there and then the various categories.

Illacrimo from Designdisease

A very attractive theme in three columns ( actually more like 4)  with your date posting then a photo gallery and menu with your darker blue panel on the far right showing your archives and meta data. Right up top is your RSS feed and a search bar.

A splash of color

Tasty is a free design from Whalesalad. It comes in 5 different color ways, and you can change them at will. There is an easy to customize sidebar and a header that you want. Its widget ready and has all the social book marks ready.  It’s a fast lean WordPress machine. It does require PHP5 and the latest version of WordPress.

Insense is the name

This is another theme from Designdisease, and it’s a clear blue and white theme with a two column layout. Simple but totally well thought out. All the necessary are at your finger tips. The menu is on the top bar with a search feature on the right, and the categories and archives listed down the right hand side.

The next theme has an interesting layout

Called Zeke this theme has a one part heading with a two part intro and three parts below this. The far right shows your recent posts and comments while below you will find the menu in the middle and your actual posts on the left. It is possible to embed video and the layout is described in detail. It is the widget ready and has the place for up to 10 widgets.

Our last for today is Polarlight

This comes with multiple versions both fixed and extended. It has several different color ways, which change the outlook of the theme completely. It comes with a user manual which you will probably need.

If you are a blog administrator you know how tough it is to make the right choices to administer your blog in the best possible way. All those plug-ins available, do you really need it or is it just slowing down the load time for your blog.  The trouble really comes when you don’t know a great deal about web design, and you listen to what everyone else tells you. If they designed the plug-in of course it is going to be the best thing since sliced bread. You do, however, want to make your blog a great lean clean machine that loads in seconds and yet at the same time manages to give you everything.

We are going to examine a few of the options available.

Things you definitely require are Stats

With this in mind you should look at the various kinds of plug-ins that are available for this. One you can consider is FireStats. This is free for non commercial use. If you have monetized your site, there is a charge of $25.

You can Brand yourself

This plug-in allows you to change the WordPress login to your own images, which will become your brand. A brand creates continuity and gives your image on the internet. Consider if Coca cola hadn’t created their brand right from the start, they would probably be just another soda drink. This is a free download from WordPress.

Gallery of photos and videos

A picture is worth a 1000 words, has never been truer. And to handle those photos, videos and the like, needs an easier way.  The following plug-in give you that ability. This is the preference one from WordPress. If, however, you wish to sell your photos and want Paypal integration along with it, this is the one you need.

Direct your users with your login

When you want certain users to be directed to certain sections of your blog this login feature is very handy.

Google it

The Google analytics tool is WordPress ready and one of the most widely used.

Extend the admin

Extend your admin panel to do a whole host of extra things. This is possible with the download from Schloebe.de here you can change.
Orders of postings you can change tags, and in addition you can localize items for areas.

Edit Menus

When you are into menu editing you need this plug-in. With this you can do such things as edit the dashboard and change any existing menu easily. This plug-in also has a Pro version which enables further items. Make a point of reading the notes.

Of the Database

If your database is of a limited size on your server, this can be of assistance to you to enable you to keep a check on how big it is.

Keeping items from specific users

Sounds strange I know but certain items can be hidden from certain users with this plug-in. It only works on versions of WordPress over 2.7.1 but with it, you can hide areas from certain people who use your blog. Although it hides them, they can still access those areas if they use the web address.

There are several more plug-ins to view, but we will save those for another day.

When considering up dating your theme on your blog, the available options are enormous. There are several websites, which get themes especially designed for them and offer them to everyone freely. The trouble can be choosing between all the brilliant designs available. Today we are going to preview a few of them for you to start downloading for your future use. It’s always good to have a few designs on hand for a quick change of the scene. That way when you want a change you don’t have to start hunting.

The first we are going to look at is Color Paper

This theme has a three part posting on the front page with a sidebar on the right. It is set against a background that is rustic, in effect. Under this you have a section for comments. The sidebar contains a menu of sorts with a preview of what is happening in each section. You have the about section to start with then you go down to the section on “Photo Stream” Under this you have your categories section with subsections. Recent articles and a RSS subscribe section.

The next I took a look at is Cellar heat

This theme has been created in two versions. Both a light and a dark are available. They both have different images and appearance but the underlying code has remained the same. It has a two column 4 sector layout with widgets enabled and has gravatars enabled as well.

Simply Ornate was next on the list
Simply Ornate has 5 different color versions available. It is a basic two column theme with your welcome and postings on the left and your menu of photo stream and comments on the right. It has a plug-in to Flickr which you can set to show the quantity of photos you desire.

Agregado was the following one I took a look at

This theme has a dark background with a splash of color in the background sector. The posts have an interesting aspect to them as the older they are, so they fade in both color and size of text. There are several areas available for widgets and there is a control panel as well as a contact form incorporated. It’s an interesting theme to view.

NotePad Chaos

I looked at the actual graphics displayed on the next theme with interest as they tended to remind me of the old Sanderson’s linen material that lounge suites were covered with. The notepad it self was a spiral with a paper clipped note for the menu area. There is a search facility in the theme with your home, about and archives appearing across the top.

WordPress.Fun theme is the next one to look at.

Created by Maleika Attawel this theme is a two column with rather comic styled art work. The background it in earthy tones with the main central area in a contrast light color. At the bottom are three different colored sections for categories links and the like. This theme was created with fun in mind, and it looks fun.

That’s our round up for today’s themes. I will look at a few more later today.