Wordpress theme - tips for finding a new one please!

February 26, 2007 1:28 PM

I am running a new blog on my own webspace powered by WordPress 2.1. The theme we're using (I am inviting friends in my walking group to join and become authors) is Kubrick, which has it's limitations.

I want several things absent from Kubrick:
1. Posts to be automatically signed with an author's name;
2. Some buttons that do mefi-style stuff on comments - like formatting and linking.
3. Ease of posting images (eg. from my own Flickr pages, for example - if that's possible)
4. Ease of posting embedded YouTube videos. Can't get that right at all.
5. Profile pages - click a username, see a profile.

Some other things that Kubrick allows which are essential:
1. Multiple authors

Some user customisability - such as changing header images - is needed, but I assume all themes will permit that.

Suggestions? I have tried looking at some themes on themes.wordpress.net, but I can't seem to sort by those features I want the most. Bah!

posted by dash_slot- to Computers & Internet (17 answers total)

1: easy to address through template tags in the posting templates. There are better specific answers, but this touches a lot of the possibilities. If you're not in bed with modifying WP template code, there's a lot of help available.
2: plugins, plugins, plugins
3: elaborate? In IE I'm able to rightclick-copy a flickr image and just paste into the WP wysiwyg window. Simple as pie. (Firefox may require slightly more effort; I can't recall.)
4: no practical experience, sorry
5: again, some very straightforward template modification.

In other words, if Kubrick does a lot of things right, it may be easier to work some small modifications to that, perhaps with some plugins to help, than it would be to search for another theme that hits the nail precisely on the head.
posted by cortex at 1:42 PM on February 26, 2007

It's been a while since I've messed around with WP, but I believe:
1. You should be able to edit the index.php in the Kubrick template folder to show author names. It's probably commented out, if not, have a browse around the Codex.
2. There's probably a plugin for this - check out some of the links mentioned here.
3. The img tag is fine - there should be a button on the compose screen for that, no?

The Support section tends to be particularly helpful.

(On preview - yeah, what they said)
posted by djgh at 1:46 PM on February 26, 2007

flickr and youTube embeds are just made by copying and pasting? Any simplification beyond that would probably overcomplicate things.
posted by tmcw at 1:46 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: Well, thanks for the swift response, cortex.

At this stage, I just want a better template. Later I may do a personal blog which I am prepared to mess about with. But due to some unforeseen technical hold ups, I've already slightly disillusioned some of my silver surfer rambling friends. So I don't want to do a lot of plug in work or much by way of modification (as a WP newbie, I really am afraid of glitches and losing their interest).
posted by dash_slot- at 1:54 PM on February 26, 2007

Best answer: Embedding YouTube videos:
1) In WordPress's rich text editor, make sure you're viewing the HTML code.
2) Go to the page on YouTube where the video you want is posted.
3) On the right, beside the video, under Tags and URL, copy that "Embed" code and paste it into your HTML box.

Bammo!
posted by Milkman Dan at 1:59 PM on February 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Seriously - embedded youtubes the way I see on other blogs - doesn't work. See here.

But it works in comments: see here.
posted by dash_slot- at 2:10 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: Milkman Dan - thanks!

Any one know of templates that support - without php modding - 1, 2 & 5 above?

No img tags available on the commenting box, and the img tag did not work when attempting to hotlink my own pic off flickr. Which did not surprise me, I just wondered what djgh meant there.

Any template ideas?
posted by dash_slot- at 2:21 PM on February 26, 2007

This one is coded nicely, fairly attractive, and made by a reputable designer.
posted by deern the headlice at 2:26 PM on February 26, 2007

Best answer: Only points 1 and 5 here can be considered theme issues at all. The first is easily remedied with some minor editing of the theme.

That said, there are lots of cool whizbang themes out there. I'd also suggest K2, which isn't so much pretty as packed with whizbang functionality. My own blog's theme is a badly hacked-up version of K2.

There are plugins for displaying author information. Here are a couple that jumped out at me: 1, 2

To get a flickr photo into your blog, there are a couple things you can do:

1. Blog from within flickr. You can set it up to publish posts on your blog. You'll see a "blog this" button above photos. Just click that and go.

2. Click the "all sizes" link. At the bottom of that, you'll see a field with an HTML snippet you can copy'n'paste into your blog.
posted by adamrice at 2:34 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: I have tried the blog this at Flickr - sadly it stumbles at the API endpoint registration stage. It directs me to use a certain format [http://your.blog.address/xmlrpc.php] and then tells me that it [ http://thejulyclub.com/xmlrpc.php ] is wrong.

Have they assumed I use a WP hosted webspace, and if so, what should I use instead? (I ask here because lord knows how long it'll take to get an answer from the Flickr guys or [sharp intake o f breath] WP.
posted by dash_slot- at 2:45 PM on February 26, 2007

Best answer: Is it possible you set up flickr to post to your WP blog using a WP login name other than "admin"? I'm not sure of all the ins and outs, but if you used "dash_slot" (or whatever) as your WP username when you set up flickr to post to the blog, it won't work.

Not sure how this works with multiple authors, but if you're the admin, you post as "admin."
posted by adamrice at 2:55 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: Yeah, I did. I'll try admin.
posted by dash_slot- at 3:02 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: adamrice - cheers! I've set up a Flickr blogging template now. Ta!

I'm browsing the 'coolwizzbang themes' now so thanks again.
posted by dash_slot- at 3:49 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: If anyone can help with a theme that has my criteria 1 & 5 - please do! I really don't want to fiddle with code - not at this stage anyway.

WCityMike, Adam & Milkman Dan - I am gonna mark best answers later. Right now I'm hoping others will chime in if I don't mark the best answers yet.
posted by dash_slot- at 4:28 PM on February 26, 2007

I'm using the Fluid Web theme which includes your item 1 by default. You can do the following to enable item 5 (I would think this should work for any theme that displays the author):

1. Create a profile page (Write > Write Page) with the author's name (as stored in Wordpress) as the title.
2. In Presentation > Theme Editor edit the Main Index Template.
3. Find the text:
<?php the_author() ?>

and replace it with:
<a href="http://www.yourblog.com/<?php the_author() ?>"><?php the_author() ?></a>

See it here (self-link)
posted by cbrody at 6:24 PM on February 26, 2007

Best answer: xMark may offer what you need for #1 and #5, the only two questions that relate to themes. Part of the reason why you're getting so few suggestions for suitable themes is that apparently most blogs out there are still single-author, and so themes that display multiple author features like bylines aren't as prevalent. The other reason is because these sorts of things are fairly easy to hack into a theme, and so very few people bother picking a theme based on whether it shows author bylines and profiles or not. I just took Kubrick and added in bylines for a private group blog, for example.

#3 is easy if you know any HTML at all, or even if you don't; just hit the image button above the post textbox, and fill in the proper URL. (Don't hotlink things from servers you don't own—flickr is one of the few exceptions to this rule). #4 is an issue with Wordpress and the rich text editor it comes with; I'm not entirely sure what the issue is my general rule of thumb is to turn off the rich text editor by default. After that, it's just a matter of copying the Embed code on a given YouTube page and pasting it into your post. Done.
posted by chrominance at 7:30 PM on February 26, 2007

Response by poster: chrominance - thanks, I sussed the photo posting earlier, I just about can do that much html.

xMark looks good to me - 3 fluid columns may be excellent, I hope that I can take up the whole of the width for pics if I need to.
posted by dash_slot- at 12:30 AM on February 27, 2007