Lost….
28. Nov, 2009 
20 Comments
Oh, I am so lost. This wordpress.org thingamajig is so seemingly RANDOM. Not at all like wordpress.com. It’s like being taken from a comfy spot in the first grade, where everything is, if not easy, then at least feasible, and tossed in front of the class at the blackboard in an organic chemistry class. All you can think is “what the hell?” Apparently you cannot have a magazine style blog with a new post that stays on the front page each day. I’m going to post this, but I don’t know where it will go. Serbia, perhaps? Look for it!
Link to this post
website
You were lost but now are found. Amaziiiiiing grace. Or is it Amazzzzing Kim. Anyway, congrats on transitioning over. I look forward to exploring the new digs. And now I can indulge in my daily addiction without seeing the dreaded no site sign. Bravo.
Hang in there, sister – this is looking good – you’ll get it figured out, and we’ll be waiting. You won’t lose us!
Found ya!
I’m sorry that you’re having trouble! There is a bit of a learning curve with wordpress.
What are you trying to accomplish? The description isn’t entirely clear as to your intent.
Wordpress is highly flexible and customizable. Part of the challenge is finding the right theme to suit your needs. Most likely, there is a theme that can do what you’re trying to do.
Are you looking to try and do something more like this:
http://www.darrenhoyt.com/demo/wordpress/
or this? :
http://www.wp-themes.der-prinz.com/magazine/
Mary
Mary
Amazing. I have all sorts of things set up that aren’t working properly, like the basics: email notification of responses (duh!) and nested comments (also not working). I like Mr. Marsalis’ magazine style. I seriously thought I could customize this one so that I could have a static spot for my most recent post and that I could include image thumbnails in each post summary. How wrong I was. I apparently takes a PhD in astrophysics and a willingness to perform feats of superhuman computing to figure out how.
I just want people to be able to see the most recent material and be able to find anything else they might be looking for. And I do not, emphatically do not, want this thing to be so text heavy–where did all my images go? Apparently in order to use your images on the home page you have to stand in a bread line in Russia for three days and then give a pedicure to Tsar Nicholas. In fact, I’d rather do that than fiddle with CSS or try to understand what to do with a plug in that doesn’t work correctly with all versions of wordpress.
How on earth did you figure all this out? I thought I did pretty well with wordpress.com and no knowledge, so it shouldn’t be that hard here, right? Wrong!
“How on earth did you figure all this out?”
Prior to beginning my adventures with wordpress, I had taken two undergraduate computing courses. I am not very good at programing, but I do know enough to be able to fiddle with html, css and php. Even so, I sometimes get confused with wordpress, but it does get easier as you get the hang of it!
Plug-ins (at least well written ones) can be wonderful.
I like your choice of vina as a theme. It has a nice, clean look. Having the comments on the right sidebar is an interesting approach. I would think that this would help encourage people to read the comments.
In the widgets section of your admin page, you should be able to add/remove what is displayed at the bottom of the page. For instance, you could add a list of categories down there or remove the wordpress blog roll and add some of your own links.
The bar just under the header image with the list of categories is displaying incorrectly (at least on firefox). I think this is because you have more categories than will properly fit in the bar. One way to fix this would be to nest your categories into 5-10 big categories, which might work well, since the theme does use drop down menus for categories. Another solution would be to pick your top handful of categories, and only display these on the top bar (you could have a complete list of categories somewhere else, like on the bottom of the page.) Clear as mud? Let me know if you want suggestions for how to do either of these.
Mary
Mary
Clear as mud. You are, apparently, a genius. The category listing thing is killing me. I would like to eliminate that altogether, as I can list categories elsewhere. No need to blast them all over the front. I still prefer the Marsalis layout you found, but can’t locate where to get it.
If you know how to fiddle with Css, you are my, ahem, man. Can I hire you?
The categories are looking awesome, Kim. Much improved. Uncategorized is still hanging out on that second line, right below the blogging category. Maybe it could get nested within the blogging category? Otherwise, looking great.
I can tell you how to eliminate that top bar altogether, if you still want to know how. Or are you happy with how it is now? I’d have to download and then look at the theme files and probably won’t have time till this weekend.
The branford Marsalis theme can be downloaded here.
http://www.der-prinz.com/download-branfordmagazine-46
I want to play with it a bit once I get done with classes for the semester. I does, apparently, use custom fields and page templates to accomplish some of the features. Not sure how user friendly it it.
Mary
Forgot to add…
did you get this one figured out?
“I have all sorts of things set up that aren’t working properly, like the basics: email notification of responses (duh!)”
I can walk you through how to do this, if you still need to.
Mary
Hey Lori. My name is NOT admin. My name is Kim. I refuse to be reduced to the nearly inanimate personage that administrates.
Actually, if there is going to be blaming, come to think of it, let’s blame admin. It’s her fault.
So glad you found me.
Please keep coming back. No matter what grisly things you may find. I promise, eventually it will be worth it.
And I’m sorry for your most recent loss. Sunshine was my favorite. Are you OK?
Do you want to change it so your name appears on comments and posts as Kim, rather than admin?
Log into your wordpress-admin page.
On the right sidebar, find the section called “users.” Click on it.
It will give you a list of users, probably with just one account name listed. Click on that.
You should now be on a page that says at the top:
profile
User Options
Under the section titled “name” there are spaces for you to enter a first name, last name or nickname. Then, you can use the “display name publicly” drop down list to change how your name appears on the blog.
Did this make sense at all?
Let me know if it did.
Mary
The comments seem to be nesting properly.
Gin–thanks! I’ll be lucky if I don’t lose myself! You should see the post-it notes stuck all over my computer so I can remember all the details I’m too old and confuzzled to figure out! This stuff is better left to the under 25 crowd. Thanks for sticking with me.
)
(though seriously, aren’t you just at the computer because it’s too cold to go outside?
yes.
Well then so glad I could provide a little indoor entertainment.
Caroline
Indulge away, but beware–you just don’t know what you will find tomorrow. This blog is like Forrest’s box of chocolates.
Hang in there Kim! I created a site over the summer for my hunt club using Wordpress.org and there were certainly moments where I felt like throwing in the towel! Now I really appreciate all of the flexibility of the plug ins and feel constrained over at Equine Ink.
You can always email me with questions!
Here’s the site I built: http://www.oldnorthbridgehounds.org
Liz
Liz
The kennel site is beautiful. Congratulations. I think what I want to do here is maybe a little too ambitious. I want to make a magazine-style blog with the day’s post at the top. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Then each post should have a thumbnail of the first or best photo. That apparently is too difficult for me. And no matter what I do, I can’t get rid of that strange overlapping set of categories that flops down over the first post. I’d like to eliminate that bar altogether. And change the black to something else. And the size of the header for more leeway in header image choice. And the list goes on and on. Maybe moving back to .com would be a better choice, but then I won’t be able to add all those cool things I want to add.
I also don’t like this comments down the side thing–how strange is that??? Do you like it?
This plugin makes it easy to play around with changing colors:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/theme-tweaker/
Moving the comments to below the posts actually is probably doable, but I’d have to look at the theme files. I like them being on the side, I think it would encourage people to read them. However, once they get nested a level or two it starts getting difficult to read.
Mary
Hey Mary
Thank you. This has been a graduate degree in noodling. On both of my computers (laptop and desktop) the uncategorized category is on the far right. I don’t particularly want it as a category, because I don’t use it. But you can’t get rid of it unless you fiddle with the CSS and I don’t know how to do that. I’m puzzled that it’s displaying that way for you.
Killing that bar is a great idea. I’d LOVE to do it. I’m delighted you found the Marsalis theme location. I wish upon a star I could download, transfer my files and play with a theme BEFORE going live. That way the Keystone Kops routine could go on in private.
I am so grateful you have taken the time to humor my. Thank you.