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Modslider

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Modslider is a child theme for the Modularity theme framework that features a JQuery content slider to scroll through your site content, drop-down navigation, a minimalist monochromatic color palette, along with a theme options page that is packed with customizable features. The demo site only shows just a few of the many possible homepage layouts, which can all be configured on the theme options page.

Important

You must have Modularity installed in your theme folder in order for this child theme to function. If it is installed, simply upload and activate Modslider just as you would any normal theme. Modslider overrides specific Modularity template files, giving the multimedia theme framework a facelift and alternative design features. Enjoy!

Gridline News

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Update

This theme has been updated and is now part of the Gridline Suite. Subscribers can download this theme, now renamed just “Gridline,” from their member page.

Gridline News is a clean and modular news magazine theme for WordPress 2.3 and up that is packed with AJAX to add flexibility to the important home page real estate. The main story section contains four of your latest posts layered on top of each other, accessible via tabbed navigation. Gridline News can transform your tubular blog into a full news magazine website.

Installation

  1. Unzip the downloaded file
  2. Upload the entire “Gridline News″ folder to your “/wp-content/themes/” folder
  3. Log in into your WordPress control panel
  4. Click the Presentation tab
  5. Select the “Gridline News” screenshot

Configuration

  1. GETTING STARTED: To get Gridline News off and running, you will need a minimum of 5 categories to populate the homepage. The main section on this page is the latest article posted in category 1, followed by category 2, 3, and 4. The three posts at right are all from category 1, offset by 1 to avoid duplication. The other sections display the latest articles in their respective categories.
  2. YOUR CATEGORIES: In the “home.php” you will find a series of query_posts functions which refer to specific category ID numbers from my database.
    You will need to change the category numbers to reflect the ID numbers of the categories that you want to display on your homepage. Category numbers can be found in your control panel under Manage->Categories. There are a total of 6 spots in the home.php file to change to reflect the post categories that you want to display on the main page.
  3. YOUR PHOTOS: To have thumbnails in each post, crop the thumbnail to 150px wide by 100px tall, upload it to the web and copy the URL to the photo. Within WordPress’ Write Post page, scroll down towards the bottom and click on the Custom Fields section. Add a key called “small_photo” and then paste the link to the thumbnail photo into the key value field. Photos posted within each entry’s post will should not exceed 350px wide by 225px tall, otherwise, the images will bleed out and make you site look icky. View a screenshot of the custom fields used for the Gridline News Theme. Make sure your custom field values and keys match those in the screen shot above (but change the key value to the exact url to your images.) Custom fields are one of the most overlooked, yet powerful, tools in WordPress. Read more about using custom fields.
  4. YOUR AUTHORS PAGE: Gridline News comes packaged with an author archive (authors.php), which will display some author specific info pulled from the Users page in your WordPress installation. In order for the author’s image to show up, you’ll need to place a jpg of the author titled by the author’s last name in the wp-content/themes/gridline/images/authors/ folder. For instance, mine is Allender.jpg, sized at 75px X 75px. Here is an example author page.
  5. STYLES.CSS: Unlike most WordPress themes which plug all the css in one file called styles.css, Gridline utilizes the Blueprint CSS framework to help separate positioning, typography, forms and what I’ll refer to as custom or gridline specific styles. To edit all custom gridline specific styles, you’ll need to edit the style.css file located in your wp/wp-content/themes/gridline/ directory.
  6. COMMON ISSUES JQuery, the javascript framework used in this theme, and Prototype, the javascript language that powers some WordPress plugins, don’t like each other. To create a pleasant user-experience, deactivate all plugins that use the Prototype javascript framework.

ABOUT BLUEPRINT

All Gridline Themes utilize the CSS framework called Blueprint. Who is credited for the ideas behind Blueprint? Some of the best designers on the web. They include Jeff Croft, designer for Blue Flavor, Khoi Vinh, design director for NYTimes.com, Nathan Borror, Christian Metts, Eric Meyer, Wilson Minor, Angus Turnbull, Olav Bjorkoy and a few others. Most major websites use some form of css framework to allow for rapid, consistent development and design. Take the Blueprint 101 course to learn about all the possibilities.

CAUTION

If you are new to WordPress, HTML or CSS, Gridline probably isn’t the best theme to try to learn on. Gridline is, however, perfect for those who want to learn by doing, reading and practicing life inside a sophisticated WordPress magazine theme.

Gridline Magazine

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Update

This theme has been updated and is now part of the Gridline Suite. Subscribers can download this theme, now renamed just “Gridline,” from their member page.

Gridline Magazine is a theme for WordPress 2.8 and up that makes extensive use of custom queries and custom fields to create an unique blogging format. Gridline can transform your blog into a full-blown Magazine or news Web site. Gridline utilizes Blueprint, a CSS framework that streamlines development by utilizing an easy-to-use grid and sensible typography.

Note: The demo site is currently being reworked. Click here to see a live site using a slightly customized Gridline.

Installation

  1. Unzip the downloaded file
  2. Upload the entire “Gridline″ folder to your “/wp-content/themes/” folder
  3. Log in into your WordPress control panel
  4. Click the Presentation tab
  5. Select the “Gridline” screenshot

Configuration

  1. GETTING STARTED: To get Gridline off and running, you will need a minimum of 6 categories to populate the homepage. The main section on this page is the latest article posted in category 1. The three posts at right are all from category 1, offset by 1 to avoid duplication. The other sections display the latest articles in their respective categories.
  2. YOUR CATEGORIES: In the “home.php” you will find a series of query_posts functions which refer to specific category ID numbers from my database.
    You will need to change the category numbers to reflect the ID numbers of the categories that you want to display on your homepage. Category numbers can be found in your control panel under Manage->Categories. There are a total of 6 spots in the home.php file to change to reflect the post categories that you want to display on the main page.
  3. YOUR PHOTOS: To have thumbnails in each post, crop the thumbnail to 150px wide by 100px tall, upload it to the web and copy the URL to the photo. Within WordPress’ Write Post page, scroll down towards the bottom and click on the Custom Fields section. Add a key called “small_photo” and then paste the link to the thumbnail photo into the key value field. Photos posted within each entry’s post will should not exceed 590px wide, otherwise, the images will bleed into the sidebar and make you site look icky. View a screenshot of the custom fields used for the Gridline Theme. Make sure your custom field values and keys match those in the screen shot above (but change the key value to the exact url to your images.) Custom fields are one of the most overlooked, yet powerful, tools in WordPress. Read more about using custom fields.
  4. YOUR AUTHORS PAGE: Gridline comes packaged with an author archive (authors.php), which will display some author specific info pulled from the Users page in your WordPress installation. In order for the author’s image to show up, you’ll need to place a jpg of the author titled by the author’s last name in the wp-content/themes/gridline/images/authors/ folder. For instance, mine is Allender.jpg, sized at 75px X 75px. Here is an example author page.
  5. STYLES.CSS: Unlike most WordPress themes which plug all the css in one file called styles.css, Gridline utilizes the Blueprint CSS framework to help separate positioning, typography, forms and what I’ll refer to as custom or gridline specific styles. To edit all custom gridline specific styles, you’ll need to edit the style.css file located in your wp/wp-content/themes/gridline/ directory.

Visualization

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Visualization is a grid-based, magazine-style theme for WordPress 2.3 and higher that is easy to customize and make your own. The theme utilizes Blueprint, a CSS framework, which streamlines development time by utilizing an easy-to-use grid and sensible typography. Visualization can transform your blog into a full-blown magazine or news Web site.

Visualization Includes
  • Widgetized sidebar and bottombar
  • Optional custom header images
  • Dynamic sidebar to maximize homepage real estate
  • Nine spots on the homepage to pack with content
Getting Started

To get Visualization off and running, you will need a minimum of 9 categories. The main section on this page is the latest article posted in category 1. The other sections display the latest articles in their respective categories. If you want a post a Sports article and have it show up in the main section, you would simply put the article in category 1 and Sports categories. The Sports section below will offset by one, enabling the main page to never publish duplicated content. See the screenshot below for reference.
Visualzation tutorial

Using Photos

Visualization utilizes WordPress’ custom fields to display and manage each individual entry’s thumbnail photos. These include the 270 X 100 px skinny horizontal images (custom field key value=thumbnail) and a 75 X 75 pixel images (custom field key value=square). The screenshot below demonstrates the custom fields used for Visualization. The “photo” key value is optional if you prefer to program in additional lead photos measuring 590px wide into your theme design. Visualization Custom Fields

Common Issues

JQuery, the javascript framework used in this theme, and Prototype, the javascript language that powers some WordPress plugins, don’t like each other. To create a pleasant user-experience, deactivate all plugins that use the Prototype javascript framework.