Monochrome Lite

Monochrome Lite is a free widgetized theme for WordPress packaged with an author archives page, seven random rotating header images, posts with thumbnail and pullquote custom fields options and a CSS framework to aid in customization.

Installation

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

Configuration

  1. GETTING STARTED: By default, Monochrome Lite displays the latest entry, followed by the excerpts of the previous five entries.
  2. PHOTOS, PULLQUOTES, CUSTOM FIELDS: This theme uses custom fields to manage all photos and thumbnail photos. In your WordPress settings, you can change the dimensions on both thumbnail and medium sized photos. Change the thumbnail width to 128 px wide by 128px tall. Change the medium photo size to 575 px wide. Save the settings. WordPress will resize every photo uploaded to the dimensions described above. After uploading the photo into WordPress using the media uploader, copy the link to this thumbnail photo and paste it into the custom field value, with a key called “thumbnail.” Copy the link to the medium photo (575 pixels wide maximum) and paste it into the custom field value, with a key called “photo.” Here is a screenshot of all properly filled out fields. If you want pullquotes, then simply create a key called “pullquote” and type your pullquote into the custom field value. Here is a screenshot of all three properly filled out fields.
  3. YOUR AUTHORS PAGE: Monochrome Lite 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/monochrome_lite/images/authors/ folder. For instance, mine is Allender.jpg, sized at 75px X 75px. Here is an example author page.
  4. STYLES.CSS: Unlike most WordPress themes which plug all the css in one file called styles.css, Monochrome utilizes the Blueprint CSS framework to help separate positioning, typography, forms and what I’ll refer to as custom or Monochrome specific styles. To edit all custom Monochrome specific styles, you’ll need to edit the file style.css in your wp/wp-content/themes/monochrome/ directory.

ABOUT BLUEPRINT


This theme utilizes a 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.


9 responses to “Monochrome Lite”

  1. Avenger XL Avatar

    I cannot for the life of me get my picture to show up under the author section. I followed your instructions above and no such luck. Can I just omit the picture since I am getting a broken link where it should be? Thanks for the free demo if this works out for me I am going to buy the pro from you. This is a great design and very helpful.

    Thanks

  2. John J Savo, the Authoring Auctioneer Avatar

    If you go into Google and search for “using the Monochrome Lite” (quotes included) you will be shown a list of bloggers using the Monochrome Lite theme. There are some pretty sad examples out there. If anyone wants to see what a little HTML tweaking can do, visit my site: The Authoring Auctioneer. The full power and potential of Monochrome Lite is amazing. My blog is proof of that.

  3. Lorena W Avatar

    I think Monochrome Lite is the way to go….

  4. John J Savo, the Authoring Auctioneer Avatar

    Yeah… You can disregard my last comment. I am no longer using Monochrome Lite or any Graph Paper Press themes. While Monochrome is powerful and versatile, it looks terrible in Firefox. The majority of my visitors are now using Firefox. While Monochrome looks fantastic in IE7, it looks terrible in FF. So I had to switch to a theme that looks good in FF. Sorry.

  5. Sandalio Jure Avatar

    Your Article is very interesting, It addressses issues in a very clear manner. I have enjoyed very much reading it. Keep up the good writing.

    SJ

  6. Internet Marketing Company Avatar

    Thanks for posing the info. Always great to see new themes and how developers are taking them to the next level. Keep up the good work!

  7. Ben Avatar
    Ben

    If you update the header images (I’ve added an image) on Monochrome Lite, how do you get the image to appear? It does not seem to refresh the image cache.

  8. teknolojigaraji Avatar

    işte, evde ve garajda teknoloji… Teknolojigaraji.com

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