Themes Like Something To Do
Posted by Stropp on August 3, 2009I’ve been considering doing a theme update for Stropp’s World for quite some time now. Unfortunately, time (and stress) has been at a premium and I’ve concentrated more on just playing during my downtime. With posting taking a backseat, changing the theme hasn’t seemed like that much of a priority.
However with Stropp’s World rapidly approaching it’s third anniversary, and the theme looking a little tired compared to some of the newer You Beaut themes that I’ve seen lately, I reckon it’s about time to give the site a facelift.
Since you, the readers, are the ones that will have to put up with the result of my themefoolery, I thought I’d run a few ideas past you and see if you had any ideas of your own.
These are the major points I’m considering.
- Changing the text areas from light text on dark background to dark text on a light background. I”ll keep the colour scheme the same, but it’s easier on the eyes reading dark on light, or so I’ve been told.
- A new banner. The current banner is a part of the original theme, and fortunately is pretty rare. I’ve only seen it once or twice elsewhere (and shared it with someone previously.) I liked how it fit the ‘world’ concept. But it’s time for something new, and original.
- A different column format. I’m using a sort of 2.5 column format where the sidebar hosts a couple of columns. It’s okay, but feels a little kludgy.
- Using tags rather than only categories. The WordPress category system doesn’t really lend itself to the flexibility that a tag system provides.
- Implementing a full featured comment system. The current one is just so 2006. It will be nice to have nested comments, proper gravatars, and user editable comments, among other things.
I’m also going to do some housekeeping tasks. Among which I’ll need to reduce the number of categories and go back and add tags to every post when that’s implemented. Phew! Big job that.
Anywhoo, those are just a few ideas. I’d really appreciate your feedback. What do you think would improve Stropp’s World?
Let me know in the 2006 style comment area below. Thanks.
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I quite like it as it is.
And while I do generally have an easier time reading dark text on light, this theme uses white on black (and not pale grey on dark grey like some places do) and a reasonable font size, so it’s not difficult even for me.
I do understand the desire to change themes around now and then — I’ve been wanting to do that to mine for ages and it’s only a few months old — and you should by all means fiddle about with it if you want… but for my money, it’s a rather nice and unique theme as it is.
Actually I would welcome dark text on a light background (*sticks his tongue out at Ysh*). I find the column lay-out quite nice as it is, though. The main column is a very comfortable reading width for me.
Aww I like it how it is but nevermind
Your Blog was first I started reading on a regular basis so a theme change will be a bit weird. The only way id improve your blog is to force you to post more regularly
Oh btw I got that spare beta pass but am gonna run a comp for it ………..feel free to enter
http://killthatcheerleader.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/champions-online-beta-key-up-for-grabs/
I read it via rss so as long as you write good stories (which you do) I’ll stay interested
As I like to move my blog every year(on my 3rd now), my advice is to cut your losses and start up again!
OK maybe that’s not such a good idea…
Do you still enjoy the topics you write about on your blog?
Thanks for your input everyone. There’s something to think about for sure. Especially the light/dark options.
@Pitrelli – I’m not intending to completely change the theme. If anything it should be recognisable as being derived from the current one. I’m more concerned with readability and flow issues.
As for posting more regularly, well, I’ll try.
@DM Osbon – Lol. Starting over isn’t really an option. I have considered it, but it just seems like such a waste of all the work I’ve put in here. Not to mention, they say it takes a year or two to establish a new blog. I think I’ll keep it.
And yep. I still do enjoy the MMOG topic. I probably wouldn’t still be writing if I didn’t, I’d find it difficult to keep the level of enthusiasm necessary to keep a blog going if I didn’t enjoy the subject.
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