WP Paragraph(e)

• Fast-loading theme.
• Elegant dark wood Background.
• Cool header, that you can modify in the CSS file through the WP Editor : Purple, Blue, Cyan, Green, Brown.
• Rounded Corners in every post.
• Subtle grid for a fixed, organised lecture (The Blueprint CSS Framework)
• Greyish, well-spaced layout sorrounding the main text tube, to make your readers feel comfortable during their lecture.
• Three columns footer layout, for a spectacular end, in every post. Load on your bookmarks !
• Widgets section in the header, to display your Recent Posts & your Recent Comments anywhere in the blog.
• Widgetized Footer & Sidebar : to list your archives, the log in / out link, some text snippet, the Search box …
• Custom excerpts : forget those criminal brackets “[...]” in your excerpts, they are now sweet “(…)”.
• Custom excerpts again : some 20 words to display.
• Appealing Purple/Blue/Light Grey Palette.
• Main Pages & Cats listed horizontally in the header.
• Valid Code as HTML 4.01 Strict ! (WP sometimes throws some “/” sign closing the img tags, but it’s still valid).
• Fine in IE6.
• Good-looking theme, to serve your content in an adult, discreet, optimized way.
• Consistent, grown, memorable global effect.
• Header, Footer, Sidebar widgetized for a free customitzation.
• Good typography curation.
• Versatil use : between the personal blog and the magazine style – a well-packed theme.
• Clean, fast-loading code.
• Optimized CSS images for a speedy load.

If you want to try some changes in the theme, here are some tips :

“How do I set up the Cats & Pages in the header (the main Menus) ?”

Answer:

By default, the theme will select ALL of your Pages to show in the top Menu, and the 9 first Categories (a non-infinit number) you have created (in chronological order). To change that, open head.php and head2.php (but no the normal header.php), provided with the theme, and change that in the end :

<div class="menu">
     <ul>
          <?php wp_list_categories('title_li=&number=9'); ?>
     </ul>
</div> 

With that :

<div class="menu">
     <ul>
          <?php wp_list_categories('title_li=&include=CATS-SLUGS'); ?>
    </ul>
</div>

What are we adding ?

&include=CATS-SLUGS

Replace that “cats-slugs”, just listing, sepparated by commas, the slug names of the categories you wish to show. The same method goes for the pages, in the top section.

“Can I choose another background for my header ?”

Answer

Yes. You have 5 backgrounds to choose by default, which you can call in your CSS stylesheet, through the WordPress Themes Editor.

Find that line : .header { width:950px; height:417px; background:url('images/headers/red.png'); } And change the name of the image (here “red“) for one of the other images stocked in the image’s folder (for example, “green“).

You can still create your new headers backgrounds, upload them next to the existents ones, then change again their name in style.css. Remember their width is 950px wide, and their height is 417px.

Can I put an image as a title instead of the default html text ?

Answer

Sure. To do that, and once you have created and uploaded your title’s image in the image’s folder, open again head.php and head2.php, and replace that bit :

<div class="thetitle span-11">
   <h1><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><?php bloginfo('title'); ?></a></h1>
</div> 

With that bit :

<div class="thetitle span-11">
   <a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><img src="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/wp-content/themes/charlotte/images/yourimage.extension"></a>
</div> 

, changing the image’s name and extension.

“I’d prefer to get rid of the header’s widgets. Can I delete them ?”

Answer

Yes. You must go to head.php and find a div identified with the class="main". This is what it’s inside :

<div class="thetitle span-11">
   <h1><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><?php bloginfo('title'); ?></a></h1>
</div>
<div class="surface span-13 last">
   <div class="span-6">
      <?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('HeaderLeft') ) : ?> Space for some Widgets ! Go to your Admin panel and choose. Here, the widgetized section to fill is called HeaderLeft. <?php endif; ?>
   </div>
   <div class="span-6 last">
      <?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('HeaderRight') ) : ?> Idem here, called HeaderRight. I recommend a combination of text, recent posts, recent comments, some image (you must write its url in some Text Widget ... write me an e-mail if you have any question. <?php endif; ?>
   </div>
</div> 

We will replace all that code with this snippet :

<div class="thetitle span-24 last">
   <h1><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><?php bloginfo('title'); ?></a></h1>
</div> 

We keep intact the <div class="main"> which was, and still will be, containing those codes.

Can I put some image (for example, some typographic image), instead of the blog’s description in the Home ?

Answer

Yes. Go to your widgets, and activate the ‘Widget Home’ with some text widget. Fill it not with text, but with the path to your typographic image (or other). Like this :

<img src="http://yourwebsite.com/wp-content/themes/charlotte/images/yourimage.format">

Remember to specify name and format where here is written yourimage and format.

Last words

Thanks for reading & enjoy !

Credits go to :

The Blueprint CSS Framework

Thanks to Bechster for a very useful code snippet.

Dark Wood Textures

Special Thanks to I Want This Website for reviewing the Theme