Choosing A Theme

  • Richard Patterson

    (@richardpatterson)


    3 years, 2 months ago

    I am going around in circles trying to create what seems to me to be a very basic blog website. I have tried various themes and keep running into weird dead-ends either trying to make it function the way I hoped it would or trying to make it look the way I would like. What I want is a blog with a static home page and a list of topic pages in a sidebar (on the left) that will take the reader to the individual topic page (or post?) and let them leave a comment. I was going to upload an JPEG image designed in Photoshop to show the layout I am trying to create, but I can’t figure out how to upload an image in to this forum. I thought I was making progress with a theme called Gesso by Block Styles, but even though it would allow me to post a comment, it did not display the comments I had approved and I couldn’t figure out how to make it do that. When I changed to a theme called Basic from WPPuzzle it would display the approved comments on one page but it had two forms for posting a comment at the bottom. My other topic pages had no form for posting a comment.

    So can anyone suggest a theme that may enable me to do a blog where the sidebar contains links and does not scroll with the main text block or only scrolls if it needs to.

    Of does anyone have suggestions for where I can find explanations that will clarify what is going on?

    Thanks.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • nanoknows

    (@nanoknows)

    3 years, 2 months ago

    Hi @richardpatterson,

    All wordpress Themes or child Themes are fundamentally the same. To better understand how WordPress Themes work, look at Anatomy of a Theme. https://yoast.com/wordpress-theme-anatomy/

    How to Customize a WP Theme (Beginners Guide)
    https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-customize-your-wordpress-theme/

    Hope that helps.

    Thread Starter Richard Patterson

    (@richardpatterson)

    3 years, 2 months ago

    Thanks. Maybe the beginner’s guide will help. The Anatomy of a Theme is a nice summary of what is under the hood, but it does not really explain why things happen when I attempt to edit things using the WP Admin dashboard options rather than editing code. In other words how do I know why one theme displays comments and another does not even though the settings I can see are the same.

    mrtom414

    (@mrtom414)

    3 years, 2 months ago

    You can break down themes into 2 camps.

    First you have the classical themes. If you are looking to add options to your sidebar you need a theme that has widget areas in the side bar. Widget areas are placed in the theme by the developer. You can move the widgets inside the widget area but you can not move the widget area. Widgets are usually created by plugins but your theme is also capable of creating them. You can also create your own custom templates and import them in to your theme. But, it would require some php code development.

    The second type of theme which is still evolving is the block based themes. Block based themes come with an editor and your are free to create your own templets or modify an existing template. Your theme parts and templates are created in the block editor. You don’t need to be able to code to create your own theme. You can create custom templates and import blocks that you need. The block templates do not support widgets. The settings for widgets has been completely removed from them. Also, You will not find options on the dashboard for menu and the customizer. There is a block that supports short codes. If you are wanting to use widgets in your theme the block themes are not a good option.

    WordPress is pushing toward the block themes. Most of the new updates and features ate aimed at the block theme. I would recommend looking at block themes if possible. They are going to keep growing and the classical themes will probably start dying down as time goes on.

    Thread Starter Richard Patterson

    (@richardpatterson)

    3 years, 2 months ago

    Thanks. I think block themes are going to give me what I want. I just need to learn how to work with them. I started playing around with Gesso and so far have managed to produce a website with nothing in it except a band of color at the top! I’ll read tutorials and stick with it.

    mrtom414

    (@mrtom414)

    3 years, 2 months ago

    There a course on Udemy https://www.udemy.com/course/wordpress-gutenberg-full-site-editing-fse/ that gives you most of what you need. There are some area where there are ways to do what he says can’t be done. But, For the most part it will get you started.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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