UPDATE: PG saw a couple of immediate deal killers with the theme experiment that weren’t obvious during his live previews of the theme.
The search continues.
. . . . . . . . . .
PG is trying a different WordPress theme experiment.
Comments/suggestions, etc. are welcome.
To be clear, this is not a done decision. I can switch back to the old theme with a couple of mouse clicks and sincerely appreciate your feedback.
Hmmm… where’s the new theme? The one I’m looking at (the Aesthete theme by vatuma.com) looks the same. What am I missing?
PG activated the new theme and then removed it a few minutes later.
Ah, got it. Thanks, Nate.
I use Graphene for my website. It’s customizable, and it’s free. The developer just did an extensive update that changed the look quite a bit, but I still like it.
I don’t handle change very well, and there was nothing wrong with the site IMHO.
Just one more reply to chalk up – you do what works for you, obviously.
Like buttons are awesome but I’m pretty sure they’re a WordPress feature that just has to be enabled. If you’re in testing mode, the themes I’ve found that are both user-friendly and flexible with a lot of options that other themes require one to code in are Themify. I’ve tried X theme and Divi and a ton of others but no one has better themes and better service, not even for twice the price.
I’m with USAF. Yes to all of the above!
But I’m curious… Why are you interested in finding a new theme, PG? Is it just to avoid your “look” becoming dated? Or are there specific functional things you are seeking for your site?
I like the existing one as well.
J. and g. – The current theme is no longer being updated or supported by its author.
Additionally, the theme doesn’t support some of the newer features of WordPress and some WP plugins I think would be beneficial for visitors.
I also like the current color combination and definitely don’t want to impair the user experience in any way.
Ah, yes. Best of good fortune in finding a replacement!
I like the old site, the design, layout and colors. It is SO easy to read, and scan quickly so can see what looks interesting. I thought your old chioces were great.
I’d only ask for a ‘like’ button, as in Disquis, which is an add on. not a ‘dislike’ button. There are times I’d love to and i think others too would, like to give a thumbs up to many comments instead of writing a +++ or A+ or other. It’d be great to easily let people know they are cool, or thoughtful or interesting, or helpful, etc.
and the ability to edit/ etc in infinity, as in Disquis. Very useful for adding new fact or a link for instance, without splitting up into several comments from same commenter. just makes it easier to follow the gist of things.
Im just grateful for the posts every day PG, thank you. I think the depth and variety, teaches me alot, valuable things to keep on keepin on.
PG, did you know there’s an option for live previews? you don’t have to fully load the theme every time.
I thought I had thoroughly checked out the new theme via live preview, Nate.
For some reason, the live preview didn’t show a significant formatting problem with existing posts that was immediately obvious when the new theme went live.
I just hate it when that happens!
If you want to take a theme live but don’t want to show it to everyone, there are “under construction plugins” that will hide the site behind a splash screen.
Or you could just let everyone see it. the extra feedback can only help.
I thought about making a copy of TPV and installing it on another domain I own, but don’t use, but that looked to be more than a little time-consuming.
That’s exactly what I did, PG, create a “test” installation of my entire site inside my hosting account. Now when we want to experiment—and it happens surprisingly often—we do it on the test site and work out all issues before installing it on the public site. Saved me from many cries of “Oops!”
The new theme does look nice, but I really appreciated the way the old theme called out at a glance when I was reading a quote from another website or a direct post straight from you.
Edit: And of course as soon as I post this response the old theme switches back on and I look like an idiot. 😀
OK, I wasn’t the only one…
I think I only saw the change in the comments. I actually kind of liked that one, although I didn’t have the time to really find nits to pick before the reversion. The width was nice for me (I run big screens with highest resolution) – the current one sometimes seems cramped when it’s only covering about 60% of the width, with “brown space” taking up so much room.
If that isn’t an adaptive feature (one that checks the running resolution) – it could be very bad for many people.