Wordpress questions

[LongLensPhotography]

I am building a couple of websites and got a little stuck with a few things.

1. How do I insert a custom banner image and custom text, if the theme doesn't have these options?

2. How do I display preview of the latest 3 blog posts at the bottom of static home page? Something like one row in 3 columns, each with an image and short paragraph

3. How do I customise how my blogs posts look like by default. Each theme seems to have a different layout and I can't get what I want (i.e. no cropping of images, decent size, and 'read more' after certain length)

This is for the wedding site. www.Photoneta.com / .co.uk
I have not decided on the theme yet, but if paid ones give me as much trouble I'd rather just clean up this one. I can't afford to waste 10 x $45 right now.

4. I am going to make a fine art / commercial website on the same host (different domain name). What is better - multisite wordpress or new install in a subfolder?
It will be a different theme - maybe a grid of large best images and some blog posts, and a menu system on the header (ideally fixed to of the browser window while scrolling)

5. Have I missed any really good Zenfolio plugins?

6. Some cool ideas to use an image as a background?

P.S. ignore the text for now. I'll do it properly soon.

 

[JonathanRyan]

1 - 3 The short answer is look for a theme that looks like you want. Some of the grid based themes (or masonry ones) allow you to move stuff around how you like.

You can do all of that manually but it's a LOT easier to work with the theme than against it.

4. Don't use WPMU - very good but a whole world of pain for running 2 blogs. Just run in 2 separate folders or maybe subdomains.

5&6 dunno.

 

[theurbanclown]

I really wouldn't have gone for a free theme, and I pointed out a lot of really good themes for you to use that costed no more than £30. And for this very reason - the theme options, support and integration of a lot of more recent wordpress features and integration techniques are missing.

1. Not sure what you mean. Please explain in a bit more detail. If the theme doesn't offer it you'll have to have a peep at the code.

2. Have you read the theme documentation included?

3. Pick a theme that offers this, or as many of the features as you need, then pay a freelancer a few quid to modify the small remaining changes.

4. Subdomains

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I really wouldn't have gone for a free theme, and I pointed out a lot of really good themes for you to use that costed no more than £30. And for this very reason - the theme options, support and integration of a lot of more recent wordpress features and integration techniques are missing.

1. Not sure what you mean. Please explain in a bit more detail. If the theme doesn't offer it you'll have to have a peep at the code.

2. Have you read the theme documentation included?

3. Pick a theme that offers this, or as many of the features as you need, then pay a freelancer a few quid to modify the small remaining changes.

4. Subdomains

Many thanks for the links in the other thread I am just not convinced they are the right match, just like the free stuff I tried. A lot of them seem to be a stack of blog post thumbnails with links, which is not what I want. Maybe I just can't visualise the right thing.

I am more than happy to pay £30 or more for the right one, but to be fair, I am not convinced I found a 100.00% (or even 80%) match yet. If they can't be customised easily to make it 100%, then you can guess the rest. I just hate the feeling when I am not in control (hence the whole issue with Zenfolio)

And can I use the same theme on both my wedding and landscape sites? I probably will want a slightly different layout and darker colour for the latter.

Probably what I need is just a simple clean ordinary website with a powerful gallery display. And then a wordpress blog in a subfolder.

---

1. The top of website (everything above menu bar) needs to be an image and a little bit of text in a specific position. It sounds very simple to me, yet I can't change it without getting deep into code.

2. No, where do I find it?

3. Surely this is a wodpress rater than theme specific feature?

4. ? I am going for Photoneta.com (Weddings - impersonal, sellable business) + drphotoart.com (landscape and commercial - personal) + maybe bristolphotos.co.uk (for a some Bristol related print and licensing campaigns)

 

[theurbanclown]

Many thanks for the links in the other thread I am just not convinced they are the right match, just like the free stuff I tried. A lot of them seem to be a stack of blog post thumbnails with links, which is not what I want. Maybe I just can't visualise the right thing.

I am more than happy to pay £30 or more for the right one, but to be fair, I am not convinced I found a 100.00% (or even 80%) match yet. If they can't be customised easily to make it 100%, then you can guess the rest. I just hate the feeling when I am not in control (hence the whole issue with Zenfolio)

And can I use the same theme on both my wedding and landscape sites? I probably will want a slightly different layout and darker colour for the latter.

Probably what I need is just a simple clean ordinary website with a powerful gallery display. And then a wordpress blog in a subfolder.

---

1. The top of website (everything above menu bar) needs to be an image and a little bit of text in a specific position. It sounds very simple to me, yet I can't change it without getting deep into code.

2. No, where do I find it?

3. Surely this is a wodpress rater than theme specific feature?

4. ? I am going for Photoneta.com (Weddings - impersonal, sellable business) + drphotoart.com (landscape and commercial - personal) + maybe bristolphotos.co.uk (for a some Bristol related print and licensing campaigns)

No problem. The bit in bold is most likely right - it is probably you that is holding back the development of your site. Wordpress has a steep learning curve, but once learnt it is an incredibly powerful and feature rich CMS. The things you are looking to do are very basic and pretty much any theme will support it, it's just working out how.

What exactly are you looking for? Name some features and hopefully I can point you in the right direction.

1. It's down to the theme you have chosen.

2. In the .zip file that you downloaded. It may not have one though, as it's a free theme.

3. Wordpress has thousands of options for displaying everything. Each designer picks the bits they like and implements it into their theme differently. Paid themes are much better at implementing them and more creatively too.

4. I'm not sure on this one. Maybe best to have separate hosting for each.