WordPress Theme
Note: I’ve setup a new blog just for my theme, Basic Simplicity. I’ll also be blogging about blogging over there.
Michael Janzen
my two cents
My Active Projects
from Tiny House Design
- Hut 2.0 – Tiny House Raising with Friends
- Solar Burrito’s Cabin – Update
- Minicabin JaraBacoa
- The Boxy Lady – Tiny Yellow House
- Rustic Elegance in the Catskills
- Hybrid Cob/Earthship Workshop in October
- Is a Travel Trailer a Tiny House?
- Road Limits for Tiny Houses on Trailers
- A Call for Cottages
- 14′ x 20′ Interior Space Ideas
from Nine Tiny Feet
- Responding to a comment from a reader
- Updated Design – Mini Cabin
- A Flying Wedge – Extreme 9 Square Foot House
- Another Way To Do 9 Square Feet
- Ah-HA! Don’t Frame It – Build Panels
- Nine TIny Feet Plans
- Google SketchUp 3D Drawings
- Nine Tiny Feet Section Drawings
- Nine Tiny Feet Plan Revision
- Found Two Free Trailers
Well their status are all “published.”
However, when I first go to Dashboard, none are “approved.”
Does this matter in terms of SEO, etc.?
I’m not sure what you’re seeing, but if a post/page is visible to the public (and search engines) there is no meta data I know of like approved/unapproved that would make any difference for SEO purposes. If the approved/unapproved indicator you’re looking at saying a post is not visible/published then there would be a problem
On multi-author blogs it’s common to have contributors, authors, and editors with different access levels to the content and ability to publish. But on a ‘normal’ single author blog approved/unapproved is normally not used.
Hi Michael –
Thanks for your response to my request to have no date on my sticky post.
I replace the code as instructed with
Posted by and filed in
and got this error message
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /home2/northsx0/public_html/blog/wp-content/themes/basic-simplicity/index.php on line 21
What did I do wrong — any ideas?
Thanks,
Judi
Judi… undo
You can get a fresh version of that file by downloading the theme again. Or you can remove the code you just added.
That error happens when a little php code is not put in the right place.
I hope you aren’t awake, that you’ll see this tomorrow…
I narrowed the sidebar to 210 whatevers from 310.
Is there now a way to make a little bit wider the “main” part, the part to the left of the sidebar?
haha… I’m always awake. just kidding
#content is the main content column. #sidebar is the right sidebar. Any pixels you add to the width of one you should be able to safely take from the other. Just be warned that Internet Explorer is really fussy with widths and layout. If the width of one extends to far, even by a pixel, it will cause the sidebar to fall below the content.
Hi Michael –
On my site I only use Posted Date Author — so my code looks like this –
Posted by
I have tried to add the code you supplied to it to make it work, but I’m doing something wrong.
Here’s what I tried.
Posted by
but I still get a syntax error.
Any ideas?
THanks
Judi
Hey Michael:
How important is the All-in-one SEO pack?
Isn’t wordpress already set up to be SEO friendly right out of the box?
Hi Michael:
Are you still there? I don’t even care about my question anymore; just hoping you’re okay…
Yep just fine. I’ve actually been posting a little more her and lots at tinyhousedesign.com.
If I missed a basic simplicity question please ask me again. Happy to help.
I’m glad you’re here…
Anyway I do happen to have a question:
Seems that wordpress has “upgraded” to a different version (3.1?).
Does that affect the Basic Simp theme?
Basic Simplicity should work fine in the newest versions of WordPress. I keep my blogs updated and have seen no problems with the older or newer version of BS.
Okay…
I just created my blog a few weeks ago with your theme. Should I “upgrade” it to the newest version of WP?
Also, how important is a site map?
The newer version is a few months old so you probably have it now.
By sitemap do you mean google sitemap or sitemap a user would use for navigation?
I don’t think either is necessary. A google sitemap is nice for SEO purposes. A navigation sitemap is nice (sometimes) for users who get lost, but I think the general consensus is that for a blog it would be unnecessary unless the content was highly structured.
Cool.
Now I did ask a question a couple weeks ago: How useful is the WP All-in-One SEO pack? Or will traffic just “arrive” organically the more I post?
Remember I am hoping to start doing business on my site.
Wordpress blogs are naturally optimized for SEO. If you use a google sitemap I think you increase the odds of the blog being cataloged correctly by google. Adding the SEO Pack you mentioned should improve your SEO too, but I don’t think it’s required because it’s just one small part of the SEO picture.
I think the most important part is that your content is well written, unique, useful, and plentiful. Keeping meta information, like keywords, tags, descriptions, page titles, urls, image attributes, etc is also very important. If you’re doing all the ‘right things’ for SEO the tools like the all in one seo pack just add icing on the cake, but without the cake, the icing will help you little.
Thanks!
Okay…
Two more (IF you have time):
1. Right under my post titles are
Filed Under: (and then the categories) and
Tags: (and then a list of tags)
How can I move this stuff so that appears at the end of a post rather than the beginning?
You’d need to open the index.php file in the theme (Appearance > Editor, select index.php)
Find
Just below that you’ll find the lines you are referring to.
Just below that you’ll see <?php the_content(‘Continue Reading »’); ?>
That piece of PHP code is what displays the post/page content.
If you move the lines you want at the bottom below that line of PHP code you’ve moved the meta info below the post.
BUT… be careful. Any time you make this kind of change backup your code in a text file (not word processor) so if you mess up the PHP syntax and create an error you can back out the code change.
You said…
“Any time you make this kind of change backup your code in a text file”
…but I don’t know what it means.
Do you mean log on to bluehost and backup everything?
All I meant was to open a text editor and paste in the code from page for saving locally. Then make the change. If it breaks go back to the text file with the code and copy and paste it back into the screen that just broke the page.
You could also FTP into your site and download a copy of the theme to your computer. (wp-content > themes > Basic Simplicity).
Short version… just nice to have an original pre-edited version handy.
I say use a text editor (like Notepad (windows) or Text Wrangler (mac)) because word processors usually screw up code.
I don’t have the words to sufficiently thank you, so I’ll just say THANK YOU.
you’re welcome. good luck to you
Okay Michael:
This may not be possible…
I’d like a link in the GRAY part right underneath the header to go directly to another website rather than to just another page on THAT website.
If it’s possible, how might I do it?
The bar at the top is in the header.php file (Appearance > Editor). Look for the list with this in it:
<li><a href="<?php echo get_option(‘home’); ? rel="nofollow">"><?php _e("Home"); ?></a></li>
That’s the home link. To code a link to another website just add another list item after that of the pages list that is built below that… before the </ul> tag. For example:
<li><a href="http://www.basicsimplicity.com/" rel="nofollow">Basic Simplicity</a></li>
Hi (yet again) Michael:
Is it possible to change the font in the header only? If so, how do I do it?
Yes, since the header is in a DIV unto it’s own you could add some custom css. The header id is #header. So this would change all the fonts in the header.
#header { font-family: arial; }
TO change just a part of it add more tags to the style.
#header .description { color: #00ff00; }
or
#header h1 { font-weight: bold; }
Hi,Michael,thanks for sharing this good template,but now,i have a question,i want to devide the sidebar to two columes, can you understand what i said,my english is not good.
It’s not easy to do and would require a bit of work to do. I don’t have that in my plans for expanding the theme.
But there is an easy trick that I use on several of my blogs. I insert a table into a text widget to slipt a portion of the sidebar. Works great.
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td width="120">Column One</td>
<td width="160">Column One</td>
</tr>
</table>
I also had a problem with dividing sidebar in two columns, and zour trick was useful. Side that, great template!
Hi Michael:
Is there a way to add a direct link to another site in the navigation bar? (Next to “Home,” “About,” etc.)
Thanks.
That cade is in Appearance > Editor, header.php
Just add the list item you want before or after the function that makes the list, similarly to how the home link is made.
<div id="navbar">
<ul>
<li><a href="<?php echo get_option(‘home’); ?>"><?php _e("Home"); ?></a></li>
<?php wp_list_pages(‘title_li=&depth=1&sort_column=menu_order’); ?>
</ul>
</div><!–end navbar–>
Hi Michael:
Another question…
What are the font types used in the header by default?
(Where the title of the blog goes, in the blue sky.)
Thanks as usual for everything.
Georgia, serif;
You can override with a little CSS in the Custom CSS field (Appearance > Editor, style.css)
Well here I am again with a question I hope you might be able to answer as adroitly as you have the rest…
1. In “Settings,” it asks for Blog Name and Tag Line.
2. In the All-In-One SEO pack, it asks for the home page title.
Is there a conflict between the two if they aren’t exactly the same? (Will Google be confused?)
Thanks as always.
I typically don’t use the All-In-One SEO pack on my blogs. So I can’t really answer your question. You might ask the makers of the plugin.
But as far as confusing Google or other search engines… I think there is little risk. Google is virtually omnipotent.
Okay. Thanks.
On this site (“My Two Cents”), the title on the header isnt a link to the home page like it is with the default Basic Simplicity theme.
Did you just leave stuff blank in the settings form, or did you check off “don’t show text”?
Hi Michael:
Is there a way to create dropdowns from the nav bar? A plugin, etc.?
I’ve not tried to add this feature and it’s not on my list. I think it’s very doable with javascript and CSS. You might look for plugins that do it, since my code is a simple list and should be compatible.