Choosing a WordPress Theme: The horror of it all!
While I am more than a little grateful to all those who share their expertise in creating “complimentary” WordPress Themes, I am NOT grateful for the inconsistency of coding and time wasted trying to repair a bad design/coding job. It amazes me that some will even put their names on the designs. IF I were a customer I would think twice before hiring them.
One Bad Theme is: Notebook
This was my “most favorite Wordpress theme: and because of this and my persistence and determination “not” to give up or give in because we needed to tweak it, a friend/colleague and I wasted four (4) days trying to fix it to just “do normal things” like bulleted lists, have consistent spacing in the sidebar, etc. It was not even that we wanted to do anything fancy. I am a reviewer and I wanted a simple, clean, crisp and easy to get around theme. I even tried visiting the “coder’s” site as her name and site were so boldly placed on the theme, however, what I found at http://www.php-princess.net/ was the message:
—– copied from website http://www.php-princess.net/ —–
Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
——————————————————————————–Apache/1.3.34 Server at http://www.php-princess.net/ Port 80
—– end copied from website http://www.php-princess.net/ —–
I am of the belief… “Things Happen!” However, this notice was on the site five (5) days that I am aware of. God knows how much longer it was there.
I then wrote to the WordPress “Notebook” themes designer. I am still awaiting a response.
While I chose this theme (Notebook) to publicly criticize, there were many which had coding inconsistences. The designs were phenomenal, but the coding had problems. Of course this would not be a problem to fix for those who are experienced in PHP and CSS. A backend coder I am not, but I will thank them for helping me to learn so much more about both scripting languages. Enough so, that I am no longer afraid to roll up my sleeves and try to fix a CSS and PHP theme. In fact, I want to learn more about CSS. Coming from prior careers in computer typesetting and production word processing it should be a piece of cake once I put my mind to it.
So, I hope you will be patient while I customize one of the original WordPress Themes that comes with WordPress — WordPress Default Theme. WordPress Default is one theme, that starts out being correctly coded and designed!
Posted by Roz Fruchtman / BlogViewsByRoz.com
3 comments
Hello Roz,
I’ve been following along on the blogging community list and know the frustration you experience, but as a theme developer, I feel I should offer a little light from “the other side.”
I cannot speak for the Notebook theme’s creator, but what you see a s a flaw in a theme may be something deliberately added by the theme’s creator.
Now, I’m well aware there are some poorly coded themes out there - but consider that the work done for a paying client (as opposed to a freely available theme) would most likely soar well beyond what is displayed.
I know the same can be said for my own free themes. Though I strive to provide excellent themes, I cannot guarantee they will work for everyone every time, nor can I make the time to fix whatever may happen for every person who asks. It’s simply not possible.
The old saying comes to mind, “You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.”
Please don’t take this the wrong way - but you do get what you pay for. Theme developers make their themes available for free - and are essentially giving away their time and energy - but they still need to put food on their plates and a roof over their heads.
If a well designed theme is what you’re after, then it may be wise to invest in a good designer.
Wishing you much success with your recent move to WordPress,
~ Teli Adlam
Dear Teli:
Thank you for being the first commentor on this topic and for this new Blog.
I absolutely agree… “One gets what they pay for!” I will add to that with my own version… “Free is free! You get what you pay for!” However, the Notebook Theme “Sidebar” spacing problem, truly is a flaw in coding as it is “not” consistent with the rest of the Sidebar spacing between entries.
In my own defense, I will say… I come for a prior background of “computer typesetting” and “production word processing, so I might be more sensitive to spacing than most, but this truly is a flaw in coding. IF we could have fixed it, I would not even be complaining, at my other saying is… “Things happen!”
BTW, I would like to publicly thank you for enlightening me on some of WordPresses other features. I look forward to the first WordPress book so there will be a reference for those of us who are not as proficient yet or need to learn the features more indepth!
Roz Fruchtman
BlogViewsByRoz.com
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