Previewing “Andrea”

  • embernickel · Member ·

    Hello,

    I love the color for “Andrea”, and I’m trying to see how my blog would look in that theme. Currently, it’s in Kubrick with a column of widgets on the right. Although Andrea is listed as a two-column blog, when I try to preview it, it’s just blog posts with widgets at the bottom. Is this really a two-column display, and if so, what are the two columns in the preview? Thanks.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • sl1k · Member ·

    If you want the widgets on the side you will need to pick the option “fixed width” via Andrea theme options… (Only after you activate the theme will you have the option to do this)

    As you can see in the screen shot of my test blog the widgets are on the side via the fixed width option → http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/1708/andreafixedwidth.png

  • embernickel · Member ·

    Thank you! Might give that a test.

  • embernickel · Member ·

    Actually, it looks like it’s been changed to preview the columns. Just what I wanted!

  • timethief · Member ·

    I just tested this theme in my test blog. If you select the flexible width option you can have a sidebar with widgets too.

  • wordsdivinelywrought · Member ·

    @timethief,

    Considering your visual challenges, do you find that Andrea offers greater readability than, say, Chaotic Soul? It seems to me that the type is a bit whiter — and, of course, there are the custom background color options in addition to the blue. Can you or anyone point me to resources re: background colors and how they enhance or detract from readability (e.g., warm vs. cool colors, etc.)?

  • timethief · Member ·

    Andrea is more readable than Chaotic Soul. Go for it. :)
    I am an artists you will find lots on color and blog design in my blog.
    Example: http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2009/04/09/blog-design-which-colors-do-you-use-and-why/

  • wordsdivinelywrought · Member ·

    Thank You!

  • sl1k · Member ·

    They must have tweaked the theme during the night or today because yesterday I couldn’t get the side bar option when I pick the flexible option…

  • embernickel · Member ·

    Hmm, I got the sidebar and widgets to work with both flexible and fixed widths, but that was last night.

    I almost changed over to Andrea, but I can’t stand the “compressing” of posts in the views you get when you click the month or category archives. Don’t suppose there’s any way to disable it so that they display full-length? If not, no problem.

  • timethief · Member ·

    @slik
    I think you’re right. It didn’t work the first time I tried it but it did a little later on.

  • timethief · Member ·

    embernickel

    I almost changed over to Andrea, but I can’t stand the “compressing” of posts in the views you get when you click the month or category archives.

    What you describe is common behavior in many themes. In Andrea I just tried using the excerpt box below the editor box on one posts. I copied and pasted the whole entry into the excerpt box. The result on Categories and Archives pages was what you want ie. the whole posts appears.

  • anygivensundry · Member ·

    I just activated Andrea because the color’s great for photos. I chose the flexible width, but then how do I change the width? Do I have to have CSS capability?

  • timethief · Member ·

    There are two choices for theme width found here > Theme Options

    Andrea Theme Options
    Choose a layout option:

    Layout Options Flexible-width Layout — Wide, flexible-width layout. Site width is fluid between a minimum width of 900px and maximum width of 1280px. Images in the main column have a maximum width of 1000px.

    Fixed-width Layout — Narrow, fixed-width layout. Site width is 700px and the main column width is 500px. Images in the main column have a maximum width of 500px.

    Any widening of the theme that exceeds 1280px. requires the CSS upgrade. If you have CSS editing experience, you can get the paid custom CSS upgrade and renew it annually. It will allow you to stylize the appearance of themes you find here > Appearance > Themes, but it does not allow you to change the functionality, by editing the underlying template. Also note that CSS is theme specific, so you cannot use the CSS stylesheets from other themes with the themes here at wordpress.COM.

    Since there is no official Staff support for the CSS upgrade, and precious little Volunteer support, I recommend that you don’t buy the upgrade unless you have at least moderate understanding of HTML and CSS because you must be prepared to do the work on your own.

    If you are considering purchasing the upgrade, you can go to Appearance > Edit CSS. There wordpress has provided a preview function where you can try before you buy.

    http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-css/
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/editing-css/

  • lance · Member ·

    I chose the flexible width, but then how do I change the width

    You don’t need to change the width—it adjusts itself based on your browser window size.

  • embernickel · Member ·

    Think I’ve got it now. Thanks for all the help!

  • The topic ‘Previewing “Andrea”’ is closed to new replies.