I can barely hold my excitement in as I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time now. For about the last week or so, I’ve been playing around with a new blog theme, completely in the background and undetectable to anyone.
Thanks to the plug-in Theme Test Drive, I’ve been able to install a new theme and customize a good portion of it behind the scenes. You’ve all been seeing the current theme while this was going on.
Missing the old theme already? Here’s a farewell snapshot…
In my excitement to roll out the new theme, I forgot to get the snapshot before enabling the new theme, so I had to find a cached version with the old theme… LOL.
As you may notice with the new theme, there is still a lot that needs to be done, most notably the footer area. I’ll get to that in a minute.
This new theme is a customized version of the FlexSqueeze Wordpress Theme, which is a completely customizable theme that allows you to create your own unique blog theme. I bought this theme on a recommendation from Dennis Edell, and I couldn’t be happier.
This theme had everything I wanted, and then some. The main thing I wanted was better navigation, and if you’ll notice, the page links are now below the header and to the left, rather than above the header and to the right.
The next thing I wanted was a feature area, which is right below the navigation. I can add whatever I want here, and I may be changing some of the offers over time. The newsletter opt-in will most likely be permanent.
You’ll also notice I now only have one sidebar (a big one at that) on the right-hand side. I also have two sub-sidebars below the main sidebar to add additional content.
Within the next week you’ll see changes being made to the sidebar. I already have plans for it, and once I get everything finalized and the way I want it, it shouldn’t change much after that. So, don’t be alarmed if you see random stuff disappear or appear over the course of this week.
At some point, I’ll be adding a custom header to replace the plain, boring one you currently see. It’s okay as-is, but I think I can make something that stands out a little better.
I’ll also be adding additional pages to the blog as well. Not sure when this will happen, but I know for sure that I’ll be adding a Comment Policy, Disclaimer of some kind, a Write For Us page, and a Resources page that contains tools that I use and recommend.
I Need Your Help
As with any new theme installation, etc., there is always the chance for some bugs/errors to occur. I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary yet, but if you come across anything, please make me aware of it so that I can get it fixed.
And lastly, as mentioned above, there is a feature section at the footer. I had played around with this, but I couldn’t come to a conclusion as to exactly what I wanted there.
So, I’m asking for you to recommend what I should do with that space.
What should I include in the footer area? Should I remove it altogether? Should I add the newsletter opt-in form there also?
I’m open to any and all suggestions.
I’m very excited about the new theme, and I think it looks more professional than the old one. I look forward to the new changes to come, as I hope you are too.
I appreciate and thank you for sticking with me and helping to make this blog what it is. I couldn’t have done it without all of you!
I took the weekend off (3 day weekend) to celebrate Independence Day and enjoy being with family and friends. It was great to just put business aside and relax and enjoy myself. The fireworks show in State College at Beaver Stadium was amazing; one of the top ranked shows in the nation. It was a blast… no pun intended.
