Guide to The Morning After

243 thoughts on “Guide to The Morning After”

1. 

   Thanks for this. While I love this theme, it is giving me fits on trying to make it work the way I want it to.

   Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 2, 2011, 17:21
2. 

   Hi Vivian!
   What does “the way you want” include? Is there anything I could help with?

   Posted by Panos | June 2, 2011, 22:53
3. 

   I admire the work you do so much. No one compares to you. :)

   Posted by timethief | June 3, 2011, 02:58
4. 

   Ouch ouch, the blushing effect again! Ok, I guess I’m good with some things, but with some things only, so thanks but please don’t exaggerate that much! Now can you tell me what do we do with James’ bullshit replies re the new HTML font? (For those who understand, you made your point, and I hope I added to it, but I feel it’s not enough… It’s a pity you don’t participate in our new TFCK.)

   Posted by Panos | June 3, 2011, 03:13
5. 

   Panos – Basically, I want the Asides before the Featured Posts, as explained here. If you can figure out what I need to do to make that happen, I’d love it.

   All of the other quirks I’ve managed to work around. (The lack of a link in the Asides, having to use the more tag in them, having to change them to regular posts when I want them to disappear, etc)

   Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 3, 2011, 03:14
6. 

   Perhaps I could figure it out, but it’s safer if our expert does it: I sent word to Juan (devblog) and I’ll let you know.

   What do you mean by “lack of a link in the Asides”?

   Posted by Panos | June 3, 2011, 03:32
7. 

   I didn’t want to bother Juan – he’s been so busy :(

   Without a more tag, there is no link to the Asides post on the front page (unless you have the recent posts widget). So if you use it as intended, there is no easy way to comment. I saw another theme (maybe it was Duster?) that makes the Aside clickable, which is as it should be.

   Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 3, 2011, 03:37
8. 

   Oh but Juan is great: has already responded, said he’ll check and see what he can do for you.

   Well, obviously asides in this theme are not meant to work like regular posts. And, as far as I can tell, you can’t make their comment tab or their title show up via CSS.

   Yes, Duster, probably other themes too (asides are currently supported in Beach, Duster, Liquorice, Mystique, Rusty Grunge, The Morning After, Toolbox, Twenty Ten and Vertigo.)

   Posted by Panos | June 3, 2011, 05:22
9. 

   Good to hear that!

   I understand that Asides aren’t meant to work like regular posts and no, there is no way to make them clickable like the other themes. I’ve taken to adding a more tag to the end of each one, just to give folks a chance to comment.

   Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 3, 2011, 05:38
10. 

    @Panos
    Off-Topic re: ugly HTML font in HTML editor
    I cannot use the HTML editor now and I used it a lot. onthelinker explains the problem very well

    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/ugly-font-appears-now-in-html-version?replies=3#post-617666

    I have posted again. See here > http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/ugly-font-appears-now-in-html-version/page/2?replies=3#post-618162

    Posted by timethief | June 4, 2011, 00:20
11. 

    Don’t worry: I’m keeping a close eye on that thread, and I posted again too!

    Posted by Panos | June 4, 2011, 04:47
12. 

    OMG!!
    I have been a bit out and away, but TPTB can not be serious about using that ancient un-friendly font?

    What is their justification? what: make the html editor look different from the visual editor?

    Do they have some 20 year-old who is interested in a retro-look? for some avant garde style / (fake) artistic “coolness”?

    Would it not be better to put a light-colored background or just a thin border around the html editor? If the reason for this atrocity is to make it easy for a wp user see instantly a difference between the two editors?

    Sorry, I do know this is not the place to complain. Just
    welllllll

    Posted by Tess | June 4, 2011, 07:24
13. 

    No problem, it’s me that started it! But I guess I’ll publish a post on this, with a poll.

    Funny thing is it’s not an ancient font, it’s a very recently designed one.

    The justification is that monospace fonts are supposed to be better for code (TT posted the Microsoft hype about their new font). But, as I just wrote in the forum, that might justify using it in the CSS editor, not the HTML editor. And even so, I don’t see how it’s an improvement over Courier.

    Posted by Panos | June 4, 2011, 15:47
14. 

    @Vivian: As you now know, Juan said it’s probably not possible. I wonder, would you settle for Asides and FPs side by side?

    Posted by Panos | June 4, 2011, 18:08
15. 

    Panos – I’m not sure what it would look like side by side or whether the width of the theme could handle it. Do you have a snippet of code that I could try?

    And the font thing is horrible.

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 4, 2011, 18:21
16. 

    These will give you an idea:
    
    
    (Don’t think I like them – too many columns.)

    Posted by Panos | June 4, 2011, 19:02
17. 

    Yeah, too many columns :(

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 4, 2011, 20:18
18. 

    But I would like to see the code. Just because I might need it again sometime ;)

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 4, 2011, 22:38
19. 

    Basic idea would be this:

    #home_featured {width:300px;float:left;}
    #home_asides {width:160px;float:right;}

    But it needs more details, to take care of content overflow etc. I would probably make the secondary sidebar narrower too, to make more room. Didn’t work all these out, since you weren’t sure you want it: the snapshots above are Photoshop, not CSS!

    Posted by Panos | June 4, 2011, 23:04
20. 

    I love two features of this theme:
    1) Position absolute;
    2) The Excerpt function.
    By them, especially the first, I can make my blog looks like a real magazine website without CSS upgrading.
    You may check it out.

    Posted by Ma Sang Ji | June 7, 2011, 10:03
21. 

    OK – you gotta tell me how you did all that! Plus, how did you get different pictures in the template heading on different pages???

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 7, 2011, 18:40
22. 

    @Ma Sang Ji: Very interesting – thanks for dropping by!

    @Vivian: No CSS – it’s all HTML.
    • The Featured Posts section shows up top right because its HTML has been placed into a text widget in the Homepage Feature Widget Area. Same widget includes the logo and the header image.
    • Rightmost column (grey tabs plus tags) is the regular primary sidebar.
    • All the rest is one text widget in the secondary sidebar – heaviest text widget I’ve ever seen! Left and middle left column placed there by position absolute, middle right column normal.

    As for the different header images, again placed by position absolute (code in the content of each page).

    Posted by Panos | June 7, 2011, 21:15
23. 

    I’ll have to take a look at that. Not sure I understand what you’re saying.

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 8, 2011, 03:10
24. 

    More properly: no CSS editing – all HTML and inline CSS.

    Hope this will make it clearer:
    

    A isn’t the actual Featured Posts section, it’s the sourcecode of the FP section pasted into a text widget in the Homepage Feature Widget area.

    B is the primary sidebar.

    C is a text widget in the secondary sidebar.

    Rest is:
    div float left: d1 – div float right: d2
    clear both
    div float left: d3 – div float right: d4
    All in the same text widget with C, placed under the latest post via position:absolute.
    (Or aren’t you familiar with position absolute?)

    You understand the drawback: everything has to be updated manually.

    Posted by Panos | June 8, 2011, 04:37
25. 

    Thank you for your attention. :)
    Yes, I have to update my homepage manually. (I don’t have to update the rest pages.) It takes less than 5 minutes for every updating. It is a light duty, especially when we compare it to the effect, isn’t it?

    Posted by Ma Sang Ji | June 8, 2011, 08:46
26. 

    Thanks, panos. I’ve been so busy I hadn’t had a chance to digest it. Ma Sang Ji – it’s lovely. But too much work for me.

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 9, 2011, 04:59
27. 

    You’re welcome, Vivian!

    @Ma Sang Ji: It’s very clever and I find it admirable, but like Vivian I probably wouldn’t do it. How often do you update it?

    By the way, I think you need some blank space between the latest post and the two columns below it.

    Posted by Panos | June 9, 2011, 05:21
28. 

    I like this theme, however, why there is a template heading? how to remove it? Thanks.

    Posted by R&R@R Reading Club | June 10, 2011, 00:05
29. 

    Hi,
    Answered here:
    http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/the-morning-after-theme-second-sidebar-doesnt-show-up?replies=5#post-622641

    Posted by Panos | June 10, 2011, 03:33
30. 

    Panos, I appreciate all the work you do on this blog, and although I don’t comment much, I do a lot of lurking. I’ve been noticing the high number of magazine type themes WP has been introducing, and I have to admit I’m somewhat tempted to make the switch, but wonder what the pros and cons of the “old-school” blog style vs. the magazine style are? Do you have any thoughts on that topic?

    Also, if I do make a switch to another theme, what happens to the featured headers that I worked so hard to get to the right dimensions for my old theme (2010)? Will they look weird being forced into the larger or smaller dimensions of the new theme?

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 20, 2011, 02:21
31. 

    Magazine-style themes are more interesting visually, but they can also be a bit confusing to visitors accustomed to conventional blogs. Whether such a theme is better or not depends on the content and the nature of the blog.

    My thoughts, in short:
    Try it if you prefer the more extravagant look, and if you’d like to showcase various older posts.
    Don’t try it if you prefer to concentrate on writing, without spending much time on appearance, if you prefer to highlight the latest post only, and if you prefer full posts on the main page.

    Related articles:
    http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/28/magazine-themes-usage-and-considerations/
    http://www.dirjournal.com/articles/magazine-layout-for-blogs-inspiration-and-caveats/
    http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/blog-design/magazine-theme/

    As for the header, if you check my post on header images you’ll have great difficulty finding two themes with the same image dimensions. So if you switch to a different theme, you’ll have to create a new version of your header image, in the exact dimensions specified for the new theme: no escaping that, magazine or no magazine.

    Posted by Panos | June 20, 2011, 19:12
32. 

    Thanks for those very helpful thoughts and links. This gives me much to think about. I like the idea because it allows me to feature older posts and I think is more visually stimulating, but I would still prefer to have at least the latest post as a full post on the front page. I guess my e-mail subscribers would still receive a link to the full post in their daily e-mail, so that isn’t too bad. The point on one of the websites you mentioned about possibly losing the personal feel for a more corporate feel is also an important consideration I hadn’t thought about. And of course, changing all those previous featured headers from the old dimensions to the new seems an insurmountable task. Kind of makes me wish I had never used featured headers once they became an option in Twenty Ten.

    Thanks!

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 22, 2011, 00:31
33. 

    You’re welcome.

    I think the free wp.com magazine style themes aren’t complicated enough to give a really “corporate feel”.

    If having your latest posts in full plus showcasing some older posts is more important to you than the visual novelty, you can stick to a conventional theme and do the showcasing in your sidebar. Bueno can do that automatically:
    https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/featured-postsimages-in-bueno/
    In all the rest you can do it with HTML in a text widget.

    PS1 Since you mentioned subscribers, is your RSS feed set to full or summary?

    PS2 Your question tempted me to try it myself! I’ll be switching to The Morning After shortly…

    Posted by Panos | June 22, 2011, 06:29
34. 

    Lol, clicking that link reminded me that I was already thinking about a new theme this time last year, since I was the first commenter! It also reminded me that I just really prefer the wider themes, since I have lots of pictures. Most of the more recent themes seem to be getting narrower and narrower. Soon they’ll be doing little columns a few characters wide! I am drawn to the new 2011 theme, which has that option for a showcase page, but again, the narrowness has got me hesitating.

    My RSS feed and e-mail subscription is set to summary to make them click through. I’m not as addicted to Site Stats as I used to be, but I do get down when my numbers are bad, which is somewhat juvenile, but there it is.

    Maybe I’ll wait and see how you like The Morning After before making my decision!

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 22, 2011, 06:49
35. 

    The more I look at it, the more tempting TMA is. One thing I don’t like is the cluttered look of two sidebars side-by-side, which seems to be automatic on the home page. But I do like being able to have the latest post in full, and above the Featured Posts.

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 22, 2011, 07:34
36. 

    Watch out, in 2011 single posts lose the sidebar, and the main column doesn’t become wider to make the lack of sidebar a useful thing.

    Ok, you’ll see ‘my’ TMA soon (won’t be exactly the standard look).

    Of course I find it more reasonable for a subscriber to have to visit the blog instead of being able to read the whole post as a mail. But the other reason why summary RSS is better is scrapers: most of these sploggers rely on the RSS feed, so if they repost your posts at least they don’t get the full content.

    Posted by Panos | June 22, 2011, 17:24
37. 

    Ah, ok, never knew that about scrapers. My content is pretty narrow, but even I have found my stuff a few times picked up in full on other, supposedly “local news” sites. I don’t mind excerpts that send readers to my site, but to have your full article picked up is pretty upsetting.

    Didn’t know that about 2011 either. Another reason I won’t be making the switch to that theme. My other authors are also now leaning toward The Morning After, so maybe that’s where we’ll end up. The good thing about TMA as opposed to Delicious Magazine, which is where I started on this journey, is that a switch to TMA would involve work but we could always switch back to 2010 if everyone hated it. Whereas with DM, the initial cost would probably make us take the leap and not be willing to admit we made a mistake.

    If we do switch to TMA, I know I’ll be using this post and comments as a guide to my modifications of it! Thanks!

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 22, 2011, 18:16
38. 

    Something that’s always bugged me about every theme I’ve used is that Category and Archive pages are limited to displaying the same number of posts I have set for the front page. It looks to me on TMA that I could set this number much higher since the front page isn’t under the same constraints as before. Do I have this right?

    Also, presumably I could change the font to something larger through the new Typekit interface? Has anyone tried that? I found the old way unusable, but hope the new way is useful.

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 22, 2011, 18:32
39. 

    Posts per page: Yes you’ve got that right.

    Changing fonts: New way is easy, but old way is free! But old way allows you to change the font family only, while new way allows you to change the size too.

    Posted by Panos | June 22, 2011, 20:16
40. 

    I’m really enjoying this format as the start for transitioning my blog from Blogger. Is there a way to make the Archives, Categories and Blogroll column collapse? They’re right next to the Recent Posts column, and together it’s too messy.

    Posted by notteresa | June 23, 2011, 22:49
41. 

    Blogroll no. Archives and Categories can be turned to dropdowns: Appearance>Widgets, open respective widgets, check dropdown option, save. Read this first:
    https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/the-no-widgets-paradox/

    But before you do any of that, you need to change your bg image: 1.9MB and 4000px wide is unnecessarily huge, takes too long to load – for a visitor with a slow connection, the browser will time out before loading it. Browsers display images at a resolution of 72, so there’s no point using an 180dpi image: you need to edit the image in an image editing application, change the resolution to 72, preferably optimize it for the web too, and upload that version.

    Posted by Panos | June 23, 2011, 23:20
42. 

    I know NotTeresa asked for a drop down but wouldn’t scroll bars work, using in-line HTML?

    And Panos – you’ve got some cleverly placed text widgets. I’ll have to take a closer look at those.

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 24, 2011, 00:27
43. 

    • Yes, scrollbars would work, but that would mean custom lists in a text widget which you’d have to manually update all the time.

    • Be my guest and check my sourcecode! Or ask me, if that’s easier – I accept orders too!

    Posted by Panos | June 24, 2011, 04:12
44. 

    Ah I guess the difference is that I have the CSS upgrade (or whatever it’s called now) so I have the scroll bar info in my CSS for the blogroll (and other wiggets).

    I’ll be sure to ask about the text widget placement if I can’t figure it out :) Thanks!

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 24, 2011, 17:12
45. 

    You’re welcome Vivian – yes, that’s the difference…

    Posted by Panos | June 25, 2011, 02:43
46. 

    Just made the switch and have spend about an hour cleaning up the mess. Now sure whether I like it or not yet. I had hoped to be able to have the newest post full text on the home page, but then I found that if I click that, it also makes all the featured posts full text. I got around that by inserting the “More” tag on those, but it still added the Share buttons (Facebook, Twitter, Print, Email, etc.) to each and every featured post, which looked really odd. Now I’m a bit grumpy :-(

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 25, 2011, 08:08
47. 

    For full latest post, you copy the content from the HTML editor and paste it into the Excerpt module (provided the images are narrow enough to fit in the main page column).

    But the whole point of this type of theme is that a visitor can see your stuff, including the featured posts, without scrolling. So you must not display the latest post in full if its very long: use the Excerpt technique to display a longer excerpt than the auto one.

    And don’t forget this:
    https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/clickable-header-in-vertigo/#comment-19210
    Note that in your new theme you forgot to select “Fixed” for the bg image, so any visitor will see the different color (till you correct it) if s/he scrolls down.

    Posted by Panos | June 25, 2011, 09:11
48. 

    Got it, thanks for that reminder!

    One of the things I do like about this theme is the wider single post column, so I doubt we’ll have many images narrow enough to fit in that main page column except as thumbnails. Does the theme automatically change the featured image to fit in that column?

    That Secondary widget area on the home page is kind of a nuisance. I’m not sure what to do with it. I could have my category list, but it’s very long–much longer than the primary widget area. I wish I could get my Flickr widget to be more compact, like the flash badges are, nice little rectangular blocks instead of a long scroll.

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 25, 2011, 17:08
49. 

    Got the Fixed part only. You also need to change the hex in Appearance>Background>Color to:

    #30275c

    Posted by Panos | June 25, 2011, 19:15
50. 

    Ok, I did that, but I thought you said to change the hex color to the second color in my Photoshop gradient–that’s the color I had put in there.

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 25, 2011, 20:45
51. 

    a) You didn’t do that: I’m still seeing the lighter purple below the gradient image.
    b) Yes that’s what I had said – I don’t know why it didn’t work. Maybe the gradient produces a mix at the end instead of the pure second color, or maybe WP messes with the colors.

    So you can try the alternative I was talking about:
    1) Appearance > Background: remove the bg image.
    2) Media > Add New: upload the image and copy the URL that’ll show up.
    3) Appearance > Widgets: add a text widget to the primary sidebar and paste this code in it:

    <img style="position:fixed;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:-11;" src="IMAGE URL HERE" />

    Posted by Panos | June 25, 2011, 22:33
52. 

    I’m not sure I understand the problem with the background color. I did end with a lighter purple, so it looks like it’s the image I uploaded. I used the purple because my header had dark blue skies fading to purple, but now I notice that with the tiny narrow header, it’s cut off the purple, so maybe it doesn’t make sense anymore.

    Are there any interesting text widgets based on categories you might recommend for the secondary sidebar? I’m thinking of maybe using that as a way to highlight certain categories each week, but easy so I just have to change a word or two in the code to switch to a new category. Otherwise, I’m at a loss about what to do with that area to make it not so scattered and visually disorienting. This is the area of the theme that kept me hesitating for so long.

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 26, 2011, 06:09
53. 

    Yuck, here’s a weird font thing that apparently is the way TMA handles block quotes (which I use a lot): http://misspreservation.com/2011/06/07/hopeful-update-on-matty-hersee/

    UGLY! why so huge?!

    Almost is a deal breaker for me. Who would ever have though a font almost twice as large as the paragraph font was a good idea for a long quote?

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 26, 2011, 06:19
54. 

    a) See this image again:
    
    A visitor with a screen resolution higher than yours sees more of your content. And sees a lighter purple where your bg image ends. You should either add the hex I suggested (in Appearance > Background: Color field – don’t forget to click Save Changes afterwards), or use the trick with the text widget instead.

    b) What do you mean by “are there any interesting text widgets”? By itself, a text widget is a blank canvas – can contain practically anything, and can be fashioned any way you like using code. For example, the Reference Posts box on my homepage and the items below it are a text widget. If you want to “highlight certain categories each week” and tell me exactly how you’d like that widget to look like, I can easily work out the code for you.

    c) Same goes for your blockquotes. Agree, the default ones are gross, and I would never use them. How would you like them to be? indented? italics? different font? different color? bg color? enclosed in a frame? with a vertical line on the left side?

    Posted by Panos | June 26, 2011, 12:51
55. 

    Re: blockquotes: unless I misunderstand, we can fix blockquotes that we create beginning now, but we can’t fix those from the previous 700+ posts, probably two-thirds or three-fourths of which have block quotes. The only way to do that is through CSS? And since one of the main reasons for switching to this theme would be to point people to older posts more easily, it makes me almost ready to go back with 2010 until a better magazine format comes along. One which doesn’t embarrass me with its crappy block quotes.

    I’m very upset about the block quotes–not sure if that comes through or not :-)

    As for the gradient, I’m really getting confused. I have never seen a problem on either my new Mac or my Vista PC, but I had put the hex you gave me in and this is what happened–similar to the problem you’re seeing, but a different purple:
    

    So I changed it back to the original hex, which seemed fine on both my computers. I will do the sidebar widget instead and see if that works. Thanks!

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 26, 2011, 20:18
56. 

    I stretched the original background image and uploaded it as a new image. Do you see any strip now?

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 26, 2011, 20:24
57. 

    Yes I can still see the different color. Do the widget trick instead.

    No you didn’t misunderstand: I had to change the HTML in about three-fourths of my posts too (for different reasons). And yes, the only way to correct the blockquotes once for all is via the Custom Design upgrade.

    Posted by Panos | June 26, 2011, 20:35
58. 

    Text widget background done–any change?

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 27, 2011, 03:39
59. 

    Yes – width:100% and height:100% in the code means make the image fit the whole browser window, so it guarantees that all visitors will see what you see no matter what their screen resolution.

    Posted by Panos | June 27, 2011, 04:33
60. 

    Ah, seems like that should be, by definition, the normal condition of the background image.

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 27, 2011, 04:37
61. 

    Well, I’m sorry to admit (or am I?) that my workaround is better than the ‘official’ option…

    Posted by Panos | June 27, 2011, 04:41
62. 

    I did get a complaint from one of my other authors that he was seeing the blue behind the main text section, not just on the outer edges. For now, I’ve changed back to just a plain non-gradient background color, but would like to get your thoughts about why he was seeing that. Browser?

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 27, 2011, 07:07
63. 

    Smells like… Explorer. Could you please tell your author to check my blog and tell us what s/he sees – maybe take a screenshot too, if possible? Also what browser and version s/he is using.

    Posted by Panos | June 27, 2011, 19:57
64. 

    Yep, you’re right. Here’s a screenshot from IE: http://misspreservation.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/wordpresstipsexplorer.jpg. I took this from my IE on a Vista PC, and I’m not sure how to find out what version of IE it is.

    On another note, I think I’ve decided to use the secondary sidebar on my home page for a vertical strip of photos, each linked to a separate post–kind of a “Featured Post’ but with images instead of excerpts. Titled something like “What’s the Story?” I was looking at the Image widget, but it seems like I can only put in one image at a time there, whereas I’m thinking of a strip with 3-4 images. What do you think–should I just put in multiple Image widgets or is there a better way to do with with one text widget?

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 29, 2011, 02:55
65. 

    Never mind on the second question, unless you have issues with the Image widget–I can do multiple image widgets in a row, and just use a title with the first, so that look like a vertical strip (mostly).

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 29, 2011, 03:07
66. 

    Jesus Christ! I will keep this screenshot as a monument, to show it when I have to tell people that IE is a lousy browser that ignores web standards… I had to revert to the “official” way of adding the bg image: could you please give me one more screenshot of my blog from that author’s browser?

    Those photos are a nice touch. Multiple image widgets is ok. Advantage of a text widget: photos can be made to open in a new window. Disadvantage: you have to work with code.

    Posted by Panos | June 29, 2011, 19:27
67. 

    Screen shot from tonight: http://misspreservation.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/wptips.jpg

    There are lots of things I like about TMA, but after a trial run this week I may go back to 2010 and wait for a theme that better fits my needs. Some of my regulars have complained about not being able to see more than one post at a time, etc., but I’ve learned that I can use the image widget in my sidebar for a kind of Featured Post so maybe I’ll just add that to 2010 and keep an eye out. I do like the look of the home page though. . .

    Posted by ELMalvaney | June 30, 2011, 04:32
68. 

    Thank you thank you!

    I’m convinced that no free wp.com theme is completely satisfactory. (When WP launched the Theme Showcase site, they asked for my opinion. Among other things I told them that for every theme I like I have a “but” to say, so I would be more modest and write “find the theme that best suits your blog” instead of “find the perfect theme for your blog”.)

    Some suggestions:
    Inuit Types – magazine style but displays several posts on the main page (including highlighted ones).
    Bueno – conventional layout but has a featured posts widget.
    Vigilance – has a wide sidebar above the two narrow ones.
    Under the Influence – can display two post columns.

    Posted by Panos | June 30, 2011, 04:54
69. 

    The blockquotes in TMA were one of the first things I changed in the CSS. I can’t believe they coded them that way – not only are they ugly, but they detract from the rest of the story.

    As for one post on the page, I use the recent posts widget in the secondary side bar. I’ve seen others use the featured posts area for recent posts instead.

    Except for the theme I coded from scratch, all of the themes here at wordpress.com have issues. TMA is closest to fitting my needs but I’m not 100% satisfied. I am going to re-post an earlier request about positioning of asides in the CSS forums now that we have official support there.

    Posted by Vivian J. Paige | June 30, 2011, 17:08
70. 

    I thought I would outwit the theme by not using the block quote feature and simply indenting and making the font italics, but now I find that the theme interprets any indent as a block quote, so my formatting options are really limited. If I stick with this theme, I guess I’ll have to spring for the custom design upgrade. :-(

    Posted by ELMalvaney | July 1, 2011, 06:30
71. 

    @Vivian: I wouldn’t place high hopes on the “official” CSS support.

    @EM: “the theme interprets any indent as a block quote”? I was surprised to read this, tried it in my blog, cannot reproduce it.

    As I said in another comment, you can format your bloqkcuotes any way you like in the HTML editor. For indented italicised bqs that override the huge bold font, turn this:

    <blockquote>

    to this:

    <blockquote style="font-size:100%;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;">

    You can save this in a simple text file and copy-paste it each time you need it.

    Posted by Panos | July 1, 2011, 17:42
72. 

    Looking further into the Indent=Blockquotes thing, it only happens when I try to indent a bulleted list, which is unfortunate because that’s when I would normally use it–indenting a sub-list under an already-bulleted list.

    Posted by ELMalvaney | July 5, 2011, 04:22
73. 

    Can’t reproduce that either. Here’s a nested list:

    • ITEM ONE HERE
      • SUB1 HERE
      • SUB2 HERE
      • SUB3 HERE
    • ITEM TWO HERE
      • SUB4 HERE
      • SUB5 HERE
      • SUB6 HERE

    Posted by Panos | July 5, 2011, 10:12
74. 

    Code taken directly from here:
    https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/codes-useful-for-text-widgets/

    Same thing shows up in a post or a page, only difference being the bullet styles (black disk – hollow disk).

    Posted by Panos | July 5, 2011, 10:17
75. 

    Now it’s not doing the blockquote thing, but it’s not indenting either. Here’s the link:
    http://misspreservation.com/2011/07/01/linking-around-for-the-long-weekend

    And here’s the relevant section:

    Bad news from Norman, Oklahoma about Bruce Goff’s Bavinger House. (Bruce Goff also designed our own Gryder House in Ocean Springs.) Apparently it was damaged in a recent tornado/storm and the owner has gone back and forth about tearing it down–in fact he claimed to have already demolished it, but aerial photos reveal the building still standing. Read the strange saga in several installments:
    Bavinger House future uncertain (Norman Transcript)
    Part of Norman’s Historic Bavenger House Topples (News9 video)
    Goff’s Signature Work in Shambles (Oklahoma Modern

    Posted by ELMalvaney | July 6, 2011, 02:44
76. 

    With code:

    [Removed – P.]

    Posted by ELMalvaney | July 6, 2011, 02:45
77. 

    Ah, I see what you mean now. If you try to indent some items in an unordered list, they become nested for a moment then the whole thing turns to a series of plain lists. I don’t know if this is or was the right way to create a nested list, as I had never tried it in the past (I never use the visual editor). What I know is that a) this procedure currently produces wrong list code, b) the problem has to do with the visual editor, not with TMA in particular. For correct results, you need the code I’m giving in the post I linked to.

    As for your “with code” follow-up, first check point 4 here:
    https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/comment-guidelines/
    Second you don’t need to do such a thing when we’re talking about a published post or page: I can see your code.

    Posted by Panos | July 6, 2011, 06:02
78. 

    Hi,
    Is there anyway that I can have more than one latest post? I know you can use Featured posts but it would be easier if the 10 latest post appeared in cronological order outomatically.

    /Barbara

    Posted by Platonblog | July 7, 2011, 15:01
79. 

    Hi Barbara,
    I replied in the forum too: TMA doesn’t work that way. My post clearly says and shows latest post (singular). If it could be plural, I would have mentioned that in the post and I would have explained how to do it. If you want your ten latest posts on the front page, then you can use any theme except TMA and a couple of others.

    Posted by Panos | July 7, 2011, 18:45
80. 

    I’ve switched to this theme after seeing your blog. I’m glad I did now because I like the overall look and I think it presents a more professional look. I’ve played with other themes but I won’t be changing from this one.

    Posted by Mike Hardisty | July 12, 2011, 22:15
81. 

    And now I have a question. I like your graphic underneath the blog title. Is there a way I can insert a graphic of my own or is it as I suspect only allowed if you go for an upgrade which I think is part of the Custom Design.

    /Mike

    Posted by Mike Hardisty | July 13, 2011, 01:51
82. 

    Your suspicion is wrong! I specialize in HTML and inline CSS, so I’ve done it without the Custom Upgrade. And actually it’s a semi-transparent image in front of the title, not underneath it. If you wish, I can show you how to do it. Do you want a transparent one, like mine, or a logo that will replace the regular blog title? Can you figure out the right dimensions yourself?

    Posted by Panos | July 13, 2011, 13:12
83. 

    Thanks for replying. I think the dimensions are 586 x 95, at least that’s what I think is the size of your graphic. I would like to go for a transparent one. I will be re-sizing and cropping one of my panorama photographs to fit.

    Posted by Mike Hardisty | July 13, 2011, 14:00
84. 

    <div style="position:absolute;width:50%;top:16px;left:20px;-moz-opacity:0.3;opacity:.30;filter:alpha(opacity=30);">
    <a href="BLOG URL HERE"><img src="IMAGE URL HERE" /></a>
    </div>

    Yes, mine is 586×95, but yours doesn’t have to be exactly the same. In fact I would be happier if you didn’t make it project past the left border of the theme like I’ve done.

    Upload your image in Media > Add New, copy its URL, then paste this into a text widget in the primary sidebar:

    <div style="position:absolute;width:50%;top:16px;left:20px;-moz-opacity:0.3;opacity:.30;filter:alpha(opacity=30);">
    <a href="BLOG URL HERE"><img src="IMAGE URL HERE" /></a>
    </div>

    Change the top and left numbers to adjust the positioning, change the three opacity numbers to adjust, er, the opacity.

    Posted by Panos | July 13, 2011, 23:22
85. 

    Panos thanks for that information. I have had a rough go at it, but I need to refine it slightly. Unfortunately I’m off on a trip tomorrow morning so it will be Wednesday before I can correct it and get it right. Once again thanks for the help

    Posted by Mike Hardisty | July 14, 2011, 01:03
86. 

    Love how you break down the parts of this theme. It helped me fix some minor issues I was having! Unfortunately, I still can’t get the header image to show up on any pages except tag pages (i.e. http://sarcozona.org/tag/climate-change/). Not sure what’s going on and having trouble finding anyone who’s had the same problem!

    Posted by sarcozona | July 18, 2011, 19:17
87. 

    Yours isn’t the standard look of the theme. Looks like you’ve got the Custom Design Upgrade and have applied some changes. If so, what exactly have you done?

    Posted by Panos | July 19, 2011, 07:12
88. 

    This article has been super helpful! I believe I’m having the same problem as sarcozona.

    I’m working with the theme & for some reason, the custom header image I have uploaded will not showcase on the homepage like I want it to, or on any posts or pages for that matter. It only appears on category feed pages, such at the /topics/blog page or /topics/news. I can’t really find any info on this problem. Any advice would be greatly helpful.

    Posted by Gina | August 3, 2011, 17:17
89. 

    What I hadn’t noticed is that sarcozona’s site is self-hosted. If that’s the “same problem” you’re having, then I cannot help, as my blog is about wp.COM sites. Link to the site in question please!

    Posted by Panos | August 3, 2011, 17:29
90. 

    Hi

    I was considering to switch over to TMA. I liked almost everything except two things:

    1. No Custom Header (The one which replaces the blog title and tagline)
    2. The width of the post is tooo huge fr my content (At least that is what i feel abt it)

    I will be trying to solve the 1st issue by ur way of position:absolute.

    Abt the 2nd point, as far as i remem, the post width is 740-ish. I want my content to have a max width of abt 650. Any ideas how to tackle it?

    Posted by genobz | August 12, 2011, 00:39
91. 

    For widths, see here:
    https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/maximum-image-width/

    For themes that allow you to hide the original title and tagline see here:
    https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/header-images/

    Do I understand correctly that you don’t have the paid Custom Design upgrade? Without the upgrade you can’t change widths in a theme. You could use HTML in each post to constrain the width, but if you want 650 instead 750, the gap between the post and the sidebar would be too much to be considered anything other than a mistake in design.

    In your other comment you mentioned “categories as grids”. What do you mean by that?

    Posted by Panos | August 12, 2011, 02:09
92. 

    Hi Panos,

    I finally sprang for the Custom Design because I liked alot of things about TMA except for those horrible block quotes and I thought the post text should be a little bigger. Anyway, I’m still puzzled by the behavior of bullets in this theme. Can you look at this post: http://misspreservation.com/2010/10/27/history-of-art-in-ms-modern-office-structures/ and tell me how to fix the bullets at the bottom of the post so that they indent like bullets are supposed to? I assume this is something that’s easily fixed in CSS but I’ve not found it although I’ve looked around on the web and WP.

    Posted by ELMalvaney | August 12, 2011, 05:07
93. 

    Oh, congratulations!

    Add this to your CSS:

    ul,ol { margin-left: 3em; }

    You can change the number to adjust the indenting (can be decimal too).

    Posted by Panos | August 12, 2011, 05:46
94. 

    Hi Panos!

    U guessed it right, I dn’t have any upgrades.

    I am interested in modifying the width of text since i feel 740 is a bit too much for my content making it a bit difficult to read. (When I change my theme to TMA). or do you think 740 will work? (for the content on my blog)

    Abt one possible solution i was thinking of putting my text in a table. (A table with 3 columns, with the first and third column blank and the second column with the post text). I thought this would give a feel of centred text with width 640. plus the gap b/w post & sidebar won’t appear to be a flaw.. What do you think?
    But I don’t think it will work coz the format will also apply when viewed on a mobile device which would make it awkwardly displayed.

    btw, in my other post i mentioned ‘Categories as Grid’. I have tried to make it easier for a new visitor to select what to read (Coz my blog has posts on too many categories.. :( )
    I have put this up here – http://genobz.wordpress.com/home/ . I have put this as a static main homepage.
    Basically, I made suitable images for each category and put them up to form a grid. What do you think?

    Posted by genobz | August 12, 2011, 14:46
95. 

    So you meant the grid of images on your front page as it is now, not something new. I told you I liked that. But if you’re thinking of doing something similar with TMA, then you don’t really need TMA: its chief merit is its special main page, while for your grid you’d need a static page as your front. Besides, with a grid like that you can turn any theme into a magazine-style theme of sorts.

    For the rest:

    Main column width in TMA is 750, not 740.

    As you certainly know, the longer the lines of text and the smaller the font size, the more difficult it becomes for the eye to folllow. So I agree, TMA is a bit too wide for its font size.

    Table??? You don’t need a table for blank columns left and right: you just add left and right margins. To turn 750 into a centered 640, you would do it like this:

    <div style="margin:0 55px;">
    COMPLETE CONTENT HERE
    </div>

    Or literally center the content and give it the width you prefer:

    <div class="aligncenter" style="width:640px;">
    COMPLETE CONTENT HERE
    </div>

    I’ve no idea what happens with mobile devices. If you mean you would have too much blank space and too little text, you could try percentages instead of absolute values:

    <div style="margin:0 7%;">
    COMPLETE CONTENT HERE
    </div>

    Or:

    <div class="aligncenter" style="width:85%;">
    COMPLETE CONTENT HERE
    </div>

    If you can check these in a mobile device, let me know.

    Mobiles apart, in my opinion a centered main column doesn’t really fit with the overall design of TMA. (But if you like it, it’s your blog, not mine!)

    A possible compromise might be enclosing the whole content in a border, with padding instead of margins:

    <div style="border:1px solid #ccc;padding:24px 54px;">
    COMPLETE CONTENT HERE
    </div>

    An alternative might be increasing the font-size:

    <div style="font-size:120%;">
    COMPLETE CONTENT HERE
    </div>

    Posted by Panos | August 12, 2011, 16:18
96. 

    wow! it never occurred to me that so many better alternatives were possible!
    many thanks for that.

    You are right, i’ll device something else for TMA front page. (When I have some time at hand)
    as for the posts, i’ll probably just increase the font size and try to see if it works.

    Thanks a lot!
    (I’ll be away for quite some time now, since i am moving out of town to join my new workplace.)

    Posted by genobz | August 12, 2011, 21:28
97. 

    You’re welcome.

    Clarifying one detail re the codes above, just in case you’re not familiar with it: when you put two values for margin or padding, the first refers to top & bottom, the second to left & right.

    Posted by Panos | August 12, 2011, 22:51
98. 

    ok will keep that in mind :)

    Posted by genobz | August 13, 2011, 09:20
99. 

    GENOBZ, I like the image grid you have–very cool!

    Panos, I inserted that code into my CSS and it doesn’t appear to have made any difference. Something I did wrong?

    Posted by ELMalvaney | August 14, 2011, 08:42
100. 

     Please link to a post with bullets so I can check.

     Posted by Panos | August 14, 2011, 13:57
101. 

     @Elmalvaney – Thanks so much. Means a lot. I was doubtful over it being useful or irritating to a new reader. But I’m glad Panos and you find it good enough. I’m thinking of moving my blog to TMA, but since i have very less time at hand, it is doubtful when that will happen.

     Posted by genobz | August 14, 2011, 16:05
102. 

     Here’s the post: http://misspreservation.com/2010/10/27/history-of-art-in-ms-modern-office-structures/

     Posted by ELMalvaney | August 14, 2011, 19:28
103. 

     The snippet I suggested has been added to your CSS – the problem is the HTML of your post: the three items are enclosed in li tags, as they should, but the ul tags that should enclose the whole thing are missing.

     Posted by Panos | August 14, 2011, 19:52
104. 

     Hi Panos, I was trying to test TMA on my test blog with my main content.
     But i am facing few issues with it. I hope you have managed to find a workaround for these.
     1. The Like Box. The height of the Like box can not be altered from widget settings. Is there any way to decrease it’s height? (to about half of its present)
     2. The Sticky post section shows square featured images. Since, all of my posts have featured images in 4:3 ratio, the thumbnails have those images cropped from the sides which does not look pleasant. Any way to show them in 4:3 so that i am able to see the complete image? (max size = 150px sq thumbnail)

     Thanks in advance.

     Posted by genobz | August 14, 2011, 23:18
105. 

     Sorry, the answers are no and no…

     Posted by Panos | August 15, 2011, 02:12
106. 

     ohk. no probs. in that case, i’ll simply start using square featured images for my new posts and add margins on top and bottom of the current featured images to make it 1:1 aspect ratio.

     Posted by genobz | August 15, 2011, 16:04
107. 

     @Panos – I installed the TMA theme in my quest to find a nice three-column, custom header theme that didn’t just look absolutely awful for a sports blog. I got a number of things set up for fallmeansfootball.com, but it wasn’t until I posted the second post before I realized this was apparently a one-post front page. Is there any way to change the CSS to simply stack posts in blog format?

     If not, are there any other solutions besides constantly changing out featured posts (which I still don’t know how to do) and switching to another theme?

     Thanks for the help.

     Posted by Sam Morton | August 17, 2011, 07:22
108. 

     Hi,
     My post clearly says that the homepage in TMA displays the latest post (singular) etc.!

     CSS controls how a theme looks (colors, fonts, distances, and so forth), not how it works: that’s controlled by the underlying php files of the theme, which we cannot access.

     So, no, there are no other solutions: if you prefer the conventional blog format, simply forget TMA.

     For themes with two sidebars see here, under “Two or three sidebars” and “Sidebar(s) plus bottom and/or header”:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/sidebars-and-other-widget-areas/

     Posted by Panos | August 17, 2011, 08:46
109. 

     Hello, Panos and friends,

     Your posts and conversations have been so helpful!

     My WordPress.com site is http://kankakeegazette.com/. I have the CSS Upgrade.

     I have read and reread this Morning After guide and comments. And read and reread Position Absolute Pt 1. These widgets are just what I needed to create the vertical columns I’ve been trying to format for the home page. I could not get the sticky posts to line up in two columns of various length divs.

     I have added three text widgets in my secondary sidebar. Two have position absolute code – one is the article I mentioned and the other is a mask for the text “latest post.”

     When I placed the widget “County passes redistrict map” in the secondary sidebar, the primary sidebar repositioned itself. On the home page, the primary moved beneath the secondary. On the other post and category pages, the primary and secondary sidebars are in their proper place.

     I thought clear:fix or clear:both – which I had not added to the widgets – might solve this. I Firebugged myself around Ma Sang Ji ‘ s wonderful site but nothing I tried resolved this.

     KankakeeGazette.com is a work-in-progress which I am keeping private until ready. I made it public tonight so you can look at it when you have a chance.

     If there is another way to do the columns that would work, I’d be happy to try it!

     Thank you so much for any help.

     Joanie

     Posted by kankakeegazette | September 13, 2011, 06:45
110. 

     Hello and thank you for this guide!

     I am afraid this is going to look like a stupid question, but I cant find an answer and I would be thankful if anyone Knows it.
     http://www.soundofspain.com/ The General Prefix not only shows up but also It apprears in a different line than the word “home”. I went to TMA – Options – Templeate heading and tried both leaving it blank and writing a different prefix.

     If I save the settings it will be blank for a while but then it will come back again. (I though about my cache, I refreshed the page, tried two different browsers)

     I would prefer not having the prefix at all, but if this is not possible I would like to have it in the same line than the word home.

     Thanks in advance.

     Posted by Gambusino | September 13, 2011, 06:58
111. 

     @KG:

     “When I placed the widget “County passes redistrict map” in the secondary sidebar, the primary sidebar repositioned itself.”
     That’s because you’re missing one closing div tag at the end of the widget.

     Other things to note:

     • When you use position:absolute, the positioning is taken care of by the top, left and width numbers; float:left has no place in it, and you must remove it, along with the accompanying clear:both command you’ve added.

     • The more tag doesn’t work in text widgets: you need a regular link.

     • You have enclosed a couple of h3 tags in div tags, which is pointless.

     • To change the color of a link via inline CSS, you must add the style attribute inside the link tag – see here:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/codes-useful-for-text-widgets/

     • In the HLA MEA CUPA widget, you’ve written:
     div text-align:justify
     TEXT
     /div
     div text-align:justify
     MORE TEXT
     /div

     If what you wanted is two justified paragraphs, it should be:
     div text-align:justify
     p
     TEXT
     /p
     p
     MORE TEXT
     /p
     /div

     But be careful with justified text in narrow columns: it may produce nasty gaps such as those you’ve got in the second line of that widget. See end of this post for remedy:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/formatting-text-pt-2/

     Posted by Panos | September 13, 2011, 11:13
112. 

     @G: Sorry, I can’t help. See point 1 here:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/comment-guidelines/

     Posted by Panos | September 13, 2011, 11:30
113. 

     @Panos: Thank you! Thank you! I’ll make the corrections and be back later.

     Posted by kankakeegazette | September 13, 2011, 16:18
114. 

     Sorry I didn’t post in the right place. Do you know where can I get assistance at least? There is no support for this theme. Woo Theme does not provide any support for this theme either. It´s a pity because I love it, but I will have to give up with this.

     Posted by Andrés | September 13, 2011, 21:43
115. 

     Try the wp.org forum:
     http://wordpress.org/support/

     Posted by Panos | September 14, 2011, 01:33
116. 

     Thank you!

     Posted by Andres | September 14, 2011, 03:09
117. 

     Is it Possible some person with complete setting share the exported setting file.I also request to post author to provide the settings.Thanks

     Posted by asifparacha786 | September 28, 2011, 14:09
118. 

     Sorry, I don’t understand the question – please try to explain more clearly.
     Also, you need to make your username link to your blog, or paste the URL of your blog here.

     Posted by Panos | September 28, 2011, 23:17
119. 

     Me gustaría preguntar por los Asides. ¿Por qué no puedo hacer que desaparezcan de la home pero que no se pierdan como una entrada? Lo encuentro absurdo. Me gustaría que se pudiera limitar el número de Asides a una cifra concreta (5, o 10, o 8) y poder gestionarlos.
     Si existe manera, por favor, díganmelo.
     Gracias

     Posted by abctendencias | October 7, 2011, 19:39
120. 

     I understand Spanish a little, but I don’t speak it, so what you’re asking is quite clear to me but I can only reply in English.

     No, there’s no way to limit the number of Asides displayed (the relevant option in Settings>Reading doesn’t apply to them).
     I wouldn’t say I find it absurd, but I would certainly find it more reasonable if you could set their number (as you can do with some widgets, for instance the Recent Posts or the Recent Comments widget).
     The logic of the designer probably was that Asides are for short temporary notices (for example “our team will meet on Sunday at 2 o’clock” etc.) which you delete after they’ve served their purpose.

     Posted by Panos | October 7, 2011, 23:02
121. 

     @Panos: Thank you for your help last month. Now I think I have another missing but can’t find where. When I moved the three header images in text widgets from the primary sidebar to the secondary sidebar (so they only display on the Home page), the primary sidebar dropped to the bottom of the page on the left. I do use Firebug but nothing I’ve tried over the last week has fixed it. Thank you for helping!

     Posted by kankakeegazette | October 17, 2011, 09:02
122. 

     That’s because In all three widgets you’ve got one closing div tag too many. Each opening tag must be paired with its corresponding closing tag – no more, no less.

     Further remarks:
     a) You don’t need three widgets for three images placed at the same spot: you can put all the code in one widget.
     b) You don’t need to place each image via position absolute: you’re unnecessarily burdening the browser with the same information three times. Better enclose all three images in one div with position absolute, and just add a right margin to the first two images.
     c) Since the images you have uploaded are in the right dimensions, you don’t need the width and height indications: removing them gives better quality.
     So in all your code can be this:
     http://textsnip.com/44657e

     On another issue: There’s some other mistake that has displaced your whole footer section to the right, driving the WP credits outside the content area. That’s showing up the same on all pages (even 404 ones with no widgets at all), so the mistake must be in your CSS. In the CSS editor, do you add only the changes you want to make, or have you pasted the entire stylesheet of the theme then make changes to it?

     Posted by Panos | October 17, 2011, 12:14
123. 

     Thank you, Panos. I must have added the extra closing divs when I was first having trouble adding the images and positioning correctly. Something I really should have noticed! Also, I understand what you’re saying about burdening the browser. I will follow those guidelines and be more careful now.

     About the footer: I only add CSS changes and keep a running current copy of all the CSS changes I’ve made. I was trying to add a small copyright image on the left of “KankakeeGazette.com. (There is a rough draft of the image on the County tab – it’s a little large and needs some further design work.) I had not found a way to eliminate some of the space between the blog title and the WordPress theme. Is there an appropriate way to do this?

     I just removed the padding I added:
     #footer {
     padding:1em 0 0 220px;
     }

     The blog is still private as I obviously am not ready yet to publish this newspaper! I made it public last night so I could ask for your help. Thank you so much.

     Posted by kankakeegazette | October 17, 2011, 16:32
124. 

     You’re welcome.

     Yup, that padding was the culprit.
     (By the way, if that padding was the right thing to do, again you didn’t need to add all four values since you wanted to change one of them only: instead of writing “padding:1em 0 0 220px;” you could write “padding-left:220px;”- but that’s not an important detail.)

     The “footer” section contains two side-by-side sections: “copyright” (your blog title) and “credit”, each one 470px wide. So you understand that to displace the blog title only, you need to add padding-left or margin-left to #copyright, not to #footer. But you also need to decrease the width of the section by the same number of pixels, otherwise there won’t be room enough for the credit section and it’ll fall below the copyright section. So, for example:

     #copyright {
     margin-left:70px;width:400px;
     }

     Posted by Panos | October 17, 2011, 20:26
125. 

     Thank you again, Panos. Now I can finish my logo/copyright design and add it to the footer area.

     One other question: is there a way to turn off the archive post meta data “Comments Off”?This appears on my menu category tabs and search results. I have been able to turn off all the comments and related meta except this one remaining mention.

     Posted by kankakeegazette | October 18, 2011, 06:50
126. 

     Thank you very much for your help, after reading this, I just started using this theme, It just amazing !!
     Could you please help me in adding some images in sidebar with links to my posts ??

     Thank you

     Posted by msbuzzz | October 19, 2011, 10:43
127. 

     @KG: As far as I can tell, you can hide the whole archive metadata but not the “Comments Off” indication alone.

     @MB: You can use image widgets:
     http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/image-widget/
     You’ll need the URLs of the posts and the URLs of the images.
     Click on each post title and copy its URL from the address bar of your browser.
     Upload the images in Media > Add New and copy the image URLs you’ll get.
     Better presize the images to the proper dimensions in an image editing application before uploading them: this way you getter better quality, plus you avoid problems with Explorer (if you use larger images, the Image widget will downsize them but Explorer might not understand that).

     Or you can use coding in a text widget:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/codes-useful-for-text-widgets/

     Posted by Panos | October 19, 2011, 17:00
128. 

     Thank you very much Panos, I will go ahead with Text widget, Amazing you are !!

     Posted by msbuzzz | October 19, 2011, 17:10
129. 

     One little weird quirk in TMA is that when you’ve got a bulleted list, such as http://misspreservation.com/msarcht/, the links don’t really show well in the bulleted points. You can see that there are certain points that are linked by running your cursor over them and seeing a hand and finger, but otherwise, they look just like normal text. Is there a CSS way to deal with this to make them look like normal links, or do I have to do each one manually?

     Posted by ELMalvaney | October 25, 2011, 06:08
130. 

     Add these:

     .post_text ul li a {
     color: #125AA7;
     }

     .post_text ul li a:hover {
     color: #000;
     }

     But this is an oversight in the theme: you’d better report it in the Themes section of the forum, so the theme team see it and fix it.

     Posted by Panos | October 25, 2011, 11:02
131. 

     Hello Panos, Many thanks for very helpful guide. I have a problem with Header Links in the Upper Section. As I did not know where to look for the appropriate URL (the default provides only two), I copied the provided one and modified the end (Archives, Contact). It only worked halfway, i.e., icons appeared (in correct Vietnamese) but on click I got “Looks like the page you’re looking for has been moved or had its name changed.” Please kindly help. Thank you.

     Posted by Dạ Hương | October 27, 2011, 02:03
132. 

     Hi,
     Those links are optional, and there’s no “appropriate URL” until you create the right pages yourself. But let’s start with a link to the blog in question: the one linked to your username is using DePo Masthead.

     Posted by Panos | October 27, 2011, 02:24
133. 

     Could you pls tell me how to create right pages for Archives and Contact? As the new blog with this theme is under construction, I keep it private until I’m happy with it. Is there any way I can let you see it without others to see? Please advise. Many thanks.

     Posted by Dạ Hương | October 28, 2011, 01:47
134. 

     You can let me see your blog if you go to Settings>Privacy and invite me as a viewer. My username is panaghiotisadam.

     If you need a Contact page, you’ll go to Pages > Add New, create that page, disable comments and pingbacks in the Discussion module, and add the WP contact form:
     http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact-form/

     Same thing to create an Archives page – if you need one. What do you need that page for?

     Posted by Panos | October 28, 2011, 02:18
135. 

     Re-posting your message here:

     Hi Panos, I got the Contact page correct, many thanks. For the Archives, I was thinking of using that Icon to take viewers to an archive of posts, instead of using Archive Widget, so that I can save some space, plus, Archives as Widget tend to run down on and on (that’s perhaps why some bloggers remove this widget entirely). Is there any way to organize it better? Sorry for very basic questions that are not really related to the theme. Thanks again.

     The Archives widget doesn’t have to “run down on and on”: you can set it as a dropdown. But the Archives widget sorts your posts by month, so it’s not the equivalent of a list of posts.

     One way to create an archive of your posts is the archives shortcode:
     http://en.support.wordpress.com/archives-shortcode/
     This will automatically display all your posts in chronological order.

     If you don’t like that, you’ll have to create a list of posts by adding links to them in a page – see for example my list of posts (arranged by topic and broken into a series of numbered pages):
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/list-of-posts/
     But such a list of posts will have to be updated manually each time you publish a new post.

     On another issue: categories vs tags. There are three things to consider: a) search engines, b) global wp.com tag pages, c) your blog.

     a) Categories are more important than tags. Tags have been greatly abused, so search engines nowadays look at your content rather than your tags.
     b) For the global wp.com tag pages, categories and tags are the same thing: tags.
     c) Categories should be the main sub-groups of your posts while tags (optional) should be other keywords associated with the content of a particular post. The Categories widget displays all the categories assigned to published posts while the Tag Cloud widget displays up to 45 tags. A category and a tag with the same name are the same piece of data: if you edit the one the other will change as well.

     So, in short, pay more attention to categories, not tags, and never use the same word or phrase as both a category and a tag: there’s absolutely no point doing that plus you’ll run into technical problems if you do it.

     Posted by Panos | October 29, 2011, 06:01
136. 

     Many thanks for your tips. I’ll try the archives shortcode when there’re more posts.

     I’ve found your advice re. tag vs. categories very helpful as I was a little confused of their use. In many blogs tags seem a good way to catch readers’ attention. But if I am to choose between eye-catching and ease in search, I’d definitely opt for the latter.

     Related to search, is there any other (safe) way to generate and submit a site map instead of upgrading to the bundle? I’m not ready to upgrade but would love to increase search outcomes on Google or elsewhere. I’ve come across some site map generator site, e.g. http://code.google.com/p/sitemap-generators/wiki/SitemapGenerators but am not sure of its pros and cons. Glad if you can help.

     Posted by Dạ Hương | November 2, 2011, 09:29
137. 

     You’re welcome.

     1) If you prefer the “eye-catching” effect the Tag Cloud would give you, then instead of the Categories widget you can use the Categories Cloud widget: same effect as the Tag Cloud, without the limitations. Or you can use both the Categories widget and the Tag Cloud widget – just don’t use the same word or phrase as both a category and a tag.

     2) Those generators would require modifying the underlying PHP files of the theme or adding a plugin: that is, they are for self-hosted blogs, not wp.com blogs. But when you have a wp.com blog you don’t have to do anything: all wp.com blogs have their XML sitemap automatically created for you.
     http://en.support.wordpress.com/sitemaps/#xml-sitemaps-for-search-engines

     Posted by Panos | November 2, 2011, 12:45
138. 

     I just replaced my blog title with an image per your instructions to Mike Hardisty. Thought I was going to have to pay for the custom design option or do without. Awesome and thanks!

     Posted by Inger Wilkerson | November 4, 2011, 05:52
139. 

     Panos, your CSS for getting the bulleted links to look right worked like a charm. I tried to adapt it for pages too, since those are also messed up, but it didn’t work: http://misspreservation.com/101-mississippi-places-to-see-before-you-die/

     Any hints? As always thankful for your help and advice.

     Posted by ELMalvaney | November 4, 2011, 07:05
140. 

     @IW: You’re welcome. Yes, normally you would need the CD upgrade, but some things in some themes are possible without it. And WP isn’t happy about it:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/positions-absolute-relative-and-others/

     @EM: Sorry, hadn’t thought it might be different for static pages. Change my previous suggestion to this:

     .post_text ul li a, .page ul li a {
     color: #125AA7;
     }

     .post_text ul li a:hover, .page ul li a:hover {
     color: #000;
     }

     Posted by Panos | November 4, 2011, 12:07
141. 

     love the Theme, hope you guys will add to it:0)

     Posted by Anonymous | November 4, 2011, 23:52
142. 

     You rock, Panos! Thanks a bunch for all your help!

     Posted by ELMalvaney | November 5, 2011, 03:05
143. 

     Very good theme. Definitely the best I’ve seen.

     However, I have two reservations:
     The fact that the secondary sidebar cannot be removed is a real shame; I have, as you advised one of the previous users, added a text widget and entered “”. Still, the waste of space is quite significant. Is there no way, without CSS customization, to reduce this waste of space?
     The second thing is the limitation to only one ‘latest post’ on the home page. I’ve read your suggestion to use features (sticky) posts, but it is a serious downside. Is there no way to change this feature to allow more than one recent post?

     My blog: http://mideastreporter.wordpress.com/

     Best

     Posted by Mideast Reporter | November 14, 2011, 19:56
144. 

     Sorry, the answers are no and no. All wp.com themes have limitations – don’t forget they’re free themes.
     Removing the secondary sidebar, and narrowing the whole theme or widening the latest+featured posts column, is possible if you have the paid Custom Design upgrade and experience in CSS editing. The huge blank space you’ve got at the moment looks plain wrong: you must find something useful to put there!
     Showcasing the latest post (only) is simply how this theme is designed to work: you cannot change that – even if you have the Custom Design upgrade.
     In short, if you don’t like these two features, then TMA isn’t the right theme for you.

     On something else now (totally unrelated to your questions): never use the same word or phrase as both a tag and a category. There’s absolutely no point doing that, plus you’ll run into technical problems if you do it.
     1) Categories and tags help visitors isolate posts they’re more interested in (if you have added the respective widgets). Categories are supposed to be the main subgroups of your posts, while tags (optional) are supposed to be other keywords related to the content of a particular post. Note that the Categories widget displays all the categories assigned to published posts while the Tag Cloud widget is limited to a maximum of 45 tags (the most used ones).
     2) For the global wp.com tag pages that may help someone find blogs/posts they’re interested in, categories and tags are exactly the same thing: tags. And that’s why a category and a tag with the same name are actually the same piece of data: if at some point you find you need to edit the one, the other will change as well (so what you’ll have to do is delete the duplicates and re-create them). Also, the more the duplicates, the more the chances you may be considered a tag spammer and get excluded from some global tag pages.
     3) Search engines pay some attention to categories but not to tags. Tags have been greatly abused (to deceive users and drive traffic to sites with irrelevant content), so search engines nowadays look at your content rather than your tags. Watch Google’s own Matt Cutts:
     Is it worth spending time on creating tags and categories?

     Posted by Panos | November 14, 2011, 22:16
145. 

     Thank you for your answer.
     For the issue of the secondary sidebar and the way the blog looks: the aim is to have the blog look as much as possible as a news website. For this, it must be simple, with little extra, not needed material. It must be easy for the user to spot what’s important: the different posts and their content, rather than the different widgets around. That’s the reason why I left this blank in the middle (I may in the future upgrade to CSS editing to reduce the gap): I’d rather have such a blank than a page that is not clear and intuitive for the user.
     As for the tags and categories, though I am aware using only categories would be easier and as productive, the Tag Cloud gives a very good look to the page, rather than the plain and lengthy list of categories.
     Do you see other aspects of the blog that could be improved?
     Thanks for the help, it is much appreciated!

     Posted by Mideast Reporter | November 15, 2011, 02:59
146. 

     Also, could you please send me the CSS code for widening the latest+featured posts column?

     Posted by Mideast Reporter | November 15, 2011, 03:11
147. 

     You’re welcome.

     • That huge gap in place of the secondary sidebar is very bad design-wise: looks like a flaw plain and simple. If you want your front page to be “simple, with little extra”, then I will insist that TMA isn’t the right theme for you.

     If you’d like a theme that can highlight several posts near the top of the page, I suggest you take a look at the new iTheme2, with its “carousel” featured posts slider:
     http://itheme2demo.wordpress.com/

     Or you could try Inuit Types or Chateau, two themes that can display excerpts of several posts in two columns on the front page.
     See here (the boxed featured posts are optional):
     http://inuittypesdemo.wordpress.com/
     And here (second screenshot under “Multiple Archive Styles”):
     http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/chateau/

     • I didn’t suggest you use no tags or no Tag Cloud widget: what I tried to explain is that you must not use the same word or phrase as both a tag and a category. As for the widgets, a) the Category widget can be collapsed into a dropdown instead of a lengthy list (check mine on my front page), b) if you like the fancier look of the TG widget, then instead of the Categories widget you can use the Category Cloud widget: same look as the TG, and without the max 45 limit.

     • As for “the” CSS code, it’s not that simple: you need to remove the secondary sidebar, change the width of the right half of the front page, change the width of the left half of the front page, change the width of the featured posts section, and maybe make other minor adjustments I can’t foresee (personally I would increase the font size as well, as it’s rather small for an appreciably larger width); so please spare me the trouble for if and when you buy the upgrade (if you finally stick with TMA).

     Plus there’s a problem with the featured image of the latest post: its dimensions aren’t specified in the CSS, they are specified in the underlying files of the theme, which we cannot access. You can leave it as it is, but then there will be too much white space next to it; or you can use CSS to blow the image up, but then it will lose quality as well as occupy too much of your front front page.

     So again I would advise you against the whole idea. Perhaps a better way to take advantage of the extra width would be to place the featured posts next to instead of below the latest post (possible via CSS editing, again requiring lots of changes).

     But I wouldn’t do that either. In my opinion you should select a theme whose basic features and layout best suit your purposes: you will never get really satisfactory results when you try to twist a theme into something very different than its original conception.

     Posted by Panos | November 15, 2011, 08:24
148. 

     I will keep this theme. It is too good looking to give it up.
     I’ll overcome these downsides.
     Before buying the CSS upgrade, a last question: will it be possible to make those changes we talked about exclusively on the home page? Meaning other pages will stay the same.

     Posted by Mideast Reporter | November 16, 2011, 16:50
149. 

     Quoting myself: “remove the secondary sidebar, change the width of the right half of the front page, change the width of the left half of the front page, change the width of the featured posts section“, “place the featured posts next to instead of below the latest post“. The whole discussion was about the home page only – the other pages are already the way you’d like all pages to be.

     But please tell me: if you don’t like the single latest post, the featured posts, and the second sidebar, then what exactly do you like much in this theme?

     Posted by Panos | November 17, 2011, 02:02
150. 

     I never said I didn’t like the featured posts, I actually like it very much, now that my page is up and running.
     I wish there were more than a single latest post (but I’ll manage fine like this, using the featured posts, the ‘asides’, and the sidebar’s “recent posts” widget) and I wish there wasn’t a second side bar (but hopefully, through CSS, we’ll fix this), but that’s all.
     I love everything else, the design, the menu, the way the title and subtitle look, the search section…etc. It’s just perfect for what I need: a simple, intuitive, well-designed page.

     We do not have to place the featured posts next to instead of below the latest post, right? I’d rather have slightly larger pictures in the latest posts and featured posts and a wider primary sidebar, with still a little gap between the two areas to keep this feeling of a spacious and clear page.

     Ps: I am now purchasing the Custom Design upgrade

     Posted by Mideast Reporter | November 17, 2011, 12:55
151. 

     Dear Panos,
     Now that I’ve purchased the Custom Design upgrade, could you help me with the CSS needed for the changes we discussed?
     Thank you

     Posted by Mideast Reporter | November 21, 2011, 21:23
152. 

     Hi again,

     I’ll give you the basics; for refinements and further changes, you’ll post your questions in the CSS section of the wp.com forum: users who buy the CD upgrade are entitled to staff support.

     No secondary sidebar, latest post and featured posts wider – paste this in the CSS editor:

     #home_left {
     width: 730px;
     }

     #home_right {
     width: 210px;
     }

     .secondary-sidebar {
     display: none;
     }

     .feat_content {
     width: 713px;
     }

     As I’ve made clear, I don’t like the result at all. Alternative (no secondary sidebar, featured posts next to latest post):

     #home_left {
     width: 730px;
     }

     #home_right {
     width:210px;
     }

     .secondary-sidebar {
     display:none;
     }

     #latest_post {
     float:left; width:310px;
     }

     #latest_post_image img {
     width:310px; height:206px;
     }

     #home_featured {
     float:right; width:400px;
     }

     .feat_content {
     width:380px;
     }

     (The relative widths of the two columns can be freely adjusted. For example, to make the FP column narrower and the LP column correspondingly wider, you’ll decrease the 400 and the 380 by a certain amount, increase the 310 by the same amount, and increase the 206 in proportion.)

     Posted by Panos | November 21, 2011, 23:34
153. 

     Thank you,
     With the basics you gave me, I managed to arrange the page the way I wanted.

     Posted by Mideast Reporter | November 22, 2011, 01:33
154. 

     You’re welcome.
     (Obviously I don’t agree with what you wanted, but it’s your blog, not mine!)

     Posted by Panos | November 22, 2011, 04:38
155. 

     Good evening all! First time commenter, though I’ve been using WP for over a year now. I just launched an online magazine and decided to add weekly updates to it through WP. I started the blog with Under the Influence. The look was okay but I wasn’t satisfied so I switched to The Morning After. After spending a weekend nursing a cold as a good excuse to go Private and make the conversion, I jumped in with both feet. Long story made even longer, I was also using an e-mail distribution piece to guide traffic to the site. 4 months of that and my site stats were still pretty dismal! After I made the conversion, looking at my stats, I’ll probably hit 100 views today! A new site high!!! I give full credit to the new layout and some serious promotional hype!!!

     Question: Is there a way to make my ‘Asides’ summarize instead of displaying the entire article? All I’d like is a few lines from the piece followed by a “read more here…” type link A story came in this evening that I set as an aside and the whole freakin’ thing is right there at the bottom of the site!!!

     Any help would be GREATLY appreciated…

     Posted by Michael Paragon | November 29, 2011, 03:04
156. 

     Of course there’s a way. An aside is a post: just as with any other post, you can insert a read-more tag where you want it.
     http://en.support.wordpress.com/splitting-content/more-tag/

     Posted by Panos | November 29, 2011, 03:44
157. 

     How do you purchase a paid Custom Design upgrade

     Posted by Vincent | November 29, 2011, 20:22
158. 

     Dashboard sidebar > Store.

     Posted by Panos | November 29, 2011, 21:59
159. 

     All I can say is OMG!!! I do my best to use WP on the fly and I think I manage pretty well! I’m now going to begin peeking behind the curtain more often! Thanks for the info…this will give me the look and feel that I was striving to deliver!!! You guys are PRICELESS!!!

     Posted by Michael Paragon | November 29, 2011, 23:50
160. 

     You’re welcome. You’ll find many “peeks behind the curtain” both in the wp.com forum and here.

     Posted by Panos | November 30, 2011, 18:18
161. 

     Hi Panos, I recently switched to using your TMA theme with my blog on wp.com, looks great!
     I noticed some changes in the Post Editor however that I’d like to ask whether there are fixes:
     1) When I insert a bullet, type something, then either I click the Bullet button again or Outdent button, the editor automatically wraps that text around with something like this some text. Some situations it made the font size small (haven’t figured out how to replicate it) but in all situations it will put the text in double span tags. Is there a way to get around this?
     2) In the Visual tab of the editor, the text starts to wrap around slightly more than the halfway point of the text box. The HTML tab view wraps around just fine. It will be good if the word wrap can stretch per the width of the text box.
     3) In the published web posts, bullets are aligned with non-bulleted text above, but in the editor, the bullets are slightly left shifted compared to the text above. When I copy and paste the text in the editor to MS Word, the bullets remain left shifted. Is there a way to make this show correctly?

     I appreciate the effort that has gone into making the theme, and for making it free! If there are some quick settings that I missed that can fix the above, that’ll be great, if not, just checking. Thanks.

     Posted by whatheheckaboom | December 7, 2011, 06:09
162. 

     the span tags didn’t show up properly in my earlier comment (point 1). I don’t know how to make tags show as text, so i’ve changed the with [ and ] here:
     [span style=”font-size: small;”][span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”line-height: 24px;”] some text
     [/span][/span]

     Posted by whatheheckaboom | December 7, 2011, 06:14
163. 

     Hi,

     a) You can’t display code in a comment just by pasting it – see point 4 here:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/comment-guidelines/
     But when you’re talking about code in the HTML editor of a published post or page, you don’t need to show it to me: I can see your code.

     b) “Some situations” isn’t very helpful: point to specific posts or pages.

     c) Are you copypasting from Word into the editor? If so, how exactly? (Visual or HTML editor? Direct pasting or via one of the special buttons?)

     d) To (partly) answer no.3: The editor is not a WYSIWYG editor. It’s a generic tool, designed to work the same way no matter what the theme. But the styling of each theme is different. You can change any part of that styling once for all if you have the paid Custom Design upgrade, and you can change it on a post-by-post basis using code in the HTML editor. More on this after your responses to b and c.

     PS What does “your TMA” mean? If you think I’m WP staff, well, I’m not!

     Posted by Panos | December 7, 2011, 18:02
164. 

     Hi Panos, my questions are on the changes in the behaviour of the Visual editor after I switched to the TMA theme (sorry I thought you created the theme because you posted the guide above).

     b) If you go to http://whatheheckaboom.wordpress.com/test-post/
     Password is “password123′, view the source. You can see the tags that automatically popped up when I perform the specific actions that I wrote in the 3 scenarios. The tags are generally similar to <span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"></span></span>

     c) Not copy/pasting, typing from scratch.

     d) I’m happy if the Visual editor is a generic tool, but the behaviour seemed to have changed after switching to the TMA theme, like those automatic tags that pop up, and halving of the word wrap width (within the Visual editor). I kept having to go back and forth between the HTML and Visual editor to delete those span span tags that pop up, so writing posts take more time.

     Posted by whatheheckaboom | December 8, 2011, 05:46
165. 

     Ha! No I didn’t design the theme: WP sometimes launches tricky themes without providing sufficient instructions for users, I’m one of the most experienced volunteers in the wp.com forums, and many of my posts are designed to give definitive answers to forum questions.

     Now, re your test page:

     a) I’m getting absolutely none of this no matter what I try. What browser and version are you using?
     b) Browser issues apart, I don’t see why these scenarios: to create a bulleted list, you just type the list items as regular paragraphs (hitting return after each one) then highlight the whole list and click the UL button.

     If both a and b prove to be no good for you, you can of course create the list manually in the HTML editor. Code here:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/codes-useful-for-text-widgets/

     And, to complete the reply to no.3 of your previous comment, whether unordered lists are indented or not is the theme designer’s choice. You can change that once for all if you have the Custom Design upgrade. If not, you can only change it on a post by post basis in the HTML editor, by changing the opening ul tag to this:

     <ul style="margin-left:3em;">

     Change the number to adjust the amount of indentation (you can even use decimals for fine tuning).

     Posted by Panos | December 8, 2011, 06:37
166. 

     Ah, you hit the nail on the head!

     The problem is with Chrome (i’m using 15.0.874.121) and the TinyMCE editor. Apparently it affects Safari as well from this post (http://wordpress.org/support/topic/tinymce-span-bug-in-the-bullets-on-chrome-safari).This issue was also logged in wp (http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/17154) and Chrome (http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=28904)

     I just tried it with IE 9 and it works fine. IE still has the issue with the word wrapping but that’s bearable.

     I will switch to using IE for writing posts for now. My posts typically have multiple layer of lists, so its easier to do the layout while typing rather than formatting the lists later.

     It is odd that switching the theme caused this “bug” to show up. I was previously using the Spring Loaded theme with Chrome and didn’t have this issue. Anyway, hopefully this issue goes away with new releases of Chrome or WP/TinyMCE.

     Thanks for your help Panos!

     Posted by whatheheckaboom | December 8, 2011, 08:19
167. 

     You’re welcome.

     I would recommend Firefox, not IE.

     And I highly doubt it’s got to do with the theme: I’ve seen these stupid tags in the sourcecode of several users, running various themes. More likely due to the recent extensive WP updates (they created other bugs as well), probably just coincided with your changing the theme.

     Posted by Panos | December 8, 2011, 15:04
168. 

     How do I go about copying the code for the Featured Posts section (sticky posts) and putting it in the Home Page Feature Widget area?

     Posted by nfreiling | January 10, 2012, 18:10
169. 

     In other words, how do I accomplish this (what Panos wrote above):

     “• The Featured Posts section shows up top right because its HTML has been placed into a text widget in the Homepage Feature Widget Area. Same widget includes the logo and the header image.”

     Posted by nfreiling | January 10, 2012, 18:16
170. 

     You need to select View Source from the View menu of your browser, locate the relevant section, copy it, then go to Appearance>Widgets etc. If you need more help locating the exact section I can help, but first: why are you interested in this? are your FPs going to be a fixed selection of posts or a changing one? what are you going to put in their original place if you move them to the HPFWA?

     Posted by Panos | January 10, 2012, 20:07
171. 

     I’m doing this to enhance the look of my blog. I renamed Feature Posts to Recent Posts and moved my most popular article to HPFWA and named that box Feature Post. I will change that one out every time I get a really popular article (1,000+ views of thereabouts).

     Make sense?

     (I figured out how to do it, btw. Your post here was incredibly helpful!)

     Posted by nfreiling | January 10, 2012, 21:37
172. 

     Many users find HTML scary, so I’m glad you did it without any further assistance!

     And yes, I think it’s a good idea, since you’re still using the actual FP section as intended. (I was afraid you wanted to do something close to what Ma Sang Ji has done, which I find too cluttered.)

     For the record, the blog in question isn’t the one linked to your username, it’s this:
     http://hanseconomics.com/

     Posted by Panos | January 10, 2012, 22:08
173. 

     NFReiling, how did you get your author names to go vertically like you have on your home page? Using the Widget just gets them horizontally and without the names out to the side. I really like your vertical layout though!

     Posted by ELMalvaney | January 11, 2012, 06:58
174. 

     He’s simply using the Authors widget (and has set it to display zero posts per author). You’re using the Author Grid widget.

     Posted by Panos | January 11, 2012, 14:46
175. 

     After purchasing the CSS upgrade, may I remove the “rate this”, “posted by…”, and the date on posts on the home page?

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | January 11, 2012, 16:24
176. 

     The ratings are optional: you can disable them in Ratings > All Ratings. The post metadata can removed only if you have the Custom Design upgrade.

     Posted by Panos | January 11, 2012, 16:35
177. 

     That is what I meant by CSS upgrade: Custom Design upgrade

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | January 11, 2012, 17:00
178. 

     Yes of course. CSS upgrade is its older name: WP changed the name when they disabled the free Typekit feature and incorporated it into the paid upgrade (doubling its price).

     Anyway it makes no difference as far as your question and my reply are concerned: you don’t need the upgrade to disable the ratings but you need it to hide the post metadata.

     Posted by Panos | January 11, 2012, 17:11
179. 

     Btw, removing the post metadata will remove them on the entire blog? or is it possible to only remove it on the home page?

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | January 11, 2012, 17:12
180. 

     Yes, it’s possible to remove them selectively – paste this in the CSS editor and see for yourself:

     #home_left .post_meta {
     display:none;
     }

     Posted by Panos | January 11, 2012, 17:19
181. 

     Great, thank you!
     Last question for today :) : I’ve seen on other blogs using TMA (such as http://misspreservation.com/) that the featured posts appear on the home page with a very small picture next to the title (not under it, like on my blog). How can I do the same!
     Thanks again

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | January 11, 2012, 17:34
182. 

     Study my post (under “The Homepage” > “Left Side”): you need to select the excerpt option and you need to set featured images.

     Posted by Panos | January 11, 2012, 19:53
183. 

     I’m confused: I’m adding ‘features images’ instead of going through the regular ‘add media’, but I cannot see any difference

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | January 11, 2012, 20:13
184. 

     I have followed all the instructions from here: http://en.support.wordpress.com/featured-images/#setting-a-featured-image
     But under the alignment options, I do not see the size options (thumbnail, medium, large, full size) and the “use as feature image” button.
     Under the alignment options, I directly have the title, alternative text, caption…etc.
     In short, I do not see this: http://en.support.wordpress.com/featured-images/20100503-r4qk3wad47dxcm5ipyj2bdbrb-2/

     Any idea why?

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | January 11, 2012, 20:31
185. 

     a) The options in the image popup window have to do with regularly inserted images: none of them applies to featured images.
     b) If you’re not seeing any difference, then my guess is your trying to use images hosted elsewhere: featured images have to be uploaded from your computer to your blog.

     Posted by Panos | January 11, 2012, 21:12
186. 

     Indeed, I only use images from the internet. I’ll have to save them on my computer and upload them then!
     Thanks again!

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | January 11, 2012, 21:18
187. 

     Thanks, didn’t realize there were two different ones! I have on author who just wrote one post over two years ago, and I’d really like to not have her show up in the author widget. Is there any way to exclude an author?

     Posted by ELMalvaney | January 12, 2012, 06:40
188. 

     Not directly. Possible if you use a text widget instead of the authors widget. The easiest way is to select View Source from the View menu of your browser, search for “widget_authors”, copy the list, paste it into a text widget and delete the relevant list item. You can also remove the ul tags and turn the li tags into div tags, if you wish to get rid of the strange TMA bullets.

     Posted by Panos | January 12, 2012, 12:56
189. 

     I’ll work on that tonight and report back on my first “code effort”!

     Posted by ELMalvaney | January 12, 2012, 18:06
190. 

     Done and it worked like a charm! Although I wonder if there’s a way to make the author name centered vertically with their gravitar? (http://misspreservation.com/)

     Posted by ELMalvaney | January 16, 2012, 20:29
191. 

     Sure – change all of these:

     img alt=ETC ETC

     to:

     img style="vertical-align:middle;margin:0 6px 4px 0;" alt=ETC ETC

     Posted by Panos | January 16, 2012, 22:02
192. 

     I don’t want to use the featured element. I cannot find a way to allow more than one post at a time to show on my homepage. Can this be changed, or does this theme only allow one post at a time if you don’t use the “featured” and “asides”. And I’m unclear what the asides are used for?

     Posted by Sherry | January 16, 2012, 23:04
193. 

     I thought my guide is clear enough: the main page displays your latest regular post –singular– plus a number of sticky posts. You cannot find a way to allow more than one regular post because there isn’t a way: if there was, the solution would be in my guide (which is more detailed than the corresponding support doc). If you don’t like the concept of the TMA main page, then TMA simply isn’t the right theme for you.

     Asides (optional) are used for short temporary announcements.

     Posted by Panos | January 17, 2012, 02:31
194. 

     Panos, I used that code and when I saved it, WP automatically truncated it to “`img style=”margin:0;”“`

     Posted by ELMalvaney | January 18, 2012, 03:00
195. 

     Oh sorry, that’s because the comment field produced the wrong kind of quotes. Copy and insert this:

     style="vertical-align:middle;margin:0 6px 4px 0;"

     Posted by Panos | January 18, 2012, 03:36
196. 

     I corrected the other comment as well, just in case.

     Posted by Panos | January 18, 2012, 03:41
197. 

     Excellent–works like a charm! Thanks!

     Posted by ELMalvaney | January 18, 2012, 05:16
198. 

     Hi,

     Grateful for your help with TMA. Can you tell me, I have an image drawn from the web of a second and third column on the index TMA page, the second column shows recent posts with five in number showing thumbnail images, date of entry and by who. But for the life of me I cant make this happen. I worked with TMA before a dn it was possible to make this happen in a number of ways but now it doesnt seem to happen and the supporting document produced by the developer Arun has disappeared of the web. Any thoughts? Molieire

     Posted by JP | January 18, 2012, 12:09
199. 

     To tell how it was done on that site I’d need to visit the site. Maybe I can tell you if I see the image: you can upload it to your blog via Media > Add New, copy the file URL and paste it here.

     The closest you can do in a wp.com blog without having to update manually is use the RSS widget instead of the recent Posts widgets:
     http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/rss-widget/

     Posted by Panos | January 18, 2012, 15:55
200. 

     Is it possible through CSS to modify the aspect of the Menu on the ‘primary navigation’ space (main menu)?
     For example I would like to write it slightly bigger and space out the different buttons a little bit more.

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | January 20, 2012, 23:30
201. 

     Yes it’s possible. You can post your question in the CSS section of the wp.com forum:
     http://en.forums.wordpress.com/forum/css-customization
     (Users who have bought the Custom Design upgrade are entitled to staff support.)

     Posted by Panos | January 21, 2012, 02:16
202. 

     Asked and answered here:
     http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/change-the-look-of-the-menu?replies=4

     Posted by Panos | January 21, 2012, 03:16
203. 

     I’m really liking this template, but I’m looking for a way to expand the number of “latest posts” displayed on the home page. Is there a way to do this? Aside from the sticky “featured posts”, I’d simply like to have the option to display maybe 10 of the most recent posts on the homepage, in date order.

     Thanks!

     Posted by sarafusco | January 25, 2012, 21:40
204. 

     I’m using the template as a news site, and I’d like to get rid of the “posted by” text for all items. It shows up only as the administrator, who is rarely the author of the text.

     Entries will receive in-text bylines instead. But to avoid potential confusion, I’d like to not have “posted by” anywhere.

     Possible solutions?

     Thanks.

     Posted by jefflemberg | January 25, 2012, 23:32
205. 

     @Sara:
     See previous comment:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/the-morning-after/#comment-45955

     @Jeff:
     Since you’ve got the Custom Design upgrade, you could remove the byline. Unfortunately TMA has a single selector for all the post metadata, so you can’t remove the author byline without removing the date and the comment link as well.
     So the right solution is to make the byline display the real author by making all authors invited users and selecting the right author name for each post in the Author module of the post editor.
     If that’s not possible and/or or if the authors are too many, then the only thing I can suggest is: sign up for a new wp.com account (you’ll need to use a different email address and a different username), turn the publicly displayed name of this user to “guest author” or whatever you see fit, invite ‘him’ as an author, and assign all authors’ posts to this user.

     Posted by Panos | January 26, 2012, 00:28
206. 

     Thanks. Removing the author byline, date and the comment link wouldn’t be so bad for me, given how I plan on using the site. How would I do that?

     Posted by jefflemberg | January 26, 2012, 23:41
207. 

     You would add this in the CSS editor:

     .post_meta {
     display:none;
     }

     Posted by Panos | January 27, 2012, 04:13
208. 

     This worked well for my site. But I just realized that it only worked for the home page. On all archived pages, the display info still shows. Is this fixable through a CSS code? Thanks.

     Also, can I make photo captions flush left rather than centered? Thanks again.

     Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2012, 22:59
209. 

     Never mind; I figured it out. I’ll try harder next time before asking for help. ;)

     Thanks.

     Best,
     Jeff

     Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2012, 23:18
210. 

     Good! And sorry, that was sloppy of me: didn’t think of checking the archive pages before replying. Let me post the solution nevertheless, in case someone else sees/needs this:

     .post_meta, .archive_post_meta {
     display:none;
     }

     Also note that if you have CSS questions, you’d better post them in the CSS section of the wordpress.com forum: users who’ve bought the Custom Design upgrade are entitled to staff support, plus we’ve got Rich (“thesacredpath”), a fellow forum volunteer who is a lot more experienced than me in CSS editing.

     Posted by Panos | February 3, 2012, 01:12
211. 

     Why are header links icons missing? I made no customization about that…

     Posted by SSA | February 7, 2012, 22:50
212. 

     You’ve messed things up because you’ve pasted the entire stylesheet in the CSS editor. You must delete everything and paste only whatever you modify. See here as well:
     http://csswiz.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/if-you-have-the-wp-com-css-upgrade/

     Posted by Panos | February 7, 2012, 23:00
213. 

     I am trying to use the home page feature widget area to put a text widget there.
     But the text doesn’t appear on the normal way: it doesn’t stop at the end of the page, and start a new line, it keeps on going and spills outside the page (I will leave it on my page for a few hours so that you can observe it yourself:
     http://mideastobs.com/).
     Do you know what the reason may be?
     I think it may be due to my CSS editing. Maybe the width should be set, similarly to those of the primary and secondary sidebar? If so, what is the CSS code to set it?

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | February 10, 2012, 08:09
214. 

     Yes of course I know what the reason is: it’s the pre tags. But you’ve got other mistakes as well. Before I give you a corrected version: do you want the text to straddle the image or not? any other changes?

     Posted by Panos | February 10, 2012, 09:33
215. 

     I’d like the image to be on the right side of the text.
     As for other changes, there are few but I’m not sure it’s possible to do: reduce the length of the abstract of featured and latest posts on the home page; remove the primary sidebar on archive and post pages (it appears at the bottom).
     Thank you!

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | February 10, 2012, 11:43
216. 

     I meant whether you want other changes in the styling of that widget; for example would you like the links to show up as they do in other widgets (with the little graphic and the divider lines)?

     To reduce the abstracts, you need to write your own ones in the Excerpt module of the post editor.

     Why remove the sidebar? It appears at the bottom because you’ve changed its width: you should either remove that customization or reduce the width of the posts.

     Posted by Panos | February 10, 2012, 12:46
217. 

     PS You can remove the widget: I copied and saved its code in a text file.

     Posted by Panos | February 10, 2012, 12:50
218. 

     I like the divider line between the links, but not the little graphic (any way of changing this graphic?).
     Besides that, I can’t think of another change.

     And how do I remove this customization (sidebar showing up in archive pages)?

     Posted by The Middle-East Observer | February 10, 2012, 13:09
219. 

     Correct widget code here:
     http://textsnip.com/d61ed1

     The sidebar is useful: I don’t see why you want to remove it. As I said, it appears at the bottom because you have increased its width, so there’s no room enough for it next to the post column, so you can correct that by decreasing the post column width.

     But as I said in a previous comment, please post your CSS questions in the CSS section of the wordpress.com forum: users who’ve bought the Custom Design upgrade are entitled to staff support.

     Posted by Panos | February 10, 2012, 16:40
220. 

     Hello, thanks for all of this good information.

     My problem is, I can’t seem to format my posts, none of them– the day’s post, the featured posts or the asides. Even when I make changes in the html, they don’t work. Also, when I use blockquotes, they show up huge and bolded. I tried the changes to the CSS suggested above and no luck. (I have the custom CSS.) My site is here:

     http://www.womensspace.wordpress.com

     Thanks!

     Posted by Heart | February 13, 2012, 23:13
221. 

     The problem seems to be when I try to just show excerpts. If I set my blog to show the entire post, I don’t have the problem, so long as I don’t use block quotes (which gives me the huge bolded text on the individual page). If I use the excerpt method, all the formatting, links, etc., in the front page excerpt get stripped out.

     Posted by Heart | February 14, 2012, 01:06
222. 

     That’s the way auto excerpts work – see note 3 here:
     https://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/full-posts-in-archive-pages/

     If you want formatted excerpts on the main page, you need to create custom excerpts. You can copypaste the part you want from the HTML editor into the Excerpt module. If you’re not seeing the Excerpt module while on the post editor screen, click Screen Options (top right) to activate it.

     For CSS questions you can post in the CSS section of the wordpress.com forum: users who have the CD upgrade are entitled to staff support.

     Posted by Panos | February 14, 2012, 05:50
223. 

     Thanks, Panos, going to try that right now, much appreciated.

     Heart

     Posted by Heart | February 20, 2012, 00:01
224. 

     Hi. I’m looking for a coding solution to fix something on photo slideshows. Currently, the captions for slideshows appear in white and they overlay the photos. It makes reading them a little difficult.

     I’d like to move the captions below each photo. If that’s not possible, can I build a screen of sorts behind the text so that the words don’t get lost in the images’ colors?

     An example of the problem can be found here: http://curriertimes.net/2012/02/27/twisted-tales/

     Thanks.

     Posted by jefflemberg | February 28, 2012, 21:30
225. 

     You can try something like this:

     .slideshow-slide-caption {position-absolute;bottom:-34px !important;}
     .slideshow-window {height:460px !important;}

     Or something like this:

     .slideshow-slide-caption {background:#000;opacity:0.70;padding:0 2px 26px 6px;}

     For future CSS questions, please post in the CSS section of the wordpress.com forum: users who’ve bought the Custom Design upgrade are entitled to staff support.

     Posted by Panos | February 28, 2012, 22:38
226. 

     Panos, are you trying to break up with me? :) Thanks for the suggestions; I’ll give it a try.

     Posted by jefflemberg | February 28, 2012, 22:41
227. 

     We (experienced forum volunteers) are very annoyed with the owner of WP over various issues, so we’re not willing to provide help for something WP is officially obliged to do so.

     Posted by Panos | February 28, 2012, 22:52
228. 

     I understand. And I’ve greatly appreciated your help. Thanks again.

     Posted by jefflemberg | February 28, 2012, 22:57
229. 

     Hi Panos, I’m a new member, and find your guide very helpful. My question is, is there a way to include images (featured or otherwise) in the “Recent Posts” section like is done in this wordpress.org theme here: http://demo.woothemes.com/?name=themorningafter (I’m using a wordpress.com version of the same theme).

     Posted by bombaywire | March 7, 2012, 05:05
230. 

     You mean the Recent Posts widget. No. You can only simulate this using coding in a text widget, but in that case you’ll have to update the widget manually each time you publish a new post. If you publish frequently, it’s not worth it.

     Posted by Panos | March 7, 2012, 09:11
231. 

     Thanks Panos. Do you have a sample or template of a text/HTML widget that looks similar to that Recent Posts Section (with a little text, link and image) that I can use for some fairly static information that will be updated infrequently?

     I won’t use it for Recent Posts literally but will use it to feature some sections instead.

     Posted by bombaywire | March 7, 2012, 15:49
232. 

     Hello Panos and all other TMA users. I really wonder how it’s possible that you all have the little green icons under the search bar, going with Archives, Contact, Subscribe and About. I also have these icons in my testblog, but not in my original one, even though I’ve never made any changes to the original stylesheet. Thought it’s a bug so wrote to support, but never received an answer – guess they have no clue either.
     Anyway, I looove reading your posts, keep up the good work!!

     Posted by Eszter | March 8, 2012, 01:00
233. 

     @BW: I don’t have such a “sample”, but I have several posts on coding and formatting, and I can work out whatever you like. Do you want it exactly as on that theme demo or styled in a different way?

     @Eszter: You’ve messed things up because you’ve pasted the entire stylesheet of the theme in the CSS editor, and that’s a big mistake. You must delete everything and only add the changes you make.

     Posted by Panos | March 8, 2012, 01:27
234. 

     I had no other choice, because I didn’t want the whole thing with a blue background – I had a blue background with Twenty Ten before, and it turned TMA’s background blue as well. Instead, i just wanted the original settings so I copied the original stylesheet, but I guess it’s too late now… seems like I have to find out how to add the green icons in CSS. Seems like there is no option to get back to the original settings once you make a couple of changes.

     Posted by Eszter | March 8, 2012, 03:26
235. 

     ps.: Noooo, if I delete EVERYTHING and leave the stylesheet empty, it seems to work! It was automatically switches back to the original settings. :)

     Posted by Eszter | March 8, 2012, 03:27
236. 

     When I say “you must delete everything and only add the changes you make”, I know what I’m talking about!

     The CSS editor has two options:
     a) Add my CSS to the theme’s CSS stylesheet.
     b) Don’t use the theme’s CSS, and replace everything with my own CSS.

     Option b should only be used if you are a real expert.
     When you use option a, then whatever you enter in the CSS editor is added to the stylesheet of the theme, and overrides the original. So there are three reasons why you shouldn’t paste the entire original stylesheet and start making changes to it:
     – You make the browser read everything twice; this slows down the loading of your pages (bad for visitors, bad for search engines).
     – After a while you’ll lose track of what the original was and what your changes are.
     – Most important, the order of various commands matters; when all the stylesheet is repeated, the order is upset, and that messes things up.

     So in the CSS editor you should enter only the specific changes you make. For example, the original CSS for the asides in TMA is this:

     ul.arrow li {
     border-bottom: 1px solid #dadada;
     border-left: 5px solid #dadada;
     margin: 0 0 0.5em 0;
     padding: 0.3em 0 0.4em 12px;
     }

     If you want to turn the vertical bar of the asides from the original grey to the green of the theme, then the only thing you must add in the CSS editor is this:

     ul.arrow li {
     border-left: 5px solid #5f9410;
     }

     Posted by Panos | March 8, 2012, 10:55
237. 

     Hi Panos, thanks for your help earlier, I used a text widget that you had given to someone earlier in the thread to do what I needed. I do have a separate question now: I seem to have “lost” the featured widget on the home page that spans across the primary and secondary sidebars. Do you know how I can reset it to appear and include some text in that area?

     Posted by bombaywire | March 10, 2012, 08:15
238. 

     a) Had I? I don’t remember that. It’s easier for me to design code from scratch than to browse through older comments. Anyway, nicely done. Couple of remarks:
     • The right way to add space around an image isn’t a white border, it’s padding or margin. Instead of this:
     border-bottom:15px solid white;border-right:10px solid white;
     you can use this:
     padding:0 10px 15px 0;
     (four values = top, right, bottom, left)
     • The br tag you used is wrong and doesn’t work; right form is this:
     <br />

     b) Looks like you figured out the featured widget issue.

     Posted by Panos | March 10, 2012, 10:54
239. 

     Hi I can’t get a posting’s featured picture appearing on the home page. Any ideas? Tom

     Posted by revoltingeurope | March 16, 2012, 19:18
240. 

     Another 3 questions

     – Is there a way of getting video (ie embedded youtube) to play on the home page?

     – Can RSS feeds be used on static pages

     – When subscribers to my blog receive my emails they get the whole posting,.Is there a way for them to only get part of it, with a link to read the rest?

     Please note that I am technically illiterate.

     Tom

     Posted by revoltingeurope | March 16, 2012, 19:21
241. 

     1. Featured image: what exactly did you try?

     2. Yes, if you add a text widget to one of the widget areas, paste the youtube shortcode, save. You’ll need to add the width option to the shortcode, to downsize the video to the right width. See here:
     http://en.support.wordpress.com/videos/youtube/#embedding-with-a-shortcode

     3. If you mean send mail when you publish a static page, no. RSS is for posts only.

     4. Settings > Reading: select the “Summary” option (next to “For each article in a feed”), scroll down and click Save Changes.

     Posted by Panos | March 16, 2012, 19:58
242. 

     how do I delete the secondary sidebar from the default free template ?

     Posted by dutchroth | March 18, 2012, 22:41
243. 

     Sorry, WP has pissed us off too many times, so we (experienced volunteers, that is) have decided not to help with CSS editing. Users who’ve bought the Custom Design upgrade are entitled to staff support, so If you have a wordpress.com blog you can post your question in the CSS section of the wordpress.com forum and wait for a staff reply.

     Posted by Panos | March 19, 2012, 02:42