UKC

I'm in the process of setting up a blog, and have started with a very basic theme called 'twenty-fifteen' that comes as a default starting theme with my IP (initially in 'Safe Mode').

This is how the layout looks:

http://www.gordonstainforth.co.uk/images/twentyfifteenWPtheme.jpg

I want to keep it fairly simple, but need three columns (i.e a right side bar as well for things like latest Tweets, links to other blogs etc), and also a header/banner-header and ideally a horizontal menu for main sections of the website. I don't want a very magazine-y style with lots of columns etc. Any recommendations? Ideally a freebie, or maybe something that has a small one-off licence fee.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I'd go with something like this:

https://wordpress.org/themes/responsive/

Probably the thing which irritates me most about modern websites is when they're unuseable/unreadable from a smartphone.

In reply to planetmarshall:

Thanks a lot. That looks very much the kind of thing I'm looking for.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

In my entirely personal opinion, wanting three columns contradicts the "keep it fairly simple" and "don't want a very magazine-y style with lots of columns", especially if you want something viewable on a smaller screen.

There are loads of two-column themes around that give you enough options to put in all the stuff you want.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I tried to start a Wordpress blog. I then discovered just how complex theming was and how hard it was to merely insert a photo. I gave up and moved to Blogger instead. Not as versatile, but I figure people are more interested in what I have to say than what it looks like.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I'd second the responsive requirement - in my world getting on for 50% of web visits are on tablets and mobiles and that number is only going to climb.

In reply to SteveRi:

I think I read somewhere recently that Google's new ranking algorithm will give a higher ranking to responsive pages? If that recollection is correct it would make it more important than ever to have a responsive design.

In reply to ByEek:


Themes are not at all complex. You can just keep the default theme and use it at default settings and you don't have to do anything at all.


Inserting an image is really easy, you just click the "insert image" icon, upload the image, and it inserts.

In reply to Coel Hellier:


I am sure you are right. But I couldn't get "Body Text" to display anything other than the default Times Roman font. The preview was correct but the final page was different! Googling didn't give a short answer so I gave up. It just seems overly complex and I have neither the time nor patience to fiddle with something that should be really easy.

In reply to SteveRi:

Thanks Steve, and Coel etc. I've now taken the plunge and installed a theme called 'Oxygen' that seems to do all that I require (and more). Very adaptable and it's completely responsive - even looks quite good on mobile phones. Seems to be a complete doddle to set up. I've designed (and hand-coded) and maintained websites for some 15 years using PHP and CSS, and this is just so easy by comparison. It'll take me a while to get the site designed to my taste, and first content uploaded, but possibly by the end of the week or even tomorrow evening.

In reply to ByEek:


OK, if you don't like things like the font, and want to fiddle with them, then admittedly it could be a pain.

But the whole point of "themes" -- of which there are literally hundreds on offer -- is that you look through them until you find one that you do like, and then just use it.

In reply to ajsteele:

Bang on - 'Mobile-geddon' happened on April 21st - if you're not mobile friendly you're now heading down the rankings!
You'll be flying Gordon if you already know PHP and CSS - you'll probably spend more tinkering than producing content

In reply to SteveRi:


Hmm, so those of us with older themes should change to a newer one?

In reply to Coel Hellier:


The recent index changes on Google are still in progress. They will affect the ranking of your site when googling on a mobile device only, though it is expected that at some point in the future they will extend the ranking algorithms to cover other sized devices such as tablets.

If you want people on a wide range of devices to be able to easily use your website / blog then you need to ensure that it has some sort of responsive design.
It is important to go at this from an 'improving user experience' angle, rather than just worrying about what you have to do to please Google.

Luckily Google actually have some nice tools and advice to help people do this.

Start here https://www.google.co.uk/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

In reply to interdit:

Good advice and hadn't clocked your first point. Agree entirely on focusing on content rather than gaming the system. Incident our stats show close to 50% of site visits on mobiles and tablets and similar for reading emails. The world's gone mobile crazy.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Make theme is one of the best simple, clean, responsive themes i've come across - and used to make this https://johnroberts.me

https://thethemefoundry.com/wordpress-themes/make/

In reply to John Roberts (JR):



That's certainly very impressive. Is that the free 'Make' or the quite expensive 'MakePlus'? If the former I may well consider using it because the theme I'm testing at the moment is rather underwhelming, and has quite a few teething problems.

Cheers and thanks.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

the main differences between the free and paid is that on the pro you're able to override your layout page by page/post by post (which I do use) and use widgets in any place on the page (which I've not used). Most of the other benefits are fairly superficial or not necessary unless you want ecommerce. You could do some things that are lacking from the pro version via custom CSS if you really needed them

https://thethemefoundry.com/make-features/

In reply to John Roberts (JR):

Thanks. I'll probably proceed with the theme I'm using at present - useful as a WordPress learning aid - and then have a look at the Make theme. I think once I've worked with one or two themes it'll be quite easy to set up/ experiment with others.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Yes - it's mainly easy to swap themes as long as the themes don't use shortcodes at all (tends to be premium themes).