How to select a theme
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Hi all,
I find it difficult to know the right IT-correct words, I am searching for a new theme, currently have the old ‘misty look’ for my side Spiritandmind.wordpress.com, but want to upgrade, hopefully within the free themes, that:
1) does not show tags under each blog post
2) does not show categories under each blog post
3) has an option for inserting a picture in the top
4) has a top menu bar with pull down option
5) shows my sidebar, with a line separating the blog post and the sidebar
6) collapses my post, so that there is just the title, and a few lines preview and then a ‘read more’I dont know the correct IT words, so am asking here, as hopefully you know what the individual features are called, as it is not easy to get an overview when I dont know how to search, and just realized my theme is ‘retired’/ourdated, so have to replace it. AS I write a lot of text, I think the readers would get benefit from collapsed post, removed tags and categories and the the side bar and drop down menu, as I write in englsk and Danish.
Hopefully this is understandable, else I can explain more
Thanks very much in advance,
IngeThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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There are theme feature filters you can use after you click
https://wordpress.com/themes/freeI am also tagging this thread for Staff assistance. I will type modlook into the sidebar tags on this thread for a Staff follow-up. How do I get a Moderator/Staff reply for my question? https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-help-in-the-forums/#how-do-i-get-a-moderatorstaff-reply-for-my-question Also subscribe to this thread so you are notified when they respond and be patient while waiting. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.
@Staff
Feedback. Though I know that requesting reversion has a snowball`s chance in hell of succeeding, I used to be able to assist bloggers with theme selection here https://theme.wordpress.com by using the Find a theme link first and then the relevant feature filters until the latest changes. Those changes to have now resulted in the need for a Staff member to respond to every themes thread. If that is an improvement then heaven help us all. -
More feedback. I do not use a mobile or even my laptop to blog. I use a desktop computer and I despise the new theme set up with the live demo site page appearing (split screen) where the theme description page used to appear on its own page. Scrolling through a mile long toilet paper roll is a crazy-making experience.
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We found three free themes that meet 5 out of 6 of your criteria.
Content options are really handy and take care of items 1,2, and 6, but only the newest themes support them right now. I wasn’t able to find anything that fully met 5, these all have a sidebar but it’s not separated by a line.https://penscratch2demo.wordpress.com/
https://button2demo.wordpress.com/
https://darademo.wordpress.com/The demos for these themes will show tags, categories, full post, etc but you can configure those in content options. You can get more info on how to do that here: https://en.support.wordpress.com/customizer/content-options/
I hope this helps!
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Hi Camikaos and Timethief,
Thanks so much for your quick and really good help, I will choose Bottom2.
Am so grateful for your fantastic help, that saved me oceans of time and too I didnt know the option of going in making collapse text like that in the menu-bar of the appereance – Perfect.
I blog both in Danish and English, currently I have only been able to find out making a category called “English Posts” and inserting a text saying “see posts in English below in “English Post”, do you by any chance have a good idea if I can:
1) create a page on my blog with English posts exclusively, I dont know if pasting in links from the English posts would work?
or
2) Even better have a Danish flag and an English flag in the upper right corner so that people can change between Danish and English? I would love that, that what I do on my homepage, and I want to provide the same service and information level to my English customers
or
3) Do I need to create my blog “twice” in a blog 1 being the Danish version and blog 2 being the English version?Thanks a million, you have provided really really valuable help :-)
Inge -
Hi again @spiritandmind! I’m so glad the suggestions were helpful to you.
I think there are a few options to set up your blog to be read in both Danish and English. I’ll provide you with them all so you can decide what will work best for you.
On this walkthrough we explain 3 different ways to make your blog multi-lingual.
1- One blog, one post.
2- One blog, two posts.
3 – Two blogs, two posts.How each method works and how to set it up is explained here:
There is also a Google Translate widget that will allow your readers to select the language the want to read in from a drop down:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/internationalization/google-translate-widget/
I hope this helps!
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Hi Camikaos,
I have been looking at the options on multi langauge blog that you send me, and am very grateful, tahnks very much :-)
I find that with how i blog, I blog one blog in Danish and the another blog in English, not the same content, as then my Danish customers can also get information reading the English blog too, if they want, I find it smartest to do the option one blog, and then have a menu displaying “English posts”, but, I then get into a dilemma.
From my blog history, have had the blog since 2009, I know people get inspired and press my categories, that I have displayed in the right side bar. In order to get the “English Post” menu subpoints sorted nicely, I will have to have double up on all my categories, so have the same category in Danish and in English, as else I can submenu organize the English posts, once I get more of them, so my question is:
1) Is it possible to only display my Danish categories names for the Danish blog posts, and then somehow make a English category list that is only displayed on the English blog posts?Too I read somewhere that wordpress.com, has a contact formular option, like the one I have in my homepage program on one.com, but I cant find it in my widgets, only a location and phone number widget, but not a contact formular. Have too tried to see if there had been an update in options for when I write blog posts, but seem to not find this contact formular, but ok, I can solve it by linking over to the specific page on my homepage, via inserting an external link as a menu bar point.
Alternative I should go all in and create two blog, but I fear bloggen then becomes repeative for my, as I like the creative process of writing, write equally ok good in either language, in my own opinion. Too I fear that if I do have an update I will have to do all updates double (on the English and the Danish blog). Plus I think I get a higher google ranking if I keep everything as one blog instead of two blog? And I dont have to always write two post, I can write one in Danish and the next week one in English.
But again I struggle a little with whats smartest, as I am the administrator not the user of my own blog, so only assume, as a reader what would you prefer? On the tree blog examples I think you have to notice he top upper corner to see the french and spanish versions.
Am sorry to ask, but I want to think it through before I start as I have made so many “I have to go through all blog post to correct” e.g. prices before I insert that only as a link, and that was before I found out about having pages etc. So blogging has been and is a learning process for me.
Maybe I need to show you my blog, have so far only previewed the button2 theme and played around with the menu today after you good suggestions of multi languages. The blogs name is spiritandmind.wordpress.com
Have a fantastic evening, and weekend, not sure if you also have vacation day tomorrow as we do in Denmark, if so have a wonderful vacation.
Best regards,
Inge -
Hello again!
I’m not certain of a way to hide the categories for different sets of posts.
But I can help you with the contact form. You have a couple of options there depending on where you would like it to be. If you’d like it to be a widget you can use the “Text” widget and paste in the following shortcode for a basic contact form:
[contact-form]
[contact-field label="Name" type="name" required="true" /]
[contact-field label="Email" type="email" placeholder="Your Email Address" required="true" /]
[contact-field label="Website" type="url" /]
[contact-field label="Comment" type="textarea" required="true" /]
[/contact-form]If you’d like it to be in a post or on a page you can find instructions on setting it up here:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/forms/contact-form/
As for the format of your blog, that really is up to you. I agree that two seperate blogs would fee like a lot of work for the author. And for me the easiest way to find the posts that are relevant to me (being able to read in only one of the languages you mention) would be to have a page for each language with the posts showing there.
I hope this helps!
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Hi Camikaos,
Thanks so much for your advise above, I have now updated my blog – no longer preview only :-) :-).
Before I start my grand overhaul of the entire blog, I have a couple questions:
1) I just tested the contact form, this must be a bug, as it sends an e-mail, regardsless, that I pretending to be a user, didnt insert my name and e-mail, as contact form per default uses my company name and company e-mail adress, that I as a user must delete. I guess I can solve it by deleting these two forms and inserting a new and then call them name and e-mail? I just wanted to inform you, as you are staff that the contact form has this bug.
2) Before I start editing the entire blog, if you where a customer, would you prefer to have a drop downmenu – like if I categorize all blog post with the word “Topic” – and then have undercategories as e.g. “Anxiety”, “Therapy for Teenagers” etc. – Or is that something that you would just find under my categories, I am a little in doubt. I too consider reducing my number of categories and maybe re-naming them “Danish word/English word”. But if I do the thing with using the category “Topic”, then I cant, as the sub-categoried then wouldnt be devided into English or Danish, so basically as a user would you find it best to look at the categories or have a drop down overview via the menu? I am not sure? Alternative there is the option to have the categories as a drop down menu too? Could also call all the English categories “EP” as front name for English Post, as then inform the reader in my text box in the top to scroll down to EP- Or maybe something that will place the English post at the bottom, so that they are easy to find?
2b) Alternative I have seen that there is something called a parent category. I did tried it, but could not see what it does?
3) I tried inserting my web site in the menu, but I cant find where to click that the web-site should open in a separate web-page, how do I do that? But to I am uncertain, if I should just link to my homepage instead on the individual pages and in each blog post, which is what I have done so far, as such a link I can get to open in a separate page.
I think, once I know above, then I am good to go – and thanks in advance, you are a tremendous help to me, thanks so much :-)
Best regards,
Inge -
Additional question:
4) I read somewhere, that if I write the text spiritandmind.wordpress.com/wp-admin, that I then can delete the widget “Meta”, is that correct, as I dont want to somehow delete my log-in option.
Best regards
Inge -
Ups – one more
5) Regarding advertising, as I can see it, will it only apear on the individual blog posts in the bottom, on also on the front page, where I have my collapsed blog posts with “continue reading”. So far I have only see the warning that adds may be visible on the bottom of each blog post. I know once I start to have a view ranking again, the advertising start, so I have to decide to pay or live with it, so that why I need to know where the reader will see the adds, seems its only on the individual posts at the bottom?
Sorry think this is the last,
Inge
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