Questions As I Choose A New Theme

  • Unknown's avatar
    bwmedia · Member ·

    I’ve been using “Selecta” as my theme for a long time. It’s old, no longer supported despite hosting here at WordPress.com, and having some minor issues that thankfully affect me but not my readers. Well, I think it’s time to refresh with a new theme anyway, and I have two in mind that’s at least close to “Selecta”: “Infield” and “Videomaker”. I already know I’m losing the sticky post window, which I only used for my special Christmas feed posts anyway. I’m hoping someone who uses either of those can help me with my final decision since the “try and customise” only shows me so much.

    • One of the reasons I’m changing is that unlike the theme I use for my other site, using the classic editor requires me to alter the URL, and then when the page refreshes after scheduling or drafting goes back to the block anyway. The option link is no longer there for “Selecta” but the “Notepad” I use for other site has it just fine, and there are reasons I prefer it over the block editor. If I have to lose it, I have no choice, but does the option come up under “Add Post” for either theme or any of the other current themes?
    • “Infield” at least has a category box, but everything is in alphabetical order, with no subcategories. For example, my book spotlight has a subcategory for the Chapter By Chapter article series with one for each book I’ve reviewed, or the Comic Spotlight has numerous subcategories. Is there a way to put subcategories in the category list? My current theme even allows it to be in a pull down menu, which would be ideal.
    • I know in the “try and customize” I can put a header image, but will that be on every page or just the homepage? I’ll be refreshing that logo as well, but I like how it lets my readers know what site their on and I’d hate to lose that. Just the text isn’t enough for me.
    • Could anyone suggest a free theme that would be able to do all of this stuff? I also want to keep my recommended RSS Feed and blogroll lists and any articles in the WordPress network I click like for. I also miss the X-Twitter feed on the side being active but that could just be the current API price issue that doesn’t let us auto-promote the site on X anymore.

    Any help would be appreciated. I’m hoping that by Saturday I’ll have the new theme set-up during my week off and ready to welcome my readers back to new articles.

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    kathyparkerr · Member ·

    Hey bwmedia!

    I’ve tried Infield before, and the header image does show on all pages, not just the homepage, which sounds like what you want. As for subcategories, unfortunately the built-in category widget in many newer themes flattens the list, so you’d probably need a custom menu to get dropdowns working the way Selecta did.

    About the classic editor — it’s more tied to your account settings and WordPress’s changes than the theme itself, so sadly switching themes might not fully fix that.

    Good luck with the refresh! Let us know which one you pick.

  • Unknown's avatar
    bwmedia · Member ·

    Thanks. Now I just have to figure out how to make a custom menu. I’m assuming there’s a tutorial about it somewhere. I also forgot to ask if there’s a way I can put a summary or more than two lines of my article on the homepage. I like to put the full article intro on the homepage as a way to draw someone into reading the full article.

    I’m leaning more towards Infield as it seem to have done most of the work for me but I like some of what Videomaker has started. Plus I post videos in articles and on Saturday nights (plus I want to get back to making my own videos again), so that sounds usable for those depending on what it does to my articles.

  • Unknown's avatar
    bwmedia · Member ·

    After messing around with a few different options, I think I’m going to stick to Selecta for the time being. Simply adding the background on most of my options gave me a warning that I needed to be a premium account just to change the background. Even the ones that does allow it would require me to redo over a 12,000 posts dating back to 2018. Having to redo all of them for formatting and hoping the “Read More” divider actually works in the actual site when it isn’t in the tests is just too much work for me right now.

    Maybe I can edit it with blocks or something, but if not I just don’t have time to put that much work. I only wanted to take this week off and it’s half over.

  • Unknown's avatar
    josefhtest · Member ·

    Hi @bwmedia,

    Thanks for sharing all these details — it’s completely understandable that switching themes after so many years (and with over 12,000 posts!) can feel like a big leap.

    The good news is that most of the features you’re looking for — like subcategories, dropdown menus, header images on all pages, and showing post excerpts — can be achieved using a modern block theme. With block themes, you also get full control over your site’s design using the Site Editor, which replaces the older Customizer for many design tasks.

    Since Selecta is a retired theme, just a heads-up that:

    A retired theme will no longer receive updates with new features. While it should continue functioning on your site, we can’t guarantee it will always work well with future WordPress updates.
    You may continue using it, but switching to a block theme ensures your site stays modern and compatible moving forward.

    To learn more about the differences between classic and block themes, and how to transition smoothly, this guide is a great place to start:
    Migrate from a classic theme to a block theme

    If you’re not quite ready to switch on your main site, you can create a free test site to explore modern block themes in a risk-free way:
    Browse free block themes

    And here’s a tip — you don’t need to manually update all 12k posts. With block themes, you can create a single post template that applies across your posts. That way, your existing content can fit right into the new layout without manual rework.
    Here are other guides that you might find helpful:
    WordPress Editor
    Templates
    Change your theme

    Let me know if that helps

  • Unknown's avatar
    bwmedia · Member ·

    Appreciate the advice and I might look into it if I get the time (I was taking a break from articles last week but I’m back in action this week), but testing the site in the themes I mentioned at the start and a few others I couldn’t get the excerpts to work right. From the classic editor stuff the format was all wrong and everything became one big paragraph, with the captions for images not even connecting right. When I tested the opening paragraphs over just some summary excerpt the testing editor just gave me the full article, which isn’t what I’m after. I don’t know how to start a testing site without using a potential URL for someone making an official site in the future as I already have two sites going. (The one I want to change and my side project with is also a classic theme but hasn’t had any trouble and I haven’t seen a better theme for.)

    Even converting an article to block themes didn’t fix the problem with keeping the full article out, and the read more block doesn’t work as well as the read more tag in the classic theme. Plus the classic editor seems easier to work with because I already know how to format an article the way I want. Putting pictures on the side with captions to break the text wall or set-up my comic reviews, for example, would be a whole new process. But I’ll look into things when I have an opening.

  • Unknown's avatar
    josefhtest · Member ·

    Hi,

    I can completely understand how daunting it must feel to manage a large archive of content, and I really appreciate the care you’re putting into finding the right fit.

    For block themes, post layouts (like excerpts or full posts) are controlled through a Query Loop block, which can feel like a big shift at first—but it’s also a powerful tool. When combined with custom post templates, it allows you to adjust the display of all posts site-wide without needing to edit each one individually.

    Since you have a free site, you’re welcome to create an additional free site just for testing. You can install block themes there, explore their features, and if you find a setup you like, you can manually apply those changes to your main site. When you’re done, you can delete the test site anytime.

    You’re also right that newer style options (like full site editing and global styles) often require a Premium plan or higher. That said, you can still manually customize your site through the Site Editor and block settings—it’s just a bit more hands-on.

    Let me know if you need further help.

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