Using retired Sapphire theme – what do I look for in order to update?
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Two questions.
Any suggestions on how to replicate a widget called “(Pages) Sapphire)” when moving over from Sapphire to a more updated theme?
Beer by BART uses the right col “Pages (Sapphire)” widget to automatically list all the good craft beer venues near BART train stations by name, while the main page has a list where I group them by hand, by each station.
We are going strong with great new additions after all these years of craft beer renaissance. I want to find a modern, responsive theme that will also replicate the dual listings feature we have in place. What do I do?
Also, a second question.
It seems I am using wordpress as a publishing platform (a CMS) first, with blogging as an afterthought. Are there any themes or techniques that could add a block of text to all of the brewery and beer bar sites, but pull from a list or database? If we decide to go back and be sure the number of taps is listed and up to date on each one, it would be very nice to edit one document. That might not be possible, but I wanted to ask. Thanks!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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The only themes we can use on free hosted WordPress.com blogs like your blog are the themes found here http://wordpress.com/themes/
The responsive themes are here http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/features/responsive-layout/
Changing themes on a WordPress.com blog is like changing clothes and the good news is that it has zero to do with the database stuff you seem to be worried about needlessly above.
You can quickly and easily change themes to another one found here http://wordpress.com/themes/ and no data will be lost or negatively affected by the change. The only time you may have to do some work is if you are changing to a dramatically different theme and have done any CSS editing.
Provided you are logged in as Admin under the same username account that registered the blog go to Dashboard > Appearance > Themes and browse themes until you find one you like and click “preview” to test drive.Then click the “activate” link on the theme you want to use when it appears.
After you change your theme all you need to do is go here Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets > Inactive Widgets and re-install them where you want them to appear. The widget contents and settings will be the same as they were prior to changing themes.
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re: using the theme customizer
WordPress.com sells custom design upgrades. They allow us to “preview” change that do not actually display on the blog unless we purchase the upgrade.
If you have not purchased the custom design upgrade note that no changes you try out aside from those such as Custom Background, Custom Header, etc. which are stated on the theme description pages in the features column (right hand side) will be visible to visitors.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/editing-css/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/custom-fonts/You do not need to load the design tools unless you have the Custom Design upgrade. All of these functions can be accessed from your dashboard – without loading the custom design tools – no upgrade required.
Appearance > Header
Appearance > Background
Appearance > Theme Options (applicable only to some themes)
Settings > Reading (set a static front page)
Site Title and Tagline > Settings > GeneralIf you are using the preview mode for the Custom Design upgrade some of the settings in that mode will save but they won’t show up on the front end unless you purchase the upgrade.
To go back to the free options, go to Appearance → Themes → Customize → Colors and click the “exit the preview” link in yellow at the top of the panel on the right.
See also: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/video-tutorial-customizing-your-theme/
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Retiring a theme generally means that newly created sites will not have access to that theme, while those who are using it can continue to do so, but it may not support all of WordPress.com’s features.
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Note: re your second question
Are there any themes or techniques that could add a block of text to all of the brewery and beer bar sites, but pull from a list or database?
You can now display your beer menu on WordPress.com. See here please http://en.support.wordpress.com/beermenus/
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@justjeenifer
Oh flap! I did not refresh before posting. Sorry. :( When I’m multitasking I answer phones and that means I post more than one comment box answer when phones are ringing. -
Very generous responses! Thanks.
I have played with and changed themes on my other blogs, but the Beer By BART site looks just awful in preview in other themes, probably due to that proprietary Sapphire Pages widget,
I am afraid if I swap over temporarily to mess with it I will not be able to go back into a “retired” theme such a sapphire. Is that a reasonable fear?
Nice of you to look up a commercial beer listing app for bars, but we are reviewers. People use us for our independent listings of the venues, and our independent description of what you’ll find. Number of taps was just one example. Some way to make our own database for our own categories would be so awesome. Any idea how that can be done?
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I have played with and changed themes on my other blogs, but the Beer By BART site looks just awful in preview in other themes, probably due to that proprietary Sapphire Pages widget,
I see you have switched to using yet another retired theme. How’s it working for you?
I am afraid if I swap over temporarily to mess with it I will not be able to go back into a “retired” theme such a sapphire. Is that a reasonable fear?
No. Retired themes are available to those who have blog registered at the time prior to their retirement. Changing themes is quick and easy to do.
Some way to make our own database for our own categories would be so awesome. Any idea how that can be done?
I am not clear on what you mean by database. These are links to helpful support docs:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/categories/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/categories-vs-tags/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/categories-widget/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/category-pages/
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