Theme-itis
So, here I am, over 2 months into WA as Premium and have been reading posts, writing a few articles for my site, commenting and requesting comments, basically following the lesson plan and then setting up my theme, and setting up my theme, and banging my head against a brick wall.
Themes, it seems, are a bit of a nightmare. There are plugins to consider, creating categories for your menus, widgets and of course background and header images. So, I found some plugins to make life easier and then of course, for the extra styling, I delved into the wonderful world of altering code, CSS and PHP to get the positions correct and things where I wanted - or so I thought.
Result = Rubbish
I honestly believe that I was suffering from Live Website Anxiety Syndrome (not sure if it exists but it sure does in my head) and making changes to my site when I was writing articles etc. wasn't giving me that feelgood factor as it wasn't looking right - I mean, if I think it is looking a bit rubbish, who would want to visit?
I started spending so much time trying different things that I wasn't writing and researching so things were coming to a standstill. I had bits of altered code here and there and started losing track of what I had done so that when I tried to revert back, my site went down and so the LWAS grew.
Then I found a solution.
I thought that if I could have a basic site and publish my articles etc. and develop my site on my computer, offline, I wouldn't suffer the anxiety, so I researched it and today I set it up. Within a few hours I have now managed to develop a theme with a new custom logo created in Photoshop (I learnt those bits today too) with code alterations courtesy of some Google searches and I am already starting to feel a lot better about things. I am also documenting everything that I do as it just seems easier when it doesn't feel Live.
I shall be writing some tutorials with screenshots so that I might in some way be of benefit to other sufferers of LWAS, although I need to wait another month before I have the necessary WA permission level.
As always - onwards and upwards fellow WA'ers
Martyn
Recent Comments
17
I'm going nuts trying to pick a theme, I wasn't happy with my site so I deleted it. Now I'm starting from scratch. I just wanna get it right this time.
You could have just picked a theme and filled it with content. Then saved it to your computer. Then tried heaps of different themes. That's what I did. Seems to have worked OK!
Trial and error seems to be my learning curve. I'm glad you have your method, which isn't too different to mine. Oh, where were you when I needed you eh? lol
Cheers Lindon - Martyn
Wow. Good for you. Great idea.
I have made so many mistakes LOL! I still don't know anything about code. Well, I haven't got to the part where it's taught yet. I don't mind. That is how we learn.
Omg Your awesome . I have never thought of doing it offline. I mess my sites up a lot.
I love the tech guys here..
They may not love me as much ;]]
I know what you been through and what a innovative approach.]
I finally gave up and decided to learn code another time.
hmmm...
It is actually quite easy to set up offline - well, for some reason I found it was. I have a basic magazine style theme at the mo on WA which serves a purpose, but doing it offline is just so much more less stressful - if that makes sense lol???. I love the Genesis child themes and there are so many coding tips and tricks that it can be a minefield finding the right way of doing it for you, and many of them don't work too.
I will keep you posted - Martyn
I'm really interested in this....you're 100% correct..who wants to look at a crappy website...I've bookmarked your blog,,,will look for updates
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An interesting idea! :)