Continuing Saga of a New WordPress Theme
At least two weeks have passed since my last post about installing a new WordPress theme for my affiliate marketing site.
Although many hitches were experienced along the way, with help from Alex Evans and Site Support, I was able to get the site published again on a Studio Press theme.
In the days following that effort, I could not achieve an acceptable presentation of this website on the StudioPress theme. On my site, this theme persisted in displaying a large gap above the most recently published post. The gap was between the top of the post and the header. It did not affect the sidebar which meant an untidy appearance. I’m sure that gap was related to padding, but I couldn’t find a solution.
So, back to the drawing board and more research on WP premium themes. This resulted in a decision to give the GeneratePress theme another try. I reasoned that as the GP theme is so popular, there must a way to make it work for my site.
So with a positive mindset, for a second time, I installed GeneratePress premium theme on my website.
Wow! I couldn’t believe how easy it was, at this attempt, to manage the settings and create a design that is presentable.
It was like magic. How this happened I do not have a definitive answer.
At a guess I would say it was either:
- - a plug-in that interfered with the theme settings
- - or
- - a negative mindset
Could a plug-in be the cause? I had used an ‘under construction’ plug-in at my first attempt of changing the theme to GeneratePress. It is possible this may have been the culprit. However, I am not saying the problem was the plug-in. It’s only a guess.
Was it a negative mindset? It is possible with all the research I had done prior to changing this theme, along with a fear that this site would crash, the problem may have been caused by a negative mindset.
The fact is at the first attempt to change the theme of this website, I was expecting to experience a problem. That is exactly what I got. One huge problem!
Allowing days to pass, and eventually concentrating on the fact there was no reason why GeneratePress premium would not work for me, I reinstalled it and – MAGIC – it works.
So, currently I am still in the process of updating almost a hundred posts and some pages, but at least I can have this site live again.
There is one limiting factor to the GP theme which is, no option is provided to have an individual post without a sidebar. In time, I will install the Elementor, or similar plugin. This will provide for change of design of individual pages or posts, as and when I require them.
Recent Comments
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So happy to see you blogging again. I found a theme I like but its not GP. Glad you got it all figured out. Elementor is a good drag and drop editor plugin, you might like it.
Hi Brenda. It's good to see you and thanks so much for your comment. I feel confident that when I'm ready to attempt Elementor this plugin will help with the finishing touches in respect to design.
At least - that's what I'm hoping :)
I'm still with the free premium website deal,but as I progress that may change in the future but for now it is better for me doing this time of getting all of my websites and pages up and running,this by itself were a journey that I has to take and success with.
If you're happy with the theme you are using I recommend staying with for as long as possible.
I was in the position of having to change themes because the one I was using was old and about to break my website.
Thanks very much for leaving your comment, Myles.
Best wishes :)
Good, you are working on the premium themes, me, I am using the free ones and I am not satisfied with what I see. Maybe, I will have to hear from you and others in what is going on their themes before I engage in more complex.
There are so many themes these days, including premium. Yes, it's best to get some advice. What I like about the GeneratePress theme is, not only is it modern in appearance, it is also light which I imagine helps toward site speed. The downside is not being able to have a one-off page that doesn't include a sidebar. However, as I mentioned in my post, the Elementor plugin should solve that problem. Again, another expense as it is a paid plugin but I believe it worth it. In saying that, I haven't used it yet.
Jay uses the GeneratePress theme, and he must be using a plugin as well, to get the design he has on his site.
Jay had the Mai theme before then he changed to GP. I had so much trouble with GP premium. Now I like my theme less than 40 per year with rating plugins.
Jay does change his themes but he has so much experience and expertise.
I'm sorry to learn that you too have had problems with GP premium. The second time of using GP, I found it simple and couldn't understand why it was so difficult the first time around.
I don't understand what is meant by your theme being less than 40 per year with rating plugins. That is something new to me!
Sorry I meant the theme that I purchased cost me less than $40 dollars and its annual theme. I will pay $35 dollars every year to keep those themes. Its not a one time fee like GP. I purchased two themes Schema and Splash. Schema is fast and good for content blogs. The Splash theme is ultra fast for SEO and it has a built in rating plugin. This means that when I am doing my product reviews I can use the rating plugins to give my honest opinion and experience with a product or an affiliate program. The ratings will show like five stars 5.0, I can rate a program 4.5 to that affect. It has a rating box plug in that shows the stars. I can star each features of a program. I can rate them based my opinion and recommendations. I am an infographic person. I like visual aids when I am learning about a product. I will use combination of infographics and texts in my content in order to help my readers understand a product. I reveal how such product works or affiliate programs work that includes my likes and don't likes, honest opinions like the training on WA teaches. I hope this explanation helps.
Oh, wow, Brenda. I'm all jealous now! It sounds like you have two great themes. I didn't know about those themes. That rating box plugin would be great to have.
Well, I can't change themes again; certainly not for a long time.
Thanks so much for sharing your information. I will keep it mind in case I need another theme in the future.
Thats why I spent a lot of time researching and taking my time to find the right theme for infographic content blogs. I didnt rush into setting up my site right away. If you got your GP working and all is good to go-let me know I still have the GP premium files. I didnt request for money back. I kept the zip files in case I might change my mind to use it for another site.
I do now believe that I will be happy with GP. However, I have a lot of re-formatting of posts etc (approximately 100). When I've worked through all of that I might consider adding the Elementor plugin. At this stage, I believe I'll need Elementor to give options with the design that aren't available in the basic premium GP.
I will be n touch, Brenda. You're welcome to give me a big nudge if I don't respond within a reasonable timeframe. Say approximately 2 months.
Hi Liz, thanks for your message. It is a relief to be able to move on and create some content!
Valerie, I don't think it's a negative mindset causing unconscious sabotage! You got a problem because there was. some themes don't match what we want.
I had exactly the same thing happen to me. I bought a theme thinking it would plug and play. I didn't have a mindset there would be problems, and there were. It just didn't do what I expected.
Funnily enough, I also fixed the problem by switching to Generate Press. brilliant minds, eh ?? ;) cheers Marc
Generate Press is great. But, that was what I had the first issue with. The second time, a week or two later, Generate Press worked like magic. Hence my thoughts on mindset.
Anyway, it's all good now :)
Cheers,
Valerie
ah I see, I misunderstood, obviously overlaying my own experience here. well, in any event, I'm glad it's working
It's always wonderful when a challenge ends well. Good on ya...hope you have no more theme problems going forward.
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Dear Valerie,
I have trouble with themes, thank you for writing this I don't feel so alone
Dear NnurseBecca, thank you so much for your comment and I'm pleased to be in good company. We're on the same page with respect to themes. Here's hoping things such as themes improve for both of us in future :)