Tag: CSS

Modified SemPress

Were one to exist, I could enter myself into a WordPress theme switcher contest, and I would win easily. Support for IndieWeb technology, namely microformats 2, is sorely lacking in all major theme houses that I have tried. The few themes that do support IndieWeb tech are aesthetically challenged. I have tried them all. The latest one I am trying out is SemPress, mostly because it is minimalist and I was able to modify it to meet some of my needs. SemPress was written by Matthias Pfefferle.

I wanted my images to display larger than the narrow 670px of the default SemPress. Most of my photography is landscapes and cityscapes. These are scenes which I think show best when displayed as large as possible. There are few art galleries displaying landscapes as framed 4x6" prints. The larger the better. I wanted my landscapes to appear as wide as they can on a 10.5" iPad Pro.

After hours of trial and error -- I have limited understanding of CSS -- I have something that works for me. I modified the CSS as follows.

#primary {
        float: left;
        width: 960px;
}

#page {
 display: block;
 margin: 0 auto;
 position: relative;
 width: 960px;
}

@media (min-width: 960px) {
 .single-column #page { width:960px }
}

There is a weird interaction with the JetPack image CDN. When enabled, all images are displayed no larger than 670px wide. I turned off the feature.

WordPress Theme Creation

Every time I tell myself "I will write my WordPress theme", I start learning about what is required and ... I quit. I feel overwhelmed and demotivated by the amount of effort. I already know PHP (but my skills are rusty), and with some time and effort, I think I could learn the WordPress Codex. But ... CSS. Argh! That would take a lot of time for me to learn.

And I want this theme support microformats2. Another learning curve. So as I see it I have three learning curves to climbs:

  • WordPress Codex
  • CSS
  • microformats 2

I think the issue is one of time. Assuming I could dedicate 1-2 hours a week (between work, wife, and kid, I have little time) to learning each of those, how long would it take? Assuming a week to learn each one, it could take me years.

In reality, I have no interest in learning how to create a WordPress theme. What I want is a minimalist and elegant WordPress theme that supports microformats 2.