Honey I Blew Up the Blog

by Jay Thompson on August 7, 2008 · 17 comments
Written by: Jay Thompson

in Blogging / Social Networking, Life

ExplosionWell, I went and did it again.

Note to self and others: Never, never edit Wordpress theme files “live” without backing up first.

Trust me on this.

It’s not difficult, at all, to really mangle a theme. And it is quite possible you’ll never be able to get it back how it was.

So enter yet another incarnation of the Phoenix Real Estate Guy.

TPREG is now sporting a new look using the fabulous Thesis theme from Chris Pearson.

I’d love to hear your opinions, please let me know what you think and do not be shy! It’s not done yet. Noticeably the graphics for the MLS search and “Ask the Broker” suck. Update: That’s been resolved, thanks to Lani. She does good work! There will likely be twiddling around with sidebar content and minor tweaks and twists over the next few days (and weeks and months — I can never leave it alone).


 

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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Jim Gatos August 7, 2008 at 4:13 am

Nice! Cool! Love the way you have a 3 column theme but it is only 2 columns in the beginning up to a certain point.. At least you didn’t go to Typepad LOL (which incidentially, I really do like!)..

Jim

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2 Paula Henry August 7, 2008 at 4:30 am

Jay – I guess the only thing to do in these situations, is, see the humor in it. :) Honestly – I like this one better than the previous one.

Looking forward to the next edition!

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3 Ginger Wilcox August 7, 2008 at 5:29 am

Laughing at the bottom “Powered by Wordpress, Caffeine and Swearing.” Yeah, mine too!
Looks just great. Sometimes we just need to break it. Accidents make our blog grow stronger.

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4 Heather Elias August 7, 2008 at 7:20 am

I like it! Looks nice. I’m overdue to break my blog, perhaps I’ll work on that this week…. (grin)

I like this theme!

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5 Linsey Planeta August 7, 2008 at 8:26 am

I crack up at the way that you mess with it. I’m not saavy enough to mess with mine and I’m terrified to touch a damn thing! I like it – I should. I’m using this one for http://www.whydidntmyhomesell.com. I need to change out the photos there but am waiting for my tech guy to help me. Like I said – terrified to touch it.

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6 D. Patrick Lewis August 7, 2008 at 10:26 am

Your destruction of your old site has led to this new one, see it was a blessing in disguise. I think it looks great, nice and fluid.

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7 Steve Belt August 7, 2008 at 11:27 am

You already know how much I like Thesis. Time for me to get busy and “catch up”. hehe.

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8 Dru Bloomfield August 7, 2008 at 12:06 pm

I was looking at the Thesis theme yesterday, thinking about making the change, but need to find a gap in my schedule to allow for fixing any blow ups!

This layout and font looks VERY good. (Much more readable than you last one.) Now I’m even more motivated to make the change.

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9 Candace Robinson August 7, 2008 at 7:55 pm

Jay — Sometimes a little blowup can make things much ‘hotter’…. love the new look and definitely like seeing you using your full header again! Love the clean, crisper look!

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10 Jim Gatos August 7, 2008 at 8:55 pm

Jay…

Just looked at the wensite for the thesis theme. Did you pay $87? Wow…

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11 Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy August 7, 2008 at 9:52 pm

Jim – I got it when it was first released for less than that ($65, I think). I later upgraded to the developer version so I could put it on multiple sites.

Yes, there are many very good free themes. But sometimes you get what you pay for. I can’t imagine the number of hours the developer of this theme put in, and continues to put in on further revisions and development. Great support too.

Given that Wordpress is free, paying for a premium theme still makes a Wordpress based blog a remarkable investment. If some of the developers and designers can make a living at it, more power to them and I don’t minds supporting them.

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12 luxury homes for sale August 8, 2008 at 4:15 am

this is really a perfect theme for this concept. how much did you pay for this? It really looks great. For sure, More visitors would return and return here.

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13 Jon Griffith August 8, 2008 at 12:10 pm

Well, as much as I like pay for use themes because of how advanced they are becoming, I’m still hooked on making my own changes, and when updates are released, my changes usually get blasted into the ultrasphere.

I’ve spent countless hours working on themes with my limited knowledge, which is probably why they have been countless. I’m continually updating my site to fine tune it so it has just the right information in just the right place.

My primary development platform is Dreamweaver which has made it extremely easy for me to make sure that I don’t screw up something that I can’t reverse. By duplicating each file that I work on prior to working on it with a simple keystroke, I have avoided massive frustrations.

Anyway, on with the show. I built a theme from the ground up which I’ve been thinking about packaging up and giving away to whomever which can be viewed at http://www.executiveapprentice.com.

Any critique would be appreciated. Thanks! This blog thing is taking over my life :) .

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14 Andrew. Fredericksburg Lawyer. August 8, 2008 at 9:07 pm

I actually really like this theme. Good decision! But it’s never fun to *have* to pick a new theme because the old one got hosed.

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15 James Boyer Morristown NJ August 10, 2008 at 11:29 am

I like it very much, It has a nice cool feel to it yet inviting to come in and see what is going on.

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16 Nicole August 11, 2008 at 6:01 am

It is good to know the instructions before we start anything. I like your suggestions. Thanks for sharing your beautiful ideas with us.

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17 cassiano travareli October 17, 2008 at 11:36 am

Looks great! good job. You have some pretty good ideas.
p.s. Ive read many of your old and new blogs.

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