… unless I get tired of this layout (which is probably not soon), I introduce you to version 3 of ADRICULOUS. Finally! Finally!
Although there are still some decisions I have yet to make in terms of the sidebar layouts on single posts and pages or remove the sidebar, this theme for 2016 is simply ready to go. And if you can recall my first version of this blog when I first purchased this domain, you’ll remember that it was all blue with some cute white blossoms as the background image. The previous one was completely focused on text and, let’s just say, I’ve run into some major problems with the Scrawl theme and it was pretty difficult to customize the child theme thoroughly.
The new parent theme that I’m using, Slack, is originally going to be the parent theme for my dear friend’s blog, but she got annoyed with the left sidebar and wanted her logo and navigation menu on top and went with another theme instead. This was a chance for me to use Slack for my parent theme, although I would’ve made mine a whole lot more different than hers should we both end up using the same parent theme.
There are a few things that I made some changes on from the previous theme:
- I am using a text logo instead of an image logo this time. I am currently using the Use Any Font plugin to upload this particular handwriting font. The font is a free download from Kimberly Geswein. The rest of the custom fonts you see (including the one for the body text) are all from Google Fonts. The only text that is actually an image is my new signature per post. I still have yet to update some of the pages of this blog.
- Removed the Home link. If you think about it, the logo itself is already linked to the main page and that putting a “home” link on the main menu would only make it redundant, so to speak. I wouldn’t even need a Home link should I start building one-page websites in the near future.
- Both the main content section and the left sidebar are scrollable. Therefore, if you happen to be a clique owner or a site directory owner, please do take the time to scroll down both sides to check that my link codes are up.
- Slack’s default setting with this entire layout is that the blog page actually has infinite scrolling. I decided that this would not work on my blog, seeing that I have posts that are over seven years old and that I made it displayed to only nine posts at a time.
- I added more social media icons and removed one (Dribbble). Let’s just say, after some 3 years of waiting for an invite to be part of Dribbble, I’ve decided to just give up. That place is just too elitist and I’m really am sick of the long wait. I’ll just stick with Behance, which is a lot more open and welcoming to all designers/developers of all levels.
- I’m still working on the widget layout. I may even trim it eventually to have that much cleaner look and make it not too cluttered. Let’s just see what happens in the later future.
- I also changed the anime/manga-style profile image to one of my slightly older profile pics. Maybe it’s just a whole lot more personal that way and of course, itll show people that I’m actually a real person, not an android robot hiding behind an anime girl’s face.1
- The grid posts are all highly customizable, but I won’t be able to take advantage of all the theme’s extra features through the Calypso app, therefore if I do feel like giving this particular post a different background color (and image even), I will have to log in the actual dashboard.
- The footer really does look horrible to me. I wanted to have a slightly different color that covers the entire screen, but sadly, the color change of the background only shows in “box” format. I don’t know how to fix this, what the heck.
That’s about it for now. And now, coming soon:
- The revamping of Little Dancer.
- The opening of The NinpoJINEOUS.2
- The opening of my portfolio.
- The revamping of Adri Mars.
Hopefully, once I get through my classes, I can finally apply what I learned to the projects I’ve always wanted to make.
- bad pun from Chobits. [↩]
- See a bit more info at the LVI! timeline. [↩]
January 30, 2016 @ 12:30 am
This is a very huge move. I’m proud of your courage to do a layout with such bold colors. Yay, you go girl! I think text logos are the trend now, I’m still in search of a font to make my own text logo too. XD There is one thing that I think you really need to watch out for, your sidebar scrollbar doesn’t seem to be working on my browser. I’m using Chrome. It appears to be a fixed sidebar and it’s cut-off. I couldn’t read information beyond the “Intro-LUDE” section. The other things you listed seem to be working well. Also, I used to have the “cartoon” avatar but changed it to my real picture with the same reason as yours.
Great job all in all!
PS: I’ve added your link in my blog buddies page. Glad to see a fellow member of Byte Sized group! :)
January 30, 2016 @ 6:45 pm
Hi Vic, good to see you here! The sidebar actually has its own scroll, so if you move your cursor on the dashed border, a small “scroll” will appear and that you can scroll it down. So in short, both sides (left sidebar and the main page) have their own scrolling. I guess you could say it’s kind of like the old frames/iFrames feature from the old HTML 4.0 and beyond, except it isn’t. (this theme is built in HTML5) I tested the theme on all three devices (my laptop, my Kindle, my Android phone) to be sure that the theme is responsive. I’m also using Chrome (both my laptop and my Android phone) and it works perfectly. It’s a pain to scroll the sidebar too, but I’ve tried everything by adding another right sidebar and using the footer but it just looked very crowded.
But thanks for your thoughts. I’ll make note (edit this entry) about the “scrolling sidebar” as well.
January 31, 2016 @ 12:50 am
Ohhh I saw it! Haha. I thought it was the same as the default scrollbar. Thanks for clearing that up! That’s a cool tiny feature. I went on a scrolling spree the first time I made it appear~ LOL
January 31, 2016 @ 8:34 pm
LOL hehe. Technically I hate scrolling/frame-style layouts altogether (nightmares from the early days of web designing hehe), but this particular one is quite subtle (the sidebar scrolling I mean). I went ahead and made a little link to my “Site” section to give a full explanation of the current theme. Thanks for stopping by Vic!