Ok, call me stupid if you wish
May 3, 2008
The “April Roundup” post on WordPress.com’s house blog introduces a brand new blog theme… the “Monotone Photoblogger Theme”. Apparently does a really neat trick by automatically changing colour chameleon-like to complement the colour of the first photo appearing in a given post.
And only allows one post per page.
The demos the post links to look really good. And sets me thinking. “Hmm, a proper photoblog dedicated exclusively to pics” (i.e., none of my endless ramblings) “with a decent background colour”.
Mull the idea over a bit. Just lends itself to showcasing certain pics. Say, for example, one’s favourite of the month… or whatever.
Decide I’ve gotta give it a try, but don’t really want to mess around with this blog as I’m growing rather attached to it.
However, the wonderful WordPress people let us users have as many blogs as we want so the obvious thing is to start a new one.
So I did. Called it “fave of the month”, with a tagline of “once-a-month pick from my flickr photostream”. Original, eh?
Thing is, this new theme apparently only works properly with pics uploaded to WordPress; i.e., linking to photos at (for example) Flickr or some other photo-hosting/sharing site won’t do the biz.
“Fair enough”, thinks I, “if I run out of space I’ll just delete some of the early posts/uploads”.
With that minor issue out of the way, set about getting the new blog functional.
Install the new theme; write the first post; insert a pic (locate a suitable one on my hard drive and upload to WP); and… publish!
Um… er… no! The post’s there sure enough. But no pic. And therefore no change of background colour from the default black. Oh pooh!
Well, I spend the next hour or so trying all the various things I can think of to get it working right. But alas, no joy.
However, by this time I’ve become quite committed to the idea of having this other “one pic per page” photoblog, so end up getting rid of that theme, installing another, and then simply reverting to my established practise of linking to photos at Flickr.
For anyone who wants to check it out (cos its now live) simply click through to mikespics.wordpress.com. And I’m including a permanent link to it in the “My Sites” section on the sidebar here.
But the issue of why I couldn’t get the new “Monotone” theme to work remains unresolved. And I find it difficult to avoid the nagging suspicion that its gotta be something really obvious which I’m just not noticing. Prob’ly cos I’m stupid.
21 Responses to “Ok, call me stupid if you wish”
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May 3, 2008 at 4:35 23
it happened to me too! if you find out…post about it!
May 3, 2008 at 4:39 40
Well, at least its good to know I’m not the only one. And if you should sus it first please do share.
May 3, 2008 at 4:56 07
I swear….if you’re not out with your camera kit you are in front of a computer (with occasional stops at
The Bear!).
I’m beginning to think that not only do you not live in Britain, but that you never sleep.
Hold it…in my testimonial on your Flickr site I sign-off with a joke about you being a robot…..maybe I’m on to something?
May 3, 2008 at 5:07 08
Notice how I’ve loudly never remarked on that robot bit?
Anyway, as for not living in Britain, this typical English country scene might persuade you otherwise (heh heh)…
Flickr photo
May 3, 2008 at 14:36 19
Hmm… I have had a quick look, now maybe it does not work or goes to default black due to to many colours i.e it needs a strong dominant colour and a lot of it!
just a guess I will have to go and play
May 3, 2008 at 19:09 16
Now I’m certain you’re not in England.
May 3, 2008 at 21:28 05
Thanks for checking out my site…believe me, you must have missed something really easy, because I am definitely NOT computer literate and I was able to make it work. Maybe they tweaked something since you tried…I just posted within the last couple of hours.
Please, please try again. I have taken a quick peek at some of your pictures and I think they would be fabulous in the monotone format…
May 3, 2008 at 21:59 55
Hi ukrainiac! Yeah, it could be that, as you say, they’ve tweaked something. I was trying it last night and despite playing around with it for about an hour (reuploading the pic, tinkering with the html, and so on) just couldn’t get it to work. I’ll try playing around with it again later on and see what happens.
And thanks for your kind comment.
P.S. Particularly liked your piggy photo… I’ve got a bit of a thing about pigs (and boars)!
May 3, 2008 at 23:44 12
Well, just tried it again on yet another test blog I’ve set up. Still no joy. This is getting silly now… resorting to things such as checking my browser and firewall settings. Ridiculous!
Is it really worth the effort, I have to ask myself.
May 4, 2008 at 1:14 33
fotdmike - It’s Noel from eight6. I designed the theme and the underlying code. Could you send me the link to your non-working Monotone themed blog? I’ll check it out and get the problem straightened away ASAP!
May 4, 2008 at 4:49 54
I would suggest a simpler background….maybe black with black text.
May 4, 2008 at 6:29 24
Got it forkboy. Ideal for diplaying all my pics of that black dog in the coal cellar at night!
May 4, 2008 at 6:35 33
Hi Noel… have emailed you the address of the test blog. If you manage to sus out what’s wrong I’d really appreciate it.
Also, I’ve now satisfied myself the glitch isn’t machine-related. Have just tried the site using a different machine with different firewall, going through a different router and using a different ISP. Still no joy!
May 4, 2008 at 10:18 05
After you uploaded the pic for the post, did you select the size as “Full Size” and then click “Insert into Post?” I have found that it works this way, hope it works for you as well.
May 4, 2008 at 16:56 51
Hi Digital Nomad. The very first time I tried it I’d overlooked selecting “Full Size” and so, after having re-read the wordpress.com blogpost, thought that was the cause. So I then deleted the pic, and the test post, and started from scratch again.
So on the second attempt, yeah, I did precisely that (both selecting “Full Size” and “Insert into Post”, but it still didn’t work. I’d also tried (different instances) using both the flash and the html uploader. Thanks for the suggestion though.
However, I’m wondering now if its something to do with the size of the pic I uploaded. It’s something like 1024×683. Now my understanding is that WP “crunches” the pic anyway on upload, but its about the only thing I can think of left to play with.
May 4, 2008 at 19:52 57
Oh, then I am sorry to not be of any help. I have found it to be working on my pics of both 1024×766 and 2288×1712. Good luck!
May 4, 2008 at 20:06 10
That’s ok DN. I appreciate any suggestions cos at the moment I’m tearing my hair out (what little of it I’ve got left!)
I’m sure its gonna turn out to be the usual “operator error” and I’ve been doing something incredibly stupid, or have missed something really obvious. And I’ll kick myself when I find out what it is.
May 5, 2008 at 3:46 24
I checked out your other blog. I LOVE IT! The photos are fantastic!!
May 5, 2008 at 4:49 27
Thanks Tam.
At the mo’ I’m only planning to post one a month there, but if I ever manage to get the “Monotone” theme working that may change.
May 6, 2008 at 7:48 21
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