Community Forums › Forums › Archived Forums › Design Tips and Tricks › Help in converting theme to Genesis
- This topic has 10 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 11 months ago by Carla the Moose.
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May 9, 2013 at 12:19 pm #40127devParticipant
Is there a way to put a smaller widget area inside a larger widget area on home page. I want a large area where I can put a picture and smaller one inside of it that I can put some text over it. This is similar to what you sometimes see on a slider with text in a semi-transparent box on top of the slider image. I'd also want it to be responsive if possible.
Basically we want to convert... http://www.thelovebugbook.com ... a theme we created... to the Genesis platform (it is based on Foundation or Skeleton, I believe.) The text to the right of the pix is in a plain old WP page but I think it is a custom page called "Homepage." We hired someone to create the theme... they are long gone.
I'm sure it would take code, css, and some html to make some Genesis theme do this (maybe the bare-bones "sample" or "minimal.") Anyone have any tips or pointers on how to convert the above to Genesis.
Here is another example... basically the same type of look: http://newmediawebsitedesign.com/authors/book6/ except this one is in Catalyst.
For a (very) reasonable fee we'd hire someone to convert 2 Cat themes and 2 homegrown themes to Gen... but would rather do it ourselves. It is not an urgent project but we want to get all of our themes on the Gen platform. Having to know 3 platforms is getting to be a bit too much for us as our biz grows. Most often we buy and modify themes for clients... but for our book authors, there is nothing out there in Gen-land we like as much as what we have now do maybe we can create our own?
Thanks for any help.
May 9, 2013 at 12:42 pm #40136Carla the MooseMemberHi there . . .
Someone who's an expert on converting websites to Genesis may chime in, but I wanted to offer some initial thoughts.
First, what you're wanting to accomplish with a widget embedded inside another widget shouldn't require a second widgetized area. You should be able to do this via HTML. Just drag the text box into the widget and add your code there. This would involve adding a div to wrap around the content and some CSS to get them to layer.
But the bigger question is moving to Genesis. Personally, I would focus on that first. Your websites are very light in terms of content, so this should be a fairly pain-free process for you. 🙂
I'd suggest starting with the website that has the least amount of content. That would be a great way to get started. Choose a StudioPress theme that comes close to what you're wanting to accomplish. If you're comfortable with CSS, they are pretty easy to work with, and the support is excellent.
I'd be happy to coach you throughout this process, at no charge. And others will probably contribute, too.
Carla
May 9, 2013 at 12:53 pm #40137Carla the MooseMemberI wanted to add that while all the themes are great, I chose the eleven40 theme to work with. It has everything you need to create a nice website and can easily be designed to look like both of your websites. My own website, which is launching soon, looks nothing like the demo, but I chose it because it gives me lots of options for some of the other websites I'm going to be building.
If you offer websites for your authors, getting to thoroughly know just one template is a great way to go. You can save each child theme that you create based on that template as its own template, and then personalize each one specific to your clients' needs.
Carla
May 9, 2013 at 1:20 pm #40140devParticipantThanks for the info. Yes, when you come down to it, I really don't want to "patch the roof" I want to replace the roof.
I'd not thought of popping a <div> in a text widget and positioning it. However, we try to keep HTML out of widgets if we can and use CSS as much as possible.
Our book homepages are VERY light on content.... by design. We've been in the book industry for many, many years (www.bookwrights.com) and we have a good formula for what a single book site should look like in order for it to sell (or at least sell the first printing!) Not everyone agrees with us, but we have a good track record with authors and publishers.
I'll take a look at eleven40. There might also be something on http://zigzagpress.com/themes/ that might work for us.
A friend said I should find an intern to do this for us... or maybe a college student. I don't think it is all that difficult.... and if I had time to learn how to create custom posts (like the one we have now) I could probably do it... but I have to run the company, do the marketing, monitor the work... and even do some of it myself. My wife (who is not involved in the biz) said I need another wife! Like I can afford that !! 🙂
May 9, 2013 at 1:29 pm #40143Carla the MooseMemberI don't know anything about the theme company you referenced, but I would seriously consider StudioPress. There's really nothing knew under the moon when it comes to templates, but the backend work and support can really differ. You probably know this, but I have to say it: choose the company first, and the theme second.
My mom published her first mystery novel last August. I happen to like your approach to author websites. It brings a lot of focus to the book. My husband and I are starting a mystery series, too.
Could you please elaborate on what you mean by custom posts?
Cheerios!
Carla
May 9, 2013 at 1:45 pm #40146devParticipantI agree that Studio Press themes are a well engineered... but so is Appfnite which we use for our own site (Optimal) and I assume other vendors... at least those in the SP Community... are well made. We've not sold any Zagapress themes yet... but my guess is that they are up to SP standards.
As for support, we don't usually need too much of it. We pay our contract staff very well and so we are able to attract people who know the technology... at least more than I do (and I know a fair amount.)
We apply the "psychology" of book covers (my partner is a world-class, award-winning book designer www.bookwrights.com) where you only have a few seconds to "capture" the attention of the bookstore customer to get her to pick up the book and look at it. We don't like to "assault" the viewer with tons of info... a nice graphic and a few well chosen words is all that is needed. We didn't invent this idea... book cover design has a century of research behind it. If you look at our competitors (authorsontheweb.com and authorbytes.com just to name a couple, they do pretty much the same thing... except they do it for $3000 and we do it for $600 !!!)
ANC
http://www.NewMediaWebsiteDesign.comMay 9, 2013 at 1:47 pm #40147Carla the MooseMemberThis reply has been marked as private.May 9, 2013 at 1:59 pm #40151devParticipantThis reply has been marked as private.May 9, 2013 at 1:59 pm #40152Carla the MooseMemberHer book cover designs are fantastic. And I like your approach to website design. Your BookWrights.com website is fresh and clean. I'm doing something similar with my own website.
Carla
May 9, 2013 at 2:08 pm #40157devParticipantYou asked about a "custom post"... this is a page (0r a post but we use pages) that are designed to allow special data entry in them and they format the data according to how you code the page... an example is this page: http://newmediawebsitedesign.com/authors/book1/book/books/escape-from-burma/
Maya at Bookwrights has been doing book design for 23 years... she is in demand but she wants to port her skills over to web design because with ebooks eventually replacing print books, there will be a demand on the part of publishers to create one-book: one-site marketing (like Hollywood does.) That''s why we teamed up ... I do most of the tech work, she does the graphic work. The larger publishers don't want to give up to Amazon what the recorded music industry gave up to iTunes. They want people to go to a book site and order direct... not from Amazon for the Kindle version. I don't think that will happen... but even if they are "forced" to sell through Amazon they will still need to get eyeballs to the book sites.
I hope you got my private reply. If not contact me with your contact info via the contact form on newmediawebsitedesign.com.
May 9, 2013 at 3:48 pm #40175Carla the MooseMemberI could see a blue post that said "This reply is private." But it didn't email me the content or display anything else.
I'll contact you via your website.
I belong to Sisters in Crime, so I've read lots of discussions on changes in the book industry. I think she's wise to grow her business in that direction.
Carla
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