Why does your blog theme suck? Is it the garish color scheme? Is it too hard to customize? Is it the clumsy typography and layout? Or is it just the overall lack of attention to the needs of bloggers with something intelligent to say? Lack of attention from a designer that hasn’t given a thought to the nature of blogging? I’ll tell you a secret: it’s all of those things. And here’s another secret: I hate most blog themes—but I love this one.
If you’re ready, I’d like to introduce you to the Thematic Themelet, Acamas. Click on the demo-site screenshot below (opens in a new window), browse around and then come back here to find out how you can bring clarity, elegance and power to your blog design.
What’s a Themelet? Acamas is a Thematic Themelet. That means Acamas requires the Thematic Theme Framework installed in your WordPress theme directory. Thematic powers Acamas. And Acamas builds on the power of Thematic. But don’t worry! Thematic is free. Even better, it’s open-source and one of the most advanced SEO WordPress themes around. Download Thematic now and set your blog on a rock-solid foundation for success.
An Elegant Solution To The Problem Of Blog Design
The problem with blog design is two-fold. Firstly, Most blog design makes it too darn hard to blog the way your mind runs. Sometimes you want to write an in depth article, sometimes you want to link to a funny picture. And then, most blog designs treat every page the same when—trust me—your readers aren’t treating every page the same. What to do?
With Acamas I tried to get into the mindset of bloggers and readers of blogs. That attempt led to a multiple structure approach for this theme with 3 distinct layouts: a 3 column approach with a large highlighted area for featured posts on the home page, a two column approach for full content and one column for Search and Category pages.
What does that equal? Is it a magazine theme? Nope. It’s a blog theme.
How To Use The Acamas Theme
Featured Posts On Your Home Page
The first thing you’ll want to do after activating the Acamas theme is set the featured category. This is the category of posts that Acamas highlights on your home page under the headings “Latest Feature” and “Recent Features”. Once Acamas is set as the current theme, navigate to Design > Acamas Options. Here you’ll find a drop down list of all your current categories. Select one, press the “Save Changes” button and you’re set. Remember, if you ever want to change the category of featured posts you can come back here at any time and just select a new category.
Once you’ve set the featured post category featured posts will be removed from the list of posts on the home page (and subsequent pages). They’ll still be archived chronologically on Search and Archive pages—just where your readers expect to find them. And for the sake of your reader’s convenience, there’s a link to the archive page for your featured posts at the bottom of the “Recent Features” list. Why make people hunt around for the good stuff, right?
Changing The Look of Acamas
Acamas is easy to use as-is. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But what if you want to change how it looks? Well that’s easy too. All you have to do is make a Variant CSS file for your theme. Acamas looks for a file called variant.css inside a folder called acamas-variant located in your wp-content directory. If that file exists, Acamas will load it after the main stylesheet. What does that mean? Well, it means you can now safely override the default Acamas styles without damaging the integrity of the theme. You can add your own logo, colors or background images all with CSS. The possibilities for customization are almost endless.
Need some help getting started? I’ve got you covered. I’ve made a sample Acamas Variant that adds a nice little background image like the picture featured here. Download the variant file, unpack it in your wp-content directory and you’re on your way to making Acamas your very own.
The Power of The Thematic Theme Framework
With Acamas, you get all the power of the open-source Thematic Theme Framework behind your blog. Thematic has been called a WordPress theme that blows “premium” themes away and it’s not hard to see why; State-of-the art SEO and coding; 13 widget-ready areas; Useful Theme Options; Theme support for popular plugins; Continual refinement; A lively community; and rapid response to support questions. You’ll find that there aren’t a lot of themes like Thematic.
Make An Impression With Your Blog Today: Get Acamas
If you want to take your blog to another level, Acamas is the WordPress theme for you. Make your content clear with it’s multiple structure approach to blog layout. Make it elegant with Acamas’ refined typography and distinctive look. And make it powerful, with all the benefits of a popular open-source WordPress Theme Framework.
Download it now and let Acamas help your blog get taken seriously.
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