Install The Semiologic Theme
I make no bones about the fact that I am an enthusiast for Semiologic.
Semiologic Pro is a powerful blog management package of plugins fully integrated into the Semiologic theme. Luckily, the Semiologic Reloaded theme is completely free.
This means you can have all the benefits of a theme that is among the most flexible, most configurable themes on the market without paying a penny. You can leave it till later to decide whether you want to invest in the powerful package of Semiologic premium plugins and just use free plugins for the moment.
Before we go on, let's be clear about the three layers of Wordpress plus themes plus skins that can make up the whole package of your website.
Wordpress is the basic software platform.
Themes or Templates
On installation the Default and Classic themes are loaded and available. You may choose to install other themes from any number of free themes that are available. For most themes the theme controls both any improved functionality that has been built into the theme and the appearance of the blog.
Skins.
Where the theme includes a great deal of functionality it is possible that the theme author does not want graphic designers who are working on the appearance of the site messing around in the code that affects the theme functionality i.e. how the site works rather than what it looks like. They therefore design the theme so that the functionality and the appearance are kept seperate.
To maintain the ability of users to choose the appearance of their site then a further set of code called a 'skin' is then used.
The terms 'theme' and 'skin' are often interchanged – but usually only by users who do not fully understand the difference. The more powerful themes will split the software into the theme that controls the functions of the site and the skin that controls the appearance. This makes for efficient operation of the site as well as defining those areas of the code that designers can work on without breaking the site.
Semiologic theme
The latest Semiologic Reloaded theme is among the most advanced themes and seperates the theme from the skin. A range of more than 60 default skins are now available within Reloaded – so there are lots to choose from and you will then have the benefit of one of the most powerful themes on the market – absolutely free.
Although the Semiologic themes are intended to be used with the Semiologic Pro package of 80+ plugins you can also use it with any good quality Wordpress plugins.You can now select the plugins that you wish to use with this powerful free theme. Many of the Semiologic plugins are free and can be downloaded from http://www.semiologic.com/software/. There is an advantage to this because you are taking maximum advantage of the careful integration of plugins that takes place in the paid-for Semiologic Pro package.
For the more powerful functions where the Semiologic plugin is part of the Semiologic Pro package then you will need to locate a suitable alternative free plugin – though bear in mind it is unlikely to be as effective. Scanning the list of plugins at http://www.semiologic.com/software/ will tell you which of them are Premium plugins for which you need to find a replacement.
This lesson will tell you how to install the Semiologic theme.
Download Semiologic Theme
Download the Semiologic theme from www.semiologic.com/software/sem-theme/ where you will find the theme available for download. You are looking for something like this:
Do not use the Bleeding Edge version! That's for developers and capable users who want to spend their time with their heads in the code. If you are reading this then you are a marketer and have better things to do with your time.
Download the theme and save on your hard drive. (Note that version numbers change over time.)
Save and Extract
1. Note that I've got various downloads relating to Semiologic on my hard drive and I've created a folder specifically to keep them all organised.
2. The file will download named just 'semiologic'.
3. Extract the zip file by right clicking and choosing 'Extract Here' when it will create it's own folder as shown.
Connect Using FTP software
Open your FTP software and open the folder on your server called /public_html/wp-content/themes.
The standard default and classic themes that you have seen available on your site are listed.
Go to the location on your hard disk where you have stored the Semiologic theme and copy it across into the themes folder on your hosting server.
Theme Available
Now when you go to Appearance>Themes you will see the additional Semiologic theme is available. Again the appearance may change over time but the label should remain the same!
Click on the Semiologic link to change your theme.
Activate the Theme
The screen will show a facsimile of what the theme will look like – with an 'Activate' link in the top right corner.
Click on the Activate link.
Current Theme
The new theme will now become the Current Theme.
Click on Visit site to see your blog in it's new theme.
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Leave a Comment
Comments on Install The Semiologic Theme
brent @ 3:27 am
how do you use the themes where there side bar is broken like the ones where there is one columns and then 2 columns below
here is a link of one of the semiologic theme i am talking about http://skins.semiologic.com/media/mc/boxed/boxed-blue-screenshot.jpg
i can not figure out how to get content is the right column above the two column side bar
thanks
Bruce @ 10:01 am
Hi Brent,
First, make sure you are using a Layout which includes the Wide Sidebar (Appearance/Layout). The Wide Sidebar allows the use of the double width Top Wide Sidebar widget which spans the 2 sidebars.
Then use Appearance/Widgets to add as many Top Wide Sidebars (or Bottom Wide) as you want. So you can keep the double width going down the page just as far as you want. On this site you can see that the Optin form, the RSS subscribe and the Semio ad are each Top Wide Sidebar widgets.
The same goes at the bottom where you can add Bottom Wide Sidebar widgets.
For the sort of flexibility that the Reloaded theme offers take a look also at putting Text widgets into the Header area when they will span right across the page width and expand to whatever depth is required. As the text widget will take arbitrary HTML code that gives you lots of flexibility to make the appearance of your blog unique without shelling out for a bespoke theme.
Bruce
Charles Pisano @ 12:55 pm
Ok, one should also know that if they are uisng windows xp and internet exploror that chances are if the files are zipped they will not download. You need to use Firfox to download the files and then WSFTP.
Charles Pisano @ 1:08 pm
Your instructions do not work. You need to udpate yoru tutorial.
Bruce @ 2:39 pm
Charles
Thanks for the heads-up.
Can you point me to exactly which part is not working. It will just save me some time rather than going through the whole thing.
Bruce