Art of Blog is happy to Release it’s first Thesis Skin: “A Bright Idea”. This skin was originally ported to Thesis for use at Auinteractive’s Blog, however once we saw how great it turned out we just had to release it. After all, “A Bright Idea” is such a great example of what Thesis is capable of.
Goals for A Bright Idea
When we set out to build “A Bright Idea” we wanted to take advantage of all of the options Thesis offered to us. We also wanted something that didn’t look like it was “Thesis” at first glance. Overall, we think the finished product delivers just that.
Under the Hood
The primary driving engine of this theme is of course WordPress and Thesis, but in order to deliver the finished product we utilized quite a few elegant Thesis hooks and filters paired with quite a bit of Custom CSS to create a very sleek blogging theme which gives the content priority. We took time to remove the annoying “jump” that happens after you click read more. ;) That always bugged us, so we included that in the custom functions as well.
Photoshop File Included
Now we like the name “A Bright Idea” a lot, but we assume you call your blog something else. If that is the case your are in luck. Included in the download file is the photoshop file that will allow you to change the “home button.”
Enjoy! “A Bright Idea”
We really hope you enjoy using Thesis and a Bright Idea. If you would like to help us continue to release free skins for Thesis you can do so by leaving in the links to this site. By no means do you have to, but we’d think you where pretty cool if you did ;) Without further ado… Here are links to Get Thesis, Demo “A Bright Idea” and Download the Skin. Enjoy!
Get Thesis Theme for WordPress
Demo: A Bright Idea for Thesis
Download: A Bright Idea for Thesis
Installing Bright Idea for Thesis
Installing this theme is pretty straight forward. Just follow the steps below and if you hit any hangups, let us know in the comments.
Step 1: Buy and Download Thesis Theme for WordPress. You will want at least version 1.6 as this is the latest. This skin won’t work without it.
Step 2: Download the Thesis Settings Export Plugin and get it installed.
Step 3: Download the ABrightIdea.zip file and extract the “custom” folder onto your server. All of the files within this folder should be moved to yourdomain.com/wp-content/themes/thesis_16/custom/ folder.
Step 4: Within the ABrightIdea.zip file you will also find a folder called “settings.” Within this folder are export files. Simply go to your “Thesis Import/Export” link under appearance and upload each of the files.
Step 5: Edit the Included .psd file in photoshop to include your site name. Save as home.png. Upload to yourdomain.com/wp-content/themes/thesis_16/custom/images/
Made Possible By:
- Thanks to the wonderful Thesis Settings Export Plugin by 3 Dog Media which makes installing this theme a breeze.
- Thanks to Markus Urban for creating a slick original design to work with.
- Thanks to DIYThemes for Creating Thesis.
Get Free Updates From Art Of Blog
Sign up to receive insider tips only available to our email subscribers.
You can also subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter to get the latest updates. Check out our YouTube channel for the latest video tutorials!
Written by Nick Reese
Nick Reese is a full time internet marketer living in Austin Texas. When Nick isn't managing web properties he enjoys biking, shooting video, and drinking tea. You should follow Nick on twitter here and check out his side project Becoming Bold.
Two Sure-Fire Ways to Increase Website Traffic 
Thesis Recent Tweets with @Anywhere Integration 
Add A Tweet This Post Box To Your Thesis Post Footer 
WordPress Security 101: Securing your Site 
Art of Blog 4.0 – A Thesis Customization 
Enable Your Fans – Top Community Building and Social Sharing Tools for Your Blog 
Headway Theme for WordPress: Customize Your Website Visually 
Thesis Review: Thesis WordPress Theme Video Review 
Interview with Chris Pearson of DIYThemes 
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, what a beautiful skin!
Thanks for offing it!
Excellent skin, Nick. Very clean. It’s been added to ThemeThesis.com. Keep me posted on any other work you do.
Great Skin. I just added it to my Thesis Skins library. Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with for Thesis!
Thanks for offering this skin. I knew it was what I was looking for as soon as I saw it. Just a FYI, in IE the right side of sidebar cuts off a couple of pixles. (You can see it on your demo) It looks like widgets have extra padding in them for some reason that I haven’t been able to trace out yet.
No demo? I’ll have to give ‘er a try once aI get thesis setup on my local machine.
Click on the image of it, there is a demo.
I’ve installed the theme but there doesn’t seem to be anyway to add additional menu tabs, is this correct? Also. I would like to remove the adds for thesis if possible. I would leave the link in the footer.
Bill,
Add a menu via a widget in the sidebar.
As far as the thesis advertisements. Check the custom_functions.php.
Hi, Nick,
What a beautiful skin. As a thesis newbie, I have a quick question: with a thesis skin, I can still change the design of the theme and the skin will just be part of the background? Is that the idea?
In other words, what’s static and what can be changed with a thesis skin?
Thanks for clarifying,
Lux
Lux,
You can tweak anything you need to via custom CSS. This just gives you all the resources to have a site out of the box.
You can change the background via CSS too. :)
Lux, Just for further clarification. Everything is static.
thanks nick.
as a thesis newbie, i did that for one of the thesis site i had. but after implementing the custom css i tweaked my theme setting.
viola, the site was upside down.
that’s why i was asking what i can change, or kept variable, without breaking the whole site =)
lux
nice theme you have. but i was unable to load the setting. currently using thesis 1.7
Nevermind, i made it worked. Thanks for the skin~ great job indead..
Hallo Nick
I like this skin very much. Simple and elegant. I wanted to install it on Thesis 1.7 , and it doesn’t work. I mean the layout of the blog is not complete after the installation. I do not see the background, and the foreground. Only the yellow patches of the advertisements and the “The bright idea” .psd file that can be edited in photoshop. I have checked the files on the server ( in the “custom ” folder), and everything seems to be fine. And also I have used the import/export plugin to upload the files in the “setting” folder.
What might be wrong? can You help?
thanks a lot
Martyna
{ 2 trackbacks }