google.com, pub-6750398400224078, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
Simon Yeo

Another new WordPress Theme

Apr 10, 2016 | online publishing, Site | 0 comments

Editing WordPress using the Divi Theme

Editing WordPress using the Divi Theme

If you’ve read some earlier post of mine, you may have seen that I’ve been experimenting with different WordPress Themes for this site.  I’ve had to make some back-end changes to my web host to allow larger theme files to be uploaded and give myself a crash course in this highly customisable Theme builder called Divi.  With previous themes I’ve had to install various plug-ins to get the site performing how I wanted, now with the Divi Builder I can edit almost every element on the screen.  I really like how the pages will scale to suite what-ever screen it’s on, I’ve made the site as wide as possible (1920px) to utilise modern widescreen monitors, but it still looks good on a smaller window, laptop, iPad or phone.

The theme even has a couple of options to put the site into “maintenance mode”, to show a basic landing page for visitors that explains I’m working on the site without them seeing anying weird while I played around with everything.  After working on the site, on and off, over this weekend I’m about to take down the maintenance page and make the rest of the site live again.  I don’t doubt there be some more tweeks to make as I learn about Divi, but I’m really excited about the new look.  Down the track I’ll look at doing something with my other sites, especially Vic Pics.

New look to my personal website and blog using the new WordPress Theme called Divi.

New look to my personal website and blog

NOTE: Just in case the Divi theme doesn’t workout, I’ve re-published the blog’s previous format (up to 4th April) at sy.id.au/b4divi/blog

Getting geeky with WordPress Hosting

Apr 1, 2016 | Site, Tech | 0 comments

I told you last month that I was looking around for new WordPress themes for my personal blog (this site) and Vic Pics.  The trouble has been that my web hosting upload limit was 2mb, wich is fine for photos, but most half decent WordPress themes are well over that limit, so it was time for a fix.

WARNING: Geeky tech content below.

Some Google research revealed that to allow larger upload file sizes on my WordPress blogs that I would need to edit my pnp.ini file.  Yeah-right, whatever that is.  After a bit more research, I worked out how to find and edit my php.ini file, but hold on – it turns out I don’t have a php.ini file.

Checking my host provider’s “Help” pages I discovered I would have to create the file and then edit it with the correct details and then update the “.htaccess” line in the hosting files.  Now I don’t normally like having anything to do with this sort of back-end code, but I gave it a go and wasn’t at all surprised when it didn’t work.  Large files were still rejected with an error message.

What now?  Try that other great research tool – YouTube.  I found a good video that showed a php.ini file being edited, but the location was different (within the WP-ADMIN) folder instead of the Public_html folder that Crazy Domains said.  So what I tried first was the code used in the video, typed into the php.ini file I’d created earlier as directed by the host’s help page.  I held my breath as I tried again to install a large WordPress theme… and it worked, YAY!

So if you are with Crazy Domains and want to increase your upload limit, do this;

  • Follow the Help pages and search for a php.ini file in your File Manager, Web Root (public_html)
  • If you don’t have a php.ini file, create one in the public_html file
  • Edit the php.ini file and enter the following lines and Save
    upload_max_filesize = 128m;
    post_max_size = 64m;
    safe_mode = off;
  • Find your .htaccess file and add the line below and Save
  • SuPHP_ConfigPath /home/username/public_html/php.ini
  • Keep your fingers crossed as you try again to upload that large file to your web host!

php.ini code edit to increase file upload limit

php.ini code edit to increase file upload limit

So now with the upload limit fixed, expect to see a shiny new theme to this site coming soon!

This blog post contains affiliate links to my web host provider.

WordPress Theme

Mar 20, 2016 | Site | 0 comments

If you’ve visited my site before, you may have noticed a slightly new appearance.  I’ve updated my personal site to a different WordPress theme, I’m now using the free version of “AccessPress Mag” theme.

This theme isn’t too different to my previous theme, but I think it looks better.  If I decide to stick with Access Press, then I’d probably buy a licence for the Pro version and also upgrade my Vic Pics site to the same theme.

Having said that, I’m still keeping an eye out for themes that utilise a widescreen monitor well, while still looking good on a smart-phone.  Watch this space!

simonyeo.id.au screenshot AccessPress Mag

UPDATE;
As nice as the above WordPress theme was, I still wasn’t happy, so from April 2016 I’ve moved onto the highly customisable “Divi” theme.  Read more on this post – simonyeo.id.au/another-new-wordpress-theme 

ColorMag WordPress Theme

Oct 11, 2015 | Site | 0 comments

Yes, I’ve changed the WordPress theme for my personal blog again.  You may have read last month (HERE and HERE) that I was experimenting with new themes for this blog, but I couldn’t find one that I was totally happy with.

Now I’ve gone back to ColorMag, the same theme I use on my Vic Pics site and given it a few more tweaks.  It’s a lot better than when I tried it earlier, so I’ll be sticking with this theme now…I promise!