If you don’t know this theme yet, you should check it out at Graph Paper Press.
Modularity Lite is Thad Allender’s freebie version of a larger framework. I was customising this theme for Jerry Hyde’s site recently, and thought I’d take some notes to share with you.
UPDATE January 2011: This article gained a lot of attention since it came out in January 2010. Code changes dramatically with each release, which is why I’ve written an updated version for Modularity Lite 1.3. This article is about version 1.2. Tweaks may NOT work in later versions.
How to add your own Background Image
The background image gets loaded via the style.css file in the following line of code:
/************************* GLOBAL STYLES ***************************/
body {color:#eee;background: #111 url(images/bg.jpg) no-repeat center fixed;}
The full path to the default background image is wp-content/themes/modularity-lite/images/bg.jpg. Change it to your heart’s contempt!
How to add your own Logo or Header
have a look at the header.php file and find the following section:
<!-- Begin Masthead -->
<div id="masthead">
<h4><a href="<?php echo get_settings('home'); ? rel="nofollow">/" title="Home"><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></a> <span><?php bloginfo('description'); ?></span></h4>
</div>
Delete the <h4> and <span> tags and replace them with a link to your logo like this:
<div id="masthead">
<img src="http://yourdomain.com/yourlogo.jpg">
</div>
If you’d like that logo to link to your home page, wrap it in a link like this:
<div id="masthead">
<a href="<?php echo get_settings('home'); ? rel="nofollow">/" title="Home">
<img src="http://yourdomain.com/yourlogo.jpg">
</a>
</div>
Image Sizes
If you’re hosting images in places other than your website (say Flickr) you may find that those images are too big for your layout. Rather than fiddle with that, let’s have imgaes automatically resize when they’re wider than your theme.
Have a look at the style.css file and find the /* Floats & Images */ section, under which you’ll find these three declarations:
img.centered...
img.alignright...
img.alignleft...
The last value on each line ends with
max-width:950px
Change that to a smaller value and your images will be resized automatically. You may also want to add
heigh:auto
to each line so your images don’t get squashed. I don’t know which image alignment you’re using when you embed an image, so for safe measure, amend all three of them. As an example, here’s the first line of code in its entirety changed to 500px width:
img.centered{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;max-width:500px; height: auto;}
Slowing Down the Slideshow
The slideshow is generated in Java Script. Have a look in your functions.php file and look for a code block under the heading // Load Dom Ready Javascripts – it looks like this:
jQuery("#slideshow").cycle({
speed: '2500',
timeout: '500',
pause: 1
In it, you’ll find two parameters:
- SPEED which is in fact the cross fade duration,
- and TIMEOUT which is the duration of each slide.
1000 is about 1 second, 2000 is 2 seconds, and so forth. Play with those and see what happens. If you’d like cuts instead of corss fades, change the SPEED parameter to 1. The PAUSE parameter doesn’t seem to do anything so leave it alone.
Hi Charmaine,
I’ve just had a dig through the code and I can’t find a way to make the sidebar smaller. I can help you with your Flickr images though. Have a look at the style.css file and find the /* Floats & Images */ section, under which you’ll find three declarations:
img.centered...img.alignright...
img.alignleft...
The last value on each line ends with
max-width:950pxChange that to a smaller value and your images will be resized automatically. You may also want to add
heigh:autoto each line so your images don’t get squashed. I don’t know which image alignment you’re using when you embed an image, so for safe measure, amend all three of them. As an example, here’s the first line of code in its entirety:
img.centered{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;max-width:950px; height: auto;}Good luck – and show us your site when you’re done 😉
Hello,
I've been reading others' questions and have been applying many of your solutions to my website, so thank you! I have one simple question. How do I activate the sidebar? I would like to add widgets. Thanks!
Hi Alicia, I’m glad it was helpful 😉
Funny you should ask about the sidebar – I had the same problem a couple of days ago. Under Appearance – Theme Options you can do all kinds of funky stuff, including switching the sidebar on and off.
Jay,
You are such a wealth of information. I wish I had found your site when I first began to use Modularity Lite. Just one question that I can't find a simple solution to. Do you know how to make the nav menu drop down on a hover instead of by clicking on the arrow? Here's my site if you care to look: http://moodydoodles.com/ Thank you!
Hi Amy,
this one took me quite a while to figure out – but like so often the end result is much easier achieved than I thought at first. Have a look in your style.css file and find the following line of code (under the /* Navigation at rest */ section):
#nav ul li.drop:hover ul { display: block; }Change it to this:
#nav ul li:hover ul { display: block; }The “.drop” waits for your to click before the menu gets displayed and by deleting it the menu gets displayed upon hovering.