As part of moving this blog and setting it up again I’m testing various WordPress themes. Please pardon the mess and the visual intensity as I adjust a few things.
Review of PopularFX Website Templates WordPress Themes
I initially started with the base selection offered by default to a new Bluehost hosting account and selected a very nice WordPress theme and from the “PopularFX Website Templates” plugin.
The PopularFX Website Templates does have some very nice WordPress themes and a lot of them are structured to fit specific small business or small website verticals and that could be really helpful for a lot of people. I also enjoyed how those themes used some really nice improvements on the content blocks for things like the WordPress index page.
The WordPress theme I chose also prompted me to download some temporary stock photos to fill out the design and it has some warnings about the licensing of the images it wanted to download. I didn’t want those images so I chose not to download the stock photos and images. The theme I chose looked *really* nice in the sample but ended up being very plain when I tested it and applied it to my website. That was a little disappointing that it did not look as good with fake stock graphics.
I also got in to the Theme Files editor for that particular PopularFX Website Template WordPress theme and I found that the PopularFX Website Templates theme files themselves were laid out in a very straightforward and clear file structure. The files themselves had simple naming convections and followed most of the best practices and common file locations. The more complex PHP functions and methods, including things like content tags, were easily found and edited and the code itself was concise.
I Didn’t Try Pagelayer
The new Bluehost WordPress hosting came bundled with a plugin called “Pagelayer” which I have not yet tried 🙁 Sorry Pagelayer. As a software engineer I prefer a more hands on approach to complex layouts for blog articles and pages so that I can control the HTML, Javascript, and CSS. I disabled the Pagelayer plugin.
I eventually wanted a more simple WordPress theme and started activating and deactivating the themes.
Activating, Deactivating, Changing or Switching WordPress Themes
It is very easy to change or switch themes in WordPress, go to “Appearance” and then click on “Themes”. Hover over any theme and click “Activate”.
Default WordPress Theme Review
I tried a number of different themes looking for something that would easily & tastefully fit a few of the existing WordPress posts I already have. I tried all of the default WordPress themes from “Twenty Fifteen” all the way up to “Twenty Twenty Three”
As of the time of writing this article I disabled PopularFX Website Templates and I have currently chosen the default WordPress theme of “Twenty Twenty” because I like the look of the <hr> and I also like how the <code> tag style looks inline. I am not a fan of how that style looks when broken up in blocks. The previous iteration of this blog used WordPress 2015 (yikes!) so I also have had good experience with the longevity of the built-in WordPress themes. Once I pick a permanent WordPress theme for this blog I probably will not want to change it for many years.
WordPress Themes and Better Styling of Code Blocks
I will probably be looking for a better CSS solution for WordPress themes with multi-line code blocks.
The Internet’s Original Under Construction GIF
If you are looking for the original “Under Construction” GIF from the early days of the Internet in the 1990’s here it is. The Original Under Construction GIF From the early Internet in the (the GIF of a person shoveling on a yellow sign):
