When I was clicking through my various blogs this morning I got to thinking I need more themes for my blogs so they don’t all look alike, but I want them all to have the full text search, which limits me. So far I know of several old ones that do: K-2 LITE, RUBRIC, REGULUS, WORD PRESS CLASSIC,  plus CONNECTIONS and CONTEMPT (but both of these have that irritating pop-up that says “check the links below” associated with their search). I guess I need to run another check on some of the other themes.

THE JOURNALIST v1.3 is black and white and very legible. It also has a full search. The v1.6.1 version also has the full text search, but it’s less attractive to my eye than v1.3. SILVER IS THE NEW BLACK has the full text search, but the font they use is so small I can hardly read it. FLEUR DE LYS has the full text search. Maybe I should try it? POOL has the full text search and can accommodate a custom header. ICEBURGG and INOVE and SIMPLA have the full text search, but I don’t like the way they look.

SANDBOX 1.1, 0.6.1, and 1.6.1 offer only the first few lines for searches. Version 0.6.1 has huge bold text and is very easy to read, which is a virtue even if it doesn’t offer the full-text search.

I got tired of the light blue, so I’m going to try silver for a while. I also want to explore the features of SILVER IS THE NEW BLACK. So far, so good. this theme offers a full-text search, and I can edit posts from the blog itself. The only thing I don’t like is that the type seems very small….

I got tired of the black and white of the JOURNALIST theme, so I tried some of the blue ones. SAPPHIRE is handsome, but it offers only a five-line search, and I want a full-text search for this blog. CONTEMPT offers a full-text search, but it also has that confusing pop-up that says “If you are unable to find anything in these search results, you can try one of these links.” What links? So Next I tried K-2, which offers the full text search. Maybe I need to make a list of which themes offer full searches so I’ll be able to cut to the chase. I’m just remembering that good old KUBRICK has the most minimal search of them all. It offers just the date — no text at all — which actually makes it perfect for my Birdathon blog that serves as a searchable archive of all the species I’ve reported seeing on my Birdathon blog. Just to make my review of the blue themes complete, I revisited POOL and discovered that it has a full-text search, so maybe I’ll experiment with it for a while.

I’m now exploring the theme called THE JOURNALIST to see if it has everything I want. Its search is full text, and it offers the option of some explanatory text in the sidebar. The posts are wide and legible, and the sidebar is narrow. I guess the only thing I’m having trouble getting used to is the absence of color. I wonder if I can add a custom header? No, I can’t, but that’s OK because all I have to deal with now is the absence of color. We’ll see.

I think I’ve finally explored all the header possibilities WordPress offers and finally settled on designs that will work for each of my blogs. I’ve learned a lot of useless things, but who cares? And now WordPress is suddenly introducing a raft of new themes. Fortunately none of them appeal to me because they’re all triple columns. All I want is TEXT with a few items in a slender sidebar. I think I’m not really a blogger, but I will continue trying to make good use of the technology to achieve my personal goals.

Finally got back to my NATURALIST’S JOURNAL after several weeks of frustration with various WordPress themes that just didn’t work for me. Today a friend and I decided to create a custom header for the Connections theme, and now maybe I can get back to the hard work of typing up my journal entries. I decided to post my December 2006 observations first before I go back to 1979, where I left off. I’m thinking maybe I should do a recent month with each older month to keep myself sane. We’ll see…

Another morning shot to hell. Today I tried all the transferable WordPress headers I like with the Connections theme, and finally got something that seemed almost acceptable. In the process, I learned that the Kubrick header is unique. At first it transferred as all white, but a little later it changed to pea green to match the pea green band that is fixed in place above the Connections header. So now I have an almost solid pea green header for my BLOGGER’S PROGRESS blog. I’m not sure I ever would have chosen it at the outset, but it’s the best I’ve been able to create using materials available within the Word Press system, so I’m chosing it for now.

Today I’m doing one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done AND wasting time that I do not have to waste. I am going to look closely at ALL of the WordPress templates to see which have the following options: CUSTOM HEADER, FULL TEXT SEARCH, EDIT FROM BLOG, WIDE TEXT, and LEGIBLE PRINT.

To run the SEARCH TEST, I need a few entries with over five lines. I think one of my blog entries is already that long, and maybe one of my non-profit entries too. And just to be sure I need to type a few more lines for this entry. Why am I doing this? I am trying to create numerous different blogs, and I want to know which templates might be suitable for which blogs. In fact, I just thought up a new blog on PHENOLOGY. We’ll see….

Decided to change themes for this progress blog. I think I like Sapphire better than Contempt, but I’ll need to play with it for a day or two before I’ll know. Also typed up January 1979 for my NATURALIST’S JOURNAL blog.