Download Travelogue v 2.7 (includes PSDs)

This finally bumps it up past 2.6.9 with a couple small but important bug fixes. Here’s the lowdown:

Changelog for v 2.7:

• Fixed a bug caused by a deprecated function called in sidebar.php if no widgets were activated.
• Fixed a formatting issue when using the Search widget in the sidebar, causing all widgets after to be messed up.
• Changed the default rotating script for the polaroid images to rotatorm.php instead of rotator.php. Hopefully that helps people have less issues with the polaroid images.
• A couple other very small things.

If you have questions about the polaroid images, please search on this site and read the comments before you send me an email. I’m often happy to help, but I have very little free time, and many of the questions have already been answered multiple times. Other than that, enjoy!

Here’s the deal: the Travelogue theme was unfortunately not designed to be administered wholly from the WordPress Dashboard, and it requires a certain minimal level of computer expertise in order to use. I apologize to all users who are not familiar with their server’s folder structure, editing code, or the like, but let me say that you can definitely learn if you put your mind to it. Please search other resources as well, such as the WordPress Codex and the web to learn more about WordPress and other topics.

Question: Where is this “randimages” folder?

The randimages folder is located inside the travelogue theme folder. On a default WordPress installation, you will find this in wp/content/themes/travelogue/randimages. You cannot access this folder directly from the WordPress Dashboard, nor can you upload files to it from using the WordPress Media Uploader. Please use an FTP program to access your web host and upload files that way.

Question: How do I get my pictures to show up?

Stick them in the randimages folder. You cannot use images from a post’s gallery or from typical WordPress media uploads. Perhaps I might code this in the future, but professional obligations are keeping me away from it for the foreseeable future. Use an FTP application to connect to your web host, find the folder listed above, and put the images directly into that folder (not in any subfolders inside that folder).

Question: No images are showing up, but I know I have them in the right folder.

Some hosts don’t support the original image rotating script that it uses. Luckily, I’ve included two! Here’s what you’ll need to do. Go into the theme’s folder (wp-content/themes/travelogue) and open the header.php file. Note that you can also do this from the WordPress Dashboard by going to Appearance > Editor and find the header.php file on the side. Go to line 39, which reads like this:

<a href="#"><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/randimages/rotator.php" width="202px" height="187px" alt="Polaroid Photo" /></a>

and add one letter to rotator.php to become rotatorm.php:

<a href="#"><img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/randimages/rotatorm.php" width="202px" height="187px" alt="Polaroid Photo" /></a>

Return to your site and do a refresh and the images should start rotating in. If not, double check that your images are in the correct folder. If this still hasn’t solved it, go directly to the rotating script and see if it coughs up an image by going to {yourblogurl}/wp-content/themes/travelogue/randimages/rotator.php or rotatorm.php. An image should show up on the screen. If not, go back and check that everything is in order.

Question: How big should my images be?

I have forced the images to size to fit inside the polaroid frame, but this may distort your images if they are not of the same dimensions. You can fix this by resizing the images with an image editing application to be 202 pixels in width and 187 pixels in height. No image editing application on your computer? (There probably is, with all the pre-installed junk these days.) Try any of the following free online photo editors: Aviary, Photoshop.com, or Picnik. Then place the correctly sized photos into the randimages folder.

Question: Where is this mythical readme.txt file everyone is talking about?

You have to look in the theme’s folder, located at wp-content/themes/travelogue, in order to read it. If you installed the theme directly from the WordPress repository, then you’ll have to log in to your web host to look at it. If you downloaded then uploaded it to your host, then you should have it on your hard drive and should probably know how to find it. Basically everything that I’m writing in this post are also in the readme.txt file.

Phew! I hope that helps out those with questions! Again, sorry that the theme isn’t super advanced or ridiculously easy to use, but hey, it can’t help to learn a bit about web development, right? Good luck to everyone, and if you still have questions, feel free to contact through the comments. Just make sure you’ve tried everything here and have looked around yourself to learn the necessary skills; you might surprise yourself and figure it out on your own! Carpe diem!

I have been working with the WordPress Themes team to get this update ready, and I’ve submitted it to the themes directory and received feedback on a couple of things to improve before it goes live. I would also like to turn it over to you, my favorite readers, to test it out as well.

I will leave the beta testing period open for about two weeks, because during that time, I am going to be getting married!!! Hooray! As such, I obviously won’t be focusing too much on active development of the theme. However, all of your feedback is highly valued, and everything reported back to me will be taken into account.

All I ask if you decide to download and test the theme is that you please please provide feedback, even if it is just to say “Hey, everything’s working fine!” Therefore, if you download the beta, you are on the honor system to drop me a note to let me know you are going to be testing it out, and then please just send any bugs, quirks, or suggestions you have. So have at it!

Download the Travelogue 2.5 Beta Theme

Noteable changes:

• Made the theme WP2.3+ compatible, or in large part, widgetized.
• A few deprecated functions were replaced with their more current counterparts.
• Removed the Travelogue Options page – all is taken care of by built-in WP widgets.
• Gravatar compatible.
• A slight facelift.
• Per request of the WordPress team, the Polaroid picture now links to a very very simple gallery, which is meant to be replaced by the user with a more robust, appropriate option (such as WordPress’s own gallery features).

Update: So far, Travelogue 2.5b seems to be completely WordPress 2.7 compatible as well!

I realize that there have been many problems trying to access it, download the PSD files, or locate the fonts. Time has a way of changing everything. I have finally gotten around to locating the original source files I have, and will reupload them, along with the updated 2.0 (finished before I left) so that they will again be available.

I have a few ideas churning around in my head for a future version of Travelogue, but it has not even begun to be truly mapped out yet, so if you have any ideas, requests, or suggestions, please feel free to let me know.

Thank you again to all who have found and used this theme, as it encourages me to continue to learn and produce new things myself.

1. Copy the picture you want to insert as the polaroid, but do not paste it yet.
2. Turn off the top three layers that serve as an intro to the PSD.
3. Open the “Polaroid” layer set, and find the layer with the current image in it (should be the fourth one), click it.
4. Paste your new image in. It should appear as a new layer above almost everything, but below the polaroid. If not, move the layer around until it does.
5. You may wish to rotate your picture layer to make it appear straight inside the box. This is kind of a “tweak it till it’s right” step.
6. Now Ctrl + Click on the vector mask (the little grey looking box next to the actual preview) of the old polaroid picture layer. This should load up a selection of the outline of the inside of the polaroid. Hopefully you can get the step in correctly, it’s the tricky/important one.
7. Finally, making sure that your new polaroid picture layer is still selected, click on the “Quick Mask” button at the bottom of the layers palette, should be the second one from the left, a grey box with a white circle in the middle.

If all done correctly, you should now have a perfectly masked new polaroid picture! Just pop into ImageReady and export that slice with the new pic! Oh, how to do this? Well…

1. Save the file you have just edited.
2. Go File > Jump to ImageReady. Photoshop will now open up ImageReady with your file.
3. In the toolbar, select and hold the Slice button (looks like a knife) until other buttons pop up, then select the Slice Select button (looks the same, but with an arrow).
4. Select the slice that contains the polaroid. You should only have to click on it.
5. Go File > Save Optimized As, and change the bottom drop-down to “Selected Slice Only”. Then save it where you want!

And that’s it, you should now be set. I would highly encourage you to learn Photoshop, if you have it at your disposal. You will be a better webizen for doing so. Good luck!