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!

The version currently stands at 2.6.9, but it is effectively 2.7. This is because every time you submit a theme to the repository and it gets rejected for weird little reasons (as this one did), you are forced to bump up the version number it seems. Pretty soon here I’ll re-upload it as 2.7.

Thanks for everyone that did testing and waited for this! I’ll include a more detailed post later. For now, note that many CSS bugs have been worked out, it is now internationalized, and the Photoshop files are included in the download. Thanks for your support and enjoy the theme!

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!

Travelogue is aimed at those that are using their blog as a, um, travelogue, but also works quite well for anyone else as well. It’s unique design is created for any-sized monitor, not just a column centered in the middle of the page. It paints the date differently than most themes (graphically, not just a line of text) and includes the PSD’s to change any graphical elements. Also supports a random header image through the use of php randomness and CSS classes. For more info, visit the Official Travelogue Page, and see who is using Travelogue around the blogosphere.

Safety was designed to fit some stringent standards, such as no graphics, only web-safe colors, and scale well to any size of display. Therefore, it isn’t going to shock your eyes when you see it. However, it is perfect for any sites looking to adhere to strick standards like this, so go at it! It achieves its rounded-corner effect through cross-browser compatible JavaScript. Also, the colors can all be very easily changed out to fit your needs. Dedicated page coming soon.