This theme has been discontinued. Check out ThemeHybrid.com for the new themes.
Features
- Customized front page to look like a news or magazine site.
- Sidebar tabbed navigation through the use of a custom jQuery script (jQuery is packaged with the theme).
- Embed YouTube, Google Video, and Metacafe videos easily with Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict. Or, use the Flash Video Player plugin to input your own videos.
- Supports the Flickr RSS plugin.
- Related Posts plugin support.
- WordPress 2.3 tag-ready, but backwards-compatible with previous versions of WordPress.
- Custom post information can easily be input through the use of a Visionary theme-specific plugin modified from the custom field GUI plugin.
- Customized templates for every type of WordPress file, such as category.php and and archive.php.
- Customized sidebars for different pages of the site.
- Placeholders for ads. Great sidebar sizes for 125×125px ads.
- Widget-ready sidebar, but I suggest not using widgets because this theme wasn’t designed for them.
Need To Know
- The readme.txt file will be your best friend when using this theme. Learn to love it.
- Know how to use optional excerpts to make a cleaner blog when using this theme.
- Learn how to upload images.
- You definitely need to know how to use custom fields.
- Get the latest version of WordPress to make use of tags.
- You need to understand how the WordPress system works, at least to some extent. This is not a theme for new bloggers, unless you are willing to put in the time to learn a little more about WordPress on your own.
Credits
- jQuery for the great library, which is used for the tabbed sidebar links and videos.
- Some of the icons used are from the silk icons set from famfamfam.com.
Licenses
- If you use this theme, you must leave a link back to me on your site. A full copy of the legal code is in a file called “license.txt,” which is included with your download.
- jQuery is dual-licensed under the GPL and MIT licenses.
- The FamFamFam icons used are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
Thoughts
I’m not even sure where to start when it comes to this theme. I’m proud of it, but it’s been a frustrating two weeks tweaking little things here and there.
This theme really brings everything I’ve worked on in the last couple of months together. It’s a mixture of my current theme (also originally called “Visionary”), the Magtastic theme, the Newspaperize theme, and the Facebooked theme. I’m kind of wrapping everything I’ve learned together, interweaving parts of each one.
With Magtastic, I really wanted to add a video option, but decided against it because I knew the theme wasn’t going to be on any top theme lists. It was mostly just for fun.
The color scheme really came from my current theme and the Newspaperize theme. I liked the reddish colors and wanted to stick with that. I returned to jQuery for the tabs instead of using the DomTab as I did with Magtastic. This idea originated when I was working on Facebooked, but it never got developed.
The Visionary theme has a lot of features, and I’m not going to rehash them all here. I’m particularly proud of how well the video feature works. There still seems to be some bugs with IE6. If you’re using that version of IE, I would greatly appreciate any feedback on what’s going on when you view the theme. I keep having to “Press OK” for the videos to load (that’s 5 times I get an alert box).
The jQuery script definitely came in handy. Anyone who knows me well enough, knows that I hate having to use other people’s scripts and plugins because there’s always something I don’t like about them. That’s why I switched from the DomTabs to creating my custom script through jQuery. It gives me back the control. Also, look for a tutorial or something on how I created this in the coming days.
One thing I want to do with this theme is continue building on it. I think I have a good foundation that I can work from. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do yet. I do plan on releasing another color scheme. I’m looking for a good blue palette to work from.
I also want to continue creating what I call “Modules” in the future. Instead of people using widgets, which screw up so many things, I’ll just release the code that allows them to add this to their sidebar easily. If you poke around in the code a little bit, you might see how I have this set up. There are 8 different sidebars, but they’re not complete sidebars. They’re just part of the overall sidebar, and they can be easily added or removed in the footer.php file.
Overall, I’m happy with how the theme turned out. There’s still a little work to be done, but I’m ready to release it to the WordPress-o-sphere. With that said, report all your bugs here, and I’ll try to exterminate them.
Justin – Other than some spacing issues (search form and ads), I like it
Excellent work Justin. You appear to be a little like myself. You learn something new each time you seek to design and release a theme.
With this style becoming more and more common, you can be sure that I’ve thought about releasing my own. However, I’ve a bit more to learn.
Again, great work. (I feel your pain concerning IE6)
Thanks guys for stopping by and giving your input.
SP, I have a little bit of an issue with the ads also. I’m trying to figure out the best way to put them above the fold and have plenty of content up there too.
Do you think that I should stretch the search box out to align with the sidebar? Or, maybe slide it over. Maybe even just go a whole different direction with it.
Armen, you should definitely get into the news-theme game. The best way to learn is to try. I know I’ve made mistakes with previous themes and am sure there are a few with this one, but I’m learning as I go.
The only thing I even like about this theme now (I’ve been looking at it for 2 weeks and am tired of it) is its video abilities and jQuery scripts. Those are the things I’ve been exploring the most — how to extend WordPress a little more.
I think I might scale it back a little with my next theme. Maybe go with a “normal” blog template.
Very impressive Justin. Your themes are getting better and better
Thanks Mohsin.
Just after mentioning in my previous comment that I want to “scale it back a little with my next theme,” I came up with a new idea that I know will test my limits even more. However, it’s going to be mainly for blogs.
Well, I’m getting a little off-topic. I just felt like writing a little, even if it was only a few sentences.
I am impressed. I’d give it a try, however I am not sure if the “video” is appealing to the theme itself. I like the name, “Visionary”.
PS. I think this is for a hardcore blogger. I am not familiar with codes, etc. I rely mostly on widgets. I noticed only 1 widget sidebars there, until I’d find ways to learn how to “tweak” codes here and there, the VISIONARY is a beautiful newspaper theme. Comment section is by far simple yet looks attractive.
K, I like the name too. I gave it that name because it represents the path I want to go down with theme design — creating free premium designs. Of course, I still have a little more to go before I can think of calling my themes “premium.”
This is definitely more for a “hardcore” blogger. Well, at least people that know a little more about coding than the average blogger, or feel more comfortable opening the PHP files. I actually meant to write a list of people who should/shouldn’t use this theme.
[...] Visionary is a theme with a versatile design especially for news/magazine sites. (No Ratings Yet) Loading … Sphere: Related Content [...]
Very nice, and very promising…
Thanks Tan.
I just came up with a few ideas to make it a little better while in the shower. Basically, I was just thinking about some of the things SP mentioned and some thoughts came to me.
Very awesome theme. I love it.
Beautiful theme! Thanks for the hard work.
[...] Visionary is a theme with a versatile design especially for news/magazine sites. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
I love your newspaperize so I can’t wait to try out this theme. Haha, I’ve been changing themes for the past few weeks and I’ve been sticking with newspaperize since I like it a lot. I’ll try this one and if it works well for me, I’d use it for awhile.
[...] Visionary es un tema versátil y especialmente pensado para sitios de noticias y revistas. vÃa: WTC Etiquetas: gratis, temas, wordpress [...]
Thanks Jenny, John, and Nika.
Subscribe to the feed to make sure you’re updated when the new version comes out, especially if you decide to use it. I’m just trying to get a few issues worked out with IE6.
Great look! I wish all themes were as original and nicely done as this one.
Wow! This is one helluva beautiful WordPress Theme! One of the best I’ve seen so far I’ll say!
It’s a keeper!
[...] Visionary es un theme para Wordpress que aporta todas las nuevas funcionalidades de Wordpress, además de un uso adecuado de Javascript para embellecer el diseño y aportar más información al usuario. [...]
SEO and Momma D (can I call you Momma D?), thanks for the comments.
I still have a few issues with it, but I have issues with every theme I release. I don’t think any designer, artist, or any kind of creator is ever satisfied with their work. At first, I thought I had a few things I was going to change, but now, I’m thinking I’ll just leave it like it is. Of course, I’ll fix the bugs that crop up.
Hi Justin.
I simply love this theme, and having it in action at my site.
All i need now is to get the tabs with Latest, Popular and so on working.
But this theme is GREAT!
I only can say: WOW!
I found the theme for my new site. I will start to work in the spanish translation
[...] THEME | DEMO | AUTHOR Rate it: Loading [...]
Thanks Kristian and Tanguillo. I’m glad you like it.
I just released an updated version of this if you want to check it out instead.
[...] | Download Bookmark [...]
[...] Esta sin duda, es una plantilla para un blog que tenga un enfoque más “formal” o “periodÃstico” debido a la elegante distribución de los artÃculos. Para que estén más seguros, pueden ver el demo online o ir a la página de descarga. [...]
[...] try to stick to XHTML, CSS, and PHP, but I need to branch out a little. Sure, I used jQuery on the Visionary theme, but I didn’t really delve into its power. This time, I’m going to see how far I can [...]
[...] Demo РT̩l̩charger sur justintadlock [...]
I’m very impressed by it, one of the best themes I’ve seen. I’m certainly considering using it OpTempo.
Have you tried it with the new Google Video Units? The mini one, 400×415, looks like it might fit.
[...] I admit it. I’m a whitespace fan that needs red H2/H3. I love this theme from Justin Tadlock. [...]
[...] Enlace a la página del autor del theme [...]
Frank C, you should definitely use it, especially if you post videos on your blog a good bit.
I’m not sure about the new Google video units. I didn’t realize there was more than one kind. Everything in the theme is set up so that you wouldn’t have to do a lot of work when inputting video. You just get the embed URL and plug it into a custom field. Then, you’re ready to go.
Love the theme however the popular, sections and archive functions are not working on my blog (although the latest is). how do i correct this?
Nice theme thank you. I started to use now but in a home page, wordTube player plugin doesnt work.There’re codes in post.In a single post it works. Do u know anything about it?
Charles, I’m not sure what’s going on with your blog because you’re not using the theme right now. So, I’m going to need a little information from you.
What version of WordPress are you using? (This should work with 2.1+)
What browser are you viewing the theme with?
Did you change any of the code? If so, tell me specifically.
Are the tabs not working, or are the individual sections just not showing what they’re supposed to show?
Specifically, tell me what’s happening.
Emre, I don’t know much about the WordTube plugin. It’s something I might look into later. You might want to ask the plugin developer about how to use it. You’ll probably have to tweak the code a bit in “sidebar-video.php” also.
I’ll look into adding support for it in the future though.
[...] Visionary theme para wordpress que peca de ser bueno ya que aprovecha al máximo todas las nuevas funcionalidades de wordpress 2.3, sus creadores los clasifican como un theme para sitios de noticias como periódicos y revistas, utiliza jQuery para ayudar a acomodar la estructura sin dejar cosas sueltas que pueden ser importantes para los lectores. [...]
MagnÃfico tema para WP. Enhorabuena!
[...] Source / Download / Demo [...]
Visionary, excelente tema estilo revista para Wordpress
Visionary es un excelente tema estilo revista para wordpress diseñado por justintadlock. Como todo los temas de este estilo aprovecha muy bien el espacio y además agrega un sistema de menús por pestañas que lo hacen más eficiente todavÃa. Tiene …
[...] través de Bitperbit encuentro Visionary, un excelente theme creado por Justin Tadlock que tiene un diseño muy elegante, sobre todo para [...]
This is a great theme. I look forward to using it
Thanks for the great work
Justin,
I do not have the theme active currently because it was not working properly. The latest posts show, along with the tabs for popular, sections, and archives, however when clicking on those tabs nothing happens. I just upgraded to the most recent wordpress yesterday, so it may be a problem with my installation. My prior version did not have the JQuery folder, and I am not familiar with that function. Is there something I need to do after installing the newest version of wordpress (other than upgrading the database) in order to make JQuery work properly?
Charles, you still didn’t answer my question about what browser you’re using. This might be the source of the problem itself. So, what browser are you using and what version? Also, did you change any of the code yourself? Have you tried uploading a fresh copy?
There is also not a jQuery folder. There are files called “jquery.js” and “visionary.js.” Those are the two files that you definitely need.
You need to make sure your “header.php” file has these lines:
<script type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo bloginfo(stylesheet_directory) .'/jquery.js'; ?>"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo bloginfo(stylesheet_directory) .'/visionary.js'; ?>"></script>
Is your blog located in your root directory?
Is javascript turned on in your Web browser?
Does my theme’s live demo work correctly for you?
Are the video links working correctly?
Details. Details. Details. That’s the only way we’re going to get to the source of your problem because this seems to be a single case. I’m sure it’s something simple, but we’re overlooking it. That’s why I need so many details. Have you tried looking at the theme with another computer to see if it’s working there, but not with the computer you’re seeing it on.
Did you follow all directions in the “readme.txt” file?
Thanks Steve and Corpas. I speak little Spanish, but I’m assuming that’s like the equivalent of “Awesome” or “Narly” or “Cool” in the English language, Corpas.
[...] Live demo | Theme URI [...]
Justin,
I have IE 6.0 at my office, and Mozilla Firefox on my home computer, the tabs do not work in either. I have not made any alterations to the code, uploaded it as is. Your live demo works correctly so I am sure it is not a browser issue, is it possible it is a server issue? Do I need a certain version of PHP for this to work properly?
My blog is located in the root directory and I followed the installation instructions in the readme.txt file.
[...] Visionary is a theme with a versatile design especially for news/magazine sites. [...]
Charles, all I can say right now is that I’m stumped. You’re the only person to have this problem (so far), so I think that it definitely has something to do with your side of the equation.
It shouldn’t have anything to do with your server though, but I can’t be totally sure on that. Javascript (jQuery) is client-side, so it generally messes up because of the user’s browser. That’s why I wanted to know a lot about what browser you’re using.
Right now, without literally sitting down, logging onto your account, and looking at what’s going on, I don’t know what to do. Let’s take a look at what we do know:
You’ve installed WordPress 2.3.
You’re using Firefox and IE6.
I’m assuming that Javascript is enabled in both these browsers.
The code is exactly like it is on my theme demo page.
You’ve uploaded the theme to your /root/wp-content/themes/ folder.
I only know about coding, and this seems to be a bigger issue than that. Have you tried any other jQuery scripts to see if they work? The only thing I know to do at this point is to keep testing every little thing you can possibly think of. Of course, as a user, I know you just want to upload something and have it work out of the box.
I’m sorry I haven’t been more helpful, but this is all I can think of right now. Maybe someone else that comes across these comments might be able to shed a little light on this. Or, maybe someone at the WordPress support forums knows something about why javascript isn’t working for you. You might want to look up a few javascript support forums too.
You can always email me through my contact page also. I’m still willing to help out with this problem, but I can’t think of anything right now.
Hi justin, thanks for offering to help. I have been looking for a theme like this for a while and hope to make it work properly. I currently have it live on my blog right now so you can see it in action. Under the videos, when I added 1 video it worked fine, when adding a second video it no longer worked properly (as you can see). If you would like I can give you the login information to my control panel so you can confirm the folder structures are accurate (I believe they are).
Charles, here are some things I see wrong with your site:
First of all, it is not Valid XHTML because you’ve added things that make the theme invalid. You can check your validity with the validator or you can get the Firefox plugin, which easily does it for you. If your code is invalid, things could go awry. The jQuery functions on very specific classes and IDs. If your code is messed up too much, then this could potentially mess up the entire theme.
When looking at your page source, I noticed that you had a lot of other javascript running. I think these might be plugins. One thing I would like you to try is opening “header.php” and moving this code:
<script type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo bloginfo(stylesheet_directory) .'/jquery.js'; ?>"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo bloginfo(stylesheet_directory) .'/visionary.js'; ?>"></script>
below this or any other javascript that you have:
<?php wp_head(); ?>but above this:
</head>What it looks like is happening is some other javascript or plugin is breaking the code in “visionary.js.” You might want to disable any plugins that use javascript just to see. This is also one of the reasons that I’m asking you to move the code down in the theme. Maybe if it’s called after the other stuff, it might load properly.
thanks justin, I deactivated all plugins and now it works properly, I will play around with it now to see which plugins will/will not work. i appreciate your help, and the work you put into this theme
Justin,
GREAT job.. I played around and got most of it 100% running, just now deciding on videos or not.
the header image was a fun project to get to work
The ads are working fine..
I am having a little problem with the FlickrRss cache thou.. it comes up with a bunch of junk and the picture, but just blows the page way out.
I’ve see distorted my theme why?
Samuel,
I just had the same thing happen to mine, can I ask if you implemented the FEATURE ARTICLES ??
Justin – When I activate the FEATURE ARTICLES, by modifing the home.php with the correct name of my category, it blows out the page as well.
here is a png of : http://www.iatitlan.com/feature.png
and this only happens when I place the correct name of the featured cat in. If you look at the live site, its all placed correctly, but I am not using the featured option.
I may be having a similar problem to what Charles is seeing.
My blog Asian Motor Sports displays all the sidebar information below the main content. Old problem I know, many people have it when they include larger images that bust out of the container, but this seems to be unrelated to that.
I have disabled all plugins except Akismet and Bad Behavior and the problem still exists.
The blog is in a sub directory not in the root, if that makes a difference. I note there are 6 minor errors that I will attempt to track down and repair but they are only a couple of missed end tags.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks Marc
Samuel, Aaron, and Marc. From “readme.txt” included with your theme:
*******************************
HOME PAGE DISPLAY POSTS
*******************************
You need to go to your Admin Panel
- Options
– Reading
— Blog Pages > Show at most: [odd number] posts
This will ensure that your display isn’t all wacked. If it’s not an odd number, then your layout will break.
********************
FEATURE ARTICLES
********************
This theme has a feature article that is always listed first on the home page.
- You need to create a category named “Features” or open home.php and change the feature category to whatever you want to name it.
- Add posts that you want featured to the “Features” category.
This might be your problem, at least from what I can see on Samuel and Marc’s pages. Samuel and Marc are using an odd number of posts, but haven’t created a category named “features.” If you’re not going to use the feature article you need to set your posts to display an even number.
Hey Justin,
I did read that, as was a bit confused, as it didnt make it clear that if a featured post was counted different, as I started with 4 fost, and 1 just happened to be a features, which left 3, but what you are saying, is a total of post = odd, so that each column is filled. (1×1)
Thanks for the response, and opening her up now
Aaron
Ah-ha!
That solved part of the problem Justin. I think.
Switching back to 4 posts to display allowed the sidebar to display correctly.
However with a “Features” category and one post designated for that cat the sidebar slips to the bottom with display set at an odd number.
In addition the jquery box that includes “latest, popular, sections and archives” does not display.
Frankly I have not checked, and will do so now, I’m assuming that section may be commented out in the sidebar php file.
I am also testing your theme, good job! I do not have it on my website, I am just playing around with it locally.
However, I am also having issues (on XP, Vista and using either Firefox, IE6, IE7, Opera and Safari) with the “latest, popular, sections and archivesâ€, javascript is in place. Still looking into that.
I also had the “Wacky” homepage as described by Aaron (here is a PNG of : http://www.iatitlan.com/feature.png) and I have a featured article, and an odd number of posts as per the readme.txt.
I found out that an odd number of 3 caused that, so any odd number > 3 should work.
Hope this helps
I like it… very good job!
Marc, I’m not sure what could be going wrong for your sidebar not to be working right. It’s definitely not the theme itself. It’s not commented out either.
With posts in the “features” category (which is what this theme was designed for), you need to display an odd number of posts. This means that 1 post will go into the feature at the top of the page. Then there are blocks below with 2 posts sitting beside each other.
Ronald, I just checked on the odd number of 3 issue, and it works fine. As long as it’s an odd number, you won’t have any invalid code, which will break the layout.
Also, I’m not sure why your sidebar isn’t showing up, just the same as Marc.
These both seem to be isolated issues with the sidebar. Any number of things can break a theme. Invalid code, plugins, javascript and other types of scripts. All themes aren’t going to work out of the box for everyone because of the things they have on their site.
I always recommend making sure you have the latest version of WordPress, Valid XHTML, your theme uploaded in the proper directory and activated, and check to see if any plugins might be causing an issue.
Taxx, thanks. Use the theme if you like it enough.
Justin thanks 4 the reply, but i’ve created a Category named Features but the problem still i’ve changed the number of posts to 3 and… nothing
Whata lines on the home.php i must edit to change the Features title if i use another name i.e Destacados
I hope your answer man!