Extraordinary IT.
Vistered Little Theme
Please read the Security Alert for Vistered Little
I have just stumbled upon the Vistered Little Theme for WordPress and I have to admit I’m smitten. I’ve switched the site to use it and in the process found a few bugs/issues:
- The default wallpaper is not available in the wallpaper list
- The wallpaper thumbnails require the entire set of wallpapers to be downloaded, making the site very very heavy (at least on first load)
- There are extra images in the images directory that are not references (e.g. old wallpapers)
- There is some redundant PHP code and redundant generated CSS/JS
I’ve tweaked the theme to fix these issues and you can download it for yourself below:
Updated Vistered Little Theme
If you do download it, do the original author a favor and download it from the WordPress theme site as well (if you haven’t already).
Everything mentioned above is fixed. To overcome the thumbnail issue, there is a new thumbs directory within the wallpapers directory. If there is an image in the thumbs directory with the same name as an image in the wallpapers directory, then the theme will use the image in the thumbs directory as the thumbnail; Otherwise, the wallpaper is used as the thumbnail (same a previous behaviour). This fix is not without side effects; If a thumbs image is used, then when switching to this wallpaper, the background will momentarily become white until the new wallpaper is loaded.
Hope you find the changes useful.
Update 2006-09-05: Added an option for a default wallpaper, fixed more IE issues (there should be none remaining), and wallpaper selection gracefully degrades with javascript turn off.
Update 2006-09-08: Skins now go in the skins directory and are automatically detected. Added the default-flex skin, which isn’t visually as nice (IMO) as the default skin, but automatically resizes with the brower width (to certain limits), which I need for some other stuff I’m doing.
Update 2006-09-14: 404 page has been updated for the changes made to support default-flex. Version number is now 1.6a to avoid conflicts with other versions.
Update 2006-12-17: For some reason when vistered little 1.6a is enabled, you can no longer use the theme editor or plugin editor functionality within WordPress. At this stage the root cause is unknown and there is no ETA on a fix. Sorry 
Update 2007-01-07: Scott from Scott-O-Rama asked if I had a tip jar. Here it is:
Please don’t feel obliged, I would actually prefer links to my site. If you do donate, please let me know what feature you would most like to see in your next version. Also, please let me know if you would like the donation to be anonymous.
Update 2007-02-08:It’s possible to get the theme editor and plugin editor working again while using vl 1.6a by simply replacing $file with $vl_file in functions.php. 😀
Update 2007-03-17:Vistered Little 1.7 is now available 😀
Update 2007-05-24:I’ve closed the comments on this post as 1.6 is no longer supported. Please upgrade to the latest version of Vistered Little.
Hi Licki, this page is for VL 1.6a, you need to go over the the VL 1.7 page. Better yet, you should ask this in the VL forum.
Sorry. Im using Version 1.7.2 of Vistered Little.
Thanks
Hi Tom,
great Theme. Best of all, i love it. Can you please Help me? Is there a Way to define for EACH Page another Wallpaper? And i mean not the Buttons in the Header but fixed Wallpapers for every Page?
Thanks a lot and greetings from Germany
Hi Licki, what version fo VL are you using?
Hi Thomas, have look at the New “wider” skin discussion at the forums
Hi tom,
quick question. I’m using the 1.6 theme and i was wondering how i can make my blog entries wider. I want to set a fixed width or maybe something that resizes itself by the lengt of my entry / photo.
Would be great if you could help me here.
Thank you!
Greetings Tom,
You work on this theme is great. Thanks. The first time I saw it I new i had to use it, but had so much trouble with the first one. Then you modified it and fixed almost all of the issues. You so rock.
I did have one question. Is there anyway or code, i am kind of new to code, to create a second “Sidebar” with widgets, and stuff. I dont know to much, but can follow direction well. Thanks Keep up the good work.
Johncbell
Hi Johncbell,
There is no way to add a second sidebar at the moment. Sorry
Again, thanks Tom. It worked just like you said. I’ll keep to the other thread as well. Have a great week.
Hi Kiushapo,
the problem is you are using an absolute path, not relative. Try ‘images/banners’ instead of ‘/images/banners’.
Also, it’s probably best to put your logos elsewhere, so they are not part of the theme (e.g. I put them in ‘wp-content/logo’ and specify the path as ‘../../logo’) so that if you upgrade the theme, you don’t need to copy the logo directory.
lastly, feel free to ask questions (you don’t have to wait till next week), though you should probably post comments regarding VL 1.7 over at the Vistered Little 1.7 page.
Sorry to bother again, Tom. I’m still working on the displayed logo in the upper left hand corner. I’ve setup the folder /images/banners under the 1.7 folder. I’ve placed a single jpg in there. Saved the settings on the Vistered Little admin screen. I’m not seeing the image itself but if I mouse over it I do see a frame for it. I recreated the image using transparency as well thinking that was the problem but still have the same issue. Any input? I swear this will be my last question… for at least a week.
Hi Kiushapo,
try searching for $file (not $File). It’s in vistered-little-1.6a/functions.php a few times. Otherwise, try 1.7
Hello again, Tom.
I’ve run into a problem that Tweak had a while back with the inability to activate plugins. I followed the work around that you suggested, $File to $vl_file, but I don’t have that in my functions PHP, I have __FILE__ any changes I make to that crashes the blog. Any Suggestions?
@Kiushapo. No problems, glad you like it.