If you have a WordPress-powered blog, one of the sites that you need to subscribe to is Smashing Magazine. Why? Because they regularly release some of the best premium-quality free WordPress themes that you can find. Last week, Smashing Magazine released another free WordPress theme called “Imprezz”, designed by Gopal Raju of ProductiveDreams.
In this post we release Imprezz – a simple and beautiful 3-column-theme, a free WordPress theme designed by Gopal Raju from ProductiveDreams for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The theme can be used in various setting for various purposes – in magazine-blogs, but also in corporate and private blogs. The theme supports WordPress 2.7.1 and works well with the zdcomments widget (which is used to display the top commenters). The package also include the PSD-source file of the logo.
This is the second time Gopal has collaborated and created a WordPress theme for Smashing Magazine, the first was the Blak Magik WordPress theme.
Basic Features:
- 3 columns
- Widget-ready
- Customizable logo
- WordPress 2.7.1 support
*This theme requires the zdcomments widget to display the top commentators.
Screenshot:
My Take:
The Imprezz WordPress theme has a very good color scheme and a simple yet good overall design/layout. I like the ribbon elements used in the middle column that displays the segment titles like Archives, Categories, etc. I also like the Twitter section that displays the author’s latest tweet and a link that lets visitors/readers follow the blog author on Twitter. This theme doesn’t have much extra features and is a very basic WordPress theme. The author did include the logo’s PSD file so the user can easily customize and make the logo personal using Adobe Photoshop.
Although it is a very nice theme, it does have some imperfections especially in the code. First of all, the theme doesn’t include documentation or installation instructions. Second, the theme contains some hard coded elements that belong to the theme author like the logo URL, RSS feed and Twitter account that should be edited by the user.
*You’ll need to use Notepad or any other text editor to edit the php files.
Logo URL
To edit the logo URL, open sidebar.php and go to line 2 and replace YourBlogURL with your blog’s URL.
[html]
<a href="http://www.YourBlogURL.com"></a>
[/html]
RSS
To edit the RSS feed button link, open the header.php file and go to line 24 and replace the URL with your own RSS feed URL.
[html]
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/YourRSSfeed" class="topnav_rss">RSS</a>
[/html]
Twitter
You’ll have to edit the following files: archive.php, index.php, page.php, search.php and single.php. Look for a div class named “twitter-content” and replace the values TwitterUser with your own Twitter account name. (theme contains theme author’s Twitter account)
[javascript]
<div class="twitter-content">
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/TwitterUser.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=1"></script>
<a class="followme" href="http://twitter.com/TwitterUser">Follow us on twitter</a>
</div>
[/javascript]
Remove author logo
To remove the theme author’s logo, you’ll have to edit the following files: archive.php, index.php, page.php, search.php and single.php. Delete the following piece of code:
[html]
<img src="../images/pdlogo.gif" alt="productivedreams" class="pdlogo"/>
[/html]
Aside from these “issues”, there are also some things that can be a problem for some users. The top navigation menu for the blog pages is too small/narrow and if you have lots of pages or your pages have long names, the titles will overlap the logo. Only the left column (one containing logo) is widgetized, the right column/sidebar is not widgetized. The left column doesn’t display some widget correctly and some widgets text have the same color as the column background so the text becomes invisible. The theme also has some alignment issues when viewed with Internet Explorer 7. Last but not least, the Imprezz theme doesn’t have links to let users navigate to the next page or older posts which should be a standard feature in any WordPress theme.
Inspite of all these “issues”, the Imprezz WordPress theme is still a very good theme to use although it does require a lot of editing and fixing before you can use it. Hopefully, the theme author would address these issues and fix them and then release an updated version of the theme.
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April 29th, 2010 at 12:57 AM
Hi,
Is anyone having trouble with text and tag cloud widgets spilling into the post area and the text not being visible till you move the mouse over it?
Thanks
March 16th, 2010 at 2:20 AM
I’m going to try out this theme for my rugby union blog, Rugby Fix. Not sure how practical it will be. Anyway, thanks a lot for these instructions. The twitter ones saved my life! He should copy and paste these into the theme download.
January 21st, 2010 at 2:37 PM
I almost used this theme but can’t figure out why if there are 2 sidebars the widgets is only letting me set up the middle sidebar. Frustrating.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:02 AM
I have fixed most of these issues. Feel free to submit any bugs/issues.
http://code.google.com/p/imprezz/
March 20th, 2009 at 8:45 PM
@PinoyRickJerk – Yes, the theme looks very neat and organized. Btw, the only area that’s widget-ready is the middle column, the one below the theme logo. :)
March 20th, 2009 at 8:40 PM
nice theme.a 3 column one but very organized.i also like the widget-ready feature…
PinoyRichJerks last blog post..Choosing the Right Template for Your Blog
March 18th, 2009 at 10:20 AM
@Raju – Yes, this theme was designed primarily for use in personal blogs but as I mentioned in my review, other types of blogs can still use it with a little modification. :)
Haven’t tried that top commentators widget and I don’t use any widgets on my blog. Hehe
March 18th, 2009 at 10:18 AM
I am just wondering for what niche this can be used? Personal blogs? I am gonna checkout the Top Commentator widget though :D
Rajus last blog post..22 Stunning Typography Tutorials on Photoshop
March 17th, 2009 at 5:30 PM
@elmot – Oh I didn’t know you had Twitter too. I’m okay now, although both middle and ring finger on my right hand are still a bit swollen. What? Jan told you that? LOL I used to be able to jump that high before and hang on to the rim, but not anymore. I’m getting old. Hehe :D
March 17th, 2009 at 5:27 PM
i simply like the theme…esp with the built-in twitter widget..
hi jayp’s, are you already ok? jan told me that you hurt your hand playing basketball and slamming the hoop like kobe?
elmots last blog post..Eight’s Been a Hard Day’s Night