Cutline Theme for WordPress

Update - Download links fixed. Spaces, underscores, dashes, oh my. Let me know what you think of the latest edition.

Cutline is still being developed, there are always changes to make, and this time, more than any other release I think I have changed the theme so average users can get into it easier.

Remember that Archive link in the header of every installation? I have since removed it, making sure to use WordPress’ built-in page listing code, so top level pages will be displayed automatically rather than having to edit the theme.

I have also taken some advice given freely to me by Gabriel Radic on his Timbru blog, so if you like the changes, please thank him.

There are no more italics in the blockquotes, I have added some text to the 404 page, so that non-web savvy users understand where they are, and I have removed the comments link from the index page meta-data line. I have also changed the meta-data line to use a san-serif font to be easier to read.

I have also checked the theme for WordPress 2.5 compatibility and haven’t been able to replicate any issues that others have mentioned.

As always, you can find the download link on the sidebar.

It might seem strange that a month after releasing 1.2, I am turning around and releasing 2.1, but Cutline has two very different versions. The first Cutline, which will follow the 1.x naming convention is considered the more popular one currently, but read up on version 2.x and you will see it has many advantages.

With this release, I fix some minor issues people were having, tighten up the stylesheet, and add my own flair to things. I have also removed comment forms on pages, and fixed their alignment.

If you are using the first Cutline 2.0 release, I recommend you upgrade.

Let me know if you have any issues with Cutline 2.1. To download, click the sidebar link for Cutline 2.1.

Everyday I am getting hundreds of questions that need only one answer: check the WordPress support forums. These questions are all unrelated to the Cutline theme, and as such, I really don’t have time to answer them all. If you are unsure if you should me asking me or asking the forum, ask yourself if the question is related to the Cutline theme, or every theme. If it is related to every theme, please ask the WordPress support forum.

Creating extra page templates, learning how to use Widgets, adding additional pages, image uploading, pages not showing because you haven’t set up permalinks, all of these can be handled quickly, and painlessly by the thousands of people in the WordPress support forums.

Noticing a Safari bug in the Cutline 1.1 theme or having issues trying to find where to change the colours of the theme, that stuff comes to me.

I am in the process of recording a few screen cast tutorials on how to make the most of Cutline, and they will be coming out shortly. They will cover the most popular Cutline related questions, and hopefully solve the major issues that people are having.

So, I have finally finished up organizing Cutline 1.2.

I have added an edit link for posts, so if you are logged in, and looking at your blog, you can easily and quickly edit posts. Cutline 1.2 supports WordPress 2.3 and above’s tags, so categories are up in the date area, and tags are in the bottom where “categories’ used to be listed. I have removed excess whitespace in the CSS in order to help decrease the file size of the theme by a little bit. I also added a max-width CSS declaration to stop images from going into sidebars in many modern browsers.

Download your favourite Cutline 1.2 version over to the right, and enjoy!

I will be working on some tutorials, and screencasts to help people with the issues they are having customizing Cutline, so watch out for those. Also, I will be working on Cutline 2.0 in February, so watch for that.

So, one of the biggest questions I am seeing is “how do I get category pages to show full posts?”

The reason we have set it up so that category archives show excerpts rather than full posts is for search engine optimization benefits. Basically, we have worked it into the theme that you have less duplicate content and so Google will like your blog more because of the truncated posts.

If you want to change this, open up archive.php and look for <?php the_excerpt(); ?> (around line 24) and replace the_excerpt(); with the_content();. Save and re-upload and you should see full posts on category pages rather than excerpts.

Also, Cutline 1.2 should be coming out soon. I am putting the finishing touches on it, and I hope you will all be pleased. Of course I couldn’t implement every change that people wanted as I can’t please everyone, but I hope you will like the tweaks and update.

With two versions of Cutline now out, people have been wondering which theme I will be supporting. Will I be continuing to work on the super popular Cutline 1.1 or its newer brother, Cutline 2.0? Well, the answer is “both”! At least for now.

I will continue to develop and support the original Cutline platform, and hope to bring out a newer release before the next version of WordPress in January. As for Cutline 2.0, you can expect to see a 2.1 release hopefully by February, with many new updates. As for continuing to support the first generation of Cutline, that all depends on you and its continued popularity. If you all get sick of it, I will focus my attention on the newer version. But if you all continue to enjoy it, I will continue to work on developing it, fixing it, tweaking it, and making it what you want it to be.

I have many ideas on how I want things to continue, especially in making it easier for you, the users, to easily modify and adapt the theme. I hope you will stick with me, give me a helping hand, and we can really revitalize the Cutline community.

So, I have been looking at setting aside some serious time for Cutline, and so what I need from all of you is to comment on this post what your major problems, issues, and shortcomings with the theme currently are. I don’t want CSS nitpicks, though if you have the solution for any CSS problems, please let me know. I’d love to make this more of a community project, as I am not the greatest mind in WordPress themes, but I do know WordPress fairly well.

So if you have a major issue, please let me know. I will be working from the blog, and as such your comments. We will be shutting down the forum, and you can always direct any Cutline problems my way via david [at] splashpress.com.

For those of you that have been worried about Cutline’s support, you need not worry any longer. Splashpress Media has tasked me to take over support of Cutline.

My name is David Peralty, and you might know me as the writer on Blogging Pro, and I used to be the co-host of the WordPress podcast. I have bent WordPress to my will numerous times, created many WordPress themes, and hopefully, I will be able to answer any and all questions you might have. You will notice some changes around here over the coming days, as I orient myself, and start cleaning things up.

I will be jumping in on the forum soon, to answer questions, as well as continuing to develop the Cutline theme.

Thanks again to everyone for their continued support, and I look forward to working with you all.

Although Cutline shines through its usage of Whitespace, many times one wants to add a background to a theme. Adding a background to Cutline is one of the easier things to do when it comes to modding, all you have to do is wrap the complete content container in a new div.

You need to edit your header.php and the footer.php for this and add the new container and background to the stylesheet of your theme.
Lets look at the recently released Cutline 1.1 Blue how you can add your favorite background.

Cutline 1.1 Blue has a gradient image as background, completed with the background color.

It has taken some time, but as announced, a new Cutline Mod.

And this is not just a mod, but a totally differently looking Cutline, showcasing the power of CSS… and some more.

As I wrote when I announced the new release, this Cutline remake is dedicated to some of the best designers online. Obviously Chris Pearson, creator of Cutline, naturally also Brian Gardner, who managed Cutline earlier on and then my all time favorite, the person who taught me everything about grid design, Khoi Vinh (yes it was straight love, when I discovered Subtraction years ago!). And last but not least, I added some touches too.

What is new in Cutline v2.0?

First of all, the new Cutline comes with integrated Microformats.

And things get better!
There are 2 different releases! One for WordPress 2.1+ and there is a Cutline 2.0 for the soon to be released WordPress 2.3! With tags implementation!
Those of you who only want to upgrade to WP2.3, when released, but don’t want to use the new tag features in WP2.3, can use the WordPress 2.1+ version.

Improved Usability!

Years long have I cursed entries with many comments. It has happened more than once that I wanted to comment on an entry, but after reading lots of comments I wanted to react on comments and had forgotten what I originally wanted to respond. Enough of that!

Revolutionary change!

Cutline v2.0 has the comment form immediately UNDER the entry. Now you can comment immediately after having read the post, without having to scroll through tons of comments first!
OK, OK… maybe not all that revolutionary at all… but I thought ‘Let’s be original!’.

I already hear the smart thinkers under you. What if I want to read the comments and then reply???

Fear not… even that has been thought of.

At the bottom of every single page you find now a new bottom navigation with links to the top of the entry, the comment form and also next/previous and the front page of your blog. If now you want to read all the comments and THEN respond, with one click (on ‘respond’) you are brought to the comment form.
From the main page, you can jump to both the comment form (Respond link in the post-meta side-block) and the comments (No Comments/1 Comment / % Comments - under the Tags line) directly.
But, due to the bottom navigation, the next/previous post navigation above the entry is no more.

New sidebar!

Cutline has a new sidebar. But I’ll immediately start with the bad news. Certain widgets are known to break the formatting. This Cutline mod was entirely focused on WP’s template tags flexibility, using specific settings for sidebar blocks. Sadly widgets don’t always offer this flexibility without hacking the code.

What’s new/different in the sidebar?

First off, the flickrRSS sidebar block has moved to the top and is optimized for 3/6/9/aso square images. Use <li> and </li> to have the optimal display. All these settings can be made in the flickrRSS control panel under Options. If you want to prevent slow loading times for the flickr thumbnails, use the caching options of the FlickrRSS plugin.

Cutline v2.0 now comes with built-in support for Brian’s Latest Comments plugin.

Both flickrRSS and Brian’s Latest Comments are optional and will not be displayed if you don’t use the plugins.

All the categories are now shown in the sidebar. In the WP2.3 version, you’ll find your Top25 tags listed, not as a cluttered cloud, but as a list.

Further features

Of course all the classic Cutline features have been conserved in this remake.

• Great SEO
• Random header images Cutline style
• Great image handling

Furthermore, Cutline 2.0 has been gridified.

Longest theme release post?

Did I manage it?

One more thing

Cutline 2.0 is available… NOW!
Go play with our demo.

• Download Cutline 2.0 for WP 2.1 and above
• Download Cutline 2.0 for WP 2.3