We Have a New Look: The Prose Theme!

Posted by Christina Hills | WordPress Tips | 19

The great thing about WordPress, is that you can easily change up your “Theme” design, and create a new look while keeping the same content. (It’s kinda like when you were a kid, moving around your bedroom furniture an getting a “new room”! ) Well I am to announce that we have a new look to our site! After many years of using the Flexx Theme from iThemes, we are now using “The Prose Theme” (www.theprosetheme.com) from Studio Press! There were several reasons why we made the change, one of them is that “the Prose Theme” will work well on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. i.e. iPhones and iPads. This is called “Responsive Design” because it ‘responds’ to the computer device it is on, and will display your site to fit the screen it’s on. Here is a great article on getting started with Studio Press Themes See the ‘before and after’ screenshots and a short video below!

Old Theme

New Theme

Here is a quick video of what I did when I updated to the new look. (Note that this is a shortened version of the entire process of switching themes). Click on the video below to Play:

Let me know what you think, leave your comments below!

About The Author

Christina Hills

Christina Hills helps entrepreneurs setup their websites using WordPress without having to rely on a webmaster. Her trainings are fun and she makes it easy! Get the free PDF "The Do-It-Yourself Website Creation Checklist" Report Here

19 Comments

Betty Gonzalez on October 18, 2012 at 5:58 am

I’m taking the Fall 2012 WCS and it’s great to know that you can update your website’s look with WordPress. I like your new look!
- Christina Hills on October 18, 2012 at 6:34 am
  
  Betty,
  Yes the new site look is much lighter and brighter!
Kim Dushinski on October 18, 2012 at 6:04 am

Woo Hoo! Love the look of your new theme. So excited that you chose it at least partially because it is a Responsive theme. So smart.
- Christina Hills on October 18, 2012 at 6:34 am
  
  Kim,
  well you are the go to gal for anything mobile!
  I was inspired by you to get a responsive theme. My site looks much better now on my iPad!
  🙂
James Aubele on October 18, 2012 at 7:03 am

I use Prose also and with all the plugins it is very powerful
Marcia Girardi on October 18, 2012 at 10:21 am

Thanks for the short video on changing your theme!
Roz on October 18, 2012 at 11:24 am

I am on a toshiba laptop and your video will not play on the new theme.
- Christina Hills on October 18, 2012 at 12:40 pm
  
  Roz,
  try a different browser and see if that fixes it
  - Christina Hills on October 18, 2012 at 1:43 pm
    
    or watch it here on youtube
    http://youtu.be/V5GResl7TPY
Gilberto Galicia on October 18, 2012 at 1:39 pm

I hit the play button three different times and each time I get a black picture. The video is not working.
- Christina Hills on October 18, 2012 at 1:42 pm
  
  you can watch it here on youtube
  http://youtu.be/V5GResl7TPY
Ruth Schwartz on October 20, 2012 at 5:29 pm

This is great timing for me as I was going to switch to Genesis / Delicious theme which I own, but this is child theme so much better with the responsive feature. You always make me feel that I can do this myself which is awesome but even though I realize that this is a short video training for illustration, I have two questions:
1) You lost me at “test site.” How do I create a test site for my current domain?
2) If I activate the Genesis parent will it change my current site? I don’t have the Genesis import menu items available yet but I’m afraid to hit the activate button before I am ready.
Love you!
Ruth
- Christina Hills on October 21, 2012 at 5:20 am
  
  Ruth,
  You should check and see if StudioPress has updated the Delicious theme to be responsive. I know that they are going through updating many of their child themes.
  A “test” site is what I create for my students in my Website Creation Workshop program. It’s a practice site to play with while you are developing a new look, or trying something new. Call your web hosting and ask them to help you make one.
  If you activate the genesis parent, yes it will change your current site. The import feature is part of Prose.
  You can learn more about Prose by going to http://www.theprosetheme.com
  🙂
Columbia Jones on October 23, 2012 at 6:52 pm

Hi Christina,
Your new site with the Prose theme looks great! I am looking at the Builder theme from iThemes along with the Prose theme. Could you compare the ease of use of the two themes and also say if they are comparable with regard to responsiveness.
Thanks,
Columbia
- Christina Hills on October 23, 2012 at 9:16 pm
  
  Columbia,
  
  Both iThemes and StudioPress are excellent companies. So you will be in good hands with either. Builder is much more flexible than Prose, in that it lets you completely create the layout you want. Prose is great because you can change the menus colors easily, and is a bit simpler. I would buy both and see which one you prefer. Both are built to be responsive to mobile devices
Jerri Shankler on November 18, 2012 at 9:25 am

Hi Christina, I was looking to update my theme to a more professional (and paid) theme, and went with Prose based on your recommendation. It may be a little above my head, but I can’t figure out how to move the navigation menu or change it’s color, or any colors. What do I do with code snippets? I assumed changing all that would be point and click, but I am willing to learn to get the look I want.

Will you be doing a more detailed tutorial? Are there more detailed tutorials on customizing Prose. Quite frankly, the tutorials on the Studiopress site aren’t helpful for me. They don’t give all the details.

I am a WCW alum (3 times and I finally launched my sites, yay!) and WMF alum (was able to generate a landing and optin page w/optimize press). Definitely need more practice, but the first one is acceptable and subsequent ones better! Thanks!
http://www.jerrishankler.com/hpjvgift/
- Christina Hills on November 19, 2012 at 8:14 am
  
  Jerri,
  
  In the last Website Creation Workshop Coaching program online members area I have a 90 min demo of using the prose theme: http://www.theprosetheme.com
  
  Yeah for getting your optin page launched.
  That is the first step towards list building!
  
  🙂 Christina
  - Jerri Shankler on November 19, 2012 at 9:40 am
    
    Thanks Christina, I knew you had me covered! Big Virtual Hug!
    - Christina Hills on November 19, 2012 at 9:41 am
      
      Jerri,
      back at ya!
      
      🙂

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