I’d like to introduce you to the Journal Theme, my newest child theme for the Genesis framework.
I had an idea to run my own online journal some time ago. I wanted to share some quick thoughts on design, stuff that I’ve learned, what inspires me, what I’m currently working on and where I’m going to.
Then my life started getting busier and I had to put this idea aside.
Even though my journal will probably never happen, I designed a theme that I think you may find useful if you want to start sharing your own thoughts and writing.
Theme preview
It’s a very lightweight design intended to be used primarily as a simple personal blog site.
The home page has one content area above the recent posts, which is a perfect place for a short “about the author” bio.
This theme doesn’t have visible sidebars, but the primary sidebar is hidden behind the screen which can be accessed by clicking the “Menu” button. You can use it to place your navigation or a search box. It has a limited height, so try to keep your navigation short if you want to fit it on smaller screens.
The theme was created with the mobile first approach which greatly influenced both the navigation and layout. It is beautifully responsive and fluid which you can quickly test by resizing your browser window.
If you’re interested in how it was all done, I’ll talk more about my design thoughts and explain how I coded this theme step by step in my next blog post.
This theme is no longer available.
Remember that you need the Genesis framework to run this theme on your WordPress.
The Journal theme has its limitations and comes as is. I’m sharing it for free, so I can’t offer professional support at the level like we do at StudioPress for our premium Genesis child themes.
Still, if you have any questions or if you find any bugs, you can email me here.
Rafael – thank you! Your journal theme is gorgeous! I was looking for a good travel log theme for an upcoming trip and this meets all my needs perfectly.
I love how you can have a different banner image for each post. Can’t wait to try it out. Thank you for your generosity!
Great! Don’t forget to share a link when you launch your site.
Hi Rafal,
It’s launched with two posts – pomegranateroad.com. More to come. If only I could travel all the time!
I love the theme’s simplicity and ease of use. Thanks again.
Thanks Rafael! Can’t wait for that next blog post on how it was all done!
Thanks for the free theme, Rafal! I’m a huge fan of your work and this looks wonderful. Cheers!
Great theme Rafal. Did you use any of the many hooks, filters, shortcodes and functions provided by Genesis to customise the theme?
I’ll post a tutorial on how it was done soon.
Nice one Rafal! How long did it take you to put together a theme like this?
It took a day or two. I think sometimes testing the theme takes more time than designing and coding it 😉
Love this theme.
How do I replace the gravatar and site title and description with a logo image please?
Thanks so much
You may find Carrie Dils tutorial useful: http://www.carriedils.com/add-logo-genesis-theme/
Thank you, will follow Carrie’s tutorial.
Can confirm, Carrie’s tutorial is awesome 🙂
Like your theme.
Hi Rafal.
I think there is a bug in the simple share plugin. Look at the Tweet button. It does not slide and it looks odd. I have got the same problem on my page.
Any ideas what is wrong and how to resolve that issue?
Thanks! Have a great day!
Jack
Jacek,
Unfortunately, Twitter has removed its share count feature. You can read more here: https://blog.twitter.com/2015/hard-decisions-for-a-sustainable-platform
We can’t display a number of tweets anymore. I know, it’s a shame. It broke our nice design apart and caused a lot of confusion.
I really want this theme but I’m not sure how it would work on my website, I only have a custom domain not a plan.
Hi Brittney,
I would recommend to find someone who can install it for you. You can find some great Genesis developers here: http://www.studiopress.com/genesis-developers
As you may remember via Twitter (Cruisegle), I have created a site using this fantastic theme. I know I changed a couple of things to get what I wanted and this http://davidstainer.com/hearing-people/ is exactly what I am trying to achieve. A great way of being able to communicate something.
I used that link as it is something I am proud of; my other posts are work in progress.
Thank you for your hard work and for sharing something with us mortals.
Wow, nice theme.
Minimalist design and the cool feature is off-canvas navigation menu 🙂
May I use your off-canvas nav code for other child theme?
Sure. I would appreciate if you link back to the original theme. Thanks.
Have added link back to you; removing links is one of my habits…