Grace Photoblog Theme Updated!

09_11_2009

Grace Photoblog Theme Updated!

Scrawled by Ian | Downloads

I’m sure that you’ll all be relieved to hear that I’ve finally got around to updating the Grace Photoblog theme. Woohoo!

I think that it’s fair to say that despite it’s general awesomeness a few of you found some usability issues with Grace. So to resolve these, I’ve changed a few things and released version 1.2 of Grace.

Live Demo

We all like to try before we buy – even when things are totally free. So why not take a look at the live demo of Theme:

Demo

Download

Download the Grace Photoblog Theme

What’s New in 1.2

Cosmetically, nothing’s changed – Grace is still a stylish, minimalistic photoblog theme for WordPress and it’s still completely FREE!

Here’s what’s new in Grace Version 1.2:

Easier way to display images – no more “copy into the Extract field”.
The required Custom Fields are pre-installed with the theme – no more “create a Custom Field called ‘Thumbnail’” etc.
Automatic thumbnail resizing – no more “Create a thumbnail that’s…”
An option’s page that let’s you control the speed of the rotating gallery on the home page.

Ace.

Despite these changes, to get the most out of the theme you still have to change a few settings on your WordPress blog - but Grace will work “out of the box” so why not Download It Now!

Configuring Grace

As I mentioned above if you want to get the most out of the Grace WordPress Photoblog Theme there are a couple of set up steps that you have to go through. But don’t worry, they’re all really straight forward and they can all be done through your blog’s Admin area.

The set up steps are:

Create a “Featured” category.
Create “Home” & “Gallery” Pages.
Adding Widgets.
Set your theme options.

I strongly recommend that you’ve activated the Grace theme in the usual WordPress theme way before you complete these step.

Create a “Featured” Category

The rotating gallery on the Grace homepage displays only the images that have been assigned to a category called “Featured”. But, rather obviously, before it can do that you need to create the “Featured” category.

To do this:

Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
Click Post to expand the Post Menu then click the Categories link.
Enter Featured into the Category Name field. It’s not necessary to complete the other fields on the Add Category page but you can if you want.
Click the Add Category button.

That’s it! Now whenever you assign a photo to the Featured category it will automatically be displayed in the rotating gallery on the home page.

Create “Home” & “Gallery” Pages

The “home” page on the Grace demo uses a Custom Page Template and WordPress’ static front page option to make it look a little differently from the usual chronological list of posts that you find on most blogs. After all, how many blogs have a rotating gallery on their home page? But by creating a custom home page you then need to tell WordPress where to display the chronological list of posts which – because this is a photoblog – I’ve called the Gallery page.

Note - For the Home and Gallery pages to work properly you must have Permalinks setup.

To create “Home” and “Gallery” pages:

Click the Pages menu option. This expands the Pages menu item.
Click the Add New link. This displays the Add New Page page.
Enter the text HomePage in the Page Title field. Don’t add any content of any custom fields.
Select Home Page from the Template drop-down list in the Attributes panel.
Click the Publish button.
Click the Add New link in the Pages menu item again.
Enter the text Gallery in the Page Title field. Don’t add any content of any custom fields.
Click the Publish button.
Click the Settings menu option. This expands the Settings menu item.
Click the Reading link. This displays the Reading Settings page.
Click the A static page (select below) radio button then select HomePage from the Front page drop-down list and Gallery from the Post page drop-down list.
Click the Save Changes button.

And with the click of the “Save Changes” button you’ve set up your Grace photoblog to work with the custom home page!

Adding Widgets

There are 2 widgetized areas in the theme – one the home page and on the archive sections.

To add a widget:

Click the Appearance menu option. This expands the Appearance menu item.
Click the Widgets link. This displays the Widgets page.
Select either Home Page – to add widgets to the home page – or Sidebar – to add widgets to the archives sections – from the Current Widgets drop-down list.
Drag the widgets across from the left to the right that you to display.
Click the Save Changes button.

Adding Photos to the Gallery

To add a photo to the gallery:

Resize your photo so that they’re a maximum of 900px wide.
If you’ve turned off the “auto thumbnails”, create a thumbnail that’s 280px wide by 140px high.
Upload both images to your WordPress Media Library.
Copy the file URL of the main image then paste it into the Main Photo Custom Field.
Again, only if you’ve turned off the “auto-thumbnails”, copy the file URL of the thumbnail into the Thumbnail Custom Field.
Enter a description of the photo into the Post Editing Area using the visual text editor.
If you want to the photo to appear in the rotating gallery on the home page assign the post to the Featured category.

Setting Your Grace Options

The new version of Grace comes with its own options page. This let’s you switch off the auto-generation of thumbnails and set the speed of the rotating gallery.

grace-options

Note: By default thumbnail auto-generation is switched on and the gallery speed is set to “Normal”.

To set your theme options:

Expand the Appearance sub-menu panel.
Click the Grace Options link. This displays the Grace Theme Options page.
Change your settings as required.
Click the Update Options button.

Note: If you turn off the Automatic Thumbnails you’ll need to create then upload them yourself.

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Number of Comments: 69 Comments so far.

28 Free Wordpress Photo Gallery Themes | TutZone wrote on the 16_11_2009

[...] Grace is a stylish, minimalistic photoblog theme for WordPress and it’s completely FREE! Grace’s muted colour scheme and big frame puts your photos right at the centre of the blog making colours seem even more vibrant and beautifully complementing those in black and white. Demo Download Details [...]
Afton wrote on the 16_11_2009

Hi!

I found your theme and was thrilled to pieces, since I’ve been trying to figure out some way to do something almost exactly like this with the Thesis theme, which I bought. But this theme makes it easy! So for this website, I’ve ditched Thesis (which I never thought I’d do!) and switched to Grace.

But here’s my problem: Automatic Thumbnails doesn’t seem to work! I don’t see any thumbnails anywhere! I’ve read the instructions over and over and still can’t tell what’s going on! Thanks for your help!

P.S. I’m about to start messing with width, so that my 1024×768 wallpapers can be used. Do you have any tips or warnings? Thanks! =D
Temi wordpress per blog fotografici | Voci dal Web wrote on the 17_11_2009

[...] Demo Download Details [...]
Leah wrote on the 19_11_2009

Hi there! Your theme is so wonderful! I don’t have the new grace theme, and am trying to get the featured gallery to work, and while a photo shows up, it does not rotate through the images. I can’t figure out if I’m doing something wrong.

Also, is there any way to just upgrade to the new theme without losing all the editing I’ve already done on the old theme template? Thanks!
durk wrote on the 23_11_2009

Great Theme!
28 temas de WordPress para galerías | Recursos para Diseñadores Gráficos y Web | Creativos Online wrote on the 23_11_2009

[...] Demo Descarga Detalles [...]
durk wrote on the 23_11_2009

Hey guys,

Works like a breeze, but when I checked in IE, the slider had some weird glitches.

A known bug?
dementia wrote on the 29_11_2009

Hi. I have the same problem as Afton. The Auto Thumbnail isn’t working for me.
dementia wrote on the 29_11_2009

Was able to solve the problem.

The cache folder in scripts isn’t set to 777. I checked the timthumb.php and I think it’s supposed to auto CHMOD the folder but it doesn’t so you have to do it manually.

I love the theme btw!
Bisma wrote on the 03_12_2009

Hi there, your theme is amazing but the rotating image for featured category doesn’t seems to work. Everything else work fine. I’m using Firefox 3.5.5 on Windows XP. Perhaps there is a solution for this? Thx
25 wordpress galeri eklentisi | Eklentiler wrote on the 04_12_2009

[...] Demo Download Details [...]
mangesh wrote on the 11_12_2009

Hi,

i am trying to put more than one images in the post, but it’s not working.

how to do that?

Thanks,
Mangesh
Yahoo! Detector wrote on the 12_12_2009

yes, I absolutely agree with you, I am working on it too! thanks.
68Design – (68ds.com) Creative Design Transmitor » Blog Archive » 30 Free and Smashing Wordpress Photo Gallery Themes wrote on the 13_12_2009

[...] Grace is a stylish, minimalistic photoblog theme for WordPress and it’s completely FREE! Grace’s muted colour scheme and big frame puts your photos right at the centre of the blog making colours seem even more vibrant and beautifully complementing those in black and white. Demo Download Details [...]
ErwinSK wrote on the 16_12_2009

hello, i do have a problem with Grace, when i add. one ore two more category’s, (home page) only the “Featured” category is apearing on the witget sector…. pls HELP But it is a GREART theme, and i wil lounch is for Chritmas….

Gtreetzzzz From The Netherlands
AppleUser wrote on the 16_12_2009

Goodday,

Thanks for this great theme!

I make a category “Featured” and selected it in the post to display it on the frontpage, but it will not work. I use safari and firefox…

Have a nice day.
senk wrote on the 18_12_2009

Hi Ian!

First of all I wanto thank you for this awesome theme!!

I have a small problem with it tough…

As you replied earlier…
“Yes you can add more than one image per post – just upload them like you would do normally. Jean-Francois has put more than one picture per page on his use of the theme: http://www.artefakstudio.com/”

But I can’t figure this one out…
Since the new update you already have a field to put your picture in but there is nothing else I can come up with that would put several pictures in the same post.
If you do it trough the main editor it would just look weird.
I’ve screened the css of Artefaktstudio-page but can’t seem to find anything that would do the trick. The only thing that seems to be any different is that he / they uses version 1.1 if that makes any difference..?

I guess I’m just stupid and missing something really easy out here but if you or any one else could give me some guidance about this I would be truly grateful!

Best Regards,
Mr. Senk.
Chris wrote on the 07_01_2009

Hi, thank you so much for this theme.
I was wondering if there is a way to have more than 10 images display in the rotating gallery

Thanks!
biyan wrote on the 08_01_2009

u have a very useful and nice post…
aurora wrote on the 11_01_2009

Great Theme! congratulations
Lizette wrote on the 15_01_2009

Hey, I love this theme, I got so excited when I saw it and I’ve installed it right away. Everything works fine except I can’t get the rotating gallery to function. I’ve activated custom permalinks. Anybody have any idea what the problem could be?
Jill wrote on the 20_01_2009

I have set up one blog using this theme and it works PERFECTLY!! However, I tried setting up a 2nd blog, and the rotating gallery doesn’t work….exact same setup, same server, same everything except post content and images and it shows the first post image, but does not rotate through any other images. Help!
Jill wrote on the 20_01_2009

Oh – I’m using the latest Firefox on Vista.
To see or not to see wrote on the 22_01_2009

[...] grace [...]
Top Blog » Blog Archive » 15+ Free Gallery Wordpress Themes for Photo Blogging! wrote on the 31_01_2009

[...] Demo | Download [...]
Fabio wrote on the 01_02_2009

First of all THANK YOU for sharing knowledge and beauty.
I’ve got a big problem. I’m using your theme but if I activate the lightbox plugin (I have to use it in another pages) the carousel in homepage stops working. I do not know why and how to fix it! Please anyone can help me??

Thank you indeed
F
Nathaniel wrote on the 01_02_2009

I really enjoy this theme. It’s very clean and makes the photos stand out. Is there a way to randomize the slide show on the frontpage?
M-D wrote on the 03_02_2009

Hi,

I read about Artefakstudio’s solution of having multiple images on one side. This is exactly what I’m looking for: http://www.artefakstudio.com/index.php/archives/304

But I can’t figure it out how to get it right.
If I understand it right the variable single can be set to true och false, if false you can get an array of custom fields. Right?

Problem 1: I don’t know how to get the values from this array to loop at the page. I do create the array, if I write echo $key, the output will be ‘Array’. So, I have tried the most common way to get the values with like: $key[0], that doesn’t seems to work.
Problem 2: In admin, when I add new fields, named image, I get the same value in all image fields. The same value that is my default, in the field calles Main Photo. That means, if I will get the values of the array, it will be the same photo that show up.
Is that a bug in admin?

Please, can anyone help me to think?!
How do I solve my problem?

Thanks in advance
M-D
Brian / Steelsun wrote on the 05_02_2009

Took me awhile to figure it out – I was not getting the image to show in the post, a thumbnail to show, or a rotating banner.

The secret is in selecting the image location when pasting into the “Main Photo” custom field.

DON’T use the “Link URL” address, instead select the “File URL” preset/button and use that address. It solved all the problems.

That info probably should be added to the instructions to make things flow smoother.

Great Theme, perfect for what I have in mind. Now working to integrate an image ordering system into it for sales.
25 Best Free Photoblog Wordpress Themes for Photographers wrote on the 05_02_2009

[...] Demo | Download [...]
Jessi LeMay wrote on the 05_02_2009

I LOVE your theme, and have received rave reviews from my customers. Thanks a million! I, like everyone else in the universe, need to really start pushing the Twitter & Facebook buttons to link to those pages. How can I add those so that they are immediately visible in the Grace Theme, preferable as close to the top as possible? And, I am not necessarily fluent in HTML, but if the directions are simplistic, I can do it in editor.

Thanks!
Chris wrote on the 06_02_2009

Can’t get that “See More” button to work :/ Need assistance…
21 Thèmes Portfolio Gratuits pour Wordpress | Bobmartien Design wrote on the 08_02_2009

[...] Site Officiel [...]
M-D wrote on the 14_02_2009

Hi again
Never mind about my questions, I have solved it myself.
M-S
D
Brian / Steelsun wrote on the 19_02_2009

Question about Widgets: I’ve got the widgets I want working on the homepage, but none of them will show up on the Archive pages. I placed them in the widget “sidebar” but they just are not showing.
My site, to see what I mean, is http://shoothouston.com/current/

Thanks
D wrote on the 20_02_2009

Great theme. Unfortunately the image posting and gallery does NOT work just like all the other posting have indicated. Any help? Will be looking for another theme as this is useless to me now…
justin wrote on the 24_02_2009

any plans to make the XHTML and CSS valid?
Erwin M wrote on the 28_02_2009

Nice theme, have to say thanks.. this theme works well as described.
BP wrote on the 06_03_2009

Amazing theme. I’ve been looking for a theme like this for months. I develop basic WordPress sites for realtors to show off their properties. I upload 40 pictures on a site. Is their anyway to add pictures to the slideshow without creating a post for each picture?
Kim wrote on the 11_03_2009

Hello, I love the theme but can’t seem to get it work properly, depite your having taken the time to write down the instructions so carefully.

I think I must be doing something wrong… but I can’t figure out what.

I don’t think the auto thumbnail is working. I have broken links underneath ‘Latest Photos’, and when I click on ‘see more’, my ‘gallery’ shows one big off centered image.

Can you please explain the thumbnails and where they should be… and how I fix this issue.

Thanks.
Stefan wrote on the 21_03_2009

Unfortunately, not the search function.
Billy wrote on the 22_03_2009

I also can’t get the slideshow to work.

Thanks. Theme looks good otherwise.
Reuben wrote on the 24_03_2009

Hi,

I’d like to know why I can only add one image in a post? How do I add more?
It doesn’t appear on my page. HELP~~~~
Reuben wrote on the 25_03_2009

Hi,

I can’t get the ‘See more’ button to work or link to the gallery.
I’ve already created a gallery page. What should i do now? how to change the settings in permalink to make the link work???

Please help!!!!!
Ana wrote on the 13_04_2009

Is there any way to make the featured image’s height “600″? Seems that when I resize the image to 900 pixels to fit, it gets chopped off a bit on the bottom. I’d like to expand it just a bit. =)
Ana wrote on the 13_04_2009

Oh! I figured it out. It’s under “pics” in CSS.
Thank you for this lovely theme! JUST what I was looking for!
Something SIMPLE, CLEAN & GORGEOUS. =)
Roman wrote on the 19_04_2009

Hello, could you please add movies same as photos ?
whoismanu wrote on the 21_04_2009

Hi,

To further automate photo posting, both grace 1.1 and 1.2 are supported by the PhotoQ Photoblog plugin. There is a zero configuration option for both themes, so setup should be hassle free.

PhotoQ also gives you some advanced photoblogging options such as exif support and watermarking.

If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to check it out at http://www.whoismanu.com/photoq-wordpress-photoblog-plugin/
Roman wrote on the 24_04_2009

Can anybody helt me to add movies as tumbnails ?
martina wrote on the 25_04_2009

Hi
I have the same problem with the feature category, It just won’t rotate It only displays the first image from the category

Thx
Christopher Anderton wrote on the 05_05_2009

Thanks! Great looking theme!
For those who wants to add some Jquery bling bling to the theme, here is one.

This script sets a small opacity, and fades gracefully when hovering the images.

1. Download this JS file: http://deluxive.se/public/grace-fade.js (Save as)
2. Put the grace-fade.js into the “scripts” directory in your theme folder.
3. Open up header.php and add this line <script type="text/javascript" src="/scripts/grace-fade.js”>

below where it says:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/scripts/jquery.easing.1.2.js”>

Save and enjoy some bling.
Christopher Anderton wrote on the 05_05_2009

A little update. It seems that Safari (Mac) has some bugs (but Chrome works) for some reason. The next Safari update will work fine anyway (tested on nightly builds).
Steve Elliott wrote on the 07_05_2009

This looks a great theme, but one question regards categories. I have noticed that some photoblogs jump from category to category when scrolling through thumbnails which is annoying. For example, if I chose ‘Cats’ as the category, I only want to see images from this category. When I go to another category, eg ‘Dogs’, I only want to see dogs and etc. Does Grace do this?
Vu wrote on the 24_05_2009

I love your theme, have everything works except the thumb nail part.
Teme WordPress pentru fotografi | WP Tuts wrote on the 28_05_2009

[...] Pagina de lansare | [...]
15 Free Gallery Wordpress Themes for Photo Blogging! | Wordpress Themes Stream wrote on the 04_06_2009

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Lindsay wrote on the 07_06_2009

Great theme! Love how clean it is Can someone please help me understand why when I click on my post, the photo is seen below the title and description, as opposed to above the description like on the demo? I’ve been searching for hours and can’t seem to figure it out!

Many thanks!
The Ultimate Guide for An Online Portfolio Using WordPress | Onextrapixel - Showcasing Web Treats Without A Hitch wrote on the 14_06_2009

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The Ultimate Guide for An Online Portfolio Using WordPress | crazyegg.net wrote on the 15_06_2009

[...] choose what themes look nice for your showcase. Creative by Nature Theme Details | View Demo Grace Theme Details | View Demo Creativepress Theme Details | View Demo Fotofolio Theme Details | View Demo [...]
Erick wrote on the 20_06_2009

Thanks for the free & great theme as well. Just noticed that thumbnail wasn’t able to display after we post our photos thru flickr.com. Is the slideshow & auto thumbnail works only thru the usual posting and will not work if photos were uploaded thru flickr.com “blog this” facility.

appreciate your advise.
6 Free Wordpress Templates for Photographers « Shutterbugs Design wrote on the 28_06_2009

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Alex wrote on the 29_06_2009

Hi,
Many thanks for this theme. After looking around a lot I finally found something that I can actually use. I’m having some issues though…

I can’t seem to get the rotating gallery working. Everything else seems to be working fine, the thumbnails are up (even though it would be nice to find out how to change their size – i guess that’s CSS??)

Anyway, if anyone can give me some help with settting up the ROTATING gallery at the top, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Alex.
Lövverk « Annikas liv och leverne wrote on the 30_06_2009

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eshanne wrote on the 08_07_2009

i’ve tried ur themes for WP3.0 but nothing is shown, can you please show me how to show the rotating images or the gallery? i even tried to put the widgets plugins but none of it’s working.. it’s killing me.. damn.. i really like ur themes and i want to use it for my picture gallery comment’s..

Hope you can help me, maybe there is a video tutorials or something?
Nicole Jones wrote on the 15_07_2009

I love the theme, but I can’t get the images to show in the RSS feed. Any tips? Thanks so much!!
Sasidhar wrote on the 21_07_2009

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the lovely theme!
I was curious if there was a way to implement Full RSS (which can include the image as well).

Thanks again!
Dany wrote on the 24_07_2009

Hi,

Thank for this amazing theme. It works perfectly. I use it here : http://www.convictio.com.

I’m looking for what i have to modify to have more than 6 thumbs on homepage. Any idea to help me ?

Dan
Dany wrote on the 01_08_2009

J’ai trouvé, alors je mets la réponse ici, il faut modifier ce fichier :
I found the solution, so i put it here, modify this file :

hpautothumbson.php

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