The P4TAL

Wooo! My first ever K2 modification/style creation: MX4 Reloaded. This is based on the original MX4 theme which is a modification for Kubrick theme. I really liked this theme. This was actually the theme that I used when this blog was on its hey days circa 2005. I really love the tree house that, as Glenn have said, gives character to this blog. Naks. But when the WP 2.0 branch came, the whole theme was wrecked for some reason and then I started to get annoyed and eventually I abandoned the site for a while.

I was thinking about the modification when I learned that all you have to do to modify the K2 theme is to create a CSS file and load some images if needed. I found this K2 framework flexible enough for me to do what I really want for my WP, so I thought of creating a style for it. But then I was having a hard time thinking of what kind of theme should I make, so I thought of re-creating MX4 as a modification of K2, since the original MX4 was a modification for K2’s predecessor, Kubrick. So I immediately dug my backup files to look for the PSD format of the header image, edit it back to the original 560 pixel-width (I somehow ’stretched’ the width to 760px because I love two-column templates then) and used it as my starting point. Then I compared the stylesheets between K2 and MX4, then I mixed up some styles and images to have that MX4 look and feel.

I had a hard time mapping attributes from the MX4 stylesheet to those of K2 since they don’t share common attributes. I had to come up with two separate environments for MX4 and K2 themes so that I may compare the results immediately. I am also challenged on how to put the live search bar on the header. I really want to put the live search bar on the header so visitors may search the site quickly without scrolling down to the ’sidebar’ (I think it should be called ‘bottom bar’ just like how Hemingway theme call it? hehe). I am so thankful to the K2 Support Forums, because I was able to do that by following the instruction posted by one of its users.

I think I should keep this theme for myself. I am not into create-themes-then-distribute kind yet. And I still believe that this theme is still incomplete. I have yet to integrate the Gravatar functionality and the styles for the comments section.

Got something to say about this K2 style? Hope you like it.

Special thanks to the following:

• Matt Ball for his amazing Development Icons.
• MX4 for the great theme. The demo page for this theme for WordPress 1.5+ is gone, and I have no idea where it is right now. I am lucky I still have the original PSD file of the header.
• Blue K2 for the wonderful blockquote icon and some CSS styles.
• Of course the K2 developers for their wonderful work.