Feed Subscriptions
Rolling Links
- Flowing Data Exploring all things data!
- Kottke: Fine Hypertext Products
- Mashable The Social Networking Blog
- Cartoons on the backs of business cards.
- Open Code Blog - New York Times A blog about open source technology at The New York Times, written by and primarily for developers.
The Recycled Canvas Experiment has been concluded
We encourage you to check out the spiritual successor to recycled canvas, Press Box
If you’d like, you may still download the old (unsupported) version of Recycled Canvas | Download
Theme Background
You can still view the list of experimenters and their data here.
This theme was an experiment. Not just in design, but in experimental methodology, sharing, and process. The license the the theme was offered under was not a creative commons, gpl, or anything that you are probably familiar with. The recycled learning license is a little different, and deserves some explanation.
Essentially if you used the theme you agree to install a wordpress plugin that collects some data and sends it back to us. Mostly we’re after mousetracking data - the x,y coordinates that your visitors send their mouse tails to. For more information about this, see Ernesto Arroyo’s short paper on the mousetracking tools. This data is completely available for anyone to see (including, unfortunately, unscrupulous types like advertisers - although commercial uses are technically forbidden by the terms of the license). The intent is to use this for academic research in how people share designs, use blogs, and a variety of other purposes. It takes a few minutes to sink in, so please read the license before you click download.
This thing has 75 Comments
I’ve gone ahead and enabled comments on this page (only) for discussion about this project. Feel free to post questions, comments, and the like right here.
I’m wondering why when I post a photo I get oddly placed “” (quotation marks) around the image.
You should only get quotation marks around views ohter than the image view. If you want to re-enable the theme at some time I’ll take a look.
Sure thing, I have it loaded on this blog (http://cyclingplatypus.com/gallery/). Another problem I’ve noticed is that if I activate the plugin and don’t have the theme activated (or deactivate the them but have the plugin still activated) I lose my admin functions all together until I delete the plugin, is that by design?
Is there a way to disable the quotation option? If not I’d like to suggest that. It just dawned on me I’ve done a bit of complaining, I really like this theme and am hoping to use it on my other wordpress blog as well, not trying to be the absolute pain in the arse…thanks for all the hard work.
As to the admin wonkyness, that’s a bug and definitely not a feature, I’ll take a look at it. After taking a look at your site I see what you mean about the quotation marks, I’ll remove them from the blog view soon (if you want to remove them now they are in the views/blogview.php file).
Don’t worry about the criticism, this is a collaborative design project and that’s what we opened the comments up for.
Thanks Matthew, I removed them.
Hello, me again. I discovered that the recycled data plugin actually breaks the WP lightbox JS plugin (http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox/). Also is there someplace else like a forum of something that I’m supposed to be adding to? I browsed around and haven’t found anything. Are you wanting user input/suggestions as well the recycled data?
a few questions:
a) most importantly, can i alter the copyright notice at the bottom, and how much so? it’s for a client, and clients don’t always understand why wp/the designer/i need to be credited.
that being out of the way,
b) how can i set one or a few categories, (in my case,just “bands” for the moment) to have an imageview, while the rest of the site follows a boxlist view?
c) i’ll be integrating unique headers for each category… could this be made into an option in the back end in any way? any suggestions on how i could go about it? right now i’m doing a multi-option if-else i found somewhere…
i’m not all that great at reading php, but i can fool my way around… you’ll have to put up with me a bit..
thanks…
Matthew, I’m having the same problems with the admin, only I’ve got a MU install of Wordpress running a site. I really like the theme because it fits perfectly with one section of the site I’m developing. The only problem is that I lose any access to the backend of the main section (blog) after I activate the plugin on the other site Timetable.
Thanks in advance for the assistance.
cyclingplatypus -> This is it for now. If we get to unwieldy here I will open a forum. Probably a good idea would be to post the link to trac (our bug tracker) so bugs can be posted there directly. I’ll do that soon.
joseph -> a) The license doesn’t specify how much change requires a new experiment collection location (although it probably should). Likely textual changes (like the copyright notice) should not, so feel free to change that. b) Well you can’t, although that’s a really good idea (particularly with the example of imageview. The short and easy solution is to check on the archive page under the category if it is the category you want, and then load the image view instead of the default view. You’ll have to load the loop part and the imageview stylesheet) c) Unfortunately again, this is a nice feature although likely a nonstandard one. My solution would be to create a header for each category and do an echo with the category as a variable. So in the header file you would check if it was an archive page (category page specifically) and then echo the name of the category - header.jpg or whatever. If you need specific php help send me a mail at hock [at] media.mit.edu.
andre -> we’re still looking into this. Unfortunately it keeps working on the test sites I have. The MU part is something I don’t have a lot of specific experience with but since this is a general problem for some installs that’s probably not it.
nice theme, a great combination of simple design with a smart idea behind it. managed to change some basic settings like font, color,…but here is my question: how do I add/modify the sidebar (links would be great)?
thanks
Probably the easiest way is to use sidebar widgets (http://automattic.com/code/widgets/). Alternatively have a look at the sidebar.php file.
hello, it’s a great theme. one question I have is tha I have selected to have my sidebar on the left rather than the right… and it is, on the main page. but on all other pages it switches back to being on the right. please let me know if there’s any way I can have the sidebar be consistent on all pages. thank you!
I think the problems with the admin section vanishing have been fixed. Check out the new download. There may still be conflicts with certain plugins, however.
Hi there.
First of all, this an awesome project/theme.
I have a questiont though. How did you manage to have a separate avatar from the rest of the comments? I’d like to enable that on my own blog too. I’ve been looking all over for it in the readme, on the site, etc.. couldn’t find it.
Hi matt,
first, great theme and project. I installed the theme correct, activating the plugin and receive following error:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: get_categories() in /home/www/…XXX../html/..XXXX…/wp-content/themes/recycledcanvas/functions.php on line 313
I’m not a programmer, i have no idea what this message means. Maybe, any other plugins additional to install? Can you help me? (sorry for my english)
Alex
A really wonderful theme, but the biggest problem I’m having is that scripts like lightbox, and other smaller scripts cannot function with the theme. Is there any way to fix this? It would be incredibly helpful.
ups -> Geoff Stearns has a nice post about this (http://blog.deconcept.com/2004/11/13/wordpress-author-comment-highlighting/)
bbolman -> unfortunately these are caused by some javascript library conflicts that are not realistic to fix right now. I can only suggest that you buy the cc licensed theme, as the javascript in the recycled data plugin isn’t used in that version. If lightbox is the popular problem causing script it is possible that we could build lightbox like functionality into the next version. Anybody else have lightbox problems?
Lightbox works fine on my blog..
I didnt use the lightbox plugin for wordpress, just added the reference to the CSS and Javascript in my index.php manually.
Hmm. That’s interesting. I’ll have to look in to how the lightbox plugin works. Maybe that is the problem, not lightbox itself.
The only problem I’m having with lightbox is a strange glitch with the title attribute. It appears as highlighted. This page is still under construction, but check the “design” page to see what I mean.
PS. My site is snoreandguzzle.com
I’m not seeing anything wrong with it MRN, but I think I know your problem, I had it too.
The description in the image had a black background, right?
I edited css/lightbox.css manually.
I changed #imageData #caption{ font-weight: bold; }
to this:
#imageData #caption{ font-weight: bold; background-color: white; color: black; }
That fixed it for me. Note though, I’m using the Safari browser, your problem might be browser related?
I recently contacted you about the ‘post image’ plugin and how it triggers a “fatal error” when activated. I guess I thought the ‘post image’ plugin allowed one to change the image of the post header with each unique post, but it’s sounding like that isn’t true? I was imagining that with the ‘image’ view (the option for theme views) allowed unique post images, that then reflected in the archive at the bottom of the page, creating a visual archive…
But instead the post image references the same image?
Thanks for your hard work!
I have noticed that, despite how many comments a post may have, the main page of the template shows “0 comments” for every post.
Why yes it does. Replace “0 comments” with “< ?php comments_popup_link('No Comments »', '1 Comment »', '% Comments »'); ?>” on line 29 of boxview.php
Hi… sorry I am quite new to this whole Wordpress theme. But I found Recycled Canvas really cool. I was wondering on the image view, is it possible to have an attached image displayed instead of default? If so, how what I need to add?
Ok. nvm.. It’s weird. I initially disabled the visual editor and used the code to fill the entries, it doesnt work.. but once I re-enable the visual editor to attach the image in my entry, it works.. weird.
A lot of plugins are not functioning with this theme/plugin. I have tried to use several mapping plugin like GMMS but it does look like the code inside the post is treated as text. Is there an easy way to get this fixed. Thanks
In the image/box view, any suggestions on making the first post static (so that it always calls the same post) Cheers.
Hi,
I am working on this site (http://www.grupetto.info/nhlnews). I got all the recommended plugins installed, but sadly only the image shows of the first article. In the small boxes in image box view there is no image. Any ideas on fixing this?
This theme support GRAVATARS?? im confused.
It doesn’t support gravatars out of the box, although I imagine that gravatar might be used successfully with the theme.
Hi again Matthew.
There is an issue using the IMAGEVIEW style?
I lost some of my thumbs, if I put another date of the post for those, they appear again but disapear with and old date, pretty weird :(
I’m not sure quite what you’re saying. The image view works with the included plugin - basically it uses the first uploaded image associated with a post. To change this image you have to delete the associated images and make sure the one you want to show is the first one uploaded.
Hi Matthew, thanks for your fast answer. Im glad to hear news from you.
Im not using the free version, Im using the CC-BY-ND edition :)
Can you see my client site at [censored]
Thanks!
I resolve the problem, adding more posts to show, now the setup is 150, a big number, I dont know why, but works for now. I just put query_posts(’cat=1′) in the INDEX.PHP, this is the only one modification.
There is a problem with this?
Thanks a lot :)
I am using the licensed version. I am in the process of configuring it, but now it is starting to get all jumbled. The header image has moved up atop the navigation. Can you take a look at my site and tell me what’s going on? My site is retirementcareers.net. Thanks in advance.
Oh, FYI. I’m using a wordpress adsense plugin and sidebar widgets. Might any of this impact the header and navigation?
First of all, I really love this project, and would like to participate. The only problem is I can’t get the guff Post Image to work. The blog I am trying to get it to work on is located at http://m7bouldering.com/blog/. Every post has at least one image, and they were all uploaded via the Wordpress upload mechanism. I was reading the readme file, and read that it would load the first image associated with a post. The problem might lie in the fact that the visual editor does not work on any of my browsers (Mac os x, camino, safari, firefox). Thus, when one tries to have Wordpress put the upload in the post, it does not work. Any suggestions? Like can I tag my images with something? How does the feature work. Can I use ?
oops, the php did not copy. But it was
Is there anyway I can change the setting so that when its in ‘Blog View’ mode it displays the entire post, including break lines and everything without having to click ‘Continue..’?
I adore this theme though. Its perfect!
For the problem with the header image overunning text, this occurs when the page listing is too long, it gets pushed down below the text. I suggest either adjusting the font size, using nested pages, or just fewer pages.
For post image, it is a little flaky and hard to give specific advice. It can sometimes occur because of upgrades to the wordpress database (for new versions of wordpress).
For having more content in blog view, you can replace the_excerpt or the_expert_reloaded call with the_content call found in single.php - this will get you the full post with everything in it.
Ah, i eventually figured that out too! haha thank you though!
But now after the 2.3 upgrade, my archive pages won’t list anything. They have a header but no entries will display. (Example: http://latenightsight.com/2007/09/)
Try changing the line [include 'views/' . GetView() . '.php';] to [include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/views/' . GetView() . '.php');] in the archive.php file
I changed it and its still blank.
http://wordpress.pastebin.ca/714949 is the link to take a look at my archive.php file, if you have any more ideas.
Thanks for the try though!
You’re using funky quotes (probably from copying directly from here) in that line. Try manually replacing them with the regular single quote character. Otherwise its exactly identical to the code in index.php, so it must be something strange about wordpress 2.3, which we haven’t tested with very much. You could also try removing the is_tag bit from the top, or pasting the contents of whatever view you are using directly in (instead of including it) from the views/whatever.php
Changed those funky quotes and still no success. However, now when you refresh for a split second you’ll see the following: http://i22.tinypic.com/14y4i6g.jpg. Not sure what that is or what it means either! I’m gonna mess around with a little more and hopefully get it working. :P
Got it working! I copied the code from the Default Wordpress theme (archive.php) and pasted it in this one. The css is a little off right now but at least the information is showing up! Still not sure what was going on with it though. Thanks again. :)
HI Matthew, I just implemented this theme and love it.
I was hoping you could help me with a problem I’m having. The page loads fine in IE7, Firefox, Safari, Opera, but in IE6 the body is not aligned with the header and the sidebar.
In IE6 the header and sidebar are where they’re supposed to be, but the body text starts where the sidebar ends. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this?
Thanks,
Andrew
Hello, I love using this theme. I am only able to see 9 posts in the box view instead of 12. Is there a way to increase this number? Thank You, http://www.nisusthemovement.com
hi!
Fun stuff this template really! I was wondering, could sidebar be put to the bottom (the footer) as this would realy be a nice feature. Howto? http://automattic.com/code/widgets/) ?. One more thing, how much can i change the text of the footer (the “and so are you” thing) Can I completely remove the footer?
I found that I could change the number of posts in myphpadmin in the server database. I hope that helps.
It doesn’t have to be that complicated. You can do this from the wordpress admin, just go to options->reading and it is listed under “blog pages”, “show at most x posts”, where x is the number of posts you want to show. This is true for any theme, not just this one.
I just installed the site, but I’m confused about the main image that appears under the header (the one that represents the most recent post) when you’re in “image” mode. The image that pops up is often NOT the image from my post, or its an old image I changed. Usually I get the default file folder image. I like everything else about the theme–is there anyway to fix this?
Follow up from the previous comment–do I need to erase something somewhere to get this working?
Hi,
I think Recycled Canvas is beautiful and would like to use it for a portfolio I am making for someone. In the WordPress theme viewer an example of the theme is given with a post that is split up into 4 pages. I haven’t been able to figure out how this is done, even after looking at the source. When I make a new page in the dashboard I can only link it to other pages and not to a post. Do I need an extra plugin? Or does it have something to do with additional fields? Please help.
I think this was addressed above, but I haven’t found a solution. When the template loads in IE, everything looks great. When I load it up in Firefox or Opera, the pages are under the header banner. I can’t fix it. Can you please help me?
This happens (usually) because there are so many pages they get pushed down. It doesn’t scale infinitely, the only way to fix this is to trim (or nest) pages.
Hi Matt, first I want to say that I love your theme. I have been trying to customize the theme to better suit the project I am in the midst of creating.
I was wondering if I would be able to use the different styles on different parts of the site. That is, I want to use the image view option on a ’stories’ portion of the site. Whereas I want to use the list view for my ‘news’ section.
Would I have to use the static page option for WP? Or page templates?
Thanks in advance.
Hi, I’m trying to install this for a client but its not working yet. I’m installing it on a subdomain, http://blog.fluffyco.com, and WP version is 2.2.3, what are the chances I should be able to install your theme given all this?
I uploaded the files exactly the way stated in the install instructions, checked permissions, but when I go to the plugins tab in the admin, it doesn’t show up…neither does it show up in the Manage Themes area. ?? Stumped.
Looks like you got it? What was the problem?
Hello, first of all: this is exactly the theme I was looking for so long! I love it! But I have some problems with plugins. Mainly I was trying to setup different sidebars for different pages with “widget changer”, but I did not manage to display a list with recent posts. Neither as a widget, nor as a list in a post. I just get the headline, but no content. I tried several plugins, but none of them seem to work. How can I fix it? (my site is http://www.schlaffke.com ) Beside this - what other features come with the licensed version?
Thanks in advance.
I bought the licensed version of this and used it in a group blog in where each post would be a profile of the member of a group. This works well because as the front in the index, everyone could see the pictures of the members. However, I wanted to put postviews in it, to know how many views a profile have. I have installed this plugin http://www.lesterchan.net/wordpress/readme/wp-postviews.html but there is some error with it on the theme, it only counts views of the recent post, if you view other or old posts, your views will not be counted. I wonder what is wrong with it, since I tried changing theme and it works well. Please help. Email me of the solution or could you suggest what plugin that shows the # of views on each post that works on this theme. I have researched and tried all I have found .. only wp-postviews seems to work … but it isn’t working right. HELP PLEASE!
Hi,
I’m using WordPress 2.3, and I think it broke the data collection. WordPress 2.3 no longer includes a /trunk/wp-admin/admin-db.php file, so it makes /trunk/wp-content/themes/recycledcanvas/recyclebin.php choke. Does anyone know which functions from admin-db.php are required? Using the old version of that file gives “previously declared” errors for some functions. I think 2.3 just redistributed the functions to other files, and I’d like to include those instead so recyclebin.php can work again.
Thanks for a great theme!
Libby
i’m not clear abt how to use the post-img. please advise. thanks.
great theme btw
must the images be on the same server as the theme installation or can i use any image from an external url??
Whitebear, the post image for recycled canvas uses the first image that is uploaded and ‘attached’ to a post. For example, when I write an article I pick the image i want associated with it and upload that first (through the wordpress admin interface). So no, it doesn’t work for external images that aren’t hosted on your server. In general linking to images like that is a bad practice. However, we have a version of this that does support external images (mostly for things like flickr) - but it is not available yet.
Libby (and anyone else using wordpress 2.3) - you’re correct. Wordpress 2.3 does break the data collection. My suggestion right now is to remove the reference to recyclebin.php from the sidebar and continue using the theme without data collection. This will be fixed shortly (although, probably not in the way you would imagine).
I’m having an issue getting recycled canvas to show up in my presentation manager as well. Do I need to remove the recycled-data folder from the recycled canvas folder?
Yes. To install: download and drag to your wp-content/themes/ folder and move the recycled-data folder to your wp-content/plugins folder and activate it in the plugins menu