Fullscreen

Fullscreen is a quality photoblog/portfolio theme from Graph Paper Press. It contains more javascript animations and effects than most other photography focused themes. This brings a certain flashy quality, which may or may not work for site. Have a look at the demo and decide for yourself. Two people who use this theme well are graphic designer Jesús Suárez and apparel designer Matthew Brady Clark.

Working with Fullscreen – not as easy as it could be

Working with Fullscreen isn’t as straightforward as it could be. On the beautiful front page is one picture per post, as expected. The theme automatically collects the latest uploaded picture to each post and puts it there nice and automagically. However, outside the front page, things aren’t as automated. On the archives and on single posts all that is displayed is the title, the body field and some extra information. In order to have your photo show up on those pages you must layout your body field with your image in it.

This adds a bit of time each time you write a post, but gives you more control of the individual post. This is great news for those looking to create a carefully crafted portfolio, but makes the theme less than ideal for a quick and beautiful photoblog. The difference in how the front page and the other pages are generated is a bit confusing at first, though.

The theme also requires a bit of a setup. To get your contact info into the menu, you need to edit the theme files. Doing this is described in the theme’s instructions.html, but it’s significantly more difficult than editing two fields on an options page. To have it function optimally it is also recommended that you set your image resizing to specified widths and heights (also described in instructions.html). If you don’t do this you won’t get the thumbnails on the bottom of the front page, for instance.

Looking at and navigating Fullscreen is a joy

The fact that this theme is more geared towards being a portfolio is also apparent in the built-in navigation. You’ll automatically get a drop down for your categories, pages, contact and search. This works really well, and you’ll probably not need any other navigation. If you do there are a few widget areas for you to use. These are placed at the bottom of every page except the front page.

Another thing Fullscreen does well is focusing on your content. When reading a post there are few distractions – the auxiliary links are of low contrast, and there is generally very little beside what you place in the body field.

If you’re planning on adding fewer, well planned posts to your photoblog or is starting a portfolio, Fullscreen is definitely a theme to consider. It will take some time to set it up and get used to its workflow, but you’re rewarded with an elegant theme in return.

Requires a free sign-up

To download Fullscreen, go to Graph Paper Press and sign up. Their free account is enough for this Wordpress theme. Once you’ve logged in you can download Fullscreen from the right sidebar (it’s the file named fullscreen.zip). Upload the folder in that file to your host via FTP. Put it into [wordpress directory] -> wp-content -> themes and you’re good to go.

Other people about Fullscreen

• nuwomb.com – Scott Webb mentions Fullscreen briefly in one of his articles on good photography themes. He hasn’t used it himself though.
• wpthemesnews.com – A quick introduction to Fullscreen.
• Graph Paper Press support forums – If you’re a paying member you have access to Graph Paper Press’s support forums, where you can receive quick help if you run into any trouble.
• themegrade.com – Themegrade.com has a quick technical analysis of Fullscreen.

• Name: Fullscreen
• Free or paid: Free (requires signup)
• Author: Graph Paper Press
• Download from: graphpaperpress.com