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Simple single column theme

I’m trying to determine the best way to give my users a secondary blog to display an iframe of 600x2400px property-search page.

My first thought was to just use a simple one-page, one-column html template with links back to their blog and charge them a setup fee, but I wonder if using a very plain them in wpmu (such as http://demo.jimbarraud.com/manifest/) that is only used for "blogs" of this type might have more flexibility and some SEO advantages or something.

Anyone have any advice?

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:19:44
  • maxaud
    • The Crimson Coder

    What about a basic theme template which allows they to enter theme options for things such as:

    – property search iframe url

    – agent contact information, navigation links?

    I’m a Realtor here in Idaho and found that that is one of the better ways to do it.

    Another way to do it would be a page template within their blog where they can define a iframe url via custom field (or theme option).

    Interested in seeing other options/ideas people have.

  • Christopher Price
    • The Incredible Code Injector

    Thanks Maxaud,

    I played around a bit with page templates, the biggest challenge is that I can’t do that for every template. Additionally, that would create a real hassle when upgrading.

    That’s how I came to think about using just one specialized template that could kind of blend in with whatever else they might be using. I see this page as supplemental to their niche blog and their company template site. Sort of a rider. Whatever it is, it’s got to be easy to duplicate.

    BTW, fantastic piece you wrote here:

    http://playforward.net/building-a-social-network-with-wordpress.html

  • maxaud
    • The Crimson Coder

    I’d say that a seperate theme would be the way to go then since you don’t want to deal with updates and a page template format wont work with all of your themes.

    With this, you may be able to create a simple theme that is very powerful at the same time.

    A theme where the user can define different items in the theme options page such as:

    – iframe url

    – company logo

    – agent mugshot

    – agent phone number

    – link colors

    – background color

    – navigation links

    – etc.

    Pertaining to the post about WannaNetwork, thanks!

    It was a cool project to build and a sad one to see go.