New Theme Review- Arthemia Premium by Michael Jubel Hutagalung
I have finally done it! I have broken down and purchased a theme. I had no idea how much a premium theme would simplify my life. Thank you Michael. After an extensive search to find “the perfect theme” I have selected the Arthemia Premium by Michael Jebel Hutagalung with Colorlabs Project.
Some of the irritations I was having previously have been resolved since applying the Arthemia theme.
Here were the major factors in selecting this theme:
- Price
- WordPress 2.7 enabled
- Nice footer
- magazine layout
- Sub-pages display in drop down menu
- Category color schemes
- Widget ready
- Nice balance of color splashes and the all precious “white space”
- Love the headline and feature section as they make good use of your prime real-estate
- Customizable to my tastes
Arthemia Straight out of the box
Troubles so far:
- I can’t get my thumbnails to display – the script generates them but they do not appear on page (headline, featured, category spoiler or sidebar)
- Archives page has essentially no archive information preset on it
- Have a bizarre “i’m” in the footer “Who is writing this blog?” section
Administrative shot of Arthemia
Tweaks implemented:
- Added ballyhoo Spot (advertising) section at top of sidebar
- Added a few additional pages (still working on copy)
- Added Translator to sidebar
- Spiffed up the RSS subscribe on sidebar
- Changed default color scheme to colorful default scheme with the intention of customizing later
- Included Wendy’s Playground, friends online and categories in sidebar
- Edited footer to recent comments gravatars, facebook connect, MyBlogLog, Google Friend Connect
- Altered right footer to included an author section and a twitter api
I have high hopes for this theme and look forward to finishing my tweaking. Here’s a real benefit to this theme; after switching to this theme I have increased my earnings by 30%.
P.S. The footer is a little busy for me. What do you think?
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If I can do it! You can do it too! Celebrating Texas country living, down home cooking, family life, figuring stuff out and being a stay-at-home moxie mom computer geek.
Blessings,
Wendy Merritt
The Moxie Mom
XXO (A kiss on each cheek and a hug)
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The thumbnails would make me really cranky to be missing, especially since they advertize this feature as easy compared to the old fashioned image category tag for each post.
Your monetization increased by 30% after how long since your switch?
The FaceBook connect is cool, but I’m not sure as a commenter if I have to choose between Gravatar or FaceBook connect. It’s a little confusing.
My email address for FB is what I give to closer friends while Gravatar is a more generic come one, come all internet address. Maybe that explains it.
Wendy Merritt
Reply:
December 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Gib,
I am sure I will eventually figure out the thumbnails. Yes, it does make me cranky…but some might say that is just how I am! LOL
I installed the theme on 12-20-08 and in those 4 days I have had an increase of 30% in click through sales. I would have to assume that my SEO, social bookmarking and other efforts have also attributed to this success. However, I have done nothing different in these four days other then to change the theme.
Thank you for your “confusing” comment on the facebook connect. You can still use the normal WordPress login but now you also have facebook as an option. Facebook Connect is an experiment. If it works to provide a greater community environment and increases traffic…then GREAT! If not…”You’re fired!” and I’ll remove it. Same goes with the Google Friend Connect. The beauty of these social aps is that when you log in/subscribe using facebook, Google or MyBlogLog the user can share this site with their friends. It’s all about convenience and sharing.
Merry Christmas!
Wendy
I use this theme myself and I have to say that I love it, too! However, I would strongly caution against it for anyone who will need assistance with it. The customer service is beyond terrible – it is pretty much nonexistent. I do a fairly decent job of researching to fix problems myself, but there have been a couple of times where the answer simply didn’t lie somewhere on the internet. I have currently been waiting one month – that’s right – for any type of help. I did receive a response one time, but they provided a “solution” that didn’t work, at all. I am just one of many who feel this way. So while I LOVE the theme and overall I’m glad I chose it, be prepared for some serious frustration if you need any type of help!
the wicked noodle’s last blog post..chips!!
Wendy Merritt
Reply:
May 18th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
WOW! I’m sorry to hear you have had such difficulty with the theme’s customer support. I have contacted them several times but never had that kind of waiting issue. I wish you much luck with your blog theme issues.
Blessings,
Wendy
the wicked noodle
Reply:
May 29th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Hi Wendy!
I’m SO HAPPY to report that Michael, the “theme mastermind”, has now taken over support and he has been fantastic! I don’t think he had any idea that this had been happening. I had never had a problem either, but suddenly the past couple of months support had literally just stopped. We’re all happy campers once again, and I would actually now recommend this theme!
Best,
Kristy
http://www.thewickednoodle.com
the wicked noodle’s last blog post..now that’s some twisted bacon!
Hi Moxie Mom:
I have two questions:
I was searching the net for some Arthemia Premium tutorial info and came across your blog. I’ve had the Arthemia Premium for some time and decided yesterday to give to try it out. I’ve pretty-much worked through the serious issues and have tweaked the theme and changed some code around, but I’m at a loss of how to change this blog-roll. I have actually disabled the blog-roll in my WP admin but the theme designer’s links are still showing up on my front page.
Where did you find the code to change your blog roll links and/or to disable it altogether? And what plug-in are you using to get your featured section to carousel (mine is static)?
Thanks;
David
David
Reply:
July 20th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Hi:
It’s me again
I have solved the blog roll problem but am still stumped about the featured carousel….
thanks;
David
Wendy Merritt
Reply:
July 21st, 2009 at 7:14 pm
David, I believe that when you add links to your blogroll this will overwrite the demo blogroll that the theme designer has included in the theme defaults. Add a couple of links to your blogroll and see what happens.
If your carousel is static you most likely have a plugin that is conflicting. There is a ton of information about this on the theme’s forum at http://colorlabsproject.com/forum/. I would check for any plugin that is using Javascript. Disable them all and add them back one at a time checking your carousel after each addition. You should be able to find the culprit. I had a plugin that ceased my carousel too so I had to delete it.
Blessings,
Wendy
Hi and thank you for your post! I have been trying to figure out how to delete the whole section just as you have above (the carousel, & featured post). What areas did you delete? TIA!