Category: Photography

Post Format: Image vs Standard

Post author By David Bennett
Post date December 11, 2019
2 Comments on Post Format: Image vs Standard

Read this first

Between posting this a few minutes ago and now, I have changed the theme to the new TwentyTwenty theme. It doesn’t have the same post format options, but it allows full-width images within Gutenberg editor – just like the previous theme (the one I was using before McKinley) allowed.

With that out of the way – read on!

Before Gutenberg

Does anyone recall what the Post Format options looked like in the Classic editor before Gutenberg? Maybe someone is still using the Classic editor?

I changed themes a couple of days ago and I thought that this new theme (McKinley) could not display images that stretch across the page. Then I noticed the ‘Post Format’ option.

I simply never think about post format and use ‘Standard’ all the time.

I changed the post format to ‘Image’ and for this theme at least, it allows for full width images. If I keep the document in Standard format, the image is narrower – like this:

Which just goes to show that I have published hundreds of posts without ever thinking of the post format options, even though I know they exist.

Does anyone recall what the options look like in the Classic editor before Gutenberg?

Here’s what the options look like in the back end:

Iris against a dark background

I ‘manufactured’ the photo at the top of this post, of an iris against a dark background. The original is an iris against an out-of-focus jumble of greenery. It looked a mess and so I darkened everything and then painted in the rest to make this composition.

Photography

Gog Magog Molly – The Menace of the Fens

Post author By David Bennett
Post date December 8, 2019
2 Comments on Gog Magog Molly – The Menace of the Fens

Gog Magog Molly – that’s what this dance troupe call themselves.

And The Menace of the Fens is how they describe themselves. Their dancing surely must (must?) have something in its history and genesis that is in common with Morris Dancing.

There is a comment on the page of their website that details the dances that states, “Traditional molly dancing was nowhere near this well documented, or danced with this much precision.” So Molly dancing must have a history rather than it being something dreamed up by the troupe.

A quick google for Molly dancing brought up a Wikipedia page that states

Molly dancing is a form of English Morris dance, traditionally done by out-of-work ploughboys in midwinter in the 19th century.

I don’t know what the origin of the coloured faces of this troupe is, but surely it is an extension of blacking their faces to conceal their identities.

Because Wikipedia also states that

Molly dancing is most associated with Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany. Tradition has it that as a way of filling the gap between Christmas and the start of the spring ploughing season, the ploughboys would tour around the village landowners, offering to dance for money. Those who refused would be penalised in various ways (see Trick or treat) including having a furrow ploughed across the offender’s lawn.

The dancers, wishing to gain employment from those same landowners shortly afterwards, would attempt to conceal their identities by blacking their faces with soot and dressing up in a modified version of their Sunday best, typically black garments adorned with coloured scarves and other fripperies. It was originally an all-male tradition but with one of the members—the Molly—dressed up as a woman.

Photography

In The Museum

Testing how wide this theme (McKinley) will display images. The answer is – not as wide as the previous theme I was using (Dalston), but I like the overall look of this theme better.

Update 12 December 2019

Changed to the TwentyTwenty theme and I now understand that some themes are built to take full advantage of the Gutenberg image sizing, while other themes are not. People new to WordPress might not realise this; I didn’t until I had played about with the other theme, and I have been using WP for years.

Photography

Lost In Thought

Strange that when I changed the theme just now and posted this with only the photo, it (the photo) doesn’t show up except in the single post.

Let’s see whether adding text kicks it into showing the photo.

No, still not.

OK – changed the theme again. All OK now.

Aha, I think it is a problem with WordPress not syncing or clearing the cache or something, and probably not a theme problem at all. I say that because when I look in another browser, the text ends with ‘No, still not.’ and doesn’t pick up the next short paragraph. Will it pick up this paragraph now?