Rusty Grunge

Posted at 11:36 AM on January 8th, 2009

rusty-grunge

Rusty Grunge is a simple WordPress theme yet still gives you the “destroyed” look. This theme utilizes a fully-widgetized sidebar and has been downloaded over 28,000 times and is featured as a pre-installed theme on Dreamhost’s default installation of WordPress.

Take it for a test drive
Download ‘Rusty Grunge’ (Version 1.2)

12/09/2008 Update – Version 1.0

  • Bugfix – updated comments.php closing div inside if statement

12/29/2008 Update – Version 1.1

  • Bugfix – updated <title> tag with proper bloginfo() functions

12/29/2008 Update – Version 1.2

  • Bugfix – updated <title> tag with wp_title() function
  • Bugfix – updated language settings in header
  • Bugfix – Search form now works.
  • Enh – replaced included search form with get_search_form()
  • Enh – added threaded comments and wp_list_comments()
  • Enh – added new functions to support threaded comments to functions.php
  • Cleanup – Removed javascript from global.js file
  • other various HTML and CSS code cleanup and code commenting
103 comments so far
  1. Graham says:

    Did you mean to leave your own name and Web site in the tag?

  2. Chris says:

    :) That would be a no. Nice catch. I have updated the theme and uploaded it to WordPress.org. I’m not sure when they will get the update, but I have posted the new version in this blog post. Thanks for pointing that out.

  3. [...] данной wp-темы – Chriswallace. Стилистический дизайн; CSS, XHTML, дизайн и PHP выпускаются [...]

  4. Terje says:

    In the demo om WordPress.org the sidebar is not showing

  5. Chris says:

    Yes, I think it is because I have set it up for a fully dynamic sidebar and their demo does not have any active sidebar widgets.

  6. claus says:

    Nice theme, I’m trying to use it but it has a few problems. The search, for example. It doesn’t work on my blog since I installed your theme.

  7. Chris says:

    The search should work if you have added it as a widget in the WP admin panel. Is that how you have set it up?

  8. claus says:

    Yep, it’s the search widget and it doesn’t work…

  9. Chris says:

    Yes, I see now. I will take a look this evening and see if I can release the fix ASAP. Thanks for pointing that out.

  10. [...] Rusty Grunge is a free theme designed by Chris Wallace. [...]

  11. carlos says:

    I have spent almost all day trying to figure out, how to move up the sidebar. I want it to be at the level of content box, because it will look far more better in my opinion. There is about 30 pixels difference I could cope with that. Any ideas?

  12. Chris says:

    Hi Carlos, the main content area (the white space) actually extends into the header of the theme. the very top is an image inside the header. You would probably need to put position: relative on the element containing the sidebar and put something like position: relative; top: -10px; on the actual sidebar container to be able to line it up with the top. Hope that helps!

  13. carlos says:

    Chris, it works perfectly! In fact I had to put -50px, but it looks excellent. I love you, man.

  14. John says:

    When I upload to my wp-content directory, it doesn’t show up as a theme option on my Themes page. Am I doing something wrong? I’m just uploading the entire rusty-grunge folder into the directory.

  15. Chris says:

    It should go in the /wp-content/themes/ directory. Is that where you are putting it?

  16. Beijing Daze says:

    Hey Chris,

    the download link is a 404 and the one in the theme repository is corrupted. just thought you might wanna know.

    cheers and keep up the good work

  17. Chris says:

    Thanks for letting me know. I just switched all my downloads to a different directory for tracking analytical data on them. Thanks for letting me know!

  18. Cross says:

    Hey Chris…great theme! Got a quick question, though. Is there a way to replace the top header text (e.g., the blog title) with an image, and not have it screw up the rest of the theme?

  19. Chris says:

    Scary avatar >:|

    Yeah, you could probably do that. I would recommend putting position: relative on the <h1> tag (or surrounding <div>) and then putting position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0 on the actual image (if you place it inside the <h1> tag).

  20. [...] yeah, thanks to Chris-wallace.com, ofcourse :) . Check out his wordpress themes. Lovely. | « Just 2 months [...]

  21. Cross says:

    Thanks for the quick reply, Chris! Got another dumb question…which file would I edit in order to do that?

  22. Jeff says:

    Hey Chris,

    Do you have an update on fixing the search widget? I downloaded this theme from WP, so I may not have gotten the latest version…perhaps that’s the problem.

    Thanks.

  23. Chris says:

    Let me double-check on that and get back to you. I’m not sure if I’ve uploaded the latest version with a working search widget. Thanks for mentioning it though!

  24. Jebediah Webb says:

    I love this theme but am also having a problem with the search widget. has anyone found a work-around for this issue?

  25. Mena says:

    Hi, I liked the theme it’s very nice one..

    I’m looking for a way to mirror it from left to right to Right to left and i can translate the rest, it’s easy to translate but the problem is with the CSS file to change the direction

  26. SB says:

    I just started using this Blog Theme (for the site I put in your form), but I am wondering where the permanent page tabs… such as privacy, about me, contact me are… i have uploaded the info but I do not see it on the page itself.

  27. Steve Morris says:

    Hey man, love the theme. But I uploaded the what I thought was the updated one because I was having the problem with the tag at the top of the browser. Is there a way that I can go and edit that myself? Thanks!

  28. Chris says:

    @Steve I have updated it again, it looks like the changes were overwritten with the old version somewhere along the line. Please download version 1.1, it has the fix you need.

    @SB There is no nav bar in the header of this theme. However, you can add a widget in the sidebar that shows your pages. You should be able to go to:

    Appearance > Widgets

    Then add a widget that shows your pages there. I hope that makes sense.

  29. MQurashi says:

    hey thanx for the theme
    I like it so much, I’m currently using it for my brand new blog, although I made some minor modification like removing your name from the title. don’t worry your signature is still there at the footer. I’ve also moved the description little bit down. hope I am not killing your work
    thanx again

  30. SB says:

    I got It1 :) Thank you chris

  31. MQurashi says:

    sorry dude
    didn’t notice the updated version
    I will install it when I get home
    thanx
    keep up the good work
    cheers

  32. MQurashi says:

    hi
    if you check my blog I am having this weird thing at the design !!! don’t know how to describe it
    it started appearing after I added the second post
    does that ring any bell ??

  33. Chris W. says:

    @MQurashi, I am not sure I see what you are talking about. I checked in Firefox and Internet Explorer 7. Is this happening in a different browser? Make sure you’ve updated to the most recent version as there were some problems with the display of the theme when there are no comments on a post.

  34. MQurashi says:

    Chris, it was my mistake :P
    I have checked the page using Internet Explorer 6 (don’t ask why I still use it) so there was this some sort of flare everywhere
    on FireFox, Safari and even Opera it’s working just fine except for the Calender’s title background
    I guess you need to apply a another style for it coz the text is in white and also the background (this one I am so sure about )
    sorry for bugging you
    cheers

  35. [...] can download Rusty Grunge here or take a test drive to see what it’s all [...]

  36. Paul says:

    nice theme, i am using it, i downloaded it from wordpress theme center, and i am from China.

  37. [...] Rusty Grunge Once again Chris Wallace shines through with his WordPress 2.7 compatible theme ‘Rusty [...]

  38. Jonas says:

    Hay Chris,
    I would love to see a possebilty to add widgets to the footer? How hard would this be to do it my self? My coding expirience stops with as2 and as3, but I don’t really know anything about xhtml and css?
    Could jou help me in the right direction?

    Greetings,
    Jonas from Belgium

  39. Hey Chris,

    I love your work, man. I’m currently using the Rusty Grunge theme and loving it.

    I am about to implement some theme tweaks into it to make it appear more pirate-e.

    Stop by sometime and see what tweaks I’ve done if you like.

    Thank you for the awesome theme by the way, I love it.

  40. Felipe Salum says:

    Hi. This theme is awesome, I just started to create my blog and it got in my eyes.

    I was wondering if it is possible to a new version to add Pages links to the header, between the red header and the white body.

    Thanks.

  41. claus says:

    Thanks for the updated version. I came here to ask if you could make the theme wordpress 2.7 compatible and here it was :)
    One minor issue though: to highlight author’s comments you have to change li.author to li.bypostauthor in style.css.

  42. Chris says:

    I will take note of that change for the next update. I appreciate it!

  43. Chris says:

    @Felipe, when I first wrote this theme, I wanted it to be very basic and easy to use for first-time WordPress bloggers. That’s why the lack of pages in the header navigation :) That’s a good suggestion though, I appreciate it.

    @Waffle Pirate: Thanks for the kind words, I am happy you are enjoying the theme. Feel free to customize it to your heart’s content :)

  44. Felipe Salum says:

    Thanks Chris, a menu in the header to be used for links like About Me, Contacts, Some personal sites, would be amazing.

  45. aravind says:

    nice theme..

    But I afraid the demo doesn’t work now.
    I wasn’t able to take a test drive! :S

  46. [...] theme is Rusty Grunge from Chris [...]

  47. Henie says:

    Hi Chris…
    I use your Rusty Grunge theme and I love it I am a self-taught newbie and am proud to have figured it all out by myself. Quick question…how do I add my ad links? I’m with LinkShare and the html codes don’t seem to work…am I missing something? Obviously I am. Can you help?
    Thanks and hope to hear from you:-0

    • Chris says:

      @Henie Where are you trying to add the LinkShare code? In the theme files or through WordPress Admin? You should be able to add a new sidebar item with the HTML and it will show up. Let me know if you need any more help.

  48. Henie says:

    Thank you, Chris! It worked and I figured it out. BTW, I am now following you on Twitter.

    Thanks again for your help!

Thanks for your interest in commenting, but comments are closed on this topic. However, feel free to send me an @reply on twitter.