Is my title catchy enough? My latest addition to my collection of free stuff – a WordPress theme that is built for the traditional blogger. It is a single column theme with splashes of bright colors that I hope will fancy your senses. I call it Kubrick on Crack! with the intent of designing around the default Kubrick theme; but with enough tweaks that it would seem that it is on Crack! Well, this is the end result.
It looks like the only thing it has in common with Kubrick is the rounded corners and the slim page width of 728 pixels. Anywho, you can take Kubrick on Crack! and install it in your WordPress site for free.
Home Page with a Feature Post
Unlike the original Kubrick – this theme automatically takes your latest post and converts it to a Feature post. It sits atop of a dark fading background with a custom image field that looks like its on top of a stash of photographs. It uses the custom field key: “image“. To learn how to use custom fields (which I strongly recommend) – read it from the codex. No image resizing is required – they’re all automatically cropped, thanks to the TimThumb script by Darren Hoyt. But for best results – upload an image that is wider than 424 pixels and longer than 284 pixels in height.

The search form magically appears in a fade in box. This script is “Thickbox” and provided by jQuery. The spectacular smoke art background is by Applse Actually of Deviantart.com.
Theme Options
Kubrick on Crack! comes with a control panel so you don’t have to touch the code in order to customize for your website. The options include the following:

1 – Header Logo, once your logo is uploaded, enter the url here. I recommend using a transparent .png to preserve the look.
2 – Twitter account, this will save to the link that is behind the twitter icon in the header.
3 – Custom Feed, this will save to the RSS icon in the header. If no value is provided – the default blog rss will be used.
4 – Google Ad Sense, this will create an ad space right below the single post page. (use the the 728 leatherboard style). To learn more about Adsense, click here
5 – Google Analytics, this saves your Analytics code below the footer – which of course is invisible. To learn more about Analytics – click here
You can see Kubrick On Crack! in action at my Demo site. Download the theme from this link.
Update: the original PSD files can be now be dowloaded from this link. *There are 3 photoshop files in the zip – one for the main layout which contains all of the elements except two buttons – which are in the other psd files.
All I ask is for you to leave me a comment, Retweet or Digg this article, or follow me in Twitter.





This is a great theme. I very impressed.
I don’t advocate the use of crack, but I think you just designed the perfect template for one of my sites. If I use it will definitely let you know
A particularly gorgeous WordPress theme. Thanks for your hard work!
one of the kick ass themes out there Mike… really kick ass.
What happened to the background?, it disappeared. I’m using WordPress version 2.8.4. Help me please!
Problem solved! Sorry for disturbing you
Could you please a PSD version of the logo, please. I’m not good at Photoshop, I’ve tried to create some logoes but they looks very bad with this theme. I really need your help.
One of the better themes I have found, and I have seen thousands of themes. I like it enough to make it my personal site.
Thanks!
j
I’m trying to get this theme to work, but I can’t get the image to show up. Any help would be great. I’m using 2.8.5.
Create a custom field with key “image”, then for the value – enter the absolute path for the image
A really beautiful theme. The best part is, its one column. I was looking for such a theme for a small project.
Thank you so much..
Awesome theme name
great theme
thanks
I’m trying to get this theme to work, but I cannot get the custom field to work to display the image. I have added the image field and have pasted the address into the field and all I get is a ? symbol.
Any help would be great.
check your hosting service if they support timthumb scripts. its the image resizing script the theme is using
Hi…
I loved the theme and made some customization on it (obviously credits remain for you as the base).
it’s live on http://kaiserlino.blendup.com.br
Thanks a lot
Good work @Kaiserlino
thanks a lot..
There is more to bem improved already, but will keep you updated!
Amazing theme, little heavy on the image side though. Takes little more time to load on slower connection. Great theme nonetheless.
It’s a very good theme, but i can’t use the customer field Image what is the value of this field , i put the image url but it did not work
key = “image”, value = “url of the image”
for the name field I entered “image” and for the key field I entered “http://bizbox.slate.com/blog/google.jpg” but I get nothing? Any thoughts? thanks!
One more thing, after I hit update post “image” turns into \”image\”
strange right?
don’t enter the apostrophes: use image – without the quotes.
Hola Michael. Este tema me ha gustado mucho y quiero implementarlo en sitio en español. Existe la posibilidad de obtener los PSD con las imágenes a fin de traducirlas. Como contrapartida prometo reenviar el PSD en español completo para que todos lo disfruten.
Muchas gracias desde ya!!!
Hola Lucas,
Buscare el PSD y te lo mandare. Pero quiero avisarte que el PSD no tiene texto. Pero con gusto lo buscare y te lo mandare.
Hola Michael,
Antes que nada muchas gracias por tomarte la molestia de responder. Lo que necesito traducir son algunos botones que entiendo armaste en PSD o con algún editor de imágenes. Ej. botón de CONTINUE READING en el home. Título de JOIN THE DISCUSSION, etc. Lo demás voy a dejarlo como está porque me gusta mucho la combinación de colores y estilos del tema.
Ya tengo instaldo y estoy configurando tu tema en un WP 2.8.5 que corre en un XAMPP desde un PENDRIVE
)
Gracias de nuevo.
Oh…ok… entiendo lo que dices, pondre el PSD en un “zip file” lo mas pronto posible para que lo puedas “download”.
Hermoso diseño, pero fijate que tiene errores en Ie por ejemplo el boton “Next” y los rss-sprites…
Mi opinión es que arregles los errores en la hoja de estilo y esta parte de los comentarios:
ya que no se puede editar!
Gracias!
Michael. Perfecto!!! Acabo de bajar el PSD y no solo está súper completo sino que te tomaste el trabajo de separar capas en carpetas para cada sección. Amigo su trabajo es digno de mis respetos.
¡¡Muchas gracias nuevamete!!
Saludos cordiales….
Great theme, but how do you make the “feature story” sticky, so that it’s an introduction to your services like the “about” page?
cheers in advance!
Hola,
Has llegado a modificar el tema con los botones?
I am waiting the zip folder with the psd of the logo.
Thanks to create this beautiful theme and to share this
I updated the article to show the download link.
tHANKS to share too the psd fles og the graphism of this spendid theme
Could you please add the psd for the logo of the theme only because it’s not the last in your zip file (apparently)
thanks (sorry for this 2nd comment)
nice wordpress themes dud…
nice theme!
anyone having problems with dreamhost?
i can’t make the image custom field work…
Perfecto pero hay un GRANDIOSO FALLO:
No funciona en IE6 y la hoja de estilos forie6.css ESTÁ VACÍA!!
Por favor necesito el forie6.css para que funcione bien en Internet Explorer… ya que el del paquete está vacío, si fuera usted tan amable de pasarmelo por e-mail o colgarlo en la web lo antes posible… me urge bastante arreglar este fallo. Gracias
El error en el Ie6 es que tiene arregladas las transpariencias ni los estilos bien definidos…
it-is possible to have the PSD of the last logo on the theme please ??
Thanks
Should be in my new downloads page: http://fearlessflyer.com/downloads/
Piero. Please check the PSD file. The logo is there!
hello and thankyou for this great theme,i wanna use this for my portfolio
but my host isnt compatible with the TIMTHUMB SCRIPT, i just wanna ask if theres any way to disable it, and use fixxed size images for my posts
plz let me know
greets rickey
i strongly suggest to have your host enable timthumb. However, you can modify the files single.php and index.php to take out the timthumb resizer: look for this string: “/scripts/timthumb.php?src=” and the parameters “&h=274&w=304&zc=1&q=100″ after that. Note that the parameters may be different for images. Also – leave the main src string intact
Me like! Looks very nice!
Great theme, but how do you make the “feature story” sticky, so that it’s an introduction to your services like the “about” page?
cheers in advance!
Muchas gracias por el aporte. A cambio si necesitas alguna de mis fotos – nicosorio.zenfolio.com – te la puedo obsequiar. Solo escríbeme.
It has just been brought to my attention that certain browsers (pretty much all of them except Safari) are causing my navigation bar to detach from my content and cover up my logo. You can see it here: http://www.urbanbean.net. Any suggestions?
try using an absolute url for your image src. i look for http://www.urbanbean.net/graphics/logo.png and it doesn’t resolve.
Hey Michael, I *love* this theme and I really want to use it on my blog, but somehow the images just aren’t working.
I’ve gone through all your suggestions to others with the same problem, but not happening for me somehow.
Key: image Value: absolute location
If I enter this, then the entire post kinda goes weird, the writing of the post going over where the image should be & no image showing up.
Also checked with my host, they support timthumb.php
Lost, can you help?
send me your url.
Was a settings issue apparently – The cache folder in the theme wasn’t writable. Applied the permissions & it’s working fine right now.
Big thanks for a beautiful theme.
Url: http://thevoiceinmyhead.com/
Hi, it was a permissions issue apparently – The cache folder in the theme wasn’t writable. Applied the permissions & now it works fine!
Thx again for such a beautiful theme!
My url: http://thevoiceinmyhead.com/
Sorry, possibly left that comment twice (thought it didn’t post).. Is there any way to put widgets on this theme, like in the footer?
I didn’t put widgets in the theme because of the single column – there’s no place to put it. sorry
Use it for my blog. Thank you!
Hi Michael,
i have these errors on trying use timthumb:
Warning: finfo_open() [function.finfo-open]: Failed to load magic database at ‘/etc/magic’. in /diavolo-e-acqua-santa/wp-content/themes/kubrick-on-crack/scripts/timthumb.php on line 373
What i have to do ?
Thanx in advance
Sone
i’m not sure what that’s database that’s trying to load – etc/magic – that’s not familiar. i would verify if your host support timthumb
Awesome theme!
I am going to use it on a couple of my niche websites, can’t wait to see how it performs!
After playing around with this theme, Im also having the same problem where when inserting a custom field image, the whole featured post messes up.
The image does not insert and the text gets spread out where the image should be.
Disappointing..
Hi Michael!
Thanks for the template, however im a bit concerned about the seo side of the template, with the original kubrick the blog title was associated with the pos title with etc, using firebuf i cant see any of that on this new template…on the single pages the title of the post should appear first than the title of the blog at the top of the browser window and in the archives aswell, could you fix this or couyld i be seeing things in the wrong way and in fact the template is seo friendly?
Thanks
Hi Michael!
Thanks for the template, however im a bit concerned about the seo side of the template, with the original kubrick the blog title was associated with H1 the post title with H2 etc, using firebu on the template demo i cant see any of that on this new template…on the single pages the title of the post should appear first than the title of the blog at the top of the browser window and in the archives aswell, could you fix this or could i be seeing things in the wrong way and in fact the template is seo friendly?
Thanks
Hi Ricardo – The original Kubrick has definitely more seo features that my theme. This one is heavy on the graphics etc – and I simply called it “Kubrick on Crack” out of spontaneity. For better SEO – try the All in one SEO plugin for WP.
Michael its not possible to introduce the h1 h2 or h3 tags with any of the seo plugins in your template, it looks great and i would definitely use it but the lack of seo optimizations prevents me from using it.
the “h” tags are the most important, the rest i can do it.
Congrats on the visual side of the theme.
Hi, this is a great theme!
but i don’t now how to send Post with Images!
please help me.
Hi,how can i send a Post with Image.
please help me,tanx
I’m not sure what you mean by “send a Post”. If you want to use an image for a thumbnail – use “custom images” – use “image” for the key – and use the full url as the “value”
Hello.
Right now i am customizing this excellent theme for my website.
Does anybody know how to make other pages had 2 posts columns – with thumbnails like front page, but without header post image?
Please help.
Thx.
just go ahead and copy any of the archive templates (archive.php or search.php) and convert it into a page template, then apply it to a page.
wonderful theme, i just have a post that introduce about it. Thank you for nice theme.
Hey great design.
Im using wordpress 3.0 as part of my website and have downloaded your kubrick on crack psd folder but it doesn’t seem to upload to wordpress on my Imac. please can you help as Im wanting to use this as a theme for my blog?
Many thanks
David
@David – try installing manually: download and unzip the theme files into wp-content/themes folder.
Does this work for 3.0?? I tried it last week and got weird results so I reverted back to a 2.7 install
i haven’t tried. this weekend i will check
any luck?
@Darren – I tried it in WP 3 – it works fine. installed it by uploading the zip file through the “install themes” tab, then “upload”.
Awesome, awesome theme! Is there any change you’ll do an enhanced version with widgets and/or a sidebar (bottom/side)?
Keep up the fantastic work!
your rock man, i love the free wordpress theme
I’m trying to get this theme to work, but I can’t get the image to show up. Any help would be great. make key=image and url but do not show me image,
try adding more posts with images. also, make sure the cache folder for timthumb is writable.
Hy! For those guys that didn’t manage to make the image show up…they have to set the ch-mod to 777 for the “scripts” and “cache” folders
Thanks Hurri
How do I get comments on pages?
on posts its working, but on pages…
Pages do not normally have comments enabled. but you can – by creating a template and adding the code in the bottom.
Michael, you are one talented SOB!
I love the Aparatus theme so much that I’ve spent days trying to get it sorted. I’ve worked through all the comments and tried so hard to get it looking like you do but alas, I can’t even get it to display thumbnails let alone have them in the scrolly thing (which is so wicked beautiful)
Anyway, if you could take a look at it I’d be happy to make a donation for your time.
It’s really the theme I’ve been searching for and if you could help me out I’d so much appreciate it.
I’m not a moron at coding, just not great. (plus it scares me
Thanks so much!!!
mlm-success-secret.com.
Jacquie.
This theme is awesome i love it but it works on all browsers except internet explorer 6 pls suggest a solution or workaround to make it work because i will be getting visitors …so pls respond
sorry felix. i gave up on ie6
very theme but i can’t understand how i can make picture top the subject like you …. pleas tell me ^_^
Hi,
2 Questions:
- How do I remove the Search, RSS & Follow from the header? I previously tried to delete the code in the header.php file and the Fearless Flyer link credit at the bottom right corner had moved to the top…. To get it to work back right, I reinstalled the theme.
- Is there a way 1) To have the home page as a single post AND still keep the “featured story” picture style graphic? I know how to change to a single post display for the homepage under the settings menu but it took away the featured story polaroid image which I still wanted to keep because it draws attention…
2) If not or even so, is there a way to have stickies for the posts on the front page? I DL the stickies plugin and marked the posts I wanted to appear but my when new posts came in they bumped the old posts…I figured out how to keep the featured post in the top spot by using the WP Sticky and marking it featured.
Thanks!
Is it possible to show the side title / tagline rather than an image in the header?
Many thanks
SK