I’ve added a simple hack to the default Kubrick theme which displays a random header graphic. Here’s how it works. I added the following function to the top of header.php:
NOTE: this must come AFTER the doctype & html lines.
<?php
function header_graphic() {
echo "/images/";
$num=rand(0,8);
echo "kubrickheader".$num.".jpg";
};
?>
Next, I changed the style element for header as follows:
#header { background: url("< ?php bloginfo('stylesheet_directory'); header_graphic(); ?>“) no-repeat bottom center; }
Finally, I saved several header graphics in my image directory named kubrickheader0.jpg through kubrickheader7.jpg.
If you’d like to see the different graphics, here they are:
kubrickheader0.jpg
kubrickheader1.jpg
kubrickheader2.jpg
kubrickheader3.jpg
kubrickheader4.jpg
kubrickheader5.jpg
kubrickheader6.jpg
kubrickheader7.jpg
kubrickheader8.jpg
kubrickheader9.jpg
UPDATE: I should have specified that the code needs to come after the first two lines in header.php. I also added links for the two new pictures I added after I posted the article.
9 responses so far ↓
1 At2 // Feb 22, 2005 at 10:26 pm
yeah ! very nice thanks a lot !
At2
2 blogan (3 comments.) // Feb 24, 2005 at 2:31 am
Mike, your solution looks easy. Famous last words…
Clearly, I’m doing something wrong. I cut and past the php function and put it at the very top of my header.php file (the one in the themes/default directory).
I then replaced the uncommented line that starts with #header in the same header.php file with the header element shown.
I placed 9 images named kubrickheader0.jpg through kubrickheader9.jpg in the themes/default/images directory.
Now, my header is just a blue box and the footer is a gray box. I didn’t think I did anything to the footer.
What did I do wrong?
http://blogan.net
3 blogan (3 comments.) // Feb 24, 2005 at 2:31 am
Mike, your solution looks easy. Famous last words…
Clearly, I’m doing something wrong. I cut and past the php function and put it at the very top of my header.php file (the one in the themes/default directory).
I then replaced the uncommented line that starts with #header in the same header.php file with the header element shown.
I placed 9 images named kubrickheader0.jpg through kubrickheader9.jpg in the themes/default/images directory.
Now, my header is just a blue box and the footer is a gray box. I didn’t think I did anything to the footer.
What did I do wrong?
http://blogan.net
4 blogan » Blog Archive » My header is broken // Feb 24, 2005 at 10:25 am
[...] oo. I’m attempting to have different pictures randomly appear, just like Mike Cohen does on his blog. But Mike’s smarter than I am. He got it to work. I haven’t…yet [...]
5 blogan (4 comments.) // Feb 25, 2005 at 6:35 pm
I got it working. Thanks, Mike, for your help. I was putting the php function too high in the header.php file. Here are more details.
6 my name is faith » Blog Archive » Introducing : Random blog headers! // Feb 27, 2005 at 12:04 am
[...] Thank to a hack by /dev/random and the modified instructions by blogan, this blog now generates random header graphics! How cool is that! I did, however, need to further modify the sc [...]
7 Urban Flyfishing on the Kelvin » Blog Archive » Rotating header graphic // Feb 28, 2005 at 2:43 pm
[...] I have managed to sort out the line of code up at the top of the blog. I am now using therotating header graphic hack I thibk it is rather nice. A nice thanyou as well to blogan as well f [...]
8 Cvander » Actualizando // Jan 11, 2006 at 8:56 pm
[...] Gracias a /dev/random encontré una interesante modificación para rotar la imagen del encabezado en el blog. [...]
9 www.blogsome.com :: View topic - Rotating Header // Apr 27, 2007 at 11:28 am