I have an financial/economic site where I am using a free word press theme that I hate with the exception of the appearance. Is there some way I can impose the "skin" onto Atahualpa?

Will I probably need an experienced WordPress expert to do this for me?

To be honest, the answer is probably not unless it happens to be mimicable by Atahualpa - the best way to find out is to start exploring the atahualpa display options and see if you can get the layout and arrangement approximately right - if you can then it might well be possible - would need to see the current site to know though....

Thanks Owen,
If you want to see the original theme, the url is www.investingmind.com if you know how to do this, let me know and we can discuss when and the costs. Otherwise I will post it in the section for services.

Toodles
Laura

ldsmedia
While it wouldn't be too hard to duplicate the feel of that theme, it is copyrighted and you would need permission from the authors.

Taken from the style.css
--------------------------------
Theme Name: Cashflow101
Theme URI: http://topwpthemes.com/Cashflow101/
Description: Designed by <a href="http://designed.nu">Design Blog</a> and available FREE at <a href="http://www.zinruss.com/themes/">WordPress Themes Gallery</a>
Author: Design Blog
Author URI: http://designed.nu
© 2008, Design Blog. All rights reserved.
--------------------------------

Really, cause what's the difference because I just want to use a more useful backend and it is for my personal use. I can tell you for a certainty that I will not be able to get in touch with the creators. I have tried. It is a group that has a web site and the people who participate as part of this group changes continuously and they have no contact us info anywhere. So I don't get it.

If I could use the theme for my own personal use for free why can't I just attached a different and more useful back end to it. Wouldn't it be more about using/showing the footer credit link than anything else?

No answers, just thoughts...

First of all:
You CAN do anything want with copyrighted material... just like you CAN steal things from Wal-Mart. Two reasons not to do either are:
-You believe it is wrong to steal.
-You are afraid of being caught and punished.

If neither one of those affects you, then do whatever.

Point B:
Dude... the site looks like an off the shelf template. I don't even know why you would want to copy it. You can do much better.

Three:
The images that make the current them work on in your theme folder. If you are planning to copy the look, that's where you should start. To get exact color matches of non-photo elements, you can look in the source code. You should then be able to use the Theme Options to get it close.

Finally:
What exactly do you mean by back-end. Other than a customizable theme like this one, mostly the theme doesn't affect much of your author experience.

Okay, Adam I have to admit I think you are assuming alot by your comments. Number one I am not trying to steal anything how can you steal what is freely given with the exception of a backlink/credit link?

Number two I am not a dude, don't assume gender. And dude can be an insult when you don't know someone. As far as doing better with the appearance, that is a matter of opinion. I happen to like the appearance.

Number three I am not a techie so I might have used the wrong terminology. Big hairy deal, many internet marketers are not techies. Who do you think supports all of those web designers and coders at sites like Guru.com and rentacoder, etc. What I mean is the theme I currently have has absolutely no options for hardly anything I want to do. I can't get sociable or trackback urls to show up. As far as I am concerned the backend is anything that is not visible through a web browser.

Any way, I really wanted someone to help me not just make comments which is why I am not a great lover of forums. But this one is much better than most.

ldsmedia - to be honest, if you don't have the css skills to do it yourself (or have a colleague or friend with the skills) then you are better off taking atahualpa, setting aside three hours and just playing with all the design options to make things as close to what you want as you can. One tip - you'll want to know how to FTP images to your site - so you can change the header images and add your own background if needed.

The reason is that mimicking something closely is actually pretty specific and hard work and can't be all that easily explained.

Sorry that isn't a huge help but it is the reality. I try to be pragmatic and give up features or design when the effort is too high for me to achieve what I want.

Thanks Owen. Playing around with something is not my favorite thing to do, but paying someone else an outrageous fee for crappy working is among my favorite things either. sometimes we have to choose the lesser of the evils.

I actually really like the separation bar between posts. maybe I am just to attached to those. Otherwise, I would be fine cause I would just want to play with some colors and images. I am not a shopper, sometimes I am a thinker, I am never a tinkerer and I am almost always a doer. We all have different preferences. But thanks for your opinion about how to handle this. I do know one person who may help me for $80 or so. So I guess I will just have to make up my mind.