WPelements.com

Revolution Two Launches With Several New Themes

Jason — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:57:57 +0000

During the past month, I have been teasing you with screenshots for my next batch of themes, and talking about working with Brian Gardner since WordCamp (back in July). Well, the time has finally come to announce the launch of RevolutionTwo.com which is the new home for all of my WordPress themes, plugins and more. Both Brian and I have been very busy developing exciting new themes for RevolutionTwo.com, all of which have been made available under the open source/GPL license.

Revolution TV

Revolution TV is the latest “open source” addition to my successfull line of video WordPress themes. This theme has an entirely new look and is available now on RevolutionTwo.com.

Revolution Office

Revolution Office is my first attempt at a premium theme that has absolutely nothing to do with video. Many of you have been asking about a professional theme, so hopefully you will enjoy “Revolution Office” which is available now on RevolutionTwo.com.

Revolution Chrome

Revolution Chrome is actually based on a concept I released about a month ago which was going to be the next version of the ever popular “Massive News” theme. Chrome takes all the aspects that made Massive News a success and adds much more. Revolution Chrome is available now on RevolutionTwo.com.

Even More Themes

As I said, Brian Gardner has also been very busy developing several new themes based on the success of RevolutionTheme.com. Just a sample of these amazing new themes include Revolution Lifestyle and Revolution Church which are both “Magazine” themes, and Revolution Black Canvas which is Brian’s first “Photography” theme. Of course you can expect the same precision and quality Brian has always delivered with all of his WordPress themes.

What You Can Expect on RevolutionTwo.com

All of the themes on RevolutionTwo.com have been made available under the open source/GPL license. However, we are going to offer a yearly and lifetime membership plan, that will include benefits to all themes (meaning you won’t have to purchase a plan for each theme). Some of these benefits include: Unlimited support answered by our experts, Learn customization techniques with our detailed theme tutorials, Professional design services available by our list of recommended designers, Discounted general consulting rates, Increase your search rankings with a link from the Revolution site directory.

So What is Going to Happen to WPelements.com

As of November 1st, 2008, WPelements.com will directly forward to RevolutionTwo.com. I plan on continuing all my WordPress efforts on RevolutionTwo.com along side Brian Gardner. Basically you should continue to expect everything you have found here on WPelements.com at the all new RevolutionTwo.com.

More Teasers For My Next Few WordPress Themes

Jason — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:52:20 +0000

After releasing a teaser for the next Massive News theme a few weeks back, I thought it might be fun to release a few more screenshots of a some of the other themes I am currently working on as well. I swore that the “On Demand” theme would be my last video theme, but since I can’t bring my current 4 video themes over to the new revolution project, I figured it would only fair to build at least one more. The all new “Revolution TV” theme (directly below) will be released on November 1st along with several other new themes including the second concept below currently entitled “Revolution Office”.

Revolution is Going Open Source, and I’m Going to Join Him

Jason — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:12:05 +0000

When the term “Premium” (in relation to WordPress themes) was first coined about a year ago, it actually meant something. Premium theme designers set a new standard for WordPress, taking the platform to an entirely new level. Think about it… before “premium” themes hit the market, WordPress was still considered (for the most part) simply a “blogging platform”. Since that time, WordPress has expanded and taken on an entirely new market. Businesses and individuals alike are using WordPress along with some of the better premium themes available to build some truly amazing and dynamic websites. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t give all the credit to premium theme designers, as WordPress has grown by leaps and bounds over the last year, but I feel that “we” have definitely had an impact on how the platform is currently perceived.

However, the problem is that currently there are so many people just trying to make a quick dime by attaching the word “premium” to any theme they slap together that it’s creating a bad name for WordPress and the premium theme market all together. Also, it’s no secret that the powers that be at WordPress (Matt, Toni, etc.) don’t really care for the “Premium” theme model as is currently stands since we have not aligned with their open source model. For these, and several other reasons… it is time for a change, and now is that time.

As mentioned in several previous posts, I had the chance to meet premium theme designer Brian Gardner at WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco. We have been talking ever since, and a little more than two weeks ago, we came to an agreement which entails working together on the “next big thing”. As of today, that “next big thing” has been announced after several discussions, planning and even meeting with Matt and Toni earlier this week. Brian Gardner is arguably “the guy” who started this whole Premium Theme craze, and we are both ready to take the concept to an entirely new level. As of November 1st 2008, I will be joining the “new” Revolution which will be Open Source and truly aligned with the GPL License.

If you are interested to read more about what will be taking place over the next month, head over to BriandGardner.com to read the entire announcement…

From Seattle to San Francisco and Back Again

Jason — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:20:21 +0000

This has been an interesting Monday to say the least. As mentioned in a previous post, I have been talking with Brian Gardner about some potential collaborative projects, and as of today we are a little closer to announcing what we have been talking about the last few weeks. Brian and I both flew out to San Francisco today to meet with Matt Mullenweg and and Toni Schneider from WordPress to discuss several things which I can’t say much about at this time. Whatever the outcome, it was worth the trip just to sit in the same room with Matt and Toni speaking openly and candidly about WordPress.

Just a Little Taste of Some Things to Come

Jason — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:04:38 +0000

The last few months of my professional time have been spent designing and working almost exclusively with WordPress which has allowed me to really diversify and learn even more about this wonderful platform. It’s amazing to me how many people in my field of work still think of WordPress as simply a “blogging platform”. Seriously, when I tell people I work with WordPress, the typical response is… “isn’t that for blogs or something?”. Then I show them some of the work that has been done over the last year, and almost instantly their tune changes from “no interest what-so-ever” to “full and undivided attention”.

I have found the the possibilities with WordPress are almost endless if you are creative enough, and I plan on sharing much of what I have learned here on WPelements.com in the near future. In fact, I am currently working on a complete and total re-design of WPelements.com from top to bottom, which when finished will be better suited for sharing information about my work with WordPress. Of course (as always), once I am finished with the re-design, I will release my current WPelements.com theme for free.

Also, several new projects have been keeping me busy including a few new plugins such as an “Instant View” plugin based on the “Instant View” feature found within my “VideoFlick” theme, which many users have been asking for. Aside from new plugins, I have also been busy working on several concepts for my next line of WordPress theme’s (premium and free) to be released on Press75.com and WPelements.com. The screenshot below is a teaser for a theme that I initially intended to be a follow up for the popular “Massive News” theme, but I am thinking at this point it might actually get a name of it’s own (we will see).

Lastly, I have to mention how glad I am that I decided to head down (last minute) to WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco this year. I actually had the chance to meet several people while attending the session including none other than Brian Gardner from RevolutionTheme.com. Brian and I got to talking at WordCamp, and I have since traveled to Chicago and back to discuss some potential new collaborative projects. Hopefully I will be able to expand on all of this very soon. Until then, enjoy the teaser screenshot for my next theme below.

Get all of my Premium Themes for 1 Low Price… Sale Extended

Jason — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:21:30 +0000

In anticipation of several great new theme and plugin releases (Premium and Free) within the next few months, I wanted to offer all four of my current Premium Video WordPress themes at a very special ~~and limited~~ price. This package includes UNLIMITED developer licenses for VideoFlick, VideoElements, the ever so popular TV.Elements theme and the all new On Demand theme for a very low price of $295.00 (an $850.00 value). This offer is valid ~~for 5 days ONLY~~ and is being offered exclusively through WPelements.com. For more information about all four themes, head over to my theme store at Press75.com. Or if you are ready to buy, simply hit the buy button below.

Press75.com Unlimited Theme Package ($295.00)

This developer license gives you unlimited access to all themes. You can use these themes for any website, and you may remove all copyright information.

TV.Elements Goes 2.0 And Gets Several New Features

Jason — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:50:12 +0000

Since the release of my popular TV.Elements theme back in May, I have received numerous emails asking how to integrate standard blog (non-video) posts, how to customize the theme with a “lighter” (non-dark) style, along with several other requests. Well… now you can have it all. Version 2.0 of the TV.Elements theme integrates standard blog posting functionality and includes dark and light color schemes in one single package, among several other small updates. Really the best way to experience all the new features is to check out the new demo at the link below. Current users should have already been notified via email with instruction on how to download the new theme. New users can head over to Press75.com to purchase TV.Elements v2.0 as well as my other premium themes.

Press75.com/demos/TVelements/

Google “Chrome” is Hands Down a Delicious Next Gen Browser

Jason — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:52:19 +0000

After a full day of using Google’s new browser dubbed “Chrome“, I have to say that I am as hooked as I was when Firefox first hit the scene back in 2004 (man… that was more than 4 years ago). As many of you already know, my design style is simple, clean, elegant, and functional, and Google hit the mark with Chrome. After the news broke yesterday, I figured I would take it for a spin not knowing what to expect (sorry Mac users, Chrome is a Windows Only release for now). To quote those famous words from Jerry Maguire… Chrome had me at hello.

The first thing you will notice about this new browser is it’s simplicity. There is nothing weighing it down, and the interface design is delicious. The introduction of tabbed browsing was a life saver with Firefox, and Google takes that concept to a new level with Chrome. Search and address entry are easier than ever and combined into one simple field. Browse safe and secure with different modes including the all new “Incognito Mode” and much more. You will also notice a significant increase in browsing speed with Chrome… this thing is fast. I could go on an on, and I never thought I would say this, but I might actually be dropping Firefox for Chrome depending on how the next few days go with the new browser.

To experience Chrome for yourself, you can download the beta now at google.com.chrome, or learn more about the new browser here. And finally, check out the fancy cartoon Google put together for Chrome here.

The Featured Content Gallery Plugin V2.0 (Now Fully Automated)

Jason — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:43:42 +0000

If you are a fan of my original Featured Content Gallery WordPress Plugin, then you are really going to like Version 2.0 which basically makes the entire process of configuring plugin and posting content fully automated.

SmoothGallery is a great little script developed by JonDesigns.net which just happens to be a perfect addition to any WordPress theme to display a gallery of featured articles or posts. All I did was automate the process of adding and managing the script through a handy plugin. Continue reading below for usage instructions and screenshots.

Download the Featured Content Gallery Plugin v2.0

Content Gallery Installation & Usage

The Content Gallery plugin is actually very easy to install and use as you will see by reading the steps below.

1. Download “content-gallery.zip” to your local machine.
2. Extract and upload the “content-gallery” folder to your “/wp-content/plugins/” directory. (DO NOT CHANGE ANY FILE OR FOLDER NAMES)
3. Activate the plugin through the “Plugins” menu in WordPress.
4. Add the following code anywhere within your theme files where you want the content gallery to be displayed.

Easily Customize Your Gallery to Fit Your Theme

After you download and activate the new featured content gallery plugin, you will first want to head over to the options page which will allow you to fully customize your gallery width, height, text overlay height, the category you want to use for gallery content as well as the number of gallery items you want to be displayed.

Posting Content is Easier Than Ever

The featured content gallery plugin is now fully automated which means that posting content is easier than ever. When writing a post that you want to be featured in the gallery, simply select the category you set within the plugin options page, upload an image to be displayed within the gallery and paste the path to that image in a custom field called “articleimg”. I have included a screenshot below to show you how a sample gallery post should look within WordPress.

Introducing the “On Demand” WordPress Theme

Jason — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:06:52 +0000

My next premium video theme is finally here… Inspired by the popular video site Hulu.com, the “On Demand” WordPress theme provides a fully featured Video solution. Stream videos from high definition services such as Vimeo or Blip.TV, or host your own collection of embeddable flash video. The “On Demand” theme can handle any embeddable video format out there up to 1068px wide. Head over to Press75.com for all the details and to purchase the theme.

Off to WordCamp 2008, Plus Status on My New Theme

Jason — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:10:41 +0000

I decided last minute last week to book a flight to WordCamp 2008 in San Francisco. This will be my first time at WordCamp, so we will see what the session has to offer. For the official lineup and schedule, check out WordCamp.org. I will definitely be writing about the experience next week, but for now, I think I will just enjoy the city.

Also, I wanted to provide an update for those of you that have been wondering about my new “Hulu Inspired” WordPress theme. The good news is that the theme is totally finished and I have decided to name it “On Demand”. I was hoping to have the theme, along with the live demo up and ready to go on Press75.com before I flew down for WordCamp, but as always, time was not on my side. Either way, I am working on the demo now and should have the new theme ready to go for late Sunday, Early Monday release.

Two More Outstanding Free WordPress Themes

Jason — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:50:11 +0000

While you are waiting for my latest premium theme to be released (soooo close now), you might want to check out a few more outstanding and free WordPress themes available for download now.

The Fervens Theme by Design Disease

“Fervens is a 3 column theme that has a base idea of “freshness”. Summer is my favorite time of year as it always amazes us with a rainbow of sensation and colors, making this time of year the best of all.” Head over to DesignDisease.com or SmashingMagazine.com for more info and to download.

The WP CODA Theme by BustaTheme.com

“WP CODA is a theme I created by modifying several already-existing code snippets and implementing them with my own design. The result is a wordpress theme that mimics the functionality of the very popular Coda website that is the object of so many developers envy. Every aspect of the Coda website was duplicated and this theme works in every major browser.” Continue to BustaTheme.com for more info and to download.

WordPress 2.6 & Custom Fields… Just a Small Issue

Jason — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:34:33 +0000

Well… a few weeks have passed since WordPress 2.6 was released, and I have just discovered a small problem with custom fields. I found it very interesting that right after the release, I was spending much more time time than usual responding to support issues for all my themes on Press75.com. The reason for this was because many of my theme users had upgraded to WordPress 2.6 and for whatever reason couldn’t embed video anymore within the mandatory custom fields as designed. At first, I thought there might be some compatibility issue that I needed to fix, but after just a few seconds of digging, I noticed that upon submitting a new custom field, WP 2.6 seems to be pre-pending a forward slash to all ‘ and ” characters. I have done a bit of research and this is a known bug with WordPress 2.6 which will hopefully be fixed soon. Currently, the only way to get around it is to submit your custom field entry, let the bug work it’s magic, then update the field once again with the proper code. For whatever reason, after a custom field has already be submitted, revising the value does not pick up the bug.

The Official WordPress App. for iPhone Released

Jason — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:18:27 +0000

iPhone apps have made an already revolutionary device even more so in just a few weeks, and the welcomed addition of the official WordPress app has made my life nearly complete. I have always been fascinated with everything “mobile”, which is one of the reasons I had developed the Massive News “Mobile Edition” WordPress theme a while back. And now with the official iPhone app, Massive News Mobile can actually be used the way it was intended. Read more about the official WordPress iPhone app below via the official iphone.wordpress.org.

“Introducing the first Open Source app that lets you write posts, upload photos, and edit your WordPress blog from your iPhone or iPod Touch. With support for both WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress (2.5.1 or higher), users of all experience levels can get going in seconds. Download it now!”

A Few Great Themes You Shouldn’t Have Missed

Jason — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:07:10 +0000

Like a bad habit, I am constantly on the lookout for great new themes, and sometimes I am just amazed at what other WordPress designers have come up with. Most decent theme’s these days will cost you, but SmashingMagazine.com has done it again with the release of the WordPress “Fun” theme, “A Free Professional WordPress Theme”. SmashingMagazine.com actually purchased the rights to this theme from designer Maleika Attawel and decided to provide it as a gift to their readers… how generous is that. Seriously, with Smashing’s user base, they could have made a boat load of cash by selling this quality theme. Either way, you should check out all the details and download it for free at SmashingMagazine.com.

The Sketch’d Theme by WordPress-Designers.com

Grunge themes are on the rise, and the new sketch’d theme by WordPressDesigners is definitely worth a look. This is a quality WP theme with a bunch of great features you would expect out of a premium theme. Starting at $49.00, I would say that considering how good this theme looks, it is well worth the price. Head over to WordPressDesigners to get more info and view the demo.

WPelements.com Now Running WordPress 2.6

Jason — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:24:12 +0000

WordPress 2.6 was released late last night, and I (of course) am currently in the process of upgrading all my WP powered sites to the latest rev. I just finished upgrading WPelements.com and the process was flawless as usual. From 2.5 to 2.6, simply overwrite everything (except wp-content) run the upgrade.php and your finished. This is a 2 - 5 minute process depending on your connection speed, and I would definitely recommend the upgrade just to stay on top of the game. For me, it’s a no brainer because I typically don’t run any third party plugins on my sites. However, if you are the typical 20+ plugin junkie, you might want to check compatibility before running the upgrade. There are a bunch of new features and bug fixes with this release and you should check out the official WordPress blog HERE to ready about them all.

Introducing Press75.com For All My Premium Themes

Jason — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:40:15 +0000

Right before I went on vacation a late last month, I mentioned that I would be designing a theme store specifically for my Premium WordPress themes. Press75.com is now open for business to make the entire process of purchasing themes and receiving support for purchased themes more efficient for my users, not to mention myself.

Why Press75.com

Why Press75.com? Well… since pretty much every domain in the entire world is used up, you have to get creative now-a-days with domain names. “Press”, obviously for Word”Press”, and 1975 was the year I was born (now I am really dating myself), hence… Press75.com.

You should notice the simplicity of Press75.com which is purposely intended to make your experience as easy and straight forward as possible. You will not find extra text, advertisements, cluttered comments or anything like that at Press75.com, just the basics.

What About WPelements.com

Nothing is changing here at WPelements.com, other than a new design (coming soon). I still plan on providing news and updates about premium WordPress themes that I am developing for Press75.com. I still plan on designing and developing free WordPress themes plugins which will be released here. Also, I will be increasing the amount of WordPress tutorial and tip related posts as I have time. The goal for opening up Press75.com was to create a separate and simple place for people purchase quality themes if that is all you are interested in. If your goal is to learn more about WordPress, then WPelements.com is still the place to be.

WordPress Template Tags Reference Guide

Jason — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:42:11 +0000

Of course you can find everything you are looking for about WordPress at WordPress.org, but sometimes you just want a quick and dirty way to access the info you already know you need. For that reason, DBS Interactive took the time to compile a WordPress Template Tag Reference Guide, a cheat sheet of sorts for WP theme developers. In the past I have found myself constantly referencing the official WordPress codex for simple template tags during the development of new theme. With the DBS solution, you can find the tags you are looking for in a fraction of the time without all the page loads.

“We created this quick reference guide to expedite our WordPress theme development, and we found it so useful that we would like to share it with you. The content was reformatted for quick reference from the Template Tag section of the WordPress.org Codex, a relative encyclopedia to WordPress theming, and great reference for your WordPress questions.”

I figured this was a great resource that many of you theme developers might be interested in using in the future. Head over to DBS Interactive to try out the guide for yourself.

PremiumNewsTheme.com is now WooThemes.com

Jason — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:32:14 +0000

If you were a fan of the PremiumNewsTheme.com brand of WordPress themes, then you will most likely like the all new WooThemes.com. WooThemes.com is the new face for Adii’s collection of premium WordPress themes. Actually… it’s not just Adii this time around, rather an entire crew of quality designers including Elliot Jay Stocks, Carsonified, Magnus Jepson and Mark Forrester.

All New Features

The introduction of WooThemes.com is definitely a new chapter in the premium WordPress theme marketplace, incorporating a “club” concept, a more aggressive pricing structure, improved support and many other great new features. As a WordPress designer myself, I am always excited to see how other professionals push the platform to new limits. The WooThemes.com theme store definitely brings WordPress to a new level, and it will interesting to see what the team comes up with next.

Affiliate Programs… A Great Way to Make an Some Extra Cash

Jason — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:15:10 +0000

Affiliate programs are a great way to earn some extra cash by doing pretty much nothing. All you really need is some spare sidebar space on your site, and a somewhat decent and loyal user base. The key is to find and join affiliate programs that offer a reasonable payback and provide a product or service that that has some sort of relation to the content you provide on your site. Odds are that if the source of the affiliate program does well on its own, you will do well by advertising their product on your site.

Keep it Relevant

But what about the ever so popular Google Adsense? Personally, I hate Adsense… Its ugly and unpredictable. Yes, you can make a decent chunk of change from Google, but if I am going to make money from advertisements on a site of mine, I want to make it as clean, attractive and relative as I can for my users. Case in point are the links I provide on WPelements.com. You will have noticed by now that in my sidebar that I have a little block entitled “Recommended Links”. “Recommended” because I have personally used or currently use each product and site linked in my sidebar. This is another good way to ensure you are going to get payback out of your affiliate links. Odds are that if you are a personal fan of the products you are linking on your site, a good majority of your users will find them useful as well.

My Recommendation

One of my biggest earners is actually the “Premium News” affiliate program provided by Adii at PremiumNewsTheme.com. The Premium News collection of WordPress themes is a proven brand that I personally recommend to many of my clients. The Premium News affiliate program provides a 20% kick back for everything sold through your site which has been very generous from my experience on WPelements.com. There is also a wide variety of creative available in nearly any size which you could integrate anywhere within your site.

Conclusion

So, if you have a little space to spare and want to make some extra cashola, check into an affiliate program. Just remember to keep it above the fold, make it relevant, and make it look interesting. Mix in some free links along with the product links to make it look less “advertisement” like. And if you are running WordPress, there are several plugins available to make your life easier while managing affiliate ads. For 125 x 125 advertisements similar to the ones on WPelements.com, HackWordPress.com recently released a new plugin called Show125 that should do the trick.