StudioPress» WordPress

WordPress 3.3 Has (finally) Arrived!

Brian Gardner — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:03:11 +0000

As many of you know, WordPress 3.3 was officially released. We wanted to let you know that we’ve updated the StudioPress site and all of the Genesis child theme demo sites — and all is well.

This is our way of saying “Go for it, you should safely be able to update to WordPress 3.3!”

What’s New in WordPress 3.3

Experienced users will appreciate the new drag-and-drop uploader, hover menus for the navigation, the new toolbar, improved co-editing support, and the new Tumblr importer. They’ve also been thinking a ton about what the WordPress experience is like for new users.

Version 3.3 has significant improvements there with pointer tips for new features, a friendly welcome message for first-time users, and revamped help tabs throughout the interface. They’ve improved the dashboard experience on the iPad and other tablets with better touch support.

There is a ton of candy for developers as well. I’d recommend starting your exploration with the new editor API, new jQuery version, better ways to hook into the help screens, more performant post-slug-only permalinks, and of course the entire list of improvements on the Codex and in Trac.

Updating WordPress for Genesis Users

The development team here at StudioPress is always working with the bleeding version of WordPress. As a result, we can confidently say that there aren’t any known issues with WordPress 3.3 and Genesis 1.7.1.

We cannot promise that all of your plugins are compatible, so make sure you check those for compatibility before updating.

Now that WordPress 3.3 has been released, we’ll be working hard over the next week or two to prepare Genesis 1.8 for release. Until then, Happy Updating!

Pretty Young Thing Now Available on WordPress.com

Brian Gardner — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:05:00 +0000

We are very proud to announce that the very first Genesis + Child Theme combo is now available for WordPress.com users. As of this morning, the Pretty Young Thing child theme can now be purchased and deployed across their network of sites.

A month ago WordPress gave users a chance to stand out from the crowd by using a premium theme. We’re excited that StudioPress was asked to join the party, and are thrilled that the Pretty Young Thing is the first theme there.

This is something we’ve been hoping for quite some time – as we’ve been asked on a number of occasions if Genesis can be used on WP.com. As of this morning, we’re finally able to say YES!

Check out the Pretty Young Thing demo on WordPress.com… and here’s a reminder of what makes the Pretty Young Theme so cool:

The Genesis Grid Loop

The Pretty Young Thing child theme is the first of many themes that will utilize the Genesis Grid Loop that was include as part of Genesis v1.5. The Grid Loop was a custom function that was written to display featured posts on the top of a homepage, and then display a grid-like area of post excerpts at the bottom. The WordPress.com version of the Pretty Young Thing theme will support this.

3 Beautiful Color Style Options

Genesis + WordPress 3.1 = Update Now!

Brian Gardner — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:31:27 +0000

As many of you know, this morning the long-awaited WordPress 3.1 was officially released. We wanted to let you know that we’ve updated all of the Genesis child theme demo sites, and all is well.

This is our way of saying “Go for it, you should safely be able to update to WordPress 3.1!”

Coming Soon to a Genesis Theatre Near You…

Piggybacking on the announcement of WordPress 3.1 being available, we’re happy to say that the Tapestry child theme should be released soon. Tapestry will utilize a very cool feature that comes packaged with WordPress 3.1 – post formats. These will include Asides, Chat, Gallery, Image, Link, Quote, Status and Video.

While we have the Tapestry theme ready to go, we recently updated the default Genesis style sheet (more on that) which will delay the release a bit. We want to use the new style sheet format on all theme releases moving forward, so we’ll need to update the code a bit.

So for now, go ahead and update to WordPress 3.1, and enjoy our efforts to seamlessly integrate your WordPress experience with the Genesis Framework!

The Genesis Theme Framework Launches

Brian Gardner — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:27:31 +0000

We are very happy to announce the release of the Genesis Theme Framework. This has been an ongoing development project for over two months and we’re ready for liftoff! In addition, we’re also pleased to announce that two child themes are available – the Executive child theme and the Mocha child theme.

About the Genesis Theme Framework

The Genesis Theme Framework is built on a simple vanilla blog-type parent theme, and can be extended with the use of child themes. Each child theme will come with it’s own home file, which will make extending the parent theme very easy. It will also have it’s own functions file as well. In addition, we’ve built some custom widgets that will make adding content much easier on the User.

Here’s a List of Custom Widgets We’ve Built

My Tweets – displays an unordered list of your latest Tweets (view widget)
User Profile – displays the Gravatar of a user, as well as their biography and a link to an about page (view widget)
eNews & Updates – displays an opt-in box for users to sign up for delivery of your posts by email (view widget)
Featured Posts – displays post excerpts and a thumbnail to be used in a homepage featured section (view widget)
Featured Page – displays page excerpts and a thumbnail to be used in a homepage featured section (view widget)

The Genesis Theme Framework Marketplace

We are also in the preliminary stages of the Genesis Theme Framework marketplace, which will allow designers to develop/sell child themes here on StudioPress. You can take a look to see what a featured Designer page will look like. There are two ways to be involved in the Genesis Theme Marketplace:

Designers can submit PSD designs, which StudioPress will be responsible for coding
Developers can submit full child themes, which we will review for code compatibility, efficiency, etc

Now’s the Time to Become (or Upgrade to) Our Pro-Plus Membership

If you have been sitting on the fence about becoming an All Themes Pro-Plus member here at StudioPress, now’s the time – as of Monday February 8th, we will be increasing our package to $249.95. Until then, we will be maintaining our current $199.95 price – which is a complete steal if you think about it. With the launch of the Genesis Theme Framework, and a number of child themes in development, you won’t find a better bargain. And oh, did I mention that the Pro-Plus membership includes access to and support for all StudioPress current and future themes/child themes, too?

BuddyPress Add-Ons Currently in Beta Testing

We’re very happy to say that WPMU/BuddyPress gurus Ron and Andrea Rennick will be developing “add-on” packages that can be purchased/supported at Premium BuddyPress Themes. We felt that made sense, since they both have extensive knowledge with the software and how it can be implemented. You can sign up to test-drive the Genesis theme framework/BuddyPress integration over at their site.

How About Some Customizations?

Even through the beta testing of the Genesis Theme Framework, some of us have used it to launch new site designs. Chris Ford, of Creativity Included and myself have both redesigned our sites with it. Take a look:

All StudioPress Themes are Compatible With WP 2.8

Brian Gardner — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:37:20 +0000

I just wanted to take a minute to announce, officially, that all StudioPress themes have been tested with the latest version of WordPress 2.8 and there are no known issues. I have upgraded all of the theme demo sites, and all of them are functioning properly. If you see any issues, please contact us.

This includes the following themes:

Revolution Rebrands as StudioPress

Brian Gardner — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:44:44 +0000

About a month ago I introduced my newly formed design/consulting company StudioPress.

For a number of reasons, the Revolution themes will be moving over to the StudioPress site – and I am asking you to trust that this has been thought out very carefully. There are a number of things that I’d like to work on, and in order for me to move forward with them and to do what I want, it makes a lot of sense to place all of that onto one site. (ie WordPress themes, theme support, design services and other internet consulting)

Here’s an excerpt from the post that I mentioned:

StudioPress will be the parent company for all that I do online, which means ultimately Revolution will fall underneath it as a web property that I own/run. One thing I will say is that I have a lot of plans moving forward, both with Revolution and other things in general, and needed an umbrella to keep it all under. For a number of reasons, I was advised to do this.

Ok, now here are the details…

As you can see, the StudioPress website is pretty much ready to go for the transition, with the exception being the support forum. I will be closing down the Revolution Two support forum tomorrow night (February 17th) at 10:00 CST for a few hours to move it over to StudioPress. Other than that, there shouldn’t be any other downtime.

What is the impact of this decision?

The first (and most important) thing is that nothing will change to the business model and theme licensing. This is strictly a change in the branding of the themes, which means the pricing, packages, etc will not be affected.

The support forum will be moving to the StudioPress site, and all of that will remain intact. In addition, the affiliate program shouldn’t be affected either, with the exception of new advertising banners that will be made available. Obviously ones that are currently being used should be replaced, but the links that are being used will also remain unaffected and you will receive credit for the theme packages that are purchased as you have your links now.

Why am I making this significant change?

Many of you think that rebranding Revolution at this point is marketing suicide, but for legal reasons, this is something that needs to be done. (Just trust me when I say that.) Moving forward, I plan to build a company around my WordPress theme business, and this is the best way to do that.

More than anything, the rebranding of Revolution to StudioPress is my way of committing myself to the future of my theme development and support.

I have already officially hired Craig Tuller, who will be director of marketing and manage the support forum. I am also actively seeking out a few other people as well who will help build out the company. We have a number of theme concepts in the works, and even some additional projects that will work alongside the business.

A word about the GPL licensing…

I want to reiterate that my themes will continue to carry the GPL license, as they have ever since the announcement when I made a few changes. There seems to have been some confusion about this post I made, and I want to clarify the theme license. Taken from the site’s Terms & Conditions page:

The CSS, XHTML and design of these theme are released under GPL license and are in total compliance to standards set forth by the authors of that license as well as with WordPress. Theme support will only be given to those who purchase a theme package.

I fully believe in the sharing of code, which is ultimately why my themes carry this license. After all, more than two years ago, I started developing my themes based on another theme. Yes, I adopted my own css and nomenclature for all of my code, but it was exceptionally helpful to have something to look at when I first got started.

Having said that, I want to point out that the true spirit of the GPL encourages members of a community to build from and share their new efforts. It’s very sad to see how some people are misusing and abusing the license for their own personal gain, and it saddens me to see people purposely trying to exploit my work.

In closing…

I want to personally thank all of you who read my blog, those who have purchased theme packages in the past and those who purchase theme packages in the future. None of this would be possible without all of you, and I want to say how appreciative I am for those who continue to encourage and support me. Moving the brand over to StudioPress will result in a better user experience, a growing community of users and better theme development.