What is Tender?

It’s a support web app, I know sounds boring, and it is to be honest. But some of us have to deal with supporting things. Tender makes this incredibly easy and painless. Tender has some features which set it apart for me. Numeral uno is I can manage support requests from email, I hardly ever have to actually log into the website. Second is the integration with Lighthouse, my ticket tracking app of choice. When I first released Checkmate I encouraged people to post tickets to my lighthouse, it was a massive failure. However my Tender has been a success and has made responding to support requests much less painful.

Why Do I Care?

If you don’t support any software or services you don’t care, you shouldn’t care, and you should be happy you don’t deal with it. If you do, OR you SHOULD be supporting something(*cough* your WordPress themes *cough*) then you should care. Tender is an efficient, user friendly way to offer quality support. And this new widget is just an example of their commitment to making things easy for the users, who are the most important part of your software/service.

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There are a few things that have been the realm of premium themes and some rare free themes: post thumbnails, and easy video embedding(that doesn’t suck). Press75 just released two simple yet powerful and incredibly useful plugins: Simple Post Thumbnails and Simple Video Encoder. Go check them out, and let Jason know how awesome they are.

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The interface has gotten a huge and much needed update. The layout is still simple and clean but now is more polished and modern. Customizing the CSS and the look of theme is even better, the entire site was coded with the end user customizing the site in mind.

Download Checkmate 2.0

• View the Demo Site
• Checkmate 2.0 (2227)

Theme Options

There has been a total redesign of the theme options page, and also new theme options to make customizing Checkmate even easier. Checkmate 2.0 has the ability to automatically detect uploads for CSS, logos, and backgrounds, which can easily be changed via the theme options page.

Layout Options

I mentioned the layout has been updated, well now it is also more flexible. Several users wanted a true 3 column layout(columns on each side of the content), now this is possible along with a single right column, a split right column, or a combo right column. All this is controlled using theme options and widget areas, no code editing!

Ad Management

Ad management remains in Checkmate 2.0 unchanged. It is the same simple and flexible widget and theme options combination which gives you a quick and easy way to get ads on your theme.

Support

Support for Checkmate has always been a strong point and something I’ve strove to provide the best support a free theme offers. Alas WordPress comments and email aren’t the best solution, so all support will now be handled via Tender. Where you can ask questions, read documentation, and contribute to discussions.

Features

Checkmate already had a big feature list, now it is even bigger:

• Optional background header images controlled by theme options and uploads are automatically detected
• User defined style sheets, easily changed and uploads are automatically detected
• Auto detected logo controlled through theme options
• Optional featured categories
• Feedburner integration
• Drop down Page menu, with theme options to control which Pages show in the menu
• Optional footer widget areas
• Option to use Checkmate’s previous rounded corner look
• Ability to insert code or content into the header, after a post, or footer, without editing theme files
• Ad management
• Checkmate comes with 4 color themes for you to build on: grey, brown, cake, and dark.
• Custom widgets built for Checkmate.
• Tabbed Content Box - widget enabled
• Two, Three, or Split Column Design
• Feedburner Integration
• Optional Widget enabled footer
• Custom Icons
• Gravatar support for authors and comments(Wordpress 2.5)
• Custom author, archive, tag, category, and search pages.
• Widget Enabled Sidebars

Updates

• Version 2.0.1
• Updated for WordPress 2.7
• Threaded Comments Enabled
• Utilizes post_class()
• Automatically Checks for Updates
• Version 2.0.2
• Trackbacks/pingbacks style change, automatically hidden
• Comments navigation for 2.7 fixed
• Upgraded theme to use jQuery 1.3
• disabled auto check for update for now due to server load
• Version 2.0.3
• Added Localization
• Changed title structure for single post pages
• Version 2.0.4
• Converted widgets to 2.8 API
• Fixed bugs in widgets

License

Checkmate is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. All I ask is that you link back to my website somewhere in your site.

• Checkmate 2.0 (2227)

Really Like It?

If you really like this theme and would like updates, more features, and new styles, why not grease the wheel and make a donation?
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Blogs make money, and in some cases, a lot of money. But these are not blogs as a layperson would know them, they are huge sites with a massive amount of information, several posts a day with several different authors. I call them “Uber Blogs”, mostly because I’m a nerd. These “Uber Blogs” are more like publications, and what I see as “the future”.

Before you go and lynch me in angry mob style, let me explain the landscape of this blogging future. These uber blogs will become your bread and butter, your morning newspaper. They will be very author orientated, and as such, bloggers will save their best posts/tutorials/rantings/themes/whatever for the uber blogs. And the regular blog will essentially stay the same, except they will become more personal once again, just maybe not to the extent of seeing cat pictures again.

I think this is a good thing! Keeping up with news is now a part time job, having a few key uber blogs covering the niches you are interested in will help. But blogging isn’t going away, I’ll still be able to read Khoi Vihn’s thoughts about the news if I want.

Questions Questions and More Qustions

I’m curious to know what you think now. Where is blogging headed? Where do you want it to head? Should you wear pants while blogging? How do you think advertising will work for small blogs? Will the Raiders ever be good again? Are you still reading this? Are there too many questions for one post? Is blogging dead? Is micro blogging the future?

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These aren’t your typical scream fests, if your looking for those skip to the bottom. But if you’re looking for something a little different, a little more eccentric, a little more dare I say artsy, then this list is for you.

Warning: This list contains some graphic images, adult language, and no poo jokes. If you’re not into that sorta stuff, you should skip this one.

Ichi the Killer

We’re gonna start things off a little slow, at least in the fear category. Ichi the Killer is more of a crime, action, comedy film…oh and gore. Lots of gore, like “seriously you got to be kidding me” level of gore. The film is directed by Takashi Miike, and if you’re into Asian cinematography you know what that means. If you’re not prepare for a very wild ride.

Suicide Club

Suicide Club is more of a horror movie than Ichi the Killer. Japan has a problem with suicides and this movie pokes at the heart of it. A detective is trying to solve the case of a string of suicides with some peculiar circumstances. This movie will leave you with a bit of a strange state of mind. Which is perfect.

Behind the Mask: The Story of Leslie Vernon

Behind the Mask: The Story of Leslie Vernon is about the most entertaining “horror” movie ever conceived. But it technically isn’t a horror movie, but rather a behind the scenes look at the making of psycho killer superstar. The movie is great for fans of classic slasher movies, and has one of the greatest most unpredictable plot twists in horror film history. This is a must see!

Gozu

We dive back into the world of Asian horror, and director Takashi Miike. Except this time instead of a gore fest, you are going to go on a journey. A journey you really probably would rather not go on. Gozu defies definition by my vocabulary. It will leave you confused, disturbed, and probably with the urge to send me hate mail. It is not the traditional hack and slash naked girl running and screaming type of stupid horrow, this is a slow, brutal, disturbing, mind fuck. If you don’t mind that sort of film, you’ll like this, but I warn you this is not for everyone.

Severance

Did you watch Gozu? Are you contemplating the meaning behind it? Well I got the fix, and it is called Severance. Severance is about an office outing, you know team building, except things go a little…ummm wrong. Severance has its scary moments but it really shines in the dark comedy. If your looking to tone down the scare a bit(just a little itty bit) and up the laughs this is the horror film for you.

The Vengeance Trilogy

OK so this is actually 3 movies, but three very good movies. Yes by this time you know I love Asian horror, but this is different…it is Korean! The Vengeance Trilogy is made up of: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Old Boy(my fav), and Lady Vengeance. These aren’t technically horror movies, but they are so good I couldn’t resist putting them here.

The Host

Staying in Korea this time it is a classic style monster movie, and one of the best to come out in a very long time. The Host brought the monster movie back into the spotlight before Cloverfield even had a chance to think about its viral marketing. It’s a story of a family and a giant tadpole…yup that’s right…and it is awesome! If you haven’t seen this yet, check it out, no need to wait for Halloween to see this one.

Black Sheep

What could possibly end this list of “horror” movies?? Why none other than Black Sheep, not the Chris Farley movie, the New Zealand made film. Apparently sheep are somewhat popular in New Zealand, and also freakishly smart strong and effing scary. OK so unless you have an unrationalized fear of sheep this isn’t that scary, but it definitely follows in a long line of New Zealand horror movies. It is entertaining, and disturbing and that is what I love…also it has mutant sheep, how could you go wrong!?

Want some suggestions that are more horror and less screwed up?

OK so you aren’t into Tokyo Shock? Korean life lessons? Or documentaries? Want something a little more “get the girl to jump into your lap and cry” type of movie? I got some suggestions for that too.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The ORIGINAL, not the crappy remake or any number of the ridiculous sequels. It is a classic that still freaks people out and will make sure no one sleeps so long as there are chainsaw noises sporadically made during the night.

The Evil Dead

The first and second Evil Dead films are genius. What could be better than Bruce Campbell battling demons? Nothing.

House of a Thousand Corpses and The Devils Rejects

Rob Zombie has turned his twisted dreadlocked head towards film and what comes out is nothing short of terrifying. Want to be scared? Watch these films.

The Exorcist

The single scariest film ever created. Nothing more to be said about that.

Dead Alive

This one is actually one of those New Zealand flicks, maybe a bit “out there” for most people though. Also check out Bad Taste.

Dawn of the Dead

Or really any zombie movie(even the movie named Zombie) with “of the Dead” in the title. I like zombies.

Fido

Another zombie flick, this one is pure comedy. If you got someone who refuses to watch a horror movie this is a good substitute.

Nightmare on Elm Street

Yeah, you know this one.

BOO!

There it is, my list of recommended horror flicks. This is by no means a complete list as I’m a horror flick nut and could go on for pages and pages. What are your favorite horror flicks and recommendations? I’m always looking for something I haven’t seen.

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Whaa?

So what is Readernaut? It is a social community of well read people that make me look like I’m shuffling through old copies of Highlights magazine. It’s a place to catalog the books you have read, add new books, keep track of your reading, comment, and share insight on books. But most importantly it gives the dull act of reading a book a decidedly web 2.0 gradient vector icon feel.

I find myself checking the site for new notes concerning Anathem, or checking reviews of books I’m interested in. Adding recommended books to my “Plan to Read” list will be a huge savior to me in 2 years when I actually finish reading Anathem. The point being, I believe there are a few ways to use Readernaut, and not everyone will use it the same way.

The Experience

Readernaut is a sort of complex time line with various ways to filter information into what you are actually looking for. In a twitter like fashion you can start with the public time line and continue drilling down.

The site is pretty intuitive especially under the newest design. You have the timeline, your library, quick access to notes about your book, tags, contacts, and a profile. Each having their own options to organize the data. Books are organized with tags, which makes filtering your own books easy, but it also helps you find potential reading material. Which is where the real potential power of Readernaut comes in.

I haven’t fully explored the community portion of Readernaut yet(mostly because none of my friends are members) but I can already see massive potential in finding what like minded people are reading. Readernaut also integrates with Amazon, which makes finding, adding, and buying books so incredibly easy Appalachian mountain people may find themselves reading(it’s OK I grew up there).

It is hard to peg down the user experience because it is really up to the user how involved he(or she, women being allowed to read, who could’ve imagined?) will become in the site and community. It could be nothing more than bookmarking tool, or a full blown dating service depending on how you use the site.

Unfortunately you can’t just go sign up for Readernaut quite yet, and there are no invitations to give out. But you can sign up for an invite which are sent out pretty steadily as Readernaut grows. But if you are a reader(naut) then I would suggest trying the site out. It has re-kindled my love for reading along with Neal Stephenson and Ruby on Rails books. And leave me a message if you’re on it!

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Every mad scientist needs his Frankenstein. Mine just happens to be a website. Grunt Labs is my ongoing experiment, a place to play, test, and generally ignore browsers lagging behind. Grunt Labs is also a sign of things to come for the blog and Grunt, but more on that later.

So what is it really?

Grunt Labs is a repository for all my downloads(at least the good ones), projects, ideas, and general nuttiness I can come up with. Ever since I launched Checkmate I wanted a separate site where people could go get downloads and support. Grunt Labs will be integrated with Lighthouse in the future enabling issue tracking and all the goodness Lighthouse has to offer.

Playtime!

Grunt Labs is also a playground for me to stretch out my code and try out new things. It uses CSS3 and jQuery extensively and it is important to note this is an ongoing project. As I learn new things, better ways to code, and browsers evolve, the site will change and evolve into what I hope is ridiculously impressive.

The Design

The design is very basic and sparse. This is partly because of the crazy javascript going on and partly because the site is meant to change for each project. At this point the project pages don’t change much besides the background. That will change and vary from project to project.

The Code

The code consists of mostly basic html and CSS and the skeleton of the site was built on top of the Blueprint CSS Framework. Things get interesting when I mix in some CSS3 elements. To see the site in it’s full glory you’ll need Firefox 3 or a Webkit based browser like Safari.

Then comes in jQuery. My favorite javascript framework by far. This was my first push into the world of full page animation, and already I can see different ways of doing it. The page obviously uses some Coda style popups, full page animation, but it also uses some more subtle things. Some elements are dynamically added and removed via javascript. I’ve got plans for much more javascript in the near future, but that has to wait on something being released ;)

I think I’ll save explaining more about the javascript in detail for another post.

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via FFFFOUND!

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Note: A new version of Checkmate has been released. Get the new version now!

I told you earlier I was going to release it, and here it is! The Checkmate WordPress theme. It is a classic blog style template with a minimalist design packed with features and customizing options. This is one to definitely download and try out and includes a quick start guide to show you how to use some of the features.

Checkmate Demo - The demo is a bit messy looking because I tried to show off as much of the theme as I could.

Theme Options

Checkmate has a lot of options so you can get the most out of your theme without knowing any code.

• Optional Header Image
• Optional Featured Categories
• Feedburner Integration
• Menu Customization
• Optional Footer Widget Areas

Features

• Checkmate comes with 7 color themes. Grey, Red, Blue, Green, Purple, Brown, and Grey/Red.
• Custom widgets built for Checkmate.
• Tabbed Content Box - widget enabled
• Two, Three, or Split Column Design
• Feedburner Integration
• Optional Widget enabled footer
• Custom Icons
• Gravatar support for authors and comments(Wordpress 2.5)
• Custom author, archive, tag, category, and search pages.
• Widget Enabled Sidebars
• Includes the TimThumb script for resizing post thumbnails located under the post meta information.
• Tested in Firefox 2, Safari(Mac), IE7, IE6. (IE6 has a problem with post thumbnails, if this concerns you bug me to fix it).

Ad Management

Checkmate has two forms of built in ad management. One form built right into theme options panel and another more advanced customizable form. Both forms of management are controlled by widgets for easy placement and you retain the ability to turn them on or off via theme options panel.

License

Checkmate is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. All I ask is that you link back to my website somewhere in your site.

Updates

• Version 1.01
• Added wp_footer hook for plugins
• Version 1.02
• Fixed Header Image Bug
• Added browser detectable RSS Feeds (RSS2, RSS1.0/RDF, RSS0.92, RSS2 Comments, ATOM)
• Version 1.03
• Added page template with comments enabled
• Version 1.04
• Fixed sidebar error when requiring users to be registered and logged in to comment
• Misc. code cleanup
• Version 1.05
• Removed query_posts from index.php for pagination support
• Version 1.06
• Changed “1 Comments” to “1 Comment”
• Fixed the multiple categories as “featured” categories error

Download It Now!

• Get the new version here!
• Download the old version Checkmate (3913)

Really Like It?

If you really like this theme and would like updates, more features, and new styles, why not grease the wheel and make a donation?
PayPal takes $0.35 commission for a $1 donation. Please enter at least $1.35 , thank you! Please enter the amount you wish to donate and try again. Transferring to PayPal, please wait...

Related posts:

1. Checkmate 2.0: A Free Premium WordPress Theme Checkmate
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