Gio’s Anime Blog
One of the theme’s top contributors’ blog.

Found Chicago

greyfox.me

We Are Change London

Geeks of Gaming

Crossroads Care in the Vale

Nebraska USATF

PipThePip.com
Yes, it’s a very heavily modified version of the theme.

I’m sure that there are many other great sites out there. Drop me an email if you wish to add your website into this list!

I’ve been pretty busy lately as for the past few months, with a never-ending truckload of work thrown at me everyday. Nevertheless, it’s kind of interesting, and frustrating at the same time.

I’ve managed to squeeze some time to work on Arras Theme, which has been updated to 1.4 with many new features targeted for WordPress 2.9. Do check it out here.

Once the theme is almost bug-free, it’s time to move on and work on a new project. Maybe a new WordPress theme?

New Features

• Full support for WordPress 2.9 post thumbnail system
  (timThumb system will still be available for backward compatibility)
• Thumbnail sizes for featured posts and news posts can now be adjusted in theme options.
• Date and comment count on post thumbnails can now be turned off in theme options.
• Sidebar widgets code have been rewritten using WordPress 2.8’s widgets API, allowing you to use the widgets more than once.
• Multi-tabbed sidebar has been redesigned.
• Multi-tabbed sidebar can now be shown on home page only, as an option.
• Latest previews and reviews widget has been replaced by a new widget called ‘Featured Stories’.
• Featured stories can be shown on posts only, as an option.
• Widgets will display post thumbnails on respective links (WordPress 2.9 only).
• A link to your site’s Twitter feed can be displayed beside the link to your RSS feed in your navigation bar. (Username can be adjusted in theme options).
• One column layout is now available in the theme options.
• Various visual tweaks have been made to the default style.
• Template for Yet Another Related Posts Plugin available by default.
• Built-in support for Cufón, along with a default font BPreplay

Other Changes

• Certain options in Navigation tab in the theme options will not display if Multi-Level Navigation Plugin is installed.
• Removed image background options (a new system will be developed in the future).
• Removed post links in single post template in favour of numerous plugins.
• Removed compatibility functions for WordPress 2.7 and below. The theme now requires WordPress 2.8 and above to run.
• Removed support for phpThumb in favour of the new WordPress 2.9 post thumbnail system.
• Most of the options in Categories tab in theme options have been moved to the Layout tab.
• Usage page has been removed in favour of WordPress 2.9 post thumbnail system.

I have been only able to check out the internet during the weekends for the past few months or so due to my commitments. For now, I am working irregular hours and am still getting used to my job and working schedules.

Hopefully I will have the time to take a look at my projects (especially Arras Theme) and update them.

New Features

• Added WP-Email support into post bar and improved its appearance in the default style
• Added description on where to place custom background images
• Added options to display specific items in single post template (categories, tags, published date, postbar)
• Added thumbnail width and height options in functions.php of the theme
• Added support for Multi-Level Navigation Plugin. If you wish to have more control with your top navigation it is highly recommended you use this plugin.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed DIV IDs in featured posts that could cause XHTML validation errors
• Name and email required fields are now based on WordPress settings
• Fixed search template not displaying nicely as it should
• Fixed sub-menus not styled if top navigation option is set to pages
• Fixed Edit Post link not working in post bar
• Fixed qTranslate plugin translating the theme options fields
• Fixed most Lightbox plugins not working with the theme

Download Arras Theme 1.3.4

Features include:

• Fixed shortcodes being exposed in the featured slideshow
• Fixed custom background color not working
• Fixed qTranslate not working with the theme
• Removed post content preview option (excerpts limited to 20 words is the only option now)
• Added functions to check whether the cache directory is writable and GD library is installed
• Fixed default background color displaying the wrong color
• Fixed widgets not working well in WordPress 2.8 Beta
• Added a quick guide on how to post thumbnails and other tips
• Top-level navigation for theme options and quick guide
• Fixed main navigation not displaying properly in Internet Explorer 6 & 7
• Upgraded thumbnail generator script
• Added new filter hooks for plugin/theme hackers
• Added a new option to display categories, pages or from a link category in the main navigation

Download Arras Theme 1.3.3

Using an image as the blog title / logo

The blog title and the blog description taken from the blog settings has to be shown in the header, which means you have to dynamically generate the title and the slogan. Using static images as a logo is not allowed. One possible solution is to use sIFR or Cufon, but it may not be a good idea because of the licensing issues with fonts.

All categories must be shown in the single post template

Displaying only one category (probably like the one in Gizmodo) in the single post template is not allowed. You will need to display all categories that belong to the post.

the word ‘premium’ is not allowed

This is quite an interesting one. I had initially placed the word premium in the description and the default text widget, but was requested to remove both of it. Maybe he just doesn’t like the word premium, or my theme wasn’t premium enough .

Anyway, I’m really thankful for the reviewer for taking his time to review my theme (he found some bugs too, it’s quite embarrassing). I had a feeling he checked it really thoroughly, kudos to him!

• Download via WordPress Themes Directory
• Theme Release Site
• Theme Live Demo
• Community Forums

I have been actively developing the framework, pushing in new ideas and finding simple approaches to make theme development much easier. If you have actually explored the repository up at Google Code, you would have noticed some additions into the framework.

Minify Support

One of the main features that I have been trying is to add support for Minify, which allows you to combine, minify and cache your CSS and JS files. WordPress actually has an internal caching feature for their CSS and JS files that will be implemented in 2.8, but it will only be used in admin. So to provide support for this app, the theme developer would probably have to do the following things:

• Define the path Minify is installed, with their own configuration.
• Use wp_enqueue_script to add their own JS files instead of echoing out the HTML tags like you would normally do.
• Use a special framework function bf_add_stylesheet to include your stylesheet instead of using @import or the <link> tag.

As long as the path to the installation path is defined, the framework will kick in and add an option into the admin to allow theme users to enable or disable the feature. An additional option will also appear to allow the users to delete the cache should they change anything in their CSS and JS files.

This feature should appear in the 0.6 stable release of the framework.

Let’s just be honest, the theme does not make as much revenue compared to other premium theme forerunners such as WooThemes and StudioPress. So hiring someone to do the job for support, in my opinion, might not be feasible (when I mean hiring someone he/she must know what he is doing).

Another thing is that I have joined the WPSynergy (formerly WPGorilla) team, where we aim to create great free premium themes for everyone to use. The GPL, and the idea of free software really influenced me a lot into making a decision for this theme.

Hence, I have decided to end commercial support for this theme. If you have purchased any theme packages offered either here or the official website, commerical support will end at June 31, 2009. That leaves you about a month and a half to spam all your support requests to me.

Wait! Does that Mean it’s the End?

Nope, this does not mean that it is the end of the theme. I will still provide updates and support whenever I can via forums, email or IM (you can try spamming me every night like most customers do, it might work ).

When I am writing this post, the major update 1.3.0 is completed and ready for release. I will try to upload the theme to the WordPress themes directory, which means getting updates will be way easier now.

What it also means, is that Arras Theme is going to be a free-mium WordPress theme. IMO, this works better. More bugs will be found, more ideas can be thrown around, it would greatly benefit the theme.

What’s Going to Happen in the Next Few Days?

Just to summarize what I have been crapping about:

• Commerical Support will end at June 31, 2009
• Support Forums will be revamped and opened up to everyone (into Community Forums)
• Arras Theme 1.3.0 will be available via WordPress themes directory (needs approval)
• I get no income via Arras Theme (that means if you like it, start donating!) 

I hope I did not drop a bombshell here…