Recent WordPress Themes – March 31st 2009

Time once again to highlight some of the recent WordPress themes that have been released or updated.

AutoFocus by allancole
	AutoFocus is a WordPress theme specifically for photographers looking for a simple and elegant way to display their work online.
KillerLight by killswtch
	A dark theme with animation, originally created for killswtch.net. It has a javascript-based animated header which fades slowly for a lovely faux-lighting effect. All current WordPress features are supported, including widgets and gravatars.
Prosumer by jauhari
	Prosumer Theme is a clean layout that is build with 3 Columns Layout.* Left and Right Sidebar* Widget Ready* Change About text via Admin Profile* Custom Image Header. The CSS, XHTML and design is released under a GPL.
Ali Han Natural by alihan1988
	Spring flowers, bird, butterfly, clouds and animals Natural blog theme.

WordPress 2.8 – What to Expect

With the release of WordPress 2.8 scheduled for April (let’s hope it’s not April 1st, that would just be bad) I decided it was about time I took a look at what new features it brings to the table.

As with each WordPress point release there is quite a list of bug fixes and new features introduced so I will highlight a few that I’m most interested in. So without further ado, let’s kick things off…

• Improved performance for script loading
• Use SimplePie for widget and dashboard feeds
• Allow the dashboard widgets to be arranged in up to four columns as set via the Screen Options tab
• Improved database performance
• Autosave post/page when pressing Control/Command+S
• Don’t ask for confirmation when marking a comment as spam

Then there are features that didn’t make it into the WordPress 2.7 release that I would like to see included with WordPress 2.8:

• Better UI for post revisions, maybe an optional field to say what changed in a version
• Method for uploading and installing themes directly in the WordPress UI

 

You can see a complete list of the new features that WordPress 2.8 brings over at WordPress.org

Is there anything missing from the list that you were hoping for?

Recent WordPress Themes – March 17th 2009

Time for a bunch more WordPress themes that have been released or updated recently!

Atahualpa by bytesforall
	Build your own unique, professional and browser-safe WordPress theme: Over 200 theme options, drop down menus for pages and categories, fluid or fixed width layout, 1, 2 or 3 columns, rotating header images, auto image resizing, integrated Feedburner form, 4 extra widgets and more. WP 2.2-2.7 and WPMU. English plus DE, HU, PT, CZ, SI, TR, FR, PL, NL, BG, IT, VN, JP, ES.
Openair by The English Guy
	An easy-to-use and tweak theme based on the blue sky background image. Two columns, widget-ready, gravatar-ready, and SEO friendly
Gear by My Mobiles
	Includes a very customizable banner. Change visibility, banner’s image (includes 6 variations: gear, bird, bulb, user, user2, binoculars), text through an options page. You may also change theme’s background with available 14 patterns. Compatible with WordPress 2.7. Valid CSS & HTML. Theme is ready for localization.
Crafty by Lloyd Armburst
	Crafty is a WordPress theme designed for people who want an organic-crafted like feel of their website or blog. Everything in this theme, including the CSS, XHTML, and design, is released under GPL (this means that you can do whatever you want with it).

WordPress MU – Fancy Building Your Own Blog Network?

If you’ve ever wondered how blog networks like WordPress.com are run then wonder no more. To create a single self hosted WordPress blog you simply use the open source software available from WordPress.org. With many webhosts you don’t even have to go to the trouble of installing the software yourself as services like Fantastico allow simple automated installations which will get you up and running in no time.

This is all well and good but what if you would like multiple blogs all under one WordPress installation, the regular WordPress software isn’t going to cut it, it simply isn’t designed for this purpose. Step in WordPress MU!

WordPress MU (aka WordPress Multi-User or WordPress µ) is the big brother of WordPress, sharing  around 95% of the codebase but with some extra code in place to allow the blogging platform to scale and host multiple blogs. Multiple blogs you say, what are we talking here, 5…10…100? Given sufficient hardware the sky’s the limit. Put it this way, if it works for WordPress.com’s approximately 2.3 million blogs then chances are it can handle whatever you might throw at it!

The great thing is that anyone who has used WordPress before will instantly be at home with a blog hosted on a WordPress MU installation. Each blog can have its own theme and plugins installed just as a regular WordPress installation can, the only limitation here is that some plugins which create their own databases tables or modify core WP tables may not work. Each individual blog can make use of a subdomain or have its own domain pointed at it, WordPress MU is incredibly flexible.

So if you’re looking to build your own blog network and are an experienced user of WordPress then WordPress MU is likely the perfect solution, give it a try.

Recent WordPress Themes March 4th 2009

Everyone loves a change of look, a fresh lick of paint or a bit of a spring clean so with that in mind I’m going to highlight some Wordpress themes that have recently been released or updated.

Constructor by antonshevchuk
	The WordPress Constructor Theme is a many-in-one theme offering six layouts, configured colors, fonts and slideshow functionality. Built for WordPress version 2.7+. One for the tinkering types.
Blackout by Rajbir Dhaliwal
	Blackout is a plain black, 2 column theme with white text. One for those who like to keep things simple.
Glass by primestrategy
	Simple and elegant atmosphere vitriform transparent theme for all WordPress users. SupportsIE6 and IE7,Firefox2 and 3, Opera and Safari. W3C XHTML valid and SEO friendly. Supports Multi Language. One for people who like a clean and fresh look.
Cherry Dreams by Arlain
	Cherry Dreams is a cute, colorful and vibrant theme with a nice clean layout. One for the ladies or just plain cherry lovers.
Feed Me, Seymour by tinkerpriest
	A simple news feed style theme with a fully customizable layout through an easy to use backend interface. Theme options include site width, 1 or 2 sidebars, header alignment, logo uploader, home page number of posts and more. Also includes two extremely useful widgets. Tested on WP 2.7.x. 100% xHTML valid. One for people who like a lot of information on the homepage.
Soho Serenity by raimy
	A Multi Column (1 sidebar, 2 main content colums, 2 right hand sections and 3 footer sections all widgetized) fixed width theme perfect for a showcase/portfolio or scrapbook type site. It features an author info page and gravatars along with Custom Archives, Sitemap, Blog Post and full width No Sidebars page templates. Compatible up to WordPress 2.7 and is XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS 2.1 valid right out of the box.
Roughdrive by hgschmidt
	Roughdrive is a simple, clean, 2-column WordPress Theme for WordPress systems newer than WordPress 2.7. One for the neat and tidy types.