Copyblogger has a list of seven items that will help you become a better WordPress based publisher. ∞
Most Important Theme Feature Of 2012?
WPHub.com is hosting a poll right now that asks, What Has Been The Most Important WP Theme Feature In 2012? Out of the choices listed, I voted for Responsive Design because of the prolific usage of Tablets and smartphones versus the traditional desktop computer. On that note, I think it was a very wise choice to have the new default theme in WordPress 3.5 have a responsive design by default. After you place your vote, feel free to come on back in the comments section and explain why you voted for that choice.
The Last 10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress
On what has been a longstanding tradition, Aaron Brazell of Technosailor.com has published his list of 10 things you’ll need to know regarding WordPress 3.5. Unfortunately, he also announced that it would be his last one.
For 7 years, I’ve been publishing these articles every time a new version of WordPress comes out. Since version 2.0. It’s been a long run. It began as a need to fill people in about new features in WordPress (and there were a lot in 2.0). There wasn’t anybody doing these at the time, and certainly WordPress wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now (22% of the internet is powered by WordPress).
But many more people have stepped up in recent releases and have started updating readers with new features and expectations. My job here is done. I’m passing the baton but really the baton has already been passed and I’m happy about that. This will be my final 10 things article. Thank you for sticking around and following along all these years.
I want to personally thank Aaron for putting together those 10 things posts as they were always a highlight to read as well as signaling that the next major release of WordPress was very imminent.
WordPress For iOS 3.3 Released
The WordPress iOS team has released version 3.3 of the popular mobile app. Thanks to 3.3, the app now has sounds such as clicks, refreshes and a crumple sound when you discard panels on the iPad. Since I use my iPhone on vibrate all the time, the sounds are a minor addition. However, they are a nice touch for the app overall. Outside of the addition of sounds, the release boasts more than 20 bug fixes and stability improvements. The next version looks like it will include a new Notification feature for WordPress.com and Jetpack enabled blogs. A new Visual editor is also in the works.
WebDevStudios Acquires Startbox Theme Framework
A few days ago, WebDevStudios announced that they acquired the Startbox theme framework. I’ve known WebDevStudios to primarily be a client development oriented business so I thought it was interesting that they have decided to move in the direction of a commercial theme shop. I managed to get Brad to answer a few questions I had regarding the acquisition and this is what he had to say:
With the acquisition of StartBox, does this officially make WebDevStudios a commercial theme shop?
Technically yes, however I don’t feel we are out there to compete with the many successfully established theme shops in the community. There are a ton of great themes and frameworks out there, so it really comes down to what is the best fit for the person or project. StartBox is our first major push into the commercial WordPress space. Our goal is to focus on making the StartBox theme framework as amazing as possible. Everything else is just gravy.
Will you be sticking with the Theme Club idea already established by StartBox?
For now yes, but that could change in the future. Currently you can access all child themes for $100/year or purchase any single child theme for $47. We currently have 9 child themes available, but plan on rapidly expanding that in 2013. The StartBox core framework is also 100% freely available via Github: https://github.com/WebDevStudios/StartBox
At WebDevStudios, we pride ourselves on having a strong focus on development. Because of that we plan on making some really amazing child themes and utilize those strong development skills to include features that go above and beyond what users might see in other themes out there. These themes and features will also carry over into our client work so it’s really a win win for us.
Will all previous plugins created by WebDevStudios be moved under the StartBox club umbrella?
We don’t have any plans to move our existing plugins to the theme club. We are working on a few pro versions of our plugins, but the base plugins will always remain free and available on WordPress.org. We do have plans to build plugins specifically for StartBox. If a StartBox plugin would be useful in other themes, and not just a feature specific to StartBox, we plan on coding and releasing it for everyone to use.
When I think of WebDevStudios, the thing that pops into my mind first is the Genesis Theme Framework. Will Genesis no longer be the framework of choice for future client work?
We love Genesis and that doesn’t change because of StartBox. Going forward we do plan on using StartBox for most client work, but ultimately will use whatever theme is a good fit for the project. A good amount of our contacts come to us wanting Genesis, so we will certainly give them what they want.
The beauty of StartBox is it allows us to not only shape the future of the theme framework, but also build and sell really amazing child themes for StartBox. We’ve given a lot of consideration to building and selling stand-alone themes and custom child themes for other frameworks, but at the end of the day we decided to focus on a framework that we have full control over.
Docs Team Needs Your Help For WordPress 3.5
As we near the release of WordPress 3.5, the docs team is looking for your help to insure that the Codex has all of the necessary information pertaining to the new release. So far, there is a hefty list of items that need to be added or amended in the Codex, especially as it pertains to media. You are encouraged to add to the list or if you’re a member of the Codex, to begin adding the necessary information.
Toni Schneider Interviewed On TechCrunch TV
Toni Schneider, CEO of Automattic was recently interviewed on TechCrunch TV. In the interview, they discussed the new vertical launched on WordPress.com for restaurants. There were a couple of things within this interview that I found fascinating.
The first is that across the Automattic network which includes sites such as PollDaddy, Gravatar, VaultPress and WordPress.com, Quantcast reports 660,000,000 monthly unique visitors making it the largest network on Quantcast.
The second is that, WordPress.com operates on the principle of small, incremental changes to the service. Because of this, WordPress.com has gone through about 50,000 versions of WordPress, if every change was a bump in the version number. Even at their current size and scale, they still release multiple batches of code every day.
Thirdly, I thought it was interesting that Toni Schneider basically said that WordPress.com is following the lead of the overall WordPress community when it comes to features and or verticals on WordPress.com.
Last but not least, WordPress powers 17.2% of the web, Joomla powers 3% and Drupal has 2%. Everyone else encompasses the rest of the 100%. So while it seems like everyone and their mother as well as their grandpa has a site on WordPress, there is still a huge segment of the market that’s been untapped by WordPress.
After watching the interview, is there anything that surprises you or is this all par for the course?
Comparison Spreadsheet For Content Type And Custom Field Plugins
If you’re looking to use a Content Type or Custom Field plugin, your first stop should be this large comparison spreadsheet produced by Scott Kingsley Clark, Matt Gibbs and other plugin authors. The comparison spreadsheet shows the differences between the various plugins at a high level. Unfortunately, I can’t determine when this document was last updated or find an explanation of the various fields represented. For example, one of the fields talks about whether the team contributed back to the WordPress core. It would be interesting to know the qualifications for contributing back to core.
With so many plugins in existence that aim to serve the same purpose, more informative spreadsheets like these would definitely be beneficial for the community.
300 Free Icons For Web And User Interface Design
Adam Whitcroft has released a 300 icon kit for web and user interface design called Batch. Each icon is a single Photoshop layer making blend modes and scaling a breeze. According to the license, WordPress theme or plugin authors should be able to use these in their works:
You are free to use Batch (the “icon set”) or any part thereof (the “icons”) in any personal, open-source or commercial work without obligation of payment (monetary or otherwise) or attribution. Do not sell the icon set, host the icon set or rent the icon set (either in existing or modified form).
While attribution is optional, it is always appreciated.
Intellectual property rights are not transferred with the download of the icons.
This icon set previously had a price tag attached to it. Adam explained why that’s not the case anymore.
What Developers Should Know About WordPress 3.5
Oneextrapixel.com has a list of things that WordPress developers will need to know about concerning WordPress 3.5. However, end users are able to pick up a few things as well, especially the part about settings changes. According to the site, the admin page dedicated to Privacy settings has disappeared. The options on that page have been moved to the Reading Settings area. Also for new installs, the ability to change the Character set has been hidden and will use UTF-8 by default. I think this makes total sense and would like to see similar option UI be removed in the future. Even though the UI will be hidden, you can still access the option via options.php. Going this route seems similar to how FireFox works. While there are things to configure, those who want access to everything can go into About:config.
Over the years, the saying has been, “Decisions, not options“. I wonder when options.php will be renamed to decisions.php.
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