Over the weekend, I caught a glimpse of what was supposedly a new design for the WordPress Themes Repository. As was explained by Steven Hodson, the screen shots were taken from his browser when he visited the theme repository. The screen shots showcase a carousel view for browsing through themes, icons for navigating and downloading themes, a single page view which displays detailed information regarding the theme ect. No matter how hard I and many others tried, we couldn’t get the theme repository to display in the same way that it did for Steve. Lloyd Budd stopped by my blog post and left this as the comment: Hi Jeff, those screen shots are fake. I’m 100% certain. I just checked and there isn’t any code, nor has there been, to produce that type of experience. I’ve been subscribed to Steve’s blog for quite some time and he is not one […]

This is my first video plugin review for WeblogToolsCollection, so any feedback is appreciated.The plugin being reviewed is AJAXed WordPress v1.11.1 (Download | Plugin Homepage). The browser I used was Firefox 2.0 on Mac OS X Leopard. WordPress 2.5 was used to demonstrate the plugin’s compatibility with the upcoming version of WordPress. Video Summary: AJAXed WordPress is a good plugin if you want some quick AJAX functionality in your WordPress theme. Pros: Easy installation. Ingenious modular design. Cons: Some template editing. Auto-inclusion of credit link (can be removed in the Plugin options). Request for Feedback Since this is the first video review, feedback is much appreciated. If you like these kind of reviews, then there will be more on the way. Furthermore, if you would like your own plugin reviewed, please get in contact with me via e-mail (ronalfy+wltc @ gmail dot com). Please keep in mind I won’t review […]

WordPress Development Blog: 2.5 Sneak Peek  I love the staccato description Matt uses to start the post: A customizable dashboard, multi-file upload, built-in galleries, one-click plugin upgrades, tag management, built-in Gravatars, full text feeds, and faster load times sound interesting? The first Release Candidate for WordPress 2.5 is out for those that have been waiting patiently to try out the new features. Matt details out the updates and the new features of 2.5 on the development blog and the good news is spreading in the WordPress circles. In addition to many underlying changes and updates to the code, the administration back end of WordPress gets a major rework in this version. The release candidate is not for everyone and can be downloaded for testing and bug searching. If you make frequent backups and you’re interested in helping us out with development by testing the new code, download and install Release […]

Two Column Themes CoolWater CoolWater is a two column widget ready theme which is largely made up of green and blue colors. Overall the theme looks aesthetic. Demo | Release Page | Download Squared Squared is a two column theme based on sandbox and is customizable through the admin panel. The theme is available in English and Italian. Release Page | Download Three Column Themes Chronicles Chronicles is a three column widget ready theme made up of brown color. The content area is large enough to hold medium sized images. Demo | Release Page | Download Anumati Anumati is a theme based on World of Warcraft. The theme is largely made of purple colors and its content area can be used to show of smaller images. Demo | Release Page | Download

Noupe has a very large list of various WordPress hacks and techniques for all you coders out there. Topics include the Loop, categories, excerpts, navigation, trackbacks, custom fields, permalinks, and much more. The list is the first part of a four-part series to cover various aspects of WordPress.

This past week of WordPress 2.5 developments saw the addition of changeable color schemes to the 2.5 admin interface. Ryan started us off by announcing that WordPress 2.5 will feature two different color schemes. One color scheme will be called Classic while the other will be Fresh. Fresh will feature the newly redesigned color scheme while Classic will contain darker shades of blue and gray. Now, the only decision is whether to have Classic or Fresh be the default color scheme. So far, it looks like Fresh is winning the race. If that were not enough, I asked Ryan if this would allow end users to upload style sheets that are created by members of the community into the back end which could then be selected to change the color scheme. Ryan simply answered with “New color schemes can be added as plugins”. For those that need a visual aid, […]

Section Specific Text The widget allows to display text in certain sections of your blog. The plugin also allows you to insert both html as well as php code provided by other plugins. Release Page | Download FirstTimer Shows a custom message and image to visitors who are visiting for the first time. This plugin uses cookies to identify unique users so the message may be served everytime a user clears cookies. Release Page | Download PageFlip PageFlip is a plugin which allows you to create a virtual book you can browse with your mouse, can be used for creating photo albums and references. Release Page | Download TipJoy TipThis Allows you to add a TipThis button to each of your posts using your TipJoy account where users can add tips about the stuff you love. Release Page | Download Collapsible Elements Allows you to add collapsible elements to your […]

Top 10 WordPress CMS Plugins: I am a sucker for top 10 lists about WordPress, especially if they contain useful information. This list of top ten plugins put together from the experiences of a professional design firm, will help you create a full CMS out of a WordPress blog. I have used a few of these myself on various projects and their flexibility and speciality together with WordPress’ versatility and extensibility make a phenomenal combination. From the post: For moderately sized sites (including simple e-Commerce sites), WordPress does a pretty good job as a CMS, making it easy to maintain your site, and update your content. Of course, it does this best with the help of a good theme, and some great plugins. The strength of WordPress is the community of developers who have already done almost anything you can think of with it. Here are the best plugins we’ve […]