New blog theme coming, need your input!
Well, I’ve finally managed to clear out enough of my other web projects to focus a bit more on developing some cool new stuff for photographers. I’m beginning to work on a brand new blog theme (template) for photographers that hopefully will be available within 1-2 months. When it’s ready I’m going to figure out a way to give a significant discount to anyone who has already purchased a theme from me if you’re interested in the new one.
My question to you all is, what kind of stuff would you like to see in a new blog theme? What design elements do you want? What new features or functionalities would be cool? What do you wish your blog had? Please leave me comments!
Some of the things I’m thinking so far:
- A new and different design, still featuring really big images and a prominent bio area, but departing somewhat from the look and feel of ProPhoto.
- A theme admin control panel area built into the WordPress admin where you could customize almost every aspect of the theme without ever touching the code through the theme editor.
- A built-in contact form
- Maybe a simple portfolio feature with a large slideshow for people who wanted to just have a blog and not also have a flash portfolio site
So, what do you think?
all of these things sound wonderful! It would also be nice if the existing template could stay the same but have options.
I would love to be able to switch between themes, and not have to customize the content (i.e. resize images to fit the new theme, etc). So I can switch things up and still not have to work so hard when I switch between different themes.
I like the idea with a portfolio feature, so that the blog almost can become a complete website, as the blog is so much easier to update than a website.
Something that would be cool too would be the ability to implement easily a fast image viewer, like when you upload images to the gallery, you can either have them in the post after each other, or have them all in a flash based slideshow type of thing.
In-post slideshows…
love your ideas!
Your list is great already. These are what I want:
A gallery page that is more of a photoblog. I hope there’s just a “add-to-gallery” button somewhere. It’s like a summary of photos that have been posted. It’s like having two themes integrated as one - a regular blog and a photoblog.
Contact form should have a system to avoid spam.
Ability to add more links making the blog as full-blown website-blog.
Ability to organize my archives, per year maybe.
More visible RSS link.
Email to friend or built-in “share-this” link.
ALL of this sounds Fab! but I just got mine!!!! I”m going to have to upgrade!!! hahah Thanks for being the coolest!
+1 on Dino’s list
More (and simpler) customization options for the top section so that everybody who uses Prophoto doesn’t have the same layout and basic look to their blog. eg. ability to move the main links to below the main masthead image, and over to the left of the page. eg2. Have the main masthead larger and start it at the top of the page, rather than below the logo.
Can you make the new theme call and do sales presentations with my clients and maybe proof for me? Pretty please?
Can’t wait to see the new template, I love the original one, so I’m sure this one will rock!
I’d like to see the same post and comment formatting that’s on the home page on the individual post pages, search post pages, and archive post pages.
Thanks!
I agree that your ideas are already great and wanted! Functionality and sleekness of Jessica Claire’s new blogsite are great. I’m not saying I want a clone or anything, but the feel of the blogsite overall is great and shnazzy! Love your ideas like I said. The one thing I still want, is more customization of the nav bar as far as look and placement goes. Thanks Jared!!!!!
lovin these ideas!
I would love for something like the picture thumbnails in the sidebar of this template: http://graphpaperpress.com/demo/monochrome/
Or…what would make me HAVE TO BUY IT THAT VERY MINUTE is for a favorites feature like is on this blog: http://www.thewiebners.com/blog.cfm
Maybe something that isn’t voted on (the pictures are there by vote) but that the blog writer could post there. And the custom photo header backgrounds for each post (and the way each post has its own background)rock my world. I know you can’t just build a replica of that blog…but if you COULD, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
Can’t wait to see what you come up with! (though my bank account can)
Ability for visitors to subscribe (via email) to comments so that for example, after I leave a comment, I would get emails (if I choose to) when someone else leaves a comment after me.
i would love to have links at the bottom of each post that will let someone email the post, and one that will let them link to the post.
I’d love to see this! I like to have a “sticky” on the top (much like the bio, but with other information) that would allow me to leave a post at the top for a little longer (maybe I could paste it into a regular post when I’m ready to change it?)
Please just let me know when it comes out!!! I can’t wait!!!!!
Hurry up!!! I wanna buy ASAP!
I’m not sure if this has already been said, but I would love to have the ability to create pages (like an “About” or “Info” or “Prices” page) — I haven’t been able to figure out how to do that yet!
Thank you!!!
Alana » you can do that right now, just go to “write” => “page”, instead of “post”.
YES! Please, this is EXACTLY what I am looking for. If you had the portfolio feature, I wouldn’t even bother getting a site - I would just buy your template! When do you think you will start offering it?!
All those things sound great but please, please keep it single column. It’s hard as hell to find single column themes that look good and that can work well for a photographer.
The other things I would add. A comment box that stays on the webpage (in a frame) like alot of http://www.infinetdesign.com/ sites, that would be nice. It works more like a chat than a comment system, but it’s also “hideable” just like your current setup is. For some reason that ajax comment system (seems like what you’re using) is super slow I’d probably try to do something about that. It slugs out when you try to unhide and comment in the current system.
Other than that I’d say you already have everything perfect the way it is if you added the new stuff.
@Matt: Agreed, I will definitely keep it one column.
Hi Jared,
LOVING my new blog! I am singing your praises on it to all of my pet photographer friends around the country. In fact, one is even signing up tomorrow!
Although I love the current template, I am excited to see the new one as well. One thing I would request, and I think I speak for many people, is (relatively easy) flexibility in terms of where we place the menu. I was able to tweak mine, after many many hours of trial and error, to get it below the (shortened) header image, and also spread out across the page with new menu items added. Or maybe you could just design a template with that layout. It seems to be more intuitive- more like a normal website.
Also, I know this is like impossible, but many of us are used to having a blogroll and favorite posts links on the right-hand side of the page. I know you’d lose some image size if you did that (say, 200px??) but if we had that option for a VERY skinny little blogroll, that would be great. I don’t want to lose my big images but I’d love to have a blogroll on the homepage, because I love my virtual community and my peeps love it.
Don’t know if it’s possible but it’s something many of my old blog users have requested. They all say “I miss easy access to your blogroll!
Anyway- GREAT work! Thanks for giving us such an AWESOME product!
I feel that 2 links to you in the footer is a bit excessive. I wish there was only one as that’s all that’s needed.
Also, can I add other links there, like to my webhost or Wordpress etc.?
any update on when this will be released? I’m excited, and having trouble waiting.
@phototristan: sorry if you feel it’s excessive. i definitely see it differently. building links to the ProPhoto site and to my company is part of how i get paid, and how i keep the cost so low.
adding links to the footer is difficult the way i have it coded now, you can try inserting them into the footer.php file and see how it looks.
What about page width of the new blog? Will it be as a huge as the current one? As much as I fancy the bigger size images, we can keep bigger images without having a full page (1000px) spread, especially since it’s single column anyway. I think the new theme should be a bit shorter, probably in the 7-800 range. I wish there was an easy way to shorten the current one but there’s not without adjusting the entire thing.
“Ability for visitors to subscribe (via email) to comments so that for example, after I leave a comment, I would get emails (if I choose to) when someone else leaves a comment after me.”
Cool, I found the “Subscribe to Comments” plug-in for this functionality
@Matt: standard width of the new theme will be the same as this one: optimized for 900px wide images. there may be a setting you can easily change to make it narrower, if you want. depending on if i can code it in without too much trouble.
Ooo that would be really nice. I have a huge 24″ widescreen monitor so what I see and what most people see are two different things, I just know when I was back on a 12″ I wasn’t a fan of websites that use the entire screen width, even worse when you had to side scroll to see anything. So that feature would be really awesome! I can’t wait to see the new design.
A built in Contact Form sounds awesome! That would be #1 on my list. I’ve loved my new blog and am still getting it up to speed - can’t wait to see the new stuff!!
Love all the ideas. Would definitely want the portfolio, ability to move the nav bar under the header (u can now, I just don’t know how) and have it wider, comments on all pages, more editing options: Post titles only in dif. font, edit of date stamp, etc. Some kind of link (maybe the portfolio would work) where you can click to advance pages and could detail pricing,products.
I know you’ll come up with something great, can’t wait!!
I’ve just bought your ProPhoto template, and it’s great - the clean look and focus on large photos is exactly what I have been looking for. Compared to the amount of time it would have taken me to produce myself, the cost is very reasonable.
I love the idea of a portfolio feature. Actually, this is something I may try myself by making a custom page and using the WordPress’s new built-in media stuff. I’ll see if I end up with anything useful and let you all know how it goes.
I would love to be able to see an archive of all posts that just shows a thumbnail of the photos used in the posts. Does that fit in with any of your ideas?
I would like to see more dynamic intros, than just the flash header.
BUT, what I would really like to see is any pages that we name, will show up in the url!!
@Andrea Robinson: what do you mean by “any pages that we name, will show up in the URL”?
Okay,
So when I create a page, in the url it’s: /page_id=@
I would like it say the NAME that I created the page as instead of that.
Does that make sense?
@Andrea Robinson: that’s not a theme issue, that has to do with how you set up your permalinks under “settings” -> “permalinks” you can change it so that they work that way. however, sometimes this also requires editing a file called .htaccess. it varies between server configurations. if you try to do it and all your links stop working, switch back to the default and do a little research on how to edit your .htaccess file.
this is not something that can be built into a theme, it must be set in the WordPress admin area, and often requires editing the .htaccess file.
What abut a link underneath a post to “forward to a friend”.
@Andrea Robinson: got it. it will have that feature. and some pretty slick twitter integration as well.
What about a section underneath the bio but before a post - where if we have an announcement we can place it there?
@Andrea Robinson: that’s kind of a cool idea. it’s currently achievable by creating a “sticky” post that stays at the top (accomplished by using a plugin), but maybe just a small announcement area would be cool.
hey Jared! I’m just checking back to see if anything ever came of a new design. I’m still looking forward to seeing what you create!
how do you get only your comments to show up as a different color from the rest of ours on your blog?
@–Christine: still working, getting closer! it’s about 200 times more powerful, so it’s taking me a while. plus, i’ve been doing a bunch of other non-wordpress web development projects as well.