Posts Tagged ‘design’
WordPress 2.7 “Coltrane” Now Available!
December 11, 2008 by Emily
Around the Web, Downloads
After a bunch of betas and two release candidates the WordPress team has finally released WordPress 2.7 “Coltrane” for download. 2.7 is a HUGE leap forward as far as the interface as well as new features it offers. The team has really been listening to it’s users and quietly going down the list adding the most requested features starting back in 2.5 earlier this year, but 2.7 is definitely the culmination of this.
The biggest difference in 2.7 is the new admin interface. Yes, another new admin interface. But this one seems to be here to stay (Matt says we should expect it to still basically be the same a year from now). It was developed with the user in mind to make the area simple to navigate and with as few clicks as possible. The dashboard and the Post pages are also almost completely customizable giving you the ability to drag and drop boxes wherever you want or removing them altogether. Also, don’t forget to check “Your Profile” under Users as the 2.5 color scheme feature is still there and personally, I think the blue color scheme is much nicer than the default gray one.
Perhaps the best new feature in 2.7 is finally the ability to perform one-click upgrades directly from the admin area. No more manual upgrades! No more having to pay your designer to do your upgrades (believe me we don’t mind!). Related to this is the new plugin interface which lets you search for and install new plugins from the plugins database directly inside your admin area. With the plugins database integrated the themes database can’t be that far behind!
Also new is the Comments and Post/Page management interfaces. You can reply to comments directly for the admin now. If you need to edit a category or a tag on a post, you no longer need to open the whole post up, just use the quick edit link to change those things directly from the post management page.
For comments, they have also added new features like threaded comments and paged comments. However, these features will need to be added to your current template, they won’t work unless you have a 2.7 compatible theme. If you need help making your theme 2.7 compatible (or even 2.5 compatible since many themes still don’t support gravatars) feel free to contact us and we can get you set up with all these snazzy new features.
So what are you waiting for? Upgrade your blog today! We can help if you need it, and just think, next time you’ll be able to upgrade with a the click of a button! This is not one of those releases where you need to wait around and see if anything goes wrong. As I mentioned above, there have been several betas and release candidates, plus it already went live on WordPress.com, so millions of people are already using it. This is a very strong release with features that you don’t want to miss out on.
Here’s a nice visual introduction video:
Here are some resources to check out plugin/theme compatibility as well as upgrading your theme to use new 2.7 features:
- 2.7 Plugin Compatibility
- 2.7 Theme Compatibility
- Migrating your Plugins and Themes to 2.7
- How to Create a 2.7 Compatible Comments.php
1 commentThe Seasonal Sale!
October 8, 2008 by Emily
News
It’s now officially Fall, and it’ll be Winter before we know it and there are so many holidays to celebrate during these two seasons! Besides official holidays Swank Web Style will also be having it’s 3rd birthday in November. So to celebrate all these great holidays and thank all of our wonderful clients who have made the last three years so great, we’ve decided to have a sale on blog designs!
It’s actually two sales in one: Order a holiday or season themed blog design, redesign, or graphics and you’ll get 25% off the total price. If you’re not interested in a holiday design, you’ll still get 20% off a regular blog design.
The Seasonal Sale covers any holiday/season between now and February. This includes (but isn’t limited to):
- Fall
- Winter
- Pink for October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
- New Years
- Valentine’s Day
This sale will be active between now and February, but we recommend you contact us ASAP, especially if you wanting a Fall, Halloween, or Christmas design. We understand that you may not want to spend the money on a completely new design, so this sale also includes redesigns or new graphics if you are just looking to give your current design a holiday/seasonal spin.
If you’re not interested in tricking out your blog for the holidays but still want a new design or redesign, then you’ll still get 20% off the total price! However, the regular blog design sale will expire at the end of our birthday month on November 30th, so you must inquire before then to get the discount.
Donate to get a blog design or hosting!
October 7, 2008 by Emily
Around the Web, News
It’s the last day of the Boobiethon and we want them to reach their goal, so we’ve donated some items to help them get there!
The first is a custom blog design for WordPress, Blogger of TypePad. You must donate $250 dollars or more to win this, but it’s completely tax deductible, so in the end you are getting a new blog design for free and you get to donate to a great cause.
The second prize is a year of hosting. You’ll get our Mini Package which is more than enough space and bandwidth for a personal blog. If you don’t already have a blog, we’ll install WordPress on your new account for free! To win this, you must donate $75 or more.
Read more about the prizes here or just go and donate already!! Even if you don’t want to spring for those prizes please consider donating if haven’t already. It’s the last day, so even just $10 or $20 can go a long way to helping them reach their goal.
UPDATE: The boobiethon is now over. Thanks for those who donated!
