Category: Blog
WP-Clear 3.2 Premium WordPress Theme Now Available
We recently completed an update of WP-Clear, and version 3.2 is now available for download in the Solostream member’s area after you login. Here’s a list of the changes we made:
1. Bugfix for featured content sliders.
This has been an intermittent problem with many of our responsive themes when viewed on mobile devices, and we’re happy to finally have a viable solution. We’ll be implementing this fix in our other themes over the next several weeks.
2. Added 4 new Blog page templates.
We’ve had several folks requesting these of late, so we decided it was a great “standard feature” to begin adding to our themes. You can see these Blog page templates in action on the WP-Clear demo site when you hover over the Page Templates link in the top navigation bar.
3. Rewrote code to make theme more child-theme friendly.
More and more folks are using WordPress child themes as a way to customize their theme, and technically, it’s the best approach when you need to change core theme files. As such, we rewrote much of the theme’s code to make it easier to create a child theme.
4. Added some new widgets.
We added a Featured Post widget, which allows you to feature a single post in any of the widgetized areas. We also added a Featured Posts widget, which allows you to feature a number of posts with a specific tag. You can see both these widgets in action on the WP-Clear demo site.
5. Other minor bug fixes.
These bugs have mainly to do with the visual display of the theme, as well as problems with Basic Style theme settings now working as intended.
How to Upgrade to WP-Clear 3.2 from WP-Clear 3.1+
1. Download latest version after you login to the Solostream member’s area.
2. Upload the new version to your WordPress site – The simplest way to do this is via the Theme page in your WP dashboard. Just go to your Themes page, click the “Install Themes” tab at the top, then click the “Upload” link, and upload the theme zip file.
3. Activate the new version – You can do this immediately after you upload the theme, or do it from the Themes page in your dashboard.
4. Update your custom menus – You may have to visit Appearance >> Menus in your WP dashboard and reassign your custom menus.
5. What to do if you modified the previous version – If you modified the previous version of the theme, you may have to carry those changes over to the new version. If you made modifications via the theme settings page, those changes should appear in the new version automatically. If you made changes via the custom.css file, you will just need to manually copy those changes over to version 3.2 custom.css. If you made changes to any other theme files, you will need to manually copy those changes over to the new theme as well.
How to Upgrade to WP-Clear 3.2 from WP-Clear 3.0 or Older
If you’re still using WP-Clear 3.0 or older, please read this post.
Questions?
If you have questions about anything in this post, feel free to post them in the comments section. If you have theme-specific support issues, please login to the members area and post your question(s) on the support forum.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday Coupon Code: Save 20% on Solostream Themes and Memberships
Now through midnight on November 26, you can save 20% on all Solostream Premium WordPress themes and memberships. To take advantage of this offer, use the coupon code below when you check-out.
Coupon Code: 5084BE
We wish you a safe and happy holiday season, and thank you for your support over this past year.
Hurricane Sandy – An Unwelcome Visitor
We are about to feel the brunt of a major storm for the second time in a little over a year. Last time it was Hurricane Irene. This time it is Sandy and apparently this storm is going to make last year’s experience feel like a dry run.
All of the Northeast is under alert to prepare for this massive storm. The authorities are predicting major power outages throughout the region that are going to last for days.
Since our team is based throughout this area, we expect that it will be a challenge to provide our normal level of support. Please bear with us as we weather the storm and do our best to find ways to support the Solostream community.
WP-Professional – Premium WordPress Theme for Coaches, Consultants and Other Independent Professionals
We’re please to announce the release of our latest Premium WordPress theme, WP-Professional. As the name implies, this theme is geared toward Personal and Business Coaches, Consultants, Authors and anyone else who’s in the business of sharing ideas.
If you take a peek at the theme demo site, the first thing you’ll likely notice is Featured Content slider at the top. In this slider, you have the option to show any one – or all – of the following components:
- Video Email Capture Form
- Standard Email Capture Form
- Featured WordPress Pages with a featured image or video.
- Featured WordPress Posts with a featured image or video.
What you’ll also find is a clean, modern-looking design with big, beautiful fonts, minimal graphics and plenty of white-space to show off your most inspiring ideas. Also, like our other recent themes, WP-Professional is built on a responsive design framework, which means it will look great on mobile devices as well as desktop machines.
If you’re not a coach, consultant or other independent professional – but you still like the look of this theme – you’ll be happy to know that it’s versatile enough to serve very well as a standard business website, blog or online magazine.
All-in-all, we’re really happy with the way WP-Professional turned out, and we hope you will be too.
WP-Clear 3.1 Premium WordPress Theme Now Available (Plus Upgrade Guidance)
We recently completed several upgrades to WP-Clear, and version 3.1 is now available for download in the Solostream Member’s Area.
If you’re using WP-Clear currently, you should read over this before you upgrade.
Most of the changes we made are relatively minor, but there is one major change that may impact how you use the theme going forward. Lets get started with that one major change.
If you’d rather check out the WP-Clear demo site first, find it here.
Premium WordPress Theme: WP-Bold 1.0
Solostream is pleased to announce the release of our latest creation, WP-Bold. Like our other recent themes, WP-Bold is loaded with options and is built on a responsive design framework, so you can be sure your site will look great on mobile devices as well as laptops and desktops.
If you’re already a Premium Themes member, you’ll find the download link on the member’s page after you login.
For a closer look, check out the WP-Bold demo site here …
WP-Ellie 2.0 Premium WordPress Theme Now Available
We’re happy to announce the release of WP-Ellie 2.0. Just like WP-Prosper 2.0, which we released earlier this month, WP-Ellie has been completely rebuilt on top of the WP-DaVinci theme framework.
Check out the demo site here …
If you’re currently using WP-Ellie 1.0, the really good news is you’ll get a great deal more functionality with version 2.0. The not so good news is that the upgrade path may not be a simple “upload and activate” process.
In fact, if you decide to use version 2.0, you should consider it an entirely new theme. That means any theme settings or customizations you’ve made on version 1.0 will not be carried over. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this might cause you, but we hope the additional functionality will more than make up for it.
Keep scrolling down past the screenshot for a list of the major changes we’ve made with version 2.0.
1. Overhauled Image Handling
For featured content images and post thumbnails, we’ve combined the Get the Image (GTI) plugin with native WordPress functionality. You may wonder why we still use GTI plugin with the theme, and the simple reason is that many of our existing customers don’t use the built-in WordPress Featured Image function. For those folks, the GTI plugin will extract an image from the post (or page) and use it as the post thumbnail or featured image.
What To Do Upon Upgrade or Initial Install
After you install and activate the theme, you’ll be taken directly to the Theme Settings page. There, you’ll see a link to regenerate your post thumbnails. You’ll want to click that link and on the following page, click the Regenerate All Thumbnails button. It should only take a minute or so, depending on how many images you have on your site, and it will ensure your post images are sized correctly for the theme.
If you’re not doing so already, you’ll want to use the WordPress Featured Image function going forward. This will ensure that all your post thumbnails and Featured Article images are a consistent size.
The “Featured Image” metabox should show up on the Edit Post and Edit Page screens. If it isn’t, make sure “Featured Image” is enabled in the screen options on the top right corner of your WordPress dashboard.
2. Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Design
Like most of our recent themes, WP-Ellie is built to respond to the browser size of your site visitor. That way, your site will look great no matter what sort of device it’s viewed on.
What To Do Upon Upgrade or Initial Install
Nothing much for you to do here. The theme should handle all the heavy lifting for you. That said, if you’ve made customizations to an earlier version of WP-Ellie, you’ll want to copy those over to the custom.css file in WP-Ellie 2.0. If you’ve made style changes via the Theme Settings page, as I mentioned above, those will not be carried over.
3. Moved the Social Media Icons
This is a relatively small change, but we’ve moved the social media icons out of the top navigation bar to allow more space for links. The social media icons are now available via the Social Media Icons widget.
What To Do Upon Upgrade or Initial Install
Just know we’ve moved the icons, so you’ll want to be sure to add the Social Media Icons widget to your sidebar or any of the other widgetized areas.
4. Redesigned the Header/Logo Area
Because of the responsive design elements, we had reconfigure the header/logo area. If you’re currently using a full-width header image, along with a 468×60 banner ad in the header, this could prove to be a problem for you. If this is the case, please post the issue on the support forum, and we’ll do as much as we can to help you find a solution.
5. Added Some New Page Templates and Layouts
We added several new features and page templates to the theme. Rather than list them all here, I’ll direct you to the demo site. For a list of the various page templates, just hover over the top navigation link labeled “Page Templates.” We also added several Post and Page layout options. To see those, hover over the link labeled “Post/Page Layouts.”
That about covers it. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post a comment below. If you have any support-related questions, please login to the Solostream Member’s area and click the Support Forum link.
If Upgrading, Be Sure to Update Your Custom Menus
If you are upgrading from a previous version of WP-Ellie, you will likely have to visit the Menus panel in your WP dashboard and re-assign your custom menus.
WP-Prosper 2.0 Premium WordPress Theme Now Available
We’re pleased to announce the release of WP-Prosper 2.0. If you’re using WP-Prosper currently, you’ll want to give this a good read before you upgrade.
If you’d like, you can check out the demo site first here.
WP-Prosper 2.0 is Completely Rebuilt
If you’re using WP-Prosper currently, the first thing you should understand is that version 2.0 is a total rebuild. In other words, although it looks nearly identical to the original version, the underlying code is completely different. Therefore, you should treat it as you would a brand new theme.
That means any customizations you’ve made to version 1.0 will not be carried over if you decide to use version 2.0. Also, any settings you’ve changed on the Theme Settings Page will not be carried over to version 2.0.
The reason for the total overhaul is that WP-Prosper 1.0 came out before we created the WP-DaVinci theme framework, which is the codebase that underlies all our latest themes.
WP-Prosper 2.0 Has Many New Features
If you take a peek at the list of features available on version 2.0, you’ll see we’ve added a bunch of new stuff. Here’s a short list:
- Responsive Design Framework
- Featured Pages Slider
- Featured Photos Slider
- Featured Videos Slider
- Alternate Home Page Template for Business Sites
- All Authors Page Template
- YouTube Videos Page Template
- Portfolio Page Template
- Built-In Author Page
- Multiple Post and Page Layout Options
- Featured Page Widget
- YouTube Videos Widget
- Category Posts Widget
- Social Networking Icons Widget
- Footer Widgets
With these added features, along with a cleaner, more efficient codebase, we’re pretty sure you’ll love this new version even more than the original.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments section below.
Premium WordPress Theme: WP-Mysterious 1.0
We’re pleased to announce the release of our latest premium WordPress theme, WP-Mysterious. After many, many requests for a dark theme, we finally created one. We hope you enjoy it.
Test-drive WP-Mysterious here …
WP-DaVinci 2.0 Premium WordPress Theme Now Available
We’ve made several upgrades to WP-DaVinci, and I’d like to take a few minutes and talk about the major ones. If you’re using WP-DaVinci already, you’ll want to read over this to see what you’ll need to do to upgrade. Don’t worry though. It should be a relatively easy upgrade.
If you’d like, you can check out the demo site first here.
1. Overhauled Image Handling
For several reasons, we eliminated the Timthumb script and replaced it with native WordPress functionality. We’re still using the Get the Image (GTI) plugin, but we’ve built it into the theme to make install and set-up easier for our users.
You may wonder why we still use GTI plugin with the theme, and the simple reason is that many of our existing customers don’t use the built-in WordPress Featured Image function. For those folks, the GTI plugin will extract an image from the post (or page) and use it as the post thumbnail or featured image.
What To Do Upon Upgrade or Initial Install
After you install and activate the theme, you’ll be taken directly to the Theme Settings page. There, you’ll see a link to regenerate your post thumbnails. You’ll want to click that link and on the following page, click the Regenerate All Thumbnails button. It should only take a minute or so, depending on how many images you have on your site, and it will ensure your post images are sized correctly for the theme.
If you’re not doing so already, you’ll want to use the WordPress Featured Image function going forward. This will ensure that all your post thumbnails and Featured Article images are a consistent size.
The “Featured Image” metabox should show up on the Edit Post and Edit Page screens. If it isn’t, make sure “Featured Image” is enabled in the screen options on the top right corner of your WordPress dashboard.
2. Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Design
Like most of our recent themes, WP-DaVinci is built to respond to the browser size of your site visitor. That way, your site will look great no matter what sort of device it’s viewed on.
What To Do Upon Upgrade or Initial Install
Nothing much for you to do here. The theme should handle all the heavy lifting for you. That said, if you’ve made customizations to an earlier version of WP-DaVinci, you’ll want to copy those over to the custom.css file in DaVinci 2.0. If you’ve made style changes via the Theme Settings page, those should transfer automatically.
3. Separated Subscribe Box Widget and Social Media Icons Widget
This is a relatively small change, but we’ve moved the social media icons out of the Subscribe Box widget and given them their own Social Media Icons widget.
What To Do Upon Upgrade or Initial Install
Just know these are now two separate widgets, so you’ll want to be sure to add the Social Media Icons widget, in addition to the Subscribe Box widget.
4. Redesigned the Default Style
We created a new default style for the theme. It’s the one you are viewing now. The previous default style is still available via the Theme Settings page under the Basic Site Settings. It’s style4.css under the Alternate Stylesheet field.
What To Do Upon Upgrade or Initial Install
If you liked the previous default style and would like to keep it as the design for your site, simply go to the Theme Settings page and select it under Basic Site setting.
5. Redesigned the Header/Logo Area
Because of the responsive design elements, we had reconfigure the header/logo area. If you’re currently using a full-width header image, along with a 468×60 banner ad in the header, this could prove to be a problem for you. If this is the case, please post the issue on the support forum, and we’ll do as much as we can to help you find a solution.
6. Redesigned the Featured Videos Slider
Again, because of the responsive design elements, we had to rework the featured video slider. If you’re attached to the previous version of the Featured Videos slider, let us know in the forum, and we’ll see what we can do to help you.
7. Added Some New Page Templates
We added a few new Page templates, which you can see on the demo site.
- All Authors Page Template – This will be useful for you if you have multiple authors writing on your site.
- Portfolio Page Template
- YouTube Videos Page
That about covers it. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post a comment below. If you have any support-related questions, please login to the Solostream Member’s area and click the Support Forum link.
If Upgrading, Be Sure to Update Your Custom Menus
If you are upgrading from a previous version of WP-DaVinci, you will likely have to visit the Menus panel in your WP dashboard and re-assign your custom menus.
