Template news
Ok, here is another promise that you will have to wait for: The template page will be improved soon! (OK, that was a lame one…) I have written a note about it right on the page, where I explain what it will look like once I run the big update script for the site.
Among the new features, the most requested thing will be add-ons. New images (LOTS of new headers and backgrounds!), additional CSS styles, modified CSS styles (for example, a 3-column version of andreas03) and user-submitted material. Want to contribute? Just let me know, I'll add everything that I like, and maybe even some stuff that I don't like. We'll see…
And each template will get its own page on the site, so it will be easy to find the additional material for the template you want. And one of the two new sponsoring options will be the possibility to sponsor single templates - by putting a banner or a text link on the single template pages. At the launch there will be 18-20 ad slots available. All sponsors will also get listed on a separate "Thank you!"-page, along with people who support my work through PayPal donations. The top-5 donators will be listed in the sidebar of all pages on the site as a special thanks to show how much I appreciate your help. You are great, and I hope that this will be a good way to give you something more in return…
Now, as you all know, I am a slow person to fulfill my promises. But my girlfriend Johanna will be away over the weekend with the dogs, leaving me with nothing to do but working on the update. I'm hoping to have most of it all ready to go online on sunday. Until then, can anyone guess the new name of the upcoming design series? It is possible to find it if you do some investigation work on the web, but if you manage to find it - please keep quiet for a few more days!
Comments
Comment from Andreas Viklund
Time: May 18, 2007, 7:45 pm
Oh, I need to be a bit more clear about that: First of all, I'm talking about the original templates now. Not the WordPress themes. Sponsored links in WP-themes is a hot topic, and I'm going to stand up against it by keeping my themes free from sponsored links. But for now, the topic is the website templates…
Sponsoring a template means the possibility to put a banner (or text links) on the single template page of my website, which is the page where the template itself and all add-ons and modifications will be available for download. It will be linked from the current templates page, and I expect the single template pages to get a lot of visitors since the templates page is the single most visited page on my site today.
The template itself will definitely not contain any banner, not a chance! I am not planning to put any kind of sponsored links inside the template itself, since I don't want to force links upon anyone. I have noticed that a whole lot of the new templates that are released today contain these sponsored links, so I guess it is considered OK today. But my templates will be free from ads and sponsored links. With the forthcoming update of all my templates (and themes), all links that may be left inside the templates will be removed - and instead I'm offering the possibility to sponsor the template page of my site.
I don't know if this will work, it depends completely on what sponsors and advertisers think about the idea. But I'm going to give it a try, and I hope that others will follow the idea if it works well. As said, I'm hoping to launch this update on sunday, but I'd be happy to discuss the shape of it before the launch so I can make sure to do this in a way that keeps everybody happy!
Comment from Tomek
Time: May 18, 2007, 7:48 pm
Andreas thanks for update of new design template. It's a really good info for me: "New images (LOTS of new headers and backgrounds!), additional CSS styles, modified CSS styles (for example, a 3-column version of andreas03) and user-submitted material." I can't wait for final version ( sunday sound nice) btw. I will try to guess the name for Your new template design.
Dave i agree with You on: "The text link sponsorship would be ok since I think people who download the themes might not want a banner." But i think 2-3 links not more it's a good idea. Greetings
Comment from Runa
Time: May 18, 2007, 11:35 pm
I'm also very happy to read about the new improvements. I would be very happy to send your a couple of images you could use if you want.
For free, it's obvious…
Comment from dorko
Time: May 19, 2007, 8:34 am
sounds pretty cool :) good luck getting all of that together!
Comment from Robbie
Time: May 19, 2007, 11:30 am
Great news, can't wait for the update ;)
Comment from Hate
Time: May 19, 2007, 12:18 pm
Now I'm looking for a template to redesign my Hate Site. Andreas, yours are at the top of the list!
Comment from Design
Time: May 20, 2007, 1:19 pm
Interesting idea, I think all it will turn out.
Comment from Erdem
Time: May 20, 2007, 1:19 pm
I hope I will find a new Design for my private wordpress that fits perfectly. I hope the new name of the series will be a surprise.
Comment from Gnome
Time: May 20, 2007, 2:23 pm
That is a brilliant way to organize your templates, by giving each template its own page.
Comment from ShopMania
Time: May 21, 2007, 9:40 am
Good luck with the updates and keep us informed. I think the templates sponsoring is the best choice to make the users happy and I do not think anyone will have a problem with it… Obviously I think you should preffer banner advertising
Comment from Design
Time: May 21, 2007, 11:24 am
Andreas it is thought perfectly up. I wait to see result.
Comment from Small Business Articles
Time: May 24, 2007, 7:33 pm
This is a great info. I am a developer but building many sites this time. It's tough to start something new but this site is helping me a lot in designing new templates and developing them later.
Comment from marius
Time: May 29, 2007, 8:36 am
Hello,
I am waiting eagerly for the updates on the templates page. And especially for the new templates. :D
And maybe more 3 columns templates.
Bye bye,
Comment from Dave Butler
Time: May 18, 2007, 7:15 pm
Andreas thanks for the update. Can you email me the details regarding the template sponsorship. The text link sponsorship would be ok since I think people who download the themes might not want a banner.