Currently in the works…
Year 2011 has started with several simultaneous projects going on at once here on andreasviklund.com. Some are not very obvious, such as optimization work to speed up the site using a cache plugin for WordPress and a significant update to the forum registration form to prevent spam robots from registering and posting in the forum. Other updates are more visible, such as the advertising slots that have been added. It is now possible to get your banner on the site, through advertising zones that are managed by BuySellAds.com. I will write more about the banner areas and how to advertise on this site tomorrow.
Works in progress…
There are also a number of projects that are still in the works, updates and new site features which will be launched in the next couple of weeks and months. I have previously mentioned new pages for CMS themes based on my templates, as well as a section with graphics design resources. An update to the forum is also in progress, as there are some significant features that I miss in current forum solution.
An upcoming feature that I haven’t mentioned yet but which will be launched soon is template-related resources (backgrounds and header images, .PSD source files and other material) which will be available to registered members of the site. Right now, the only thing you can do as a registered member on andreasviklund.com is to post in the forum, but in a couple of weeks registered members will notice a new button in the main navigation menu that will provide access to some new pages with content that will be exclusive to members. Registration will still be free, and all templates will still be available for all site visitors. But there will be some treats for those who want to become a part of the community. Again, I will write more about this in future posts.
Variant Creative (HTML5 version) - coming soon...
Beside building and publishing new templates and experimenting with HTML5 and CSS3, I am also working on an upcoming tool that will make it a lot easier to turn a template into a complete website. The free template gallery will be rewritten to make each template searchable using tags. If you come here looking for a 2-column template with blue colors, you will be able to search to find matching templates, rather than having to browse through all the templates to find what you look for. As the number of templates grow, this will be quite useful. Guest blog posts, contributed templates, mobile website templates and of course more regular free templates are other upcoming releases. I will gradually move on to HTML5 and CSS3, with a HTML5 version of the Variant Creative template coming up as the next release in a few days.
Share your opinion!
Is there something else you would want to see here? Feel free to post suggestions, requests and ideas – I’m all ears. And feel free to register as an andreasviklund.com member to join the discussions in the forum and, once it is launched, get access to some extra content…
This article was written by Andreas Viklund
Web designer, writer and the creative engine behind this website. Author of most of the free website templates, along with some of the WordPress themes.