New v0.3 release adds hero images, automatic thumbnails, RSS feed ads, breadcrumbs and header customization

by on April 10, 2009 » Add more comments.

Okay — new logo — pretty sure this is final. Also getting closer to launch marketing deliverable and program. Expect to see a new home landing page design soon.

This release is a major step towards getting out of Beta and putting Version 1.0 into production. You can read the readme.tx for over 2 dozen changes, but here are the highlights…

  • Put a hero image on ANY page. By just uploading an image and naming it right, you can add a hero image to any page. I’m using this feature on the home page. No need to upload an image, copy the URL and adding it to a custom field. Just create your 940×260 (FULL width is mandatory, height can vary) and upload it to the Ashford folder. I am NOT sure this feature will continue — but it show the direction I’d like to proceed.
  • Thumbnails auto-magically display on the Blog page template. You do not have to do anything. Ashford will find the image, crop and resize it. This feature requires PHP 4.3+ and the GD library. Let me know ASAP if it fails on your server. I also reworked the Blog template layout making it more appealing. The next release will see a new blog post (single.php) layout optimized for usabillity and to decrease bounce rates.
  • Comments now support Gravatars. I also separated comments and trackbacks/pings. You can also now  get a comments only RSS feed.
  • Add “text and links” to the end of each post that displays in your RSS feed. Use this as an add or to promote your next book. Cool and unobtrusive. NOTE: This only works if you display summaries in your RSS feed (bug in WordPress that does not allow me to add this to full posts).
  • Breadcrumbs are now added to every page. To increase usability and site performance…I added decided to add breadcrumbs. In the next release, I’ll make it so you can choose to display them or not. Right now you’re stuck with them. Credit: thanks to Yoast for this function.
  • Header adds more customization. You can change up the color of all kinds of layout elements, but now you can choose to replace Blog Name and Tagline with a logo image. You also can choose to add your RSS feed and search box to menu.

There are over 20 items in the changelog. Next release is going to focus on blogging. I will add some new Blog templates (to suppport the pending Ashford Store) and improve the Blog detail view.

The goal is to create a theme that allows people to easily create a usable site that produces results. Once Version 1 launches, you will see a flood of child themes that will make Ashford visually blow you a way.

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