Development of Mimbo Pro is Wrapping Up
February 23, 2008 ( 42 )
Barring any major snags, the Mimbo Pro theme will be released in less than two weeks. It will be sold exclusively through a new WP theme marketplace run by a blogger/friend who also contributed some fancy programming to Mimbo Pro’s control panel options. Here are some features to look forward to:
- A custom script that automatically crops and resizes images
- Google Analytics and Feedburner options in the control panel
- Advertising management in the control panel
- A built-in contact form with control panel options
- Control panel options for the carousel, lead story and featured stories — total homepage control, no more editing templates manually!
- Attractive custom templates for: search results, date archives, sitemap, contact, author archives and category archives
- Author highlighting and gravatars in the comments section
- Tabbed separation of comments and trackbacks
- Printer-friendly rendering of single post pages
- Custom image gallery template that pulls from all uploaded images
- Dynamic subpage menus for parent pages
There are additional I’m excited about, some I’ve never seen anywhere else. We’ll be fine-tuning things in the next ten days or so and giving close attention to the last tiny details. Though I wish the release date could have come sooner, I’ll be proud when the final product launches knowing that we took our time to do things the right way.
Stay tuned, and meanwhile check out some screenshots:
Popularity: 2% [?]
when’s the beta? :)
sounds great - looking forward to it
Woww…!
Very very awesome Darren…!
Without question, this sounds like the best “premium” theme I’ve seen.
But I must say that it’s truly a pity that all the most interesting WordPress work always ends up locked behind large dollar amounts that most people can’t/shouldn’t pony up the money for. But then I suppose most of the incentive for the new development is the promise of money at the end. Vicious cycle that.
Really looking forward to this Darren, the feature set looks fantastic.
Excellent work Darren. Really looking forward to seeing the final product.
david - I guess your not a designer to understand what it takes to develop a theme and doing it for free isn’t going to pay the bills. As for those who bitch about the “large dollar amounts that most people can’t/shouldn’t pony up the money for”, save up and come back to purchase,find a lesser priced theme or head over to a free theme resource. Complaining about the price is just a waste of time.
@Mr. Smith:
Thanks for reading my whole comment–which said exactly what you have–before criticizing what I said.
Darren,
Youy theme is very, very good! Is fantastic!
In models would make a good style blog, but with the posts.
Darren,
I’m pumped up for your theme release! Are you planning on doing an affiliate program as well?
Looking forward to it, your first feature “A custom script that automatically crops and resizes images” sounds really good
I can’t see from your screenshots how the navigation scheme works. Your previous post on the topic suggested that it will show current location in the hierarchy, which is what seems to be missing from every premium theme I’ve seen to date.
Can you show a screenshot of a page where the top horizontal and left/right nav can be seen properly. I’m really hoping your theme will be my first premium theme purchase.
Thanks for the feedback guys. I haven’t considered an affiliate program yet, but it’s something to look into.
Re: navigation, the first screenshot demonstrates how category tabs are highlighted on their respective pages, and when you’re on single-post pages, there will be breadcrumbs at the top, example: “You are here: Home -> Gadgets -> iPhone -> Apple release the new iPhone”. Hope I’m answering what you were asking. Once I announce the demo URL, things will make much more sense ;)
Another thing I’m excited about is that the custom category templates I mentioned won’t resemble a typical date-based archives list, like you see on the current Mimbo. They’re laid out more like mini-homepages or category portals. For a similar example, visit CNN.com and click the Entertainment or Health tab.
(I mentioned CNN without mocking it, what’s happening to me)
Keep me on your list as well looking to purchase this as soon as it hits.
I have a couple of project just waiting for this.
Add my name to your Beta list also if your doing one.
-Cheers
I’ve been waiting for this theme since I saw the first screen shots. I want this new theme sooooo bad. You’ve created a feeding frenzy Darren!
A short message from The Netherlands! We think your design is incredible. Could you tell us if the ‘articles slideshow area’ is still in there? We hopefully will be the first one from The Netherlands that buy the template.
Yep, the image carousel is still there, and the are control panel options so you can pick which categories it displays!
I hope you will make the theme easy to translate!
got only 1 question; will it come in green? :D
Do you have any firmer ideas of a price yet Darren, or is that still being mulled over?
Heh, it won’t come in green right out of the box, but pending success of the theme, I am considering releasing 5-10 ‘customization packs’ (images + css) which would afford different colors and styles, but with the same Mimbo Pro functionality. Or, I’ll just make multiple styles of the theme and sell them separately. Not sure yet what works best.
Re: price, I’ll be announcing that when launch-time comes. If you’re already familiar with the market, know that pricing will be competitive with what’s out there.
Thank you for raising the bar again on the WordPress premium theme scene, the feature list is wonderful and I wish you a big success on this.
You rock, seriously.
Darren,
I think between the first screenshot and the “image gallery” shot I have an idea of how the navigation will look. Looks like users can tell via the navigation scheme where they are in the site’s structure. Hierarchical breadcrumb trail on single post pages is a nice bonus.
Hi Darren.. Will it work with WPMU? Any clue for the price? I might be interested in paying in advance if you accept. :)
Waiting for your release.. and wanna be ur first buyer from India :)
Darren, looking really good man. You’re gonna keep me up late at night trying to keep up - way to go, and great job!
Hey, it looks incredibly great, i’m tryin’ to customize the free mimbo, but maybe buyin’ the pro version it’s a clever decision.
Regards from Brazil!
Will it work with WPMU?
Haven’t tested that quite yet, but check back in a month.
You’re gonna keep me up late at night trying to keep up - way to go, and great job!
Thanks man, and ditto to trying to keep up with one another. Speaking of sleep, I’ve had nothing but 5-hrs per night since December, so I’ll be glad when the Pro theme goes live and I can take a small break.
Dear Darren,
I just want to tell you that you are doing a good job. Your sleepless nights are being worthy.
In addition I want you to know that I’m setting up a newspaper on International Politics for the Spanish speaking world and it will be using Mimbo Pro. We’re just waiting for you to release it!!! :o)
One great wp themer to another keeping themselves civilized. Brian Gardner and darren yall must be back and forth checking each others stuff out.
I have used both mimbo and revolution and i must say never have been more excited about a theme release. Im like a kid on christmas morning eagerly waiting to open my christmas presents.
If there is a beta sign me up
Shonari
Jamaica WI
Just another question if that’s OK Darren, will the new Mimbo Pro be keeping the current drop down menu, as Mimbo has?
Yes — there’ll be dropdowns for the category menu (top) and conditional subpage nav for the Page menu (sidebar).
daren
i look forward to this very much. For the comments, will it include the ability for comments to be formatted (bold, links, etc) and also for people to easily ‘quote’ other comments like ‘quote this’ link next to each comment
I am in the market for a news-type theme for multiple sites. This one looks interesting, so I am anxious to see it. However, for me to be interested, I would need to be able to change colors and header images/logos for each one. I would hope that would be availabe
John
Can’t wait for this theme to be released. I’ll be changing the colors to red once I get it so if others are interested I might be able to give the red images/css attribs as long as it all goes well.
Keep us updated!
Please put me on your list as well. This might be what I am looking for. Some questions: Will it be possible to add several images to an article? Will it be posible to download single articles as PDF? Will it be totally impossible to translate the design/messages? Will it be possible to add captcha to the comment-system?
Last: Will it be possible to add some static text to include onto the printer friendly output?
thanks,
John,
Norway
I am currently using Mimbo-1, interested in buying Mimbo Pro. How much will it cost?
Quit responding to comments and finish this theme up! ;-)
Please email when it’s available.