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:
11:56 am
when’s the beta? :)
sounds great – looking forward to it
12:38 pm
Woww…!
Very very awesome Darren…!
1:01 pm
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.
1:51 pm
Really looking forward to this Darren, the feature set looks fantastic.
1:55 pm
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.
3:37 pm
@Mr. Smith:
Thanks for reading my whole comment–which said exactly what you have–before criticizing what I said.
3:50 pm
Darren,
Youy theme is very, very good! Is fantastic!
In models would make a good style blog, but with the posts.
5:46 pm
Darren,
I’m pumped up for your theme release! Are you planning on doing an affiliate program as well?
10:17 pm
Looking forward to it, your first feature “A custom script that automatically crops and resizes images” sounds really good
12:33 am
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.
1:06 am
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)
1:54 am
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
2:37 am
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!
6:51 am
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.
1:30 pm
Yep, the image carousel is still there, and the are control panel options so you can pick which categories it displays!
3:14 pm
I hope you will make the theme easy to translate!
5:28 pm
got only 1 question; will it come in green? :D
6:07 pm
Do you have any firmer ideas of a price yet Darren, or is that still being mulled over?
7:12 pm
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.
5:09 am
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.