So today what I’d like to do is pose a couple questions and get your input. What we put out here at Giant Themes is more about you than it is us, so in order to make sure we’re releasing products you really, really want to use, I’d love if you could take a moment and answer the questions below. The form sends an email directly to me, so use a valid email address so we can chat further – and you can possibly win a free theme or two if your ideas are used

By filling out this form with your name, email and url, we’ll get an email with your info and look at featuring your customization when we launch the showcase (will be happening before the end of September). So fill the form out below and get in touch with us!

Quick sneak peek of the SideView portfolio WordPress theme we’ve been chatty about this past week. It’s going to be AWESOME

Today we sent out a newsletter update to our newsletter subscribers and shared information on what we’re doing around here as well as links to view two sneak peeks of the new version of Giant Themes. Just in case anyone missed out on signing up for the newsletter, you can do so below.

Shortcodes are here

The first set of many shortcodes has been created for this release. The shortcodes feature boxes for alerts, info, downloads & notes (in their respective colors), as well as a shortcode for the twitter tweet button and Facebook like button. Shortcodes can also be utilized in the theme’s widgets. For full instructions on shortcodes & how to use them, some notes are below.

Twitter Tweet Button
This shortcode has two options built into it – alignment and referrer. The shortcode can be seen below with the options filled in.
[tweetme align="left" recommend="GiantThemes"]

Facebook Like Button
Simple and straight to the point
[facebooklike]

Status Boxes
The status box shortcode has one option built into it – style. The shortcode can be seen below (current options – attn, note, info, green)
[box class="green"]

WordPress 3.0 Compatibility

The theme now features the ability to add a WP 3.0 menu and if one isn’t used, the theme displays page listings as usual. You can also change the websites background easily in the WordPress admin panel now.

RSS Updates & Twitter Updates are now custom widgets

Originally, up to v2.2.1, the Guerrilla theme options panel featured spots to allow for a twitter updates box and RSS subscription box to show up in the sidebar. The main problem I’ve heard with this method was that they were hard coded above the widgetized area of the sidebar and people wanted more freedom on where to put them. With v2.3.0 you’re able to add both in the widgets area of your theme. Screenshots of each widget and it’s options can be seen below.

v2.3.0 Changelog

• functions.php … adjusted some minor errors in the WordPress 3.0 integration, allowing for backwards compatibility. A few options were also removed (Twitter updates, Subscribe via RSS)
• header.php … adjusted the php codes for the main navigation of the website. Also cleaned up some of the coding so it was easier to follow (added html comments as well)
• inc/ … I added an includes folder so that way the main theme files could be a bit cleaner.
• inc/widget-twitter.php … This is a custom widget that replaces the Twitter option in the theme options panel.
• css/default.css … Adjusted various items (sidebar link codes, ect)
• page-redirect.php … Removed this file since WP 3.0 menu’s allow for custom URL’s.

Download v2.3.0 here

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been plugging away at a relaunch of Giant Themes and I am proud to say that I’m about 70% complete with everything. Below are some notes on the various things you can expect in the upcoming month.

WordPress 3.0 Compatible Themes

Our two current themes as well as the two themes I’m releasing in the next couple of weeks will all be WordPress 3.0 compatible. That means custom backgrounds, menus, ect.

Reworking of the Theme Options Panel

This is one of my favorite things to have been working on. I’m reworking the entire theme options panel. I believe that right now, it’s functional but not nearly as nice as I’d like it to be. I’ve previously utilized an old coding method for the theme options panel so I will be bringing the code up to date, which will help streamline the process of editing/adding items.

Theme specific widgets

Another theme options panel semi-related news update is that I’m removing some of the theme options and opting for theme specific widgets. Namely, the Twitter updates and RSS Subscription boxes. I’ve had a lot of requests for these to be easily moved around in the sidebar and it’s finally getting done. I’m also working on theme specific widgets for the new themes I’m releasing, which has been fun.

Two New Themes

There’s going to be two new themes released in the next month.

The first one is the Picture Perfect theme that I’ve been teasing everyone with for the past couple months. The coding is literally just about finished except some WordPress 3.0 integration, so be on the lookout for this one to come very quick.

The second theme is our newest Commercial theme – SideView. There’s not been any hints to it as of yet and I don’t see any teasers being posted – just be excited because it’s an awesome looking theme with some great functionality that will (in my opinion) work very well for business owners and freelacers.

Giant Themes redesign

I’ve shown a couple sneak peeks to the design I’ve created over at Forrst, but will be posting teasers here as well in the upcoming weeks as I build everything out. The current Giant Themes site runs on a modded version of the Guerrilla theme and I believe I’ve outgrown it. I also made a slight mistake in not taking the proper amount of time to design the website properly, in exchange for getting the site launched.

The new design will be a much, much better look visually and will allow for the proper growth I’m aiming to have over the rest of the year.

Two themes per month – it’s coming back

With the relaunch, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure a free and a premium theme are released every month. This is something I wanted to do from the beginning and something that I believe needs to be taken care of – it’s happening. The two new themes will be released in September and throughout the month, I’ll be plugging away at more themes so I can release them in October, November and December.

A few other small updates…

A couple of the other things that are going on behind the scenes:

• The support forums will be redesigned to match the new Giant Themes design
• The MakeBank plugin will be expanded and have more options added to it
• A social icon set is going to be released and also used in our various themes
• The Dummy Posts at WPGuerrilla will be moved here and expanded upon since WPGuerrilla is being reworked
• Shortcodes are in development and will be integrated into the themes before the year is over
• The Tutorials we have here will be greatly expanded on over the next couple months

So now that I’ve updated everyone on what I’ve been doing, let me get back to work and get these things knocked out so Giant Themes can grow like it’s supposed to I appreciate everyone’s support more than you’ll ever know. Here’s to a successful end of the year and an amazing 2011!

Head over to the Guerrilla WordPress Theme page to download the newest version.

Changelog

05/22/2010 – Version 2.2.0

• footer.php … updated WordPress link text, the Giant Themes link (replaced ‘Guerrilla’ link) and also updated the copyright year.
• functions.php … updated css for top theme box and adjusted the text in the top theme box.
• css/default.css … fixed .pagefullwidth css width, which was 20px too small.
• css/light-grunge.css … fixed .pagefullwidth css width, which was 20px too small.
• css/dark-grunge.css … fixed .pagefullwidth css width, which was 20px too small.

Picture Perfect Update

We’ve ran a bit past the May 14th launch day I was hoping for, due to some unforeseen hosting issues as well as some last minute bug fixes, however I’m definitely putting the theme up over the weekend – probably on Sunday. Keep an eye out and make sure you’re subscribed to the RSS feed for updates.

If you missed the Picture Perfect sneak peeks, make sure you check out this link, this link and this link

The above screen shot is a quick sneak peek of the Picture Perfect theme we’re going to be releasing on May 14th. The theme will be up for free download and will feature three different layout options for the home page:

1. Regular Blog Layout – content, sidebar, ect
2. Full Width Blog – no sidebar, making the max picture width 940 pixels
3. Magazine Style – Large “featured” image (jQuery rotating) along with featured images from categories you select in the theme options panel

Keep your eyes peeled for more sneak peeks coming in the next couple days

Guerrilla v2.1 updates

• functions.php … updated breadcrumbs code from displaying improperly on the page when more than one cat was used.
• single.php … updated the display of related posts if there were no tags used in the post.
• css/default.css … adjusted various elements to display properly (archives page title, full width page template’s width, ect).
• css/lightgrunge.css – adjusted the same as above.
• css/darkgrunge.css … adjusted the same as above as well as adjusted link color in the twitter sidebar box.

Head on over to the theme page to test out the demo and download your updated version.