Proximity News Theme Video Overview
I recently took some time to record and post this overview video for Proximity News. It highlights and explains some of the features, and covers some of the things that make Proximity News such a unique theme. Once you watch this video, I think you’ll agree that this is the most advanced WordPress news theme available, and publishing has never been easier!
Proximity News Theme Overview from Nathan Rice on Vimeo.
WordPress SEO - The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Theme Search Engine Optimization
The WordPress Codex says that “WordPress, straight out of the box, comes ready to embrace search engines“. Well, that may be true … to a certain degree, but there is more than enough work that you’ll need to do after you’ve installed WordPress in order to get it playing nicely with Google (and other search engines).
What most people don’t realize is that, while Google does love WordPress, it’s WordPress THEMES that actually interface with search engines … not WordPress itself.
So, that means that a WordPress theme could very well be hurting your rankings in the search engines … not helping!
Premium WordPress Theme - Proximity News Theme
Over the last several months, evenings and weekends mostly, I’ve been quietly working on what could be the most advanced WordPress News Theme available. The product of well over 100 hours of development time by yours truly, I’m happy to finally announce the launch of Proximity News Theme!
The Short Version
Yes, Proximity is a news theme, and yes, there is already an overabundance of news themes available, but as I looked at the choices available, I knew that I could do better. There are several features of Proximity that I simply couldn’t find in any other available news themes, so I decided to just make my own! :-)
Creating a “Blog Page” — With Paging
If there was one question I get asked the most about WordPress themes, it’s this one: how do I make a custom static homepage at the root of my blog’s address (e.g. http://example.com/) and have my blog posts go into a /blog section (http://example.com/blog)?
WordPress is becoming more and more usable as a Content Management System, so naturally the question comes up.
But they don’t want to abandon the idea of a blog either. Blogs can be an integral part of a business website, and it makes sense that businesses and individuals would want the site and the blog managed from the same WordPress installation.
WordPress Single Post Templates
UPDATED:
Austin recommends using a filter in your functions.php file as an alternative to the method below. IMO, his suggestion is much simpler and quite elegant. Here’s the code to add to your theme’s functions.php file. (be sure you paste this code between <?php ?> tags):
add_filter('single_template', create_function('$t', 'foreach( (array) get_the_category() as $cat ) { if ( file_exists(TEMPLATEPATH . "/single-{$cat->term_id}.php") ) return TEMPLATEPATH . "/single-{$cat->term_id}.php"; } return $t;' ));
It helps solve the multiple categories issue since it cycles through all the categories in the array and checks to see which one of them has an associated post template. When it finds one, it uses the post template file, but if it doesn’t, then it falls back on the default single.php template.
So if you are used to placing posts in multiple categories, be sure to only create post templates for the categories you know won’t ever conflict.
Again, I highly recommend using this technique. It’s much simpler and works much better. If you care to, however, the original article is still below.
END UPDATE
A few months ago, I wrote a post over at the Blog Herald explaining how to set up and use WordPress Page Templates to control the way indivudual WordPress “Pages” appeared on your blog. The process was pretty simple … create the page template, insert the necessary code at the top of the file, and upload it to your themes folder.
What what about blog posts? As far as I could tell, there’s no way to do a similar thing with single posts without some manual code (see the “Unique Single Template” section).
Is it possible to have post templates like page templates???
Cory sent me this simple question a few days ago, and it got me thinking. So I started investigating.
iThemes Developers Package
I just wanted to give a quick heads up for those of you who enjoy using my themes. I’ve been doing some work with Cory Miller over at iThemes.com to develop and update some pretty awesome WordPress themes, and recently Cory has put together an awesome package of 10 Premium WordPress themes for over 50% off the original price.
If you’re in the market for some really solid Premium WordPress themes, but don’t want to overspend, then this is definitely the package you want to pick up.
Also, as the name of the package implies, if you are a developer looking for a stock base of quality WordPress themes, you can’t find a better product for the price. These are multi-use themes, so feel free to use them for custom client work you have lined up.
Also, if you’re looking for a GREAT deal on single use Premium WordPress themes
Hear My Interview on WordPress Weekly
This past Friday evening, I was a guest on the WordPress Weekly Podcast, hosted by Jeffro of Jeffro2pt0.com. If you would like to listen to the entire 90+ minute interview, check out episode 14 of the WordPress Weekly Podcast.
Designers Wanted!
Are you a Photoshop genius? Does Illustrator bow to your every whim? Can you create website mockups that would make the Apple design team salivate? Have you benefited from open source and free software like WordPress? Have you been wanting to contribute, but never had the chance?
During the last few weeks, an idea of mine has been stewing and is finally coming close to fruition. So I have a proposition for you, if you choose to accept it.
Without revealing too much, I am asking talented designers, dedicated to the idea of free and open source contributions, to consider helping me with a ground breaking project that we will launch in the near future.
So if you are a designer oozing with talent and itching to contribute to the WordPress community, please contact me and we can discuss the details. I can’t wait to hear from you!
7 Must-Have Plugins
I run at least 5 WordPress powered websites, and every time I add a new site to that list, I have a checklist of plugins that I absolutely HAVE to get installed ASAP! Some of them are simply aesthetic plugins, making the dashboard look pretty or more functional, and others are workhorse plugins, absolutely necessary for the site to run smoothly.
I generally don’t recommend plugins, but everybody has to use them sooner or later. So I wanted to share with you the 7 plugins that I install every time I begin or upgrade a WordPress installation.
WordCamp Recap, Part 1
I’m sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight, on my way back home from WordCamp Dallas, 2008. I finally got to meet a bunch of people that I respected and followed for a long time, as well as some friends, both long time and recent, that I’ve never met before. It was a very rewarding experience, without a doubt.
But the reason I wanted to post a recap of the weekend was to highlight all the cool stuff that was showcased at WordCamp this year.
