In the beginning of the WordPress era, there were a handful of passionate developers who created free themes around the WordPress platform. Now there are literally THOUSANDS of free WordPress themes and hundreds of premium WordPress themes which will allow you to have WordPress morph into about any use you can imagine.

As the WordPress developer community continues to push the envelop of its capabilities, the end result is a platform that is easier to manage, customize and use as a business tool. Even non-techies can customize their own sites easily using premium themes from the likes of Studio Press, iThemes (especially their Flexx theme) and now the super flexible and friendly Headway theme. One of the benefits to using a premium theme over a free theme is there seems to be a better support network in place so you can get questions answered as you need them.

WordPress has come so far in 6 years – I’m sure the next 6 years will see some amazing new additions to make my favorite web development platform even better than it is right now.

A few weeks ago I discovered a new related post plugin – LinkWithin (thanks to Heather at Celiac Family) that displays your related posts along with images it generates automatically from images it finds in your posts:

Looks nice, right?

The plugin is called LinkWithin and is custom made for your site. You visit their site, enter your email address and your site name, let them know what platform you need the plugin for (they support WordPress, Blogger and TypePad as of now) and your plugin is created instantly and ready for you to save to your computer.

The install is easy – from your WordPress dashboard select Plugins, Add New and Upload the file from your computer, Activate and you are in business.

The one thing I realized quickly was that the plugin worked great on WordPress themes that were more traditional, meaning the home page was not set up with excerpts or a fancy magazine style layout. However, many of my sites that would really benefit from this plugin were using Studio Press themes that displayed as a magazine style layout on the home page. The LinkWithin widget would show up on the home page and it looked horrible.

Now for the good part! The team behind LinkWithin ROCK. I dropped them a quick email and let them know my challenge. I got an email response from a person almost immediately thanking me for using the plugin. She also let me know, not only would they make a version just for my sites with magazine themes, but that they are working on the next version of the plugin that will give users more input. Features in the next version will include things like whether to show the plugin on the home page, weighting categories or tags more, the number of related posts displayed and more.

And now for the real test – does the LinkWithin plugin really help increase the number of actions per user? YES!  I can see in my stats when visitors click through the LinkWithin widget to go to another story and the number of actions per visit has increased on each site I have the plugin installed on.

Have you tried Related Posts plugins? Which one do you prefer?

One of the highlights of this latest update is the ability to upload and activate a theme through the dashboard, much like you can do now with plugins. This is a huge plus – especially when you consider that the average WordPress user is intimidated by FTP.

Rather than rehashing what others have already put together so nicely – check out the following articles on the the new features for WordPress 2.8, its benefits and a very cool tutorial.

The official word from the Codex – WordPress 2.8

Kim Woodbridge spells it out in her post on WordPress 2.8: Upcoming Features and Enhancements

Clint Maher keeps it positive with Seven Reasons Why WordPress 2.8 is Better than Ever

Justin Tadlock has three posts on WordPress 2.8 already – The Complete Guide to Creating Widgets in 2.8, Custom Taxonomies in WordPress 2.8, and Tag Descriptions in WordPress 2.8.

I have not heard when the official release date for WordPress 2.8 actually is, but suspect it will be sometime in the next month or so. Have you tried the beta? What did you think? Do you think that the newer versions of WordPress are better or worse than the WordPress of old (2.1 and 2.3)?

The big question was what to use for this version. I opted not to create a custom theme from scratch because frankly, I don’t have time to reinvent a wheel that already works great. There are so many great free and premium themes readily available to use as a base, starting from scratch really didn’t make sense.

As one of Brian Gardner’s recommended designers for his Revolution series of themes, Revolution was a front runner for quite some time. I know it inside and out. Its well coded, highly customizable and I’m rather partial to it.

HOWEVER…

I had been hearing a lot about Cory Miller’s Flexx theme (part of iThemes) and how customizable it is for the average small business owner, blogger, or non-code loving designer. Some of my clients were buzzing about it and I was getting requests to do Flexx customizations. How could I make recommendations, do efficient customizations, and really do my clients’ work justice if I hadn’t really put Flexx through the paces yet myself?

RESULT… Essential Keystrokes has been re-flexx-ed.

I knew I wanted to keep the same basic header design, but I wanted fresh colors, a sleeker palette and greater flexibility. After browsing my favorite color palette inspiration sites (Color Schemer and Colour Lovers), I came up with about 7 different header variations and sent them out to my friends and advisors for input. The color scheme that is on the header now was the almost unanimous favorite for everyone so it won.

So, what makes Flexx so special? Flexx has its own customization screens that allow you to upload 1-5 different header images from your WordPress admin panel. In other words – no FTP needed. Additionally, you can pick the background color and pattern the same way – and it will give you a preview of the color/background pattern before you opt to save it.

Then comes the layout menu. It is totally point, click, what you see is what you get, so easy your tween could do it. Want your pages listed above your header image? You can choose it. Want pages and categories below the header? No problem. Not sure how your site will look with 2 columns? How about 3? Point, click, and watch the layout diagram change before your eyes. It doesn’t get much easier that that. (For a full description, screen shots and more check out these posts: Web Chicklet Flexx review, WP Fun’s Flexx review)

Each of the compartments in the layout are controlled by widgets. This is another feature that makes it easy for the average web site owner to customize the look and content of their site without needing to modify PHP files or knowing how to FTP files up to the server (although this is a good skill to learn and its as easy as 1-2-3).

Over the next few weeks, I will be integrating my work portfolio, hire me details, and tweaking the content in the different areas of the site, but for the time being I am very happy with how it turned out. Not to mention, I have now got a really good feeling for what makes this theme tick and can efficiently customize it for clients.

Photo: iStockPhoto

The following are a few of the site designs/customizations I have done in the past six months using Revolution as the base:

From top to bottom, the sites are:

• Easy Green Living (magazine style)
• Chilli Factor (business site)
• Modern Beats Hit Talk (magazine style)
• The Learning Tree (magazine combined with storefront with flash component)
• Jersey Shore Guide (magazine style tailored to a geographical area using Revolution City)
• SOBCon 09 (event site)
• Printables4Kids (magazine style)
• Reach Career Potential (business site done in collaboration with Leah Maclean, Working Solo)
• Wendy Piersall (personal branding/small business)
• Apex Gymnastics (business site with no blog component being used as a CMS)
• KeySplash Creative (business site)
• Doll Diaries (magazine style)

While the original Revolution theme took the traditional WordPress site to the next level, the Revolution Magazine theme and its variants kicked things up a few more notches. The magazine style theme allows more content to be displayed on a site’s home page, giving web publishers the ability to control what content stays in front of the visitor and for how long. The theme is also perfect for adding video, audio, advertising, and interactive features to the site.

Brian has recently released Revolution2 – taking Revolution from a premium, for purchase theme to a completely free, open source series of themes with specific functionalities based on the type of site you need to create. Additional Revolution2 features and support are now available via subscription, including access to the support forums and a listing of Brian’s recommended designers (I am one of them).

So, yes, I have been a little busy (which explains the less frequent posting here), but I really enjoy taking client ideas and bringing them to life using Word Press and more often than not, the Revolution theme. If you are ready to take your site to a new level, I’d love to help you get it there. You may contact me at cpolanosky [at] gmail [dot] com for availability and a quote.

Not all designers have the skills to take a PSD or other graphical design of a site and and code it into a clean, quick loading, multiple browser supported WordPress theme. And sometimes those who do have the capability, just get overloaded with work (raises hand) and it is more efficient to outsource the coding. But that isn’t all, eight more reasons you may want to consider using PSD to WordPress for your next project include:

1. Learning Curve – You know what you want your design to look like but don’t have the time to learn the ins and outs of WordPress coding to get it done.

2. You Want Quality – PSD to WordPress has a public front and a proven track record (I like the work they did for Credit Card Matcher). They know WordPress inside out. They have a great team that have years of experience in WordPress that are very well known for releasing quality free themes. And you are not hiring some random programmer who may disappear without notice.

3. You Need Support – PSD to WordPress offers 30 days support to sort out any problems with your theme or any WordPress related issues. Emails are replied to very promptly, even on weekends.

4. What If You Don’t Like It – If there is anything wrong, or you aren’t happy with the product, and PSD to WordPress can’t fix it, they will give you your money back.

5. Simple Ordering – I love the interactive order form on their site. Need your code in a day, then slide the bar to the left – it automatically adjusts the price to factor in the fee for a rush job. Add ons are clearly marked and there are no surprises in the fees. Additionally, there is no need to explain things in great detail, just send the send over the PSD file and they do the rest.

6. Need Transparency – If you are outsourcing a job, you can even request that no additional coder credits are left in the code – making the process totally transparent to your client. Although, if you are like me, I always let clients know up front if I am going to have any part of their project outsourced and why (time, lower cost to them, added value, etc)

7. Quick Turnarounds – I get requests all the time for projects that are needed on a very short time frame. Due to my own work load I cannot always fulfill these requests, however PSD to WordPress has a team of experts working. They can get your theme back to you in a day if needed.

8. Value Pricing – Since you provide the design, and PSD to WordPress does what they do best – code – they can offer their services at a very affordable rate. Their basic package includes the 4 WordPress template files (Blog / Single Post / Category / Single Page).

If you are designer wanting to maximize the power of your design by using the WordPress platform or a freelancer who needs to outsource some of you overflow, you should definitely look into using PSD to WordPress.  They even have a special offer for Essential Keystrokes readers – 10% off your first order – just mention this site in the comments section of the order form.

I love comparing notes with other designers and bloggers to see what everyone else is using. Here are just a few of the favorites that have been mentioned recently:

• Randa Clay shared her 5 new favorite plugins today – among them a slick new featured content gallery and cforms.
• Blog for Profit launched a new design recently and was kind enough to include a list of plugins installed as well – definitely a few I need to check out.
• Jeff at Performancing has started something new – with new plugins being released daily, Jeff is putting together recaps of the plugins launched the previous month. September’s plugin roundup can be found at Performancing.
• I like the list of 11 plugins every site should have at Yoast – the iPhone plugin just looks cool!
• Looking to really push the edge of the WordPress envelope and use it as a very powerful CMS? Check out this list of 20 plugins to really transform WordPress into a full featured CMS.

My list of essentials you ask? I like All in One SEO, Yet Another Related Posts Plugin, Akismet, WP Super Cache, and Comment Luv (which I will be implementing soon)

Testing info – Compiling questions for 640-822 or 70-236 can be hard for a 70-640 student who has only heard of complex tests like 640-863 and 642-436.

So, what plugins do you consider essential for your site? Join the conversation because I always love comparing notes with others in the field!

Immediately I searched to see who else has had the error and how to fix it. It seems to be a fairly common problem, actually, and it seems to be triggered by upgrading your WordPress version while still LOGGED IN on your account.

How I Fixed It

• Login to your WordPress site via FTP (need help? check my FTP tutorial)
• Back up all of your plugins to your local drive
• Delete all of the plugins in the plugins directory on the server
• Try logging in to WordPress again via the dashboard
• This should fix the problem immediately (I got a message that said my database needed to be upgraded and had WP do it automatically for me – it took less than 10 sec.)
• Once you log back in, re-install your plugins ONE AT A TIME, logging out after each one

3 Essential Steps to Take Before You Upgrade:

• Back up your database
• Disable your plugins
• Log out of your account

I really hope this helps someone else, as I know how frustrating it is to troubleshoot these random issues!

I have one client who like tables – not the HTML-based tables – but tables to display data. She needed to be able to add a table of data to a page without having to know anything special. The current TinyMCE interface doesn’t accommodate tables so I headed to the WordPress Codex to find out if there was a plugin to make adding tables easier. I found TinyMCE Advanced and it works GREAT!

When you install and activate the plugin, you can then go through and add the additional WSIWYG buttons that you or your clients use or rely on most.  The table buttons were essential to my client’s needs – now she can easily insert a table, add rows, merge cells, and display her data the way she is most comfortable with.

The other additions include: Advanced hr, Advanced Image, Advanced Link, Context Menu, Emotions (Smilies), Full Screen, IESpell, Layer, Media, Nonbreaking, Print, Search and Replace, Style, Table, Visual Characters and XHTML Extras.

What other plugins have you discovered that give WordPress additional usability for the non-HTML fluent user?

TwistnShout main page with area to highlight recent projects.

The portfolio pages have a different sidebar file for each category which allows for the groups of thumbnails to change and be used for navigation.

The basic look of the site was given to me by the owner of the company, who is an amazing print designer. Amy knew the look she wanted, but she wanted a site that she could maintain on her own in the future. Based on her desire to make future modifications on her own, I knew WordPress would be the platform of choice. We hired Brian Gardner to create the site’s basic structure in the form of a custom theme that used multiple template pages and did not contain the comment features, and other typical blog elements.

Once Brian coded the basic structure, I was able to add the content, tweak the design and challenge myself even more.

Each primary section of content – the copy that Amy will most likely change from time to time – was created using a WordPress page or subpage. The side bar (right and left) content was hard coded in using individual theme files.

Amy wanted the testimonial quotes in the who we are section to change depending on which team member’s bio you were reviewing. She also wanted different navigation for each project type in her portfolio. This took some creative thinking, but I was able to achieve this level of customization through the use of detailed theme files. Each main navigation item already had a unique template that called the correct left navigation, center content and right sidebar. I just took it a step further by creating sublevel template and theme pages.

The development of the TwistnShout site was truly a team effort. Amy knew what she wanted and was willing to let Brian and I challenge the WordPress platform to create a scalable, professional looking portfolio site for her company.

I have lost count of the number of people who have asked, “Is that really WordPress?” To which I have been able to reply, yes it is!