PixoPoint

We have received numerous requests for the implementation of a magazine style templates into the PixoPoint template generator. We originally intended to launch an entirely new magazine style theme of our own creation, however Brian Gardner of the Revolution themes recently announced a new site, RevolutionTwo.com, which features a wide range of great magazine style themes which are all GPL licensed. Since they are GPL licensed we have been allowed to implement these directly into the PixoPoint template generator. Instead of having to modify the Revolution themes code to create the magazine style theme that you want, you can simply modify a few options in the template generator, hit the export button and have your very own magazine style WordPress theme!

Revolution Generated

Revolution Generated template for the PixoPoint template generator

The design of the Revolution Generated template is based on the Revolution Church theme. This is a great design and we have ported it over to look almost exactly like the original design. Since we expect most people to use the design for non-church themes we have removed some of the ‘churchy’ styling on it and replaced them with a more generic design which will hopefully be more suitable for those of you looking to modify it for your own purposes.

Note: The home page of this template is still under development. We are yet to implement a content gallery and there is a minor bug in IE which causes the date and feed links at the top of the pages to be slightly out of alignment. If you find any more bugs, please let us know and we will fix them ASAP.

Demo

You can see a live preview of the theme in the template generator … Live preview demo

Or if you want to dive right in and start editing … Start editing Revolution Generated

To download the theme, go to ‘Upload/Save’ and choose ‘Export to WordPress’ in the editing area.

Improvements over previous magazine themes

A common complaint heard from users of magazine themes is they have to add a custom field for every post they create. We have alleviated this problem by allowing you to specify a default image URL in the themes WordPress admin page for each section of the home page. When a default image URL is specified, that image will be shown in the particular home page area whenever you forget (or can’t be bothered) to add a custom field.

We have also made it easier to control what content is shown on the home page. Instead of making modifications to the theme code, you can now alter which categories of posts and how many characters from those posts are displayed in the various sections of the home page directly from your WordPress admin page.

These changes are all GPL licensed, so feel free to use them in your own themes. Links back to our site are much appreciated though

Credits

All credit for the styling of this theme goes to Brian Gardner of RevolutionTwo.com who created the Revolution Church theme which this template was based on.

We’ve completed a large update today for the PixoPoint Template Generator. The changes include a huge number of bug fixes. Thank you very much to the dozens of you who have reported various bugs to us, without your help we wouldn’t have been able to improve the system. If you have any questions or bug reports, please leave them in the forum.

Some new features have been added for premium subscribers including the ability to add the date, RSS feed links and search boxes to the header, plus breadcrumb links and a dropdown sub-menu.

The Aqua Vaccinium template features a smooth blue and green design and has a prominent dropdown menu built in (no plugin needed). The template was originally released as a standalone theme, but has been incorporated as one of the standard templates in the PixoPoint Template Generator.

Download template as a WordPress theme

Download Aqua Vaccinium WordPress theme

The big blue bar

The blue section (below the main menu) is controlled via the ‘Main menu shadow’ section in the ‘Main Menu’ box in the template generator control panel.

If you require any (paid) customisations specific to your site, please get in touch via our contact form.

Naming

The word Aqua came from the mixture of the blue and green tones of the design. The name Vaccinium is the genus for a variety of berries including blue berries which we baked a pie for in honour of the new theme.

WordPress is a powerful Open Source blogging application. The PixoPoint template generator includes an ‘export to WordPress’ option to allow you to create a WordPress theme from scratch without needing to touch a single line of code!

To create your own WordPress theme, design your site via the control panel and then choose the export to WordPress option (Fig. 1, ‘Export/import’ > ‘Export to WordPress’).
A dialogue box (see Fig. 1.) will appear, showing various options which you may set in your new WordPress theme. You can leave most of these with the defaults, although you may wish to change the ‘Folder name’ and ‘Theme URL’ to differentiate the various themes you export from the template generator.

After clicking ‘Export’, you will be prompted to download a zip file containing your theme. Then simply unzip your theme, upload to your webhost and activate the theme via your WordPress admin panel. Happy blogging

Fig. 1. Enter the various details which will appear in your new WordPress themes documentation.

What are all those options for?

Some of the various options available in the ‘Export to WordPress’ dialogue box are used by your WordPress installation and some are used by.

• Folder name: This is the name of the folder which you will upload into your WordPress themes folder.
• Theme name: This is the name which will display in your WordPress admin panel when you activate the theme.
• Theme URL: If you write a page or blog post about your new theme then add the URL for it here so that others can find it. This particularly useful for anyone who is looking for support or help customising your new theme.
• Theme Description: This should describe the theme. This information can be useful for theme repositories as they can use this information as a short blurb about theme.
• Theme Version: If you release different versions of your theme, then you should enter the number here.
• The Comment: This can be a general comment about your theme.
• Theme Author: If you feel your design is sufficiently different from the original, then change this to your own name so you can claim credit for your new theme.
• Theme Author URL: If one exists, then enter the website for the theme author here so that others can find out more information about the author.
• Screenshot URL: This is the thumbnail image which will display in your WordPress admin panel when you activate the theme.
• Copyright: By default, most of the themes included in the template generator can be exported with either a BSD or GPL license. However some designs are based on templates which are only available with a GPL license. If you want to submit your theme to the official WordPress themes repository you will need to choose the GPL option. If you are only intending to use the theme for your own purposes then the license is unlikely to matter, so feel free to stick with the default choice.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave a message in our support forum … http://pixopoint.com/forum/.

Hellish Simplicity is a minimilistic two column design with a distinctive red, black and white design. It was created as the blog theme for http://ryanhellyer.net/ and by request was made available to the public as a free download and has now been added as one of the default themes to the PixoPoint template generator.

Download template as a WordPress theme

Download Hellish Simplicity Version 2.0 (link coming soon)

Modifying sidebar widths

The grey border which runs down the sidebars in Hellish Simplicity are created via the sidebars graphical background. If you change the widths of these sidebars, you should modify/create a new graphic to match the new width.

Copyright

This theme was not originally released as a truly open source theme. However it is now available with a BSD license.

Basic blue is a minimilistic two column template which was designed as a simple base for more advanced designs to be created from.

Download template as a WordPress theme

Download Basic blue 1.0 (link coming soon)

Basic blue as a base

This design was used as the base to create the other templates for the PixoPoint template generator including ‘Hellish Simplicity’, ‘Aqua Vaccinium’ and ‘Yoghourt’. By simply editing the various options in the template generator, the Basic blue template was morphed into the other drastically different creations. With minimal work, you too can develop your own entirely new designs.

Creating your own templates

If you modify one of the core templates in such a way that you think it would be suitable as one of the core templates, then please post your saved XML file in our support forum. If we think it is up to scratch, then we’ll consider adding it as one of the build in designs along with credit back to you as the author.