New Church

I am pleased to announce the release of our latest theme NEW CHURCH.  My goal with New Church was to create a theme that would work well with church’s that have a great deal of content they wish to display in a manner that is both easy to use and attractive.

As with all my themes, this one features a comprehensive control panel where you can customize the site to suit your needs.  Everything from the main picture to the headlines and text can be changed out by you without touching any code.

The bottom left of the home page features a box for your service times and contact information as well as links for your RSS feed (created automatically by WordPress) Twitter, and Facebook group pages.

The bottom right of the page features a tabbed slider with two panels that can use sidebar widgets.  The first panel features a link to your message posts where people can listen directly to your messages or visit the post for a synopsis and other information.

The theme comes complete with a custom post template for your message podcasts displaying relevant information as well as other recent messages.  A link is also provided that allows for subscribing to your messages in iTunes if you publish your podcast.

Lastly, there are lots of little touches, a custom widget to display posts from specific categories, page navigation, bread crumbs in the footer and more.

New Church comes with the following features:

• Custom control panel for all aspects of your site
• Post template for your message podcasts
• Listing of your most recent messages on the homepage
• Custom widget for displaying posts from specific categories only
• Tabbed panel on home page featuring sidebar widgets
• Links to Facebook, Twitter and your RSS feed

I’m excited to offer you my New Church theme today for only $20.  Try out the demo and purchase it today.

This theme will also have an option to use a static image on the home page or WP-cycle to provide an announcement / image rotator.  And this will be my first theme to include custom post pages for messages, small groups, events and blog entries.  Look for that feature to be added to my other themes over the summer.  Well enough talking about the theme, this is what one of the versions will look like.

New Church

Check back soon and buy New Church, or subscribe to my RSS feed and be notified as soon as it is released.

World Theme

I’m please to be able to bring you our first theme geared specifically for non-profits, relief agencies, and missions related groups–World Theme.  Like all of my previous releases this one is powered by WordPress and features all the benefits that come with this great content management system.  The theme is designed to be simple to use right out of the box, so you can have a great looking and functioning site up in no time.

World Theme has the following features:

• Customizable homepage
• Widgets on the homepage and sidebars
• Ability to select your own logo and home page picture
• Menu bar features categories drop down menu
• Navigation features nice fade in effect for drop down menu
• Two inside page styles in addition to the homepage
• Built in page navigation to improve user experience
• Quick loading
• Plus expandable through over 5,000 WordPress plugins

I’m excited to be able to introduce you to the World Theme.  At only $20 it is a steal. Have the website you’ve been waiting for now.

As of this afternoon, we have had 105 different countries visit.  I have offered free themes and support articles here since day one and I plan to continue that tradition.  You may not know that anyone that is in a country served by PayPal or Google Checkout can purchase the premium themes I have for sale too.  I’ve had several overseas sales which I appreciate.

If you guys have any special needs in using my WordPress themes overseas, please feel free to contact me and I’ll try to help any way I can.

As always thanks for your support.

What if you could have a local copy of WordPress on your computer that works with your server?  Good news, you can and it’s easier than you think.

If you are using WordPress 2.7 or higher, you can use Google Gears to speed up WordPress.  Click on the “turbo” link in the top right corner.  WordPress will ask you if you want to use Google Gears to install some of the WordPress core files on your computer which will intern greatly speed up your admin panel.  You’ll save time creating posts, editing pages and doing pretty much everything routine on your WordPress install.  Not too bad.

Google Gears works with Safari, Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer (sorry Opera).  You can learn more here.  

Many of you know by now that I’m a Mac user.  I made the switch 2 1/2 years ago and have never looked back.  To further enhance my WordPress experience on my desktop, I’ve started using another free program called Fluid.  This basically turns any web application (like WordPress) into one that behaves more like a desktop app.  Now the two sites I work with most often live on my doc where I can access them quickly and easily.  If you are a Mac user and work with web apps often be sure to check out Fluid.

My other main issue with Featured Content Gallery is that all I really want it to do is show a picture and have it link to something like a post, page, or even another website.  I don’t need the thumbnails, arrows or descriptions.  Generally I just edit the plugin to remove these, but it can get a bit tricky.

Recently I came across another good plugin which I’m now using on Organized Themes called WP-Cycle.  This plugin has a built in image uploader to get your pictures onto your site.  You can then add links (or not) and make a few simple adjustments.  It’s pretty simple to use.  Nathan Rice, the theme author plans to make some tweaks to it for the next release.  You can download it here. Go on and give it a try in your next project.

Gallery Church Screencast from Organized Themes on Vimeo.

Right click and choose save as to save the screencast to your computer.

World Fund Theme Sneak Preview

I can offer all of you a quick glimpse at my next premium theme, The World Fund Theme. My goal here is to create a theme that would work well for support agencies or mission groups. It features an earthy color palette and will have all content controllable by the end user through a theme control panel. Look for this theme to be available for purchase soon.

Events Calendar: I’ve looked at lots of event calendar possibilities for WordPress.  Right now I am recommending Events Calendar by Luke Howell.  I have recently used the Events Manager plugin and I really do like it’s feature set, but it is rather complicated to deploy.  There are lots of code variables to adjust in order to make the information you want to display to show up like you want it to.  If you are comfortable with php or you’d like to learn, this might be a great plugin for you.  My other issue with it, is that it creates information outside of the post system within WordPress.

What I like so much about the Events Calendar plugin is that you can easily create events and choose if they become posts or not.  If you’ve ever had to move a WordPress site, you know that it’s not that hard to do if all your data is inside WordPress’ posts and pages.  These can be exported.  There is nothing you can do for the data stored by Events Manager, but the data from Events Calendar goes with you.  Plus if you use posts for events you can then use other plugins or theme features to refer to the events.  On my Mountain View theme as well as the a2 website, I use a new ticker to let visitors know about coming events.  If I were to run the Events Manager, then I would have to create a separate post to use in the ticker.  Duplicate data is generally a bad idea.

You can use either of these plugins, plus many others.  My sites, I’m going with Events Calendar for now.

Simple:Press Forum: Many churches would like to have a forum where people can ask questions, engage in discussions or do all kinds of community things.  Really it’s not a bad idea, but going about it can be tough.  I have plans to add a forum to Organized Themes and I plan to use phpBB because it is very powerful and stable.  But it is a challenge to integrate into a WordPress site.  If you’d like to see how to go about this I recommend a screencast from CSS-Tricks to learn how.  It requires a pretty hefty understanding of WordPress, plus CSS and XHTML.  There is an alternative called Simple:Press Forum which is a plugin for WordPress that takes care of the form for us.  They have comprehensive directions for how to use this plugin on their site.  If you are looking for a plugin this would be a great way to go.

Podcasting: I used to recommend the PodPress plugin, but the author has stopped developing it further.  So now I’m using the Podcasting plugin on my church sites as well as for the screencast here at Organized Themes.  I like this one because it is simple to use and deploy.  It allows your user to download the file as well as listen to it in your post if you choose.  Plus, it has an easy to use way to submit the podcast to iTunes.  It’s hard to beat simple and effective.

TinyMCE Advanced:  As a developer it’s easy for me to forget that people still have to create lots of content after they get the theme up and running.  For most of us this means lots of time in the post and page write panels creating copy and uploading images.  To make that task easier, the TinyMCE Advanced adds many features that probably should be included with WordPress by default.  With this plugin you can easily pick a new CSS style for parts of your post, have more control over images, choose different web safe fonts, create tables and much more.

CForms II: This contact form is really flexible.  It allows you to do everything from simple contact forms to complicated multi-page questionnaires and sign-ups.  In its basic form it is easy to use and style, but it can get a bit complicated with the more advanced features.  Fortunately there is lots of help on the CForms website.  I now only use this plugin for contact forms on all my personal sites as well as client sites.  One note, this plugin is updated often.  That’s great in a way, but if you are obsessive about keeping your plugins updated, this one may drive you nutty.

Have you discovered any great plugins?  If so leave a comment and share them with the community!

Alpha Church Screencast from Organized Themes on Vimeo.

This offer includes:

• A WordPress based website
• Homepage and two inside page styles
• Initial consultation to develop style, needs and plan
• Custom small group and podcasting pages
• One year of free hosting and support
• Lots more

The summer is the perfect time to upgrade your website and now with this low price of $500 there’s no reason not to.

This isn’t theme customization.  This is creating something new specifically for you.

If you’re interested, please click here to visit my custom site to learn more and sign up today.

Gallery Church

Organized Themes is excited to announce the release of Gallery Church premium theme for WordPress.  This theme has been created to give your church a flexible site where you can control all of the content without touching any code.

One of the main features of the site is a customizable panel that you can use for as a means to display more content on every page without having to fill up the screen with too much content.  It features three areas for widgets that you can use to insert whatever information you find helpful.  This would be a great spot for information for visitors like a welcome message, map and service times.  The great thing is you can decide for yourself how to use this area.

Features:

• Sliding panel for extra information
• Fully customizable homepage
• Sidebar widgets
• Custom control panel for all theme options
• Use your own logo
• Source file for logo included if you don’t have one and want to use the included one
• Two inside page styles included
• Extend functionality through over 4,000 WordPress plugins to make this site do whatever you want
• Tested in all major browsers, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera

I’m glad to be able to offer you this theme for only $20.  Buy it now and have your site  up and running in minutes.

Sky Church is the third premium WordPress theme released by us for your church.  I designed this to be bright, cheerful and clean.  The design is unique, yet still simple and uncluttered.

Functionally, this theme is easy to use.  One control panel page allows you to completely  dictate what goes on your homepage.  You can specify your own logo, the navigation text and links in the upper left, as well as the pictures, text and lists in the main area.  All of this can be adjusted in the custom control panel included with the theme.

The homepage features a customizable list that you can use to show your most recent podcast episodes, blog entries or any other posts you choose.  You can also specify how many entries appear in the list.  The great part is you can do all of this without touching a bit of code.

Here is a quick list of what you can expect from Sky Church:

• Unique cheerful appearance
• Control panel for all features of the theme
• Sidebars that appears on posts and pages
• Widgets to use on homepage and sidebars
• Custom fields are not required
• Valid XHTL, CSS
• Tested in all major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera)

So how can you beat a complete church website for only $20?  So go ahead and purchase and install “Sky Church” for yourself today!

Mountain View Church

I am pleased to announce the release of Mountain View Church, my second premium WordPress theme designed for churches.  Mountain View has an unique appearance that will cause your church’s site to stand out from the very beginning.

In addition to the unique design, the site also features a comprehensive control panel where you can customize the function of the site in great detail.  You can change the picture on the right of the homepage, use your own logo and direct the buttons on the left of the homepage all without touching a line of code.

As an added bonus, I’ve added the original Photoshop files for the home page buttons as well as the logo.  Now you can completely customize the look of the site to fit the needs and style of your church.

Mountain View Features:

• Unique Visual Design
• Comprehensive Control Panel
• Original Photoshop Files to Customize Your Theme
• Custom Podcasting Page for Your Message Podcast
• News Ticker on Homepage to Feature Announcements, Messages or Anything You Want
• RSS Feeds
• Valid XHTML & CSS
• Works in all major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera)

So what are you waiting for?  Buy Mountain View today for only $20!

Alpha Church Theme

I am excited to announce the release of our first premium theme — Alpha Church.  Alpha Church features a clean design that will compliment your content nicely for only $20.

The site features a custom control panel that allows you to customize the logo, service times and background images without having to get into the code at all.  The main inside pages have an innovative layout that resembles a Flash based site, but without the long load times and difficulty editing.  You can have as many of these inside Flash style pages as you’d like, each with an unique background image.

Plus the theme comes with access to a comprehensive installation video to show you step by step how to install the theme on your site.

View Demo Here

This theme comes with the following features:

• You are in control of all of your content: text, images, logo and more
• Custom control panel
• Edit site without touching code yourself
  
• Valid XHTML & CSS so your site will work in all major browsers for years to come
  
• Flash style without the slow load times and difficulty updating your content
• Javascript used to enhance visual experience on custom pages
• Customized page menu for blog and archive pages
• RSS feeds for your updates
• Sidebar widgets for page and post templates
  
• Complete instructions to get your site up and running quickly
• Over 4,000 WordPress plugins available so you can Podcast, have an event calendar, sign up forms and more all for no additional charge!
  

I also have created a few other alternative styles for this theme to show you what can be done with it.

As you can tell I am excited about this new theme and hope you will use it for your church’s new site.

1. Gimp: this is a free image editor that can produce some incredible results for you. Learn more at their site.  You can find 10 tutorials on using GIMP here.
2. Photoshop: obviously not free, but the hands down best image editor out there. It is the standard. But what if you don’t want to spend $700? Most churches and nonprofits can purchase it for around $300 and you can always find it on eBay. The current version is CS4, but CS2 or CS3 will work great and cost less. You could also try Photoshop Elements for around $100.
3. Flickr: this online picture site does lots more than share pictures of peoples vacations and pets. It can be a valuable source of pictures you can legally use. Try the advanced search and check the boxes at the bottom of the form for searching Creative Commons License pictures. Depending on what you want to use them for, these pictures can be put to use on your site. You may have to attribute the photographer, or you may not be able to modify the image. Check the license for specific usage instructions.
4. CreativeMYK: if you are looking for quality images and graphics created for the church that you can generally use in your church for free, this is the place for you.  It’s more than just a spot to search for downloads, it features an active community that you can be a part of.  You can find other creative professionals to help your church out and get feedback on your creations and ideas from knowledgeable people.  You can find CreativeMYK here.

I do believe that most churches and organizations can make use of FCG.  Try out the resources that I’ve listed above.  If you like someone to professionally create your images, I can help you with that.  Please visit my portfolio site and contact me for further details.

But I’m happy to say that should all be a thing of the past now.  Jason Schuller from Revolution Two and www.jdidit.com has decided to allow a new group to take control of his Featured Content Gallery Plugin and continue development.  Sometimes when a freelancer has too many projects going on, it is difficult to update useful tools that they have give to the community at large.  I know I have been behind in updating my themes, something I do apologize for.  There has simply been too much paid work that hasn’t left me time to get down to business.  However I am planning on releasing a new premium theme very soon that will have you guys quite happy.

Back to Featured Content though.  It will now be updated by idplexus and you can find it at www.featuredcontentgallery.com.  They promise to provide more features and frequent updates.  Already they have added a feature that allows you to link to a page and not just a post.  This is of great benefit because there are some things you can do with a page in WordPress–think templates–that just aren’t as easy with a post.  The new format also makes it easier to keep your gallery in the order you want it to be.  The only downside is that you can’t add to the gallery from inside a post or page edit form.  You have to access the settings for the gallery.  It’s not that inconvenient, but this is something I hope they update in a future release.

I’m excited about this change.  And I believe it will benefit us all.