Archive for September, 2011
If you score three goals in one hockey game you’ve made what’s called a hat trick. I think that should totally count for themes too. If you’re reading this post you’ve just scored a chance to check out three brand new themes for your blog. Hat trick!
The first up is Eight by renowned designer, Elliot Jay Stocks. Its unique layout means your blog will be almost completely transformed just by activating it. Thanks to the custom background feature and its custom highlight color feature, transforming the look of your blog even further takes only a few clicks. Eight is a premium upgrade for your blog at $75 for a lifetime subscription.
We have another brand new free theme for you too. It’s called Bold Life by Jay Hafling and just like Eight it has its own unique grunge-elegant look.
Finally, we have another premium theme for you and there’s nothing grungy about this one. The beautiful and elegant Elemin, designed by Themify, is just packed with features so make sure you check it out on the theme showcase. You can upgrade your blog to Elemin with a lifetime subscription for $75.
Enjoy!
If you score three goals in one hockey game you’ve made what’s called a hat trick. I think that should totally count for themes too. If you’re reading this post you’ve just scored a chance to check out three brand new themes for your blog. Hat trick!
The first up is Eight by renowned designer, Elliot Jay Stocks. Its unique layout means your blog will be almost completely transformed just by activating it. Thanks to the custom background feature and its custom highlight color feature, transforming the look of your blog even further takes only a few clicks. Eight is a premium upgrade for your blog at $75 for a lifetime subscription.
We have another brand new free theme for you too. It’s called Bold Life by Jay Hafling and just like Eight it has its own unique grunge-elegant look.
Finally, we have another premium theme for you and there’s nothing grungy about this one. The beautiful and elegant Elemin, designed by Themify, is just packed with features so make sure you check it out on the theme showcase. You can upgrade your blog to Elemin with a lifetime subscription for $75.
Enjoy!
Today we are adding .me (to .com, .org and .net) as a new option for upgrading to your own, custom domain name on WordPress.com. All of our domain mapping options cost just a couple dollars per month for your domain name and hosting. You don’t have to deal with web servers or configuration, we take care of everything for you.
Get your own .me domain on WordPress.com.
As Sara mentioned a couple months ago, one of the most common questions we get is whether you can use your own domain for WordPress.com blogs. Incidentally, Add a Domain is our most popular upgrade, so we know you love customizing your digital address and we are always looking for ways to make it better and easier.
Rather than adding numbers or dropping vowels for a .com you don’t really want, check out .me and find the perfect fit for your business, your name, or just a pun you can’t stop laughing at. We’ve seen lots of creative domain-names-as-sentences using .me, like about.me and connect.me. And we love our wp.me URL shortener, available to all WordPress.com users.
How to get a .me domain
If you want to upgrade to a .me domain for a new WordPress.com site, head over to wordpress.com/signup. If you want to add a .me domain to an existing WordPress.com site, you can follow our step-by-step instructions. It’s only $2/month, so what are you waiting for?!
Leave a comment and let us know what other domain mapping features you want us to add.
Today we are adding .me (to .com, .org and .net) as a new option for upgrading to your own, custom domain name on WordPress.com. All of our domain mapping options cost just a couple dollars per month for your domain name and hosting. You don’t have to deal with web servers or configuration, we take care of everything for you.
Get your own .me domain on WordPress.com.
As Sara mentioned a couple months ago, one of the most common questions we get is whether you can use your own domain for WordPress.com blogs. Incidentally, Add a Domain is our most popular upgrade, so we know you love customizing your digital address and we are always looking for ways to make it better and easier.
Rather than adding numbers or dropping vowels for a .com you don’t really want, check out .me and find the perfect fit for your business, your name, or just a pun you can’t stop laughing at. We’ve seen lots of creative domain-names-as-sentences using .me, like about.me and connect.me. And we love our wp.me URL shortener, available to all WordPress.com users.
How to get a .me domain
If you want to upgrade to a .me domain for a new WordPress.com site, head over to wordpress.com/signup. If you want to add a .me domain to an existing WordPress.com site, you can follow our step-by-step instructions. It’s only $2/month, so what are you waiting for?!
Leave a comment and let us know what other domain mapping features you want us to add.
We’ve written before about our efforts at WordPress.com to help you get more attention for your work. And we’re here again with a new feature: follow.
After weeks of experimentation with different designs, locations and names, we’ve determined the addition of a small, cute, little button at the bottom of your blog will dramatically help pageviews and retention.
Starting today, on all blogs, whenever someone who is not logged into WordPress.com visits, they’ll see this small little button in the bottom right corner. The button is mostly out of the way, but just noticeable enough before people leave.
And when a visitor clicks on the button, it smoothly slides open, revealing a simple way to follow the blog without having the burden of checking back on their own to see if there’s anything new. They can put their email address in, and will be notified whenever your blog has a new post.
Questions we expect to be frequently asked:
1. Why is it called Follow and not Subscribe? Good question, as many designers here at WordPress.com debated this, including me. Although the functionality is similiar to the Email subscription widget, after testing various prototypes, we learned more people clicked on the button and signed up if it were called Follow rather than Subscribe. We also know subscribe suggests to some its something you pay for, whereas follow has no such connotation.
2. I don’t like it. How can I turn it off on my blog? Easy. Go to your Dashboard. Click on Settings, then Reading, then Email. Sorry you don’t like it – but we understand. If you change your mind, this is also the place to go to customize the message new followers (subscribers) will see.
3. Will other subscription features also have their name changed? We are carefully studying the impact of different names on existing features. We only change names when we have evidence it helps our bloggers and the benefits outweigh the annoyance of the change. We don’t change feature names to be fashionable or to emulate other services that might rhyme with “critter” or “shmacebook”.
4. Why don’t I see the button? The follow button only appears for users not logged in to WordPress.com. If you want to follow a WordPress.com blog, and are already logged in, simply use the follow button that already appears in your admin bar at the top of the screen. If you want to see the new hotness, log out of WordPress.com and go to any blog, including your own, to see it. To log out, go to your admin bar at top of the screen. Click on “Me”, then click on “Log Out”.
5. Why did you put something on my blog that changes how it looks? We know you want complete control over your blog’s appearance, and that’s why we’ve built so many themes, widgets and customizations for you to use. But here the data was strong enough for the positive effect of this small little button to turn it on. We’re making sure you know about it and know how to turn it off if you don’t want to use it. In the future we expect to add more ways for visitors to follow your blog, which will give visitors and bloggers more of what they want.
We’ve written before about our efforts at WordPress.com to help you get more attention for your work. And we’re here again with a new feature: follow.
After weeks of experimentation with different designs, locations and names, we’ve determined the addition of a small, cute, little button at the bottom of your blog will dramatically help pageviews and retention.
Starting today, on all blogs, whenever someone who is not logged into WordPress.com visits, they’ll see this small little button in the bottom right corner. The button is mostly out of the way, but just noticeable enough before people leave.
And when a visitor clicks on the button, it smoothly slides open, revealing a simple way to follow the blog without having the burden of checking back on their own to see if there’s anything new. They can put their email address in, and will be notified whenever your blog has a new post.
Questions we expect to be frequently asked:
1. Why is it called Follow and not Subscribe? Good question, as many designers here at WordPress.com debated this, including me. Although the functionality is similiar to the Email subscription widget, after testing various prototypes, we learned more people clicked on the button and signed up if it were called Follow rather than Subscribe. We also know subscribe suggests to some its something you pay for, whereas follow has no such connotation.
2. I don’t like it. How can I turn it off on my blog? Easy. Go to your Dashboard. Click on Settings, then Reading, then Email. Sorry you don’t like it – but we understand. If you change your mind, this is also the place to go to customize the message new followers (subscribers) will see.
3. Will other subscription features also have their name changed? We are carefully studying the impact of different names on existing features. We only change names when we have evidence it helps our bloggers and the benefits outweigh the annoyance of the change. We don’t change feature names to be fashionable or to emulate other services that might rhyme with “critter” or “shmacebook”.
4. Why don’t I see the button? The follow button only appears for users not logged in to WordPress.com. If you want to follow a WordPress.com blog, and are already logged in, simply use the follow button that already appears in your admin bar at the top of the screen. If you want to see the new hotness, log out of WordPress.com and go to any blog, including your own, to see it. To log out, go to your admin bar at top of the screen. Click on “Me”, then click on “Log Out”.
5. Why did you put something on my blog that changes how it looks? We know you want complete control over your blog’s appearance, and that’s why we’ve built so many themes, widgets and customizations for you to use. But here the data was strong enough for the positive effect of this small little button to turn it on. We’re making sure you know about it and know how to turn it off if you don’t want to use it. In the future we expect to add more ways for visitors to follow your blog, which will give visitors and bloggers more of what they want.
Every now and then I like to remind people about upcoming WordCamps. WordCamps are locally-organized, casual conferences held all over the world that focus on WordPress. Bloggers, developers, and every other kind of WordPress fan get together to show off cool things they’ve done with WordPress, teach and learn from each other, meet new co-conspirators, and generally have a crazy fun day or weekend with other people who share their love of WordPress. Often, members of the WordPress.com team from Automattic are in attendance, and would love to meet more of you!
There are WordCamps this weekend in Albuquerque and Portland, so if you’re anywhere near these cities, you should try to attend (we’ll be there!). In Portland, the WordPress Foundation also will be sponsoring some special activities around Software Freedom Day (I’ll be at this one, testing and giving a sneak peek to attendees of some new features in the works).
Is there a WordCamp coming up near you? Let’s find out!
Sep 15: WordCamp Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa
Sep 16-18: WordCamp Albuquerque Albuquerque, NM
Sep 17-18: WordCamp Portland Portland, OR
Sep 24: WordCamp Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal
Sep 24: WordCamp Germany Koln, Germany
Sep 25: WordCamp Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria
Oct 1: WordCamp Louisville Louisville, Kentucky
Oct 8-9: WordCamp Sevilla Seville, Spain
Oct 15-16: WordCamp Jabalpur Jabalpur, India
Nov 5-6: WordCamp Toronto Toronto, ON
Nov 5-6: WordCamp Gold Coast Gold Coast, Australia
Nov 5-6: WordCamp Philly Philadelphia, PA
Nov 12: WordCamp Caguas Caguas, Puerto Rico
Nov 12-13: WordCamp Kenya Nairobi, Kenya
Nov 12-13: WordCamp Detroit Detroit, MI
Nov 12: WordCamp Richmond Richmond, VA
Nov 12-13: WordCamp Denmark Copenhagen, Denmark
Dec 17: WordCamp Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV
Feb 3-4 WordCamp Atlanta Atlanta, GA
There are also a number of WordCamps still in the early organizing stage that do not yet have dates set. These include: Ft. Wayne, IN; London, UK; Edmonton, Canada; Baku, Azerbaijan; Oslo, Norway; Sacramento, CA; Birmingham, Alabama; Pittsburgh, PA; Omaha, NE; Orlando, FL; Tokyo, Japan; Paris, France; Zagreb, Croatia; Nashville, TN, Washington DC, Baltimore, MD; Bangkok, Thailand; Istanbul, Turkey.
Hope to see you soon at a WordCamp near you!
Every now and then I like to remind people about upcoming WordCamps. WordCamps are locally-organized, casual conferences held all over the world that focus on WordPress. Bloggers, developers, and every other kind of WordPress fan get together to show off cool things they’ve done with WordPress, teach and learn from each other, meet new co-conspirators, and generally have a crazy fun day or weekend with other people who share their love of WordPress. Often, members of the WordPress.com team from Automattic are in attendance, and would love to meet more of you!
There are WordCamps this weekend in Albuquerque and Portland, so if you’re anywhere near these cities, you should try to attend (we’ll be there!). In Portland, the WordPress Foundation also will be sponsoring some special activities around Software Freedom Day (I’ll be at this one, testing and giving a sneak peek to attendees of some new features in the works).
Is there a WordCamp coming up near you? Let’s find out!
Sep 15: WordCamp Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa
Sep 16-18: WordCamp Albuquerque Albuquerque, NM
Sep 17-18: WordCamp Portland Portland, OR
Sep 24: WordCamp Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal
Sep 24: WordCamp Germany Koln, Germany
Sep 25: WordCamp Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria
Oct 1: WordCamp Louisville Louisville, Kentucky
Oct 8-9: WordCamp Sevilla Seville, Spain
Oct 15-16: WordCamp Jabalpur Jabalpur, India
Nov 5-6: WordCamp Toronto Toronto, ON
Nov 5-6: WordCamp Gold Coast Gold Coast, Australia
Nov 5-6: WordCamp Philly Philadelphia, PA
Nov 12: WordCamp Caguas Caguas, Puerto Rico
Nov 12-13: WordCamp Kenya Nairobi, Kenya
Nov 12-13: WordCamp Detroit Detroit, MI
Nov 12: WordCamp Richmond Richmond, VA
Nov 12-13: WordCamp Denmark Copenhagen, Denmark
Dec 17: WordCamp Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV
Feb 3-4 WordCamp Atlanta Atlanta, GA
There are also a number of WordCamps still in the early organizing stage that do not yet have dates set. These include: Ft. Wayne, IN; London, UK; Edmonton, Canada; Baku, Azerbaijan; Oslo, Norway; Sacramento, CA; Birmingham, Alabama; Pittsburgh, PA; Omaha, NE; Orlando, FL; Tokyo, Japan; Paris, France; Zagreb, Croatia; Nashville, TN, Washington DC, Baltimore, MD; Bangkok, Thailand; Istanbul, Turkey.
Hope to see you soon at a WordCamp near you!
Earlier this week we released a new shortcode on WordPress.com to help you embed Wufoo forms in your WordPress.com posts, pages and even sidebars. Our friends over at Wufoo wrote about it on their blog and we wanted to let you know here as well.
Wufoo forms are extremely flexible and enable you to create everything from simple contact forms to event invitations and mailing lists:
On their end, Wufoo integrates with other services as well. For example, a you could build a newsletter signup form, which sends those signups to MailChimp, all starting from your WordPress.com blog. If you or your company is a 37signals fan, you can send your Wufoo form results to Highrise or Basecamp.
Wufoo is a paid service and also offers a free plan that you can use for as long as you like to see if the service works for you. For more details on embedding Wufoo forms on your WordPress.com blogs, check out our new Wufoo support page.
We’d like to thank Chris Coyier over at Wufoo for helping us with the shortcode. Also, if you’re using the Custom Design upgrade on WordPress.com, you might be interested in Chris’ great talk from WordCamp San Francisco (embedded below) on some creative uses of CSS, and his site on the same topic, CSS Tricks.
Earlier this week we released a new shortcode on WordPress.com to help you embed Wufoo forms in your WordPress.com posts, pages and even sidebars. Our friends over at Wufoo wrote about it on their blog and we wanted to let you know here as well.
Wufoo forms are extremely flexible and enable you to create everything from simple contact forms to event invitations and mailing lists:
On their end, Wufoo integrates with other services as well. For example, a you could build a newsletter signup form, which sends those signups to MailChimp, all starting from your WordPress.com blog. If you or your company is a 37signals fan, you can send your Wufoo form results to Highrise or Basecamp.
Wufoo is a paid service and also offers a free plan that you can use for as long as you like to see if the service works for you. For more details on embedding Wufoo forms on your WordPress.com blogs, check out our new Wufoo support page.
We’d like to thank Chris Coyier over at Wufoo for helping us with the shortcode. Also, if you’re using the Custom Design upgrade on WordPress.com, you might be interested in Chris’ great talk from WordCamp San Francisco (embedded below) on some creative uses of CSS, and his site on the same topic, CSS Tricks.