Archive for August, 2009

HeatMap Ads Theme 2.2 rc1 beta released

We’ve fixed up a few bugs that were buggin’ us, and added just few more features…

• Demo Mode – When HeatMap Theme is first installed it now starts up in demo mode showing the diagram of widget positions, with some widgets actually in place. Demo mode doesn’t actually add any content to your blog or change any widget positions that you’ve already set up.  Turn demo mode off and all your content will miraculously appear again. Our intention is to expand demo mode to be a full scale ‘preset widget’ mode eventually -  ie. a superquick way to set up all the widgets straight from the ‘zip wrap’, but for now its just a demo mode.
• Save buttons EVERYWHERE – Up till now you had to make the long trip down to the bottom of the options page to press [SAVE]. No longer. There are save buttons everywhere you might need them in this release.
• RSS images are now TRANSPARENT gifs – when surfing the web looking at what people are doing with their HeatMap Theme installations we noticed that people were having trouble matching the colours of the RSS images to their custom backgrounds for the cat-bar… sooo we’ve changed them to transparent gifs so you can avoid that colour matching headache.
• Direct links to the Authors of each post have been removed – Why? I was uneasy about the  implications of using the_author_posts_link() to return the author of each article as it reveals the username of the author (a feature of WordPress that I think needs to change). Don’t worry; if you do like things that way -  you can just uncomment the relevant code and all will be as before

For now, you can download HeatMap Ads Theme 2.2 beta rc1 from this site, and we’ll be submitting it to the WordPress Theme directory in due course.

Make sure you read the installation tips…and here they are…

Adsense to Ads! small change, big plans!

Okay, so the more observant of you will have noticed this site has mysteriously changed from being about an Adsense theme to being an Ads theme (you did notice didn’t you? or were you just thinking you were going a bit loopy and that it had been this way all the time?)

It’s now HeatMap Theme’s one month birthday and during this short time that I’ve come to realise that HeatMap Theme has developed its own grand designs that stretch beyond Adsense. Yes it’s true, I originally started this whole thing to solve my own problem of being able to quickly and conveniently launch my own sites without having to install a whole mess of plugins and retrofit my WordPress Themes to make them work neatly.  Well it seems that goal has been achieved (although there is more to come on that score).

I’m now starting to use other ad networks (US Visitors might notice some Chitika ads on this site) and other affiliate programs with HeatMap Theme, and since so many people are actively using HeatMap Theme with Adsense alternatives it makes sense that HeatMap Theme starts to spread its wings.
Read more…

WordPress 2.8.4 update good to go

There’s been another upgrade to WordPress. The latest version is 2.8.4. No dramas with this release. If you have any probs drop us a line.

HeatMap Ads Theme Makeover for StuartWider.com

My blog has had a HeatMap Theme makeover!

I’ve finally had time to make over stuartwider.com (my personal blog site). Naturally it’s entirely built on HeatMap Theme, using the power of Child Themes so I didn’t have to touch the core code, not even a tiny bit!

When I get a spare minute I’ll create a tutorial to show you how it was done. It feels very ‘me’ (sorta retro colour 80′s).

I built HeatMap Ads Theme specifically so it could be a ‘blank canvas’ for monetised themeing adventures, especially the ‘wallpaper image’. By popping a new wallpaper in the theme you can quickly create a very individual look.

Let me know what you think, and if you are on a WordPress themeing adventure of your own with HeatMap Theme drop us a line.

WordPress 2.8.3 Good to Go

WordPress 2.8.3 is now out. I’ve upgraded a couple of blogs, and noticed no issues with HeatMap Theme. If your mileage varies let us know