Theme Updates

NEW RELEASE Heatmap Theme v3.0

Heatmap Theme v3.0 now comes with lots of additional features which make it easier to create ‘niche site style blogs’ – so that means the ability to go ‘minimal’ with less distractions for visitors.

You can see the latest v3.0 update in action on  http://creativitypro.com – notice how some elements have been turned off to give a simpler cleaner look, with the sidebar switched from right to left.

Sidebar Switching

You can now switch the whole sidebar left or right for maximum heatmap experimentation. Pop your ads in the fabled top-left hot-zone with ease!

Hide the Page navigation and Categories navigation bars

You can now entirely switch off the Page Nav and Categories Nav bars!

Hide the RSS Icons and Links

Want your categories to go the full width of the cat nav bar? Then you can by switching off the RSS Icons and links.

New RSS Icons Widget

If you switch off the RSS Icons you can still have them in your sidebar using this new widget.

Hide the Search Box

You can eliminate the search box so your page nav can go to the full width of the theme. There is of course a Search widget should you still need that function to pop in your sidebar.

Hide Post Details

Going for a minimalist neat look? You can now turn off all the post details for every post on the home page, posts, pages, categories, search and archives.

Footer Bars

You can switch them off too!

Bugs and slight annoyances fixed

• The theme now comes rounded corners for the default inbuilt classic graphite style – you could only get those in child themes previously.
• I moved the search in the nav bar 1px downwards just to make it look a little better in Firefox.
• I noticed that the post details box for each post was out by about 5px. I’ve fixed that up in the CSS.
• The (EDIT) link for each post has now been moved out of the post details box and underneath the POST it relates to. This is of course required because you now have the option to switch off the post details and therefore would not be able to (EDIT) the post unless I changed this!
• Removed the pesky NO CATEGORIES message on the cat bar when you have no categories in your blog – some people dont have any categories in their blogs – go figure!
• Removed the pesky NO POSTS message when you have no posts in your blog – giving you the option to just have a site entirely made up of pages!
• Fixed various low-importance minor typo issues.

Members Release

As of this version, the latest release of Heatmap Theme will always be a members download.

Additionally I will also be making a ‘free to download’ earlier version available, for those who want to give Heatmap Theme a whirl before joining our growing community of fellow HeatMapsters on the HeatMap Insider Forum.

Want to join us?
I look forward to meeting you on the Heatmap Insider

HeatMap Theme 2.5 released

This release fixes up a few issues.  Changes are documented in preset.php and search.php.

This a highly recommended update folks!

Even if you don’t update to 2.5 you should definitely check out search.php and apply the changes documented in there to your old version.

Nine New Child Themes! plus HeatMap version 2.4 now available

Another nine new colour child themes for HeatMap Ads Theme have now been added to the HeatMap Insider Forum for your downloading pleasure!

In addition, all of the previous child themes have had a bit of spruce up, making a grand total of 17 child themes available.

The new and spruced up child themes all now include css for rounded corners to add a nice touch for browsers that support ’rounded-ness’.

Also in other news…

HeatMap Ads Theme 2.4 has now been released along with HeatMap Extras Plugin 1.3 (Drop down menus). These releases just fix up a couple of small bugs and typos, plus changes the way that the nav-bar and cat-bar text is centered vertically to make things look a bit more consistent in that area across a wider range of browsers.

NEW HeatMap Theme Version 2.3 Released

HeatMap Theme 2.3 is now out!

This version tidies up a few issues and adds support for threaded comments (woohoo!)

Things to know…

• The logic of the ‘Display Title and Tags’ tick box has been ‘inverted’ – It defaults to ‘on’ instead of ‘off’.
• Time formatting of posts and comments are now set to show whatever defaults you set in your theme admin.
• Child Theme override of common.php and preset.php now works properly – no need to copy every php file that contains common.php to your child theme anymore if you have made changes to common.php

Minor things

• Fixed ‘no posts found’ error – when posts are not found there were some situations where the code that displayed the error threw a wobbly – the error should be nice and tidy now.
• Removed double semicolon error (;;) in style.css
• Made more room on the categories bar – you should now be able to fit more categories in there.
• Categories and Pages nav bar overflow – no more annoying artefacts if you try put more categories or pages on the nav and cat bar – excess words will not show.
• Eliminated the references to missing images in the css.
• Styling of ol and li lists now looks neater and wraps around ads better.
• Preset Mode – No longer contains any simulated ads.

For HeatMap Insider Members, this release is teamed with updates for the HeatMap Extras drop downs plugin which now sports 4 levels, and the HeatMap Child Themes which now have appropriately coloured threaded comments styling.

NEW HeatMap Theme 4 Level Drop Down Menus + Child Theme Update

The HeatMap Extras Plugin has now been upgraded to provide 4 level drop downs (3 levels plus the nav bar)  for both pages and posts.

Child themes also now have threaded comments styling to suit their colours.

If you need the multi level drop downs or the child themes what are you doing hanging around out there?  Come on inside! (the HeatMap Insider Forum that is!)

HeatMap Theme 2.2 and Drop Down Menus released

HeatMap Theme 2.2 is now available for download from HeatMapTheme.com. It will be available from the WordPress.org theme directory in a few days.

This release includes some new features and improvements…

• Compatible with the new HeatMapTheme Drop Down Menus Plugin which is available from the HeatMap Theme store as part of the HeatMap Theme Colour Pack.
• New ‘Preset Mode’ for people who like to hack the sidebar using php instead of using widgets (also doubling as a demo mode for HeatMap Theme) – this replaces the original demo mode idea from 2.2rc & rc2.
• Supports 125 x 125 ads in [Sidebar] Right.
• Save buttons everywhere in the HeatMap options page (to save lots of scrolling when you want to save the settings).
• A neater less intrusive post details section, on posts and pages.
• A diagram of all HeatMap Theme widget positions in the HeatMap Theme options page, linking directly to the user guide for widget positions (where you can find a larger diagram).
• 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, so 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

HeatMap Theme Drop Down Menus (soon!)

You asked for it and its nearly ready… (patience young Jedi, patience)

Yes HeatMap Theme now has its own drop down menus plugin.

It provides a really neat drop down menu for both pages and categories, with a rather fetching slight transparency to it.

It plugs directly into the new 2.2 release of HeatMap Theme, but those who have modded their 2.1 HeatMap Themes directly (instead of using a Child Theme) need not despair. We will be providing instructions so you can easily slip in the plugin and get those lovely drop downs working.

Everyone who has bought the HeatMap Theme colour pack or donated $35 or more will recieve the new plugin as our complimentary gift to you.

“So”, we hear you say “when can I get my bloggin’ paws on this plugin?”

As soon as HeatMap Theme 2.2 rc2 becomes the official release, we’ll release the Drop Downs plugin at the same time, and we’ll combine it into the HeatMap Theme colour pack.

(**Update 5/9/09 … we’ve decided to make a just few more improvements to the new release of HeatMap Theme 2.2 so it will probably be about a week before its all good to go!)

There’s even more cool stuff coming down the pipe!

If you haven’t grabbed your HeatMap Theme colour pack then this is what you are missing out on:

• The colour pack of Child Themes makes the task of modding HeatMap Theme sooo much easier!
• When you have a question you can ask us and a real live expert person who knows heatmap theme inside and out will answer! (thus making things even easier)
• You’ll receive cool new Heatmap Theme goodies for the next 12 months without paying any extra!

Need more convincing? Check out the testimonials of HeatMap Theme users!

Now over to the store with you poste haste

HeatMap Theme 2.2 rc2 beta released

HeatMap Theme 2.2 rc2 has now been released. There were no problems reported with rc1 but before we make this one official, we decided to squeeze in an update which will allow HeatMap Theme to have an ‘extras plugin’. In the first instance the extras plugin will provide an additional drop down menus function. Install it, have a play and if you find any gremlins inhabiting this release then drop us a line. Use the installation instructions for the rc1 release.

Six new colours for HeatMap Theme!

You asked for it, and now, finally, the new child themes have touched down to earth in all their technicolour glory.

Yes, you can now escape from the ‘Classic Graphite’ HeatMap Theme look and style up your blog with the new HeatMap Child Theme Colour Pack.

The pack contains 6 new colours, Red Hot Chilli, Blue Deacon, Pinky Punky, Emerald Isle, Golden Brown and Purple People.

In addition there’s also a child theme version of the Classic Graphite original colour scheme for those who want to retain their monochrome style, but also want the added benefit of being able to tinker with a child theme instead of hacking the core code.

Plus, there’s also a ‘no graphics’ version called ‘Almost Naked’ for those who need a blank canvas to start from, or just simply have a need for speed.

That’s makes a total of 8 Child themes in one pack!

The HeatMap Theme colour pack is now in the HeatMap Theme Store for your purchasing pleasure for the almost too reasonable sum of $35.

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…