Happy 2012, everyone!

We try to keep our themes current by responding to customer requests and bugs every so often.

This time is no different – over the last couple of weeks we’ve gone through and made a round of updates to all of our WordPress themes, with mostly minor bug cleanup for many of the themes.

One major addition – we’ve added Google Plus icons to all of our themes that have “social site” support – that means Anthem, Linen, Paperpunch, Photography, React, Shelf, Titan and Traction all now feature a hand-crafted Google Plus icon, configurable on your Theme Options page.

Also, Duet received some much-requested stylistic tweaks – removing the author from pages and hiding the “Read More” link when there is no “more” tag on a post are the most notable.

Download the latest package from your downloads page, and check the changelog for specific details for your theme. Of course, we’re always looking for more feedback – so if you have any questions, comments or suggestions feel free to contact us or write a comment below!

On most themes we’ve added a bit of styling to fix an issue with image stretching in older versions of Internet Explorer – not exactly groundbreaking, but hopefully your sites will look a little nicer in old browsers! A few of our themes also got some small stylistic updates to tables and definition lists.

There are a few minor bug fixes for Shelf and we also fixed comment anchors so “Leave a comment” links throughout your site will correctly bring you to the comments form.

React got a couple of big feature additions:

• A page template with the sidebar
• The ability to add multiple Project/Portfolio pages with the projects of your choosing

Information on setting up multiple Project pages is in your theme documentation.

Photography also got some nice additions:

• A theme option for adding captions in two different styles
• The ability to create multiple Gallery showcase pages featuring whichever galleries you want
• Keyboard navigation on individual galleries

Information on setting up captions and multiple Gallery pages is also in your theme documentation.

We’ve gotten a number of requests for the React and Photography features, so we hope you’re as excited as we are!

Check the change log for your theme to see the changes in the update.

If you run into any issues please post in our forums and we’ll be happy to help!

We’ve added an attachment template for viewing media items associated with a post.

Another new feature: Linen now has support for excerpts! If you specify an excerpt it will be used as the summary of your post.

We’ve also made modifications to the featured slider for both Linen and Traction – you no longer need to have 2 sticky posts to activate the slider – 1 will work just fine! We’ve also added the option to display sticky posts both in the featured slider and in the standard post list – something we’ve gotten several requests for.

In addition, there are several bug fixes applied to all of our themes. Check the change log for your theme to see the changes in the update.

If you run into any trouble please post in our forums and we’ll help you out!

The biggest visible change is an updated theme options panel that matches the look and feel of the new WordPress 3.2 interface. Also included are a bunch of bug fixes and enhancements. Check out the /docs/changelog file included in your theme if you’re interested in reading more about the changes.

If you run into any trouble please head straight to the support forums and we will help you out :)

Today we released some exciting new updates for all of our themes. Some notable improvements include:

• A faster and lighter logo uploader for all themes.
• Shelf 2.0: A revamped codebase and support for Post Formats.
• IE9 Beta compatibility fixes for Photography and Paperpunch.
• Updated slider for Traction and Linen.

Head over to the downloads page to grab the new theme packages. WordPress 3.1 is required, so please be sure you are running WordPress 3.1 before you try to update your theme(s). Also, be sure to read the upgrade instructions and the important notes on the new logo uploader, Shelf 2.0, and Traction Updates.

New logo uploader

We have replaced the old logo uploader with a faster and lighter version that uses the WordPress core media uploader. The new version will require you to re-upload your logo after you update your theme. Before you upgrade the theme be sure to download a fresh copy of your logo. After upgrading navigate to Appearance → Theme Options and re-upload your logo. Click the Insert into Post button after the upload is complete. If you used the old FTP method you will have to specify the absolute URL of your logo image.

Shelf 2.0

We have completely revamped how Shelf works to take full advantage of the new WordPress 3.1 post formats. So much so, you will need to follow specific instructions and use a special migration plugin to update to Shelf 2.0. These instructions must be followed to the letter or they will not work. Do not upgrade to Shelf 2.0 until you have finished with the migration.

Important Note: Any posts with Audio or Image files hosted outside of your WordPress installation will need to be updated manually.

1. Back up you database. This is the most important step. Do not skip this!
2. Update WordPress to version 3.1 or higher.
3. If you are using a custom menu, navigate to Appearance → Menus and remove any and all “Tumblog” menu items you added to your active custom menu.
4. Download, install, and activate the Shelf Migrate Plugin.
5. Verify that you are running Shelf 1.1.4 (or earlier) and WordPress 3.1.
6. Navigate to Settings → Shelf Migrate.
7. Click Migrate Shelf.
8. Update to Shelf 2.0.
9. Install, activate, and run the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin.

You should now be running Shelf 2.0. The posting procedure has changed significantly with this new version (Shelf no longer uses custom fields), so please read through the Shelf Documentation carefully.

Traction Updates

Some notable changes to Traction:

• We have removed the sidebar Twitter stream option from the theme. This functionality should be handled through a plugin and our version couldn’t be controlled through Appearance → Widgets. To quickly replace this functionality download and install the Wickett Twitter Widget plugin. This is an “official” WordPress.com plugin that has been battle tested across millions of sites.

• The featured slider now uses the excerpt instead of a custom field for the featured slider button descriptions. First, make sure the Excerpt box is checked in the Screen Options tab. Next, copy any descriptions you have in custom fields into the Excerpt box. Remember to keep them short and sweet.

• The footer widgets have been re-organized and the About section has been removed from the Theme Options. If you are using the old About section (found under Theme Options → Footer), please make a copy of the text before updating. Copy the text into a new Text widget under Appearance → Widgets and drag it into the Footer Left sidebar. After you update please double check your footer widgets are in the right location. You will probably have to re-organize them, so be sure to take a snapshot before you update Traction. Remember, all your widget settings are saved in the In-active Widgets section, you simply have to drag the widget back to the appropriate sidebar.

Changelog now included

We are now officially including a changelog inside the /docs folder of your theme. This file will be updated with each release and have a list of the changes for that version. For this reason, we will no longer be posting a changelog on the blog. Instead, we will post only the most notable changes at the beginning of the post.

Problems?

If you run into any trouble please head straight to the support forums and we will help you out :)

Focused on improving our themes

Routinely improving and updating our themes is very important to us. This doesn’t mean just keeping up with WordPress standards, but also adding new features and improvements from time to time. For example, Vigilance now features a drop down navigation menu and Traction includes a full-width page template. We also hired WordPress expert and core contributor Austin Matzko (aka filosofo) to help us with this recent update. Austin did an awesome job of auditing, refactoring, and streamlining a ton of theme code.

Update Notes

• The old navigation menu controls in your Theme Options page have been removed (found in Vigilance, Titan, Paperpunch, and Traction). If you were using them, please setup and use the new WordPress 3.0 menus. The new built-in WordPress menus have all the functionality of the old menus and then some. Be sure to take note of your menu setup before you upgrade. Setup your new menus by navigating to Appearance → Menus.

• All stylesheets and scripts are now enqueued from the themename-extend.php file. If you previously made changes to your header.php file and duplicated it to your child theme please be aware the stylesheet and javascript calls are no longer in the header.php file.

Changelog

We packed a ton of new stuff into this release, below is a quick overview of some of the important changes.

• All themes – Code: Improved and streamlined PHP logic on image rotation scripts.
• All themes – Code: Converted to the new WordPress comment_form function.
• All themes – Code: Updated several function calls to use WordPress 3.0+ standards.
• All themes – Code: Removed support for old navigation menus. All themes now require WordPress 3.0+.
• All themes – Code: Moved all theme functions into the core method for easy child theme overrides.
• All themes – Code: Properly enqueued all stylesheets and scripts for better compatibility.
• All themes – Security: Added anti-XSS measures in several spots where theme data is saved.
• All themes – Security: Added espaces to several attribute values.
• All themes – Localization: Improved localization coverage and string formatting across all themes.
• Paperpunch – Bugfix: Clear float on navigation.
• Photography – New feature: Choose a photo size (medium or large) for your Flickr galleries.
• Photography – Enhancement: Added a spinner for the light color scheme.
• Photography – Bugfix: Fixed Flickr reset issue.
• Photography – Bugfix: Added styling for .aligncenter on entries.
• Photography – Bugfix: Fixed thumbnail hovers in IE.
• Shelf for Tumblr – Bugfix: Don’t show date separator if there are no tags.
• Titan – New feature: Footer has been fully “widgetized”.
• Titan – New feature: HTML5.
• Titan – Enhancement: Cleanup stylesheet and add table of contents.
• Traction – New feature: Full-width page template for all three color schemes.
• Traction – Speed Enhancement: Switched to sprites on background images to save HTTP requests.
• Traction – Enhancement: Added support for wp_link_pages.
• Traction – Bugfix: Fix featured container height with only one featured post.
• Vigilance – New feature: Drop down navigation menus.
• Vigilance – Enhancement: Add automatic feed link support.
• Vigilance – Enhancement: Stylesheet cleanup.

Note: Shelf will be updated again soon with bugfixes and support for the new WordPress 3.1 post formats.

Paperpunch 2.1 has been released. Cruise on over to the downloads page and grab your copy. Be sure to read the upgrade instructions first.

Paperpunch 2.1 Changelog

• New PRO Feature: HTML5 support!
• Speed Improvement: Consolidated an extra functions file to improve theme load time.
• Speed Improvement: Removed an extra function from the comments template (now in WP core).
• Enhancement: Add automatic feed links function.
• Bug Fix: Removed deprecated escape attribute from search query.
• Bug Fix:Fix duplicate search title in sidebar search widget.
• Miscellaneous: Cleaned up the master stylesheet and added a table of contents.
• Miscellaneous: Organized functions.php file and added a table of contents.

Before I get into the structure changes, let me explain why we are making the change. In the past we maintained two separate versions of each theme. One was the free trial version, and the other was the PRO child theme. The PRO child theme unlocked features in the free trial version. This worked well for a long time, but we eventually started updating the PRO child theme almost as much as the free parent theme. This defeated the purpose of having the child theme in the first place and was a hassle for our users.

Starting with version 2.0 of Paperpunch, Titan, Traction, and Vigilance (Photography is already using the new structure) the PRO child theme will be emptied out. It will be a true “blank canvas” for customizing your theme, and it probably won’t ever be updated (the way it should be). In place of the old free parent version will be a new 2.0 PRO version of each theme, which will only be available to members. We will still release a free trial but it will be a stripped down copy of the PRO version and it won’t receive regular updates.

Upgrade instructions

There are basically 3 upgrade scenarios. I will use Vigilance as an example, but any of the themes can be updated using the same process.

Always backup first!

You should always make a backup of your /wp-content/themes folder before you upgrade any themes. Log in to your server via FTP and download the entire /wp-content/themes folder to your local hard drive. If you aren’t sure how to use FTP check out the video library. If something goes wrong simply delete your /wp-content/themes folder from the server and replace it with your backup copy.

You haven’t customized any code

First, login to your server via FTP and navigate to /wp-content/themes. Find your PRO child theme folder, most likely called `vigilance_pro`, and rename it to `vigilance_pro_old`.

Download the new 2.0 themes (eg. Vigilance PRO 2.0 and Vigilance PRO child theme 2.0) and follow the install instructions. After completing the install you will have two new themes under Appearance → Themes section of your WordPress admin panel: Vigilance PRO 2.0 and Vigilance PRO Child Theme 2.0. Simply activate Vigilance PRO Child Theme 2.0 (green PRO image in the middle) and you are good to go. If you have any images in your `/vigilance_pro_old/images` folder be sure to copy them over to the new `/vigilance_pro_child/images` folder. After things have been working well for a few weeks feel free to delete all your old 1.x themes. Don’t worry about losing any of your “Theme Options” settings or posts/pages, they are stored in the database and won’t be touched.

You have customized CSS only

First, follow the instructions outlined above in the You haven’t customized any code section. After completing the instructions your theme will be working, but all your custom styles will be missing.

Find your Vigilance 1.x child theme folder (the one we renamed `/vigilance_pro_old`) and open up the style.css file. You should have made all your CSS customizations below the Make all custom CSS changes BELOW this line section. Select all of your customization code and copy it to your clipboard. Now, open up your brand new `/vigilance_pro_child/style.css` file and paste all the code below the Make all custom CSS changes BELOW this line section. Save the file on your server and your custom styles will re-appear.

You have customized CSS and added or customized template files in your PRO child theme

First, follow the instructions outlined above in the You haven’t customized any code and You have customized CSS only sections. After completing the instructions your theme and custom styles will be working, but your template customizations will be missing.

Find your Vigilance 1.x child theme folder (the one we renamed `/vigilance_pro_old`) and make a copy of all your customized template files. Don’t include header.php or any other old “default” files (page templates, files in the /functions folder, etc.) unless you have customized them. Now, open up your new `/vigilance_pro_child` folder and drop in all your customized template files.

Questions or problems?

Remember, we aren’t deleting any of the old theme folders or files so you can always switch back to the 1.x version of the PRO child theme under Appearance → Themes and you will be right back where you started. If you run into any complications during the upgrade process please drop us a line in the support forums and we will help you get everything straightened out.

PRO child themes updated

The PRO child themes have also been updated. Be sure to read through the upgrade instructions. If you plan on using the diff file, please note the vast majority of the changes have been made in the /functions folder. I would recommend replacing that folder entirely with the new version and using the diff file to make the rest of the changes. Here are some links to the PRO child theme diff files:

• Vigilance PRO child theme 1.41 diff file
• Titan PRO child theme 1.27 diff file
• Paperpunch PRO child theme 1.05 diff file
• Traction PRO child theme 1.02 diff file

Paperpunch 1.04 has been released! This is a small point release but it includes two exciting new features. Be sure to check out the changelog below for details. Head over to the downloads page to grab your copy.

Paperpunch PRO child theme updated to version 1.04

The Paperpunch PRO child theme has been upgraded to version 1.04. If you have customized your PRO child theme please read through the upgrade instructions. If you plan on using the diff file, please note the vast majority of the changes have been made in the /functions folder. I would recommend replacing that folder entirely with the new version and using the diff file to make the rest of your changes.

Paperpunch PRO child theme 1.04 diff file

Paperpunch 1.04 Changelog

• New PRO Feature: Added an easy to use logo uploader!
• New PRO Feature: WordPress 3.0 menu support!
• Enhancement: Moved custom colors inline for improved speed and reliability.
• Bug Fix: Re-styled the “cancel comment reply” link.
• Bug Fix: Removed some unnecessary function escapes.
• Bug Fix: Replaced deprecated bloginfo reference and template tag.
• Bug Fix: Updated the upload paths in the theme options menu to be more clear.
• Bug Fix: Several translation fixes.
• Miscellaneous: Massive code base cleanup.