WordPress Theme Marketplaces 2013: Trends

A good way to spot emerging trends in the WordPress themes market would be to look at the behaviour of theme marketplaces like Themeforest, Mojo Themes and other boutique WordPress marketplaces. Here are some of our observations of what is currently ongoing and our take on what is to be:

Themeforest – The WordPress Marketplace Giant

With about 2500 themes in its inventory, Themeforest is probably the largest theme marketplace there is. Collis Ta’eed, founder of Envato which runs Themeforest, observed that the main trends on theme sales for 2012 have been: responsive, e-commerce and app themes (themes that have app like functionalities).

These trends are indeed reflective of trends observed by developers in the industry. With mobile platforms taking their place as the new mainstream it is just fitting to find responsive themes becoming more of a necessity rather than a trend.

The introduction of Jigoshop and WooCommerce plugins are making people realize the viability of turning WordPress themes into robust e-commerce solutions.

Specialized app themes will remain and will continue to flourish because of the specific niches they service. These niche WordPress app themes will continue to evolve as the themes market matures.

Mojo-themes and other WordPress Boutique shops

A look at the top 10 sellers on Mojo Themes similarly shows 4/10 themes are already responsive indicating that the trend towards mobile friendly themes is indeed a phenomenon. Their top selling theme is an e-commerce theme validating the emergence of WordPress as an e-commerce solution. The rest of the themes are multi-purpose or portfolio themes which target professionals, small or medium scale businesses and corporations.

Boutique theme shops and clubs such as StudioPress, Thematic, Press75, iThemes, WooThemes, Templatic and many others continue to thrive with their own loyal following.

Outlook for 2013

Major and minor WordPress theme marketplace vendors are experiencing the trends towards responsive themes and e-commerce. The question is how will these trends influence these marketplaces as they prepare for 2013 and beyond?

It is our opinion that responsive themes will continue to be in high demand as the transition to mobile platforms is still ongoing. About 6.1B mobile subscriptions are still yet to convert to internet ready smartphone subscriptions. The recent introduction of WooCommerce and Jigoshop indicates that the market is also only in the early stages of adaptation and mainstreaming of this technology. 2013 will be a year for continued acceptance as more sites exploit the democratization of e-commerce with these two plugins. Perhaps more eCommerce plugins will be introduced into the market and WordPress users will have more options and solutions to choose from.With a big year ahead for responsive themes and e-commerce, developers now have to bid for the best products to serve these markets as well as look at what lies ahead in 2014.

As ThemeForest continues its commitment to evolve and improve its review standards on what WordPress themes are made available in the marketplace we can expect higher quality WordPress themes that will satisfy even the strictest Code gurus out there. The renewed commitment to become more involved in the WordPress community is also a welcome move that will surely benefit us all.

Wedding WordPress Theme 2012 by ThemeFuse

Bring out the bubbly because she just said “Yes!” But wait! Walking down the aisle isn’t that simple nowadays what with all the preparations and planning that has to be done. One of the most challenging things you’ll ever go through in life is to plan a wedding. But what if you had a tool that could help you address all the logistical challenges that go with it? A simple solution is to create a website just for the event that way you can manage certain aspects of the wedding wherever you are.

Many times, coordination and information dissemination can be a challenge as you plan your wedding or even somebody else’s. Just Married Premium WordPress theme is a theme indispensable during wedding preparation activities. This premium WordPress theme is an effective means of communicating the progress of wedding preparation, invitations, attendance, as well as bookings and gift registry. It is also perfect for wedding organizers as they coordinate activities that may be logistically challenging to accomplish.

Just Married allows you to manage information relevant to the wedding. With the theme’s built-in templates, you can post all the information about the ceremony, sponsors, bridesmaids, groomsmen, and the entourage that guests might want to know. You can also post information about the bride and the groom’s story and how the story continues along. Confirming guest attendance is also much easier with Just Married’s RSVP feature. With this feature, guests can fill out the RSVP form to confirm attendance making it easier for the bride and the groom keep track of their budget. The theme also allows you to connect to the couple’s bridal registry pages to their stores of choice making it convenient for guests, whether local or international, to give gifts to the couple. Out of town guests can take advantage of the accommodations feature to book hotel rooms at group discounts set-up with partner hotels.

This premium WordPress theme’s responsive design allows guests to visit the site while on the go. This is perfect for friends and family travelling to the event. Planning a wedding need not be such a stressful activity if you have the right tools.

Features:

  • RSVP Module
  • jQuery Image Lightbox
  • Auto Image Resizing
  • Cross Browser Compatible
  • jQuery Image / Video Lightbox
  • Font-face custom font
  • Powerful Admin Options

This theme includes documentation, video tutorials, as well as access to an AfterCare Forum for theme support. Check out Just Married Premium WordPress Theme today.

Just Married Theme: $49 | Demo & Download

35 of the Best eCommerce WordPress Themes 2013

Believe it or not, 2013 is right around the corner, and we want you to be prepared. Thanks to some big advancements in eCommerce functionality for WordPress in 2012, the Best eCommerce Themes of 2013 are sure to be amazing. eCommerce is simply the commerce conducted through the Internet. With millions of websites, blogs, and Internet users, more and more businesses are taking their products online. The successes of sites like Amazon and Ebay has dispelled all skepticism about eCommerce websites – not to mention the scores of “mom and pop” operations selling everything from ebooks to digital hugs…yes…some people are making money selling completely made up things.

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WooThemes: The Reboot

Just this month, WooThemes introduced a club revamp and implemented new tiered licensing and support packages. Previously you could purchase one theme for $70. With it you get 2 bonus themes plus lifetime support. Now, with the new tiered licensing scheme, WooThemes introduces 3 more packages in addition to its Standard Package offering: the Developer Theme Package, the Standard Club Package, and the Developer Club Package.

Standard Package – $70

WooThemes retains this package everyone has gotten used to. You still get the theme you want with unlimited domain usage plus two other themes of your choice. Previously, however, you got lifetime support for your purchased theme while in the new scheme only 1 year of support is included. WooThemes has explained that revenues gotten from the initial purchase 3 years ago will not sustain the support services obtained during the lifetime of the product. Users have the option to purchase lifetime support service for an additional $30. This package does not include PSD files.

Developer Package – $150

This package is similar to the Standard package. You get unlimited domain usage for the theme you purchased plus 3 other themes. The Developer package includes PSD files for additional customization capabilities. Service is likewise for 1 year with the option for lifetime support for an additional $30.

Standard Club Package – $20 per month + $125 start-up fee

This package gives you access to all 82 themes in the WooThemes inventory with unlimited domain uses as well as an additional of at least 1 theme a month. It gives you access to support services as long as membership is current. This package does not include access to PSD files.

Developer Club Package – $25 per month + $200 start-up fee

This package also gives you access to all 82 themes in the WooThemes inventory with unlimited domain uses as well as an additional of at least 1 theme a month. PSD files are included with this package. Support access available as long as membership is current.

Similarly extensions of the popular WooCommerce plugin are now under a tiered licensing scheme. You can purchase single site use, usage for up to 5 sites or unlimited site usage.

While a lot of folks have accepted the changes in WooThemes some have expressed dissatisfaction with the new setup. One user stated that from his point of view WooThemes jacked the prices up and lowered the support quality. Another user lamented the shutting down of support forums as support is not email based in response to the new system. The majority of users, however, still think WooThemes needs to do what is necessary to sustain its business in response to the growth the WordPress industry.

Sometimes, in order for businesses to survive in an ever evolving business environment, changes have to be undertaken to ensure the viability and profitability of such. Otherwise, to remain in business without profitability is a futile endeavor. Any change, especially in businesses, does not happen at a whim. Surely, the people behind WooThemes have put in the thought process before they arrived at their new scheme. The tricky part is in the area of providing support and for how long. Unless there is a guarantee that every theme that comes out of WooThemes is fail-proof (all things remaining constant) up to a certain point, no matter how many updates and plugins come out, – people will still expect to receive support. And if they don’t they will simply switch providers. It’s as simple as that.

See the WooThemes Reboot

12 Useful Twitter Hacks and Snippets For WordPress

Everybody loves twittering these days. Don’t believe me? The statistics should make you a believer. As of 2012, Twitter had 500 million active users! The 140 character post social media platform is ruling the world, second only to Facebook. Considering the huge number of Twitter users, people are using Twitter options like plugins and add-ons on more and more websites.

These plugins and add-ons can have varied uses and applications. For example, some commenting systems like Discus allow you to post a comment with your Twitter picture being displayed in the comment as your Avatar. This helps you not to upload your display picture again and again whenever you want to comment and hence saves a lot of time. See entry #3 below for more on this.

Or maybe you want your blog posts’ links to become tiny so that your readers may share them on Twitter. As we all know…Twitter has a 140 character limit. Under such a constraint it is not a wise practice to share large URLs on Twitter as you will want some room to type out some text relevant to the link in your tweets to tell your followers about what you are sharing. Option #7 below enables you to achieve this.

There are 10 other options below that combine the technology of WordPress and Twitter to produce great results. Check them out by scrolling down.

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HTML5 WordPress Themes 2013: Trends

The evolution of HTML from the time it was introduced years ago to the HTML5 we know today is a technical geek lover’s journey. This article is not about that but just in case you are interested to know how it all came to be here are some interesting resources for you to check out. For those who want a more comprehensive history of HTML5, you can read all about it here – Dive into HTML5 by Mark Pilgrim. For those who just want a quick overview, check out this cool infographic The History of HTML5 published by Mashable. If you are really want to get into the technical stuff, you can go straight to the source right here – W3C.

What’s so Cool About HTML5

According to PCMag:

HTML5 was designed to provide a comprehensive application development platform for Web pages that eliminates the need to install third-party browser plug-ins such as Java and Flash. HTML5 provides support for 2D graphics, document editing, drag and drop, browser history management, audio and video playback and local file storage.

Simply put, HTML5 is composed of a set of rules that tell computers how to interpret code to display websites. It’s the 5th version of a set of instructions, governed by specific rules, that tells your browser how to execute these commands to display a specific design. It is the language of the web. HTML5 includes the following updates:

HTML5 introduces a number of APIs that help in creating Web applications. These can be used together with the new elements introduced for applications:

  • Media elements (video and audio) have APIs for controlling playback, syncronising multiple media elements, and timed text tracks (e.g. subtitles).
  • An API for form constraint validation (e.g. the setCustomValidity() method).
  • An API for commands that the user can invoke (used together with the command element among others).
  • An API that enables offline Web applications, with an application cache.
  • An API that allows a Web application to register itself for certain protocols or media types, using registerProtocolHandler() and registerContentHandler().
  • Editing API in combination with a new global contenteditable attribute.
  • Drag and drop API in combination with a draggable attribute.
  • An API that exposes the components of the document’s URL and allows scripts to navigate, redirect and reload (the Location interface).
  • An API that exposes the session history and allows scripts to update the document’s URL without actually navigating, so that applications don’t need to abuse the fragment component for “Ajax-style” navigation (the History interface).
  • An API for base64 conversion (atob() and btoa() methods).
  • An API to schedule timer-based callbacks (setTimeout() and setInterval()).
  • An API to prompt the user (alert(), confirm(), prompt(), showModalDialog()).
  • An API for printing the document (print()).
  • An API for handling search providers (AddSearchProvider() and IsSearchProviderInstalled()).
  • The Window object has been defined.

WHATWG HTML has further APIs that are not in HTML5 but are separate specifications at the W3C:

  • An API for microdata.
  • An API for immediate-mode bitmap graphics (the 2d context for the canvas element).
  • An API for cross-document messaging and channel messaging (postMessage() and MessageChannel).
  • An API for runnings scripts in the background (Worker and SharedWorker).
  • An API for client-side storage (localStorage and sessionStorage).
  • An API for bidirectional client-server communication (WebSocket).
  • An API for server-to-client data push (EventSource).

source: W3C

How Does this Affect WordPress Developers?

The HTML5 standard features make it easier to develop faster, interactive, and more semantically correct web pages, eliminating the need for functions that require JavaScript and Flash. WordPress designers, authors, and developers can take advantage of HTML5 enhancements on these 6 key elements: video, application cache, canvas for images, geolocation, worker threads, and notification. No doubt, HTML5 has bridged the divide between desktop and mobile and so far it is the best way to create mobile-friendly websites on a variety of devices.

What Trends do We Expect See in 2013

  • The rise of the baked, boilerplate, bare bones or blank HTML5 Themes
  • HTML5 will be supported by all new WordPress themes
  • More single dynamic pages websites with animation features
  • WordPress themes running on HTML5 compatible smart phones
  • Responsive design
  • Simple and clean themes (no to options-overload, yes to feature-specific themes)

HTML5 is still a work-in-progress and its adoption into more and more WordPress themes will continue as more and more users turn towards the mobile web. We can continue to expect more power, more speed, and more capabilities from it in the future as this technology continues to mature.

Responsive WordPress Themes 2013: Trends

For decades web design has always been centered around the desktop. We’ve always created our themes with the assumption of a user sitting in front of a desktop with high speed internet connection and using the most powerful web browsers available. The advent of mobile platforms have forced us to rethink this paradigm and we have had remarkable progress in creating themes that work on both desktop and mobile platforms. A few years ago, it was predicted that mobile devices will overtake desktops as the dominant Internet access device. With this continued trend to towards mobile computing, are we really prepared to respond to this technology inflection point?

The necessity for asking this question comes with the realization that a lot of design practitioners still follow a graceful degradation doctrine of design. We develop a top of the line theme version designed for the most powerful infrastructure users may have and allow the theme’s functionalities to disable when weaker systems are encountered. We have done this effectively with the use of fluid grids, flexible images/elements and media queries. However, if iOS and Android devices become the new mainstream, shouldn’t our themes be designed primarily for these devices and allowed to progressively enhance when more generous systems are encountered?

The point we are putting forth is this: 2013 will likely be the year mobile devices take over. The challenge for us is to create our themes for this new environment. The next question: “Among mobile devices what should our base platform be?” Based on the latest mobile internet trend numbers, tablets, particularly the iPad, are now coming to the forefront. Smart phones are still on the early stages of growth with a lot of mobile subscribers anticipated to convert in the next couple of years. The growth of the mobile internet is driven by emerging markets led by China, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Nigeria. As such, upcoming themes should be optimized with iPad sized tablets in mind, comprehending how the site will load in light of 3G infrastructure still being mainstreamed in global markets. These designs should be light on cache on these memory limited devices. Features for high performance desktop systems should not in anyway be downloaded to mobile devices but should remain in the cloud to be activated only when the appropriate device is detected.

So what comes next? What do we look forward to beyond 2013? We still have about 5B mobile phone users anticipated to convert to smartphones. By then, our designs will have to be for the small screen. For now, our general trend is “miniaturization” of the desktop. Quite appropriate for a world that is becoming smaller and smaller everyday.

25 Helpful Twitter Plugins for WordPress 2013

Twitter is one of the most visited social networking platforms on the planet. WordPress is one of the most widely used blogging platforms. When the two meet, you can expect beautiful things to happen.

Below we present you with 25 helpful Twitter plugins for WordPress – Plugins can make your WordPress site do virtually anything.

Here’s an example of what you can achieve with one of these Twitter Plugins for WordPress.

It is a common habit nowadays that people sign into their Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail accounts when they start their computer, and after checking their accounts they typically close all these web pages but do not sign out of their accounts. Instead they go on to work on new web pages and they occasionally return to their accounts to check any latest updates. Now there is a plugin named “Simple Twitter Connect”, no. 5 below in this list, which enables you to log into your WordPress dashboard through your Twitter profile. Once you install the plugin and sync everything then you can login to your WordPress dashboard with your Twitter account. If you have the habit of being logged into your Twitter account all the time then you can log into WordPress by just a click of the button – you will just have to hit the “Sign in with Twitter” button and you will be in.

This is just one example of the power of the Twitter Plugins presented below. Scroll down for more info on these wonderful Plugins for 2012 – 2013.

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Business WordPress Themes 2013: Trends

Business websites have always been put up for one purpose: to bring about more conversions/sales that will impact the company’s bottomline. The advent of the Internet has redefined the markets our companies and enterprises have operated in. Thomas Friedman has considered it one of the forces that “flattened” the world. What is amazing is that the Internet continues to evolve. Analysts have predicted that there will be a shift to mobile devices between 2013 to 2015, a forecast that is now turning into a reality. With this change in platform, businesses have to rethink how they do business on the web.

With a transition on the way businesses use the Internet, the question that needs to be asked is: “How do we develop business themes that will address this emerging trend towards mobility?” We need to consider how people use the mobile web. Business WordPress themes are no longer confined to corporate portfolios alone. More than ever, these themes should be designed to be multifunctional with eCommerce capabilities integrated in its core and these business WordPress themes must be flexible enough to adapt to the rapid changing face of the marketplace.

A good business WordPress theme built with this mobile trend in mind should focus on responding to these basic online activities that people do – people use the mobile web primarily to search, share, and shop. These are, in a nutshell, what people really do online – search for information, share what they find, and shop for stuff they need or want. WordPress themes for businesses should be designed in such a way as to enable people to Search, Share, and Shop without taxing memory, network, and computing resources especially if the user is using a mobile device. Product and price information should also be easy to share and be compared to competitors. Purchases should be safe, secure and robust over 3G infrastructure dominant in emerging markets of the developing world.

Aesthetically, the business theme should be responsive with the base design optimized for tablets which is now becoming the new mainstream. As a website owner, providing your clientele with the most pleasant online experience on your website will have a direct impact on your conversions. Addressing what they need in the simplest and fastest way possible will always yield good results.

Design trends and WordPress theme bells and whistles will come and go. These are all nice and fun to have but one day they are in, the next day they are out. Nice, flashy websites don’t make a business successful. It still boils down to good old-fashioned business practices like courtesy and excellent customer service, whether online or offline, that will win the day. These business ingredients transcend technological trends anytime.