New Plugin: Display PHP Version
Just a quick post to let you know about a new Plugin we have just developed, called ‘Display PHP Version’. Read More
Jul
26
Jul
16
Get our new Big Shot theme free!
We are pleased to announce Big Shot, our brand new WordPress business theme. It’s sleek, feature packed, and ready to make you look like a Big Shot!
The official release date is Wednesday July 27th, but you can get Big Shot for free by simply connecting with us on Facebook or Twitter.
Check out all the details about Big Shot and see how easy it is to win by clicking here.
Please note, this free promotion has now ended. Thanks to all those who entered!
Jul
14
FitPro 2.1 Released!
A new version of FitPro is now available that has some bug fixes, new features, and is fully compatible with WordPress 3.2.1. To download the latest version simply login to your Press Coders control panel and download the zip file from there.
To help you upgrade with the minimum of fuss you can also find an upgrade document (pdf) in the FitPro forum, at the top as a sticky thread.
Some of the new features include:
- A ‘Reset Options’ button so you can revert your theme options to the defaults at any time.
- A custom styles text box where you can enter your CSS commands directly, to have fine grained control over your site.
- Info box widget now has an optional search field too.
- The Sidebar Commander feature has moved from theme options to the Appearance->Widgets page.
If you are new to FitPro and haven’t tried it out yet, why not take the live demo for a spin and see what you think of it? Click the image above to go directly to the live demo where you can see try out all the great features of FitPro first hand.
Alternatively, you can find out why we think FitPro is such a great theme so click here to see all the juicy details!
Jun
23
WordPress Integration with Ext JS 4
The EXT JS 4 library from Sencha is a powerful Javascript framework for building rich and interactive UI’s for web applications.
Here at Press Coders we have been experimenting with the new version of Ext JS and are now starting to integrate our efforts into WordPress 3.1 as well. Read More
May
1
Add a Facebook Like button to WordPress
Facebook has over 500 million users, with 50% of those users logging in on any given day. Wow.
If you don’t have a Facebook like button on your site, you should. A like button allows your content to show up in your customer’s feeds, the next best thing to actually “friending” them.
So how do you add a Facebook like button to your WordPress theme? Funny you should ask…
Read More
Mar
31
New! Free WordPress HD Video Tutorials
If you want to make WordPress submit to your web-design whims for world-wide-web domination, now is your chance!
We’ve just released a free HD video tutorial series that covers everything from basic setup of WordPress to Search Engine Optimization and Child Themes. We are also going to moderate a community forum if you have any questions about theme customization, or anything WordPress related.
It’s completely free, check out the details here.
Mar
4
Answers to all your questions about WordPress and themes
What’s the big deal with WordPress themes? How do they work, and why should you care?
If you are new to WordPress, here’s a crash course on why you should love WordPress themes as much as we do.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is open-source website software, created by lots of smart nerdy people who love taking pictures of food and bad computer jokes.
Over 25 million people, including the New York Times, eBay, and People Magazine use it. It is constantly being developed and improved, and it is quickly becoming the most popular software on the web.
Translation: it’s really cool and you get it FREE
How it Works
WordPress is like the skeleton of your site
Without boring you with too much detail, WordPress allows you to create an infinite number of pages, blog posts, images, videos, and lots more from a cool admin area in your browser.
It’s very user friendly too. For example, to create a new page, you login, go to Pages, then click “Add New.” It’s a no brainer!
No special program needed, it’s all controlled in your internet browser
You can think of WordPress as the skeleton of your site (maybe the entrails too). It handles all of the internal processes that you don’t really see, and it holds everything together.
WordPress Themes
If WordPress is the skeleton, then themes are the skin and clothing.
Themes vary just as much as clothing does: some themes look like your mom still dresses you, and others will get you phone numbers!
Along with the look of your site, themes change what your site can do. They add functionality to WordPress by extending it. For example, the default WordPress theme, Twenty Ten, adds the ability to easily change your header background image.
One of our themes, FitPro, adds a membership area that is not normally available. This is just an example, there is really no limit to what themes can do.
Themes are like little custom websites that make WordPress even more powerful
Many WordPress themes make setting up and customizing your own website incredibly easy. The designer will take pains to make everything n00b proof, like adding the option to change the colors of the site in a single click.
Plugins
Plugins plug-in cool new features to your site
Plugins are cool little software add-ons for your site that plug-in to WordPress.
For example, need a contact form? Just download the Contact Form 7 plugin (free) and voila, you have a professional contact form!
Plugins are developed by smarty pants developers (like this one) that know a lot more than you and I do about the interweb. The cool part is that most plugins are free, although there are some fancy premium plugins you can get at very affordable prices.
Plugins are usually free, and there are over 13,000 of them and counting!
Some Statistics
WordPress is king amongst popular open-source CMS website software
Here’s a snapshot of WordPress and competing software on the web:
WordPress sites: Over 25 million (not counting the 18+ million on wordpress.com)
Joomla sites: ~ 14 million
Drupal sites: ~ 8 million
*Disclaimer: These numbers are rough estimates, meant to give a relative view of competition, not exact numbers.
Try Before You Buy
You can give WordPress a test drive before committing to anything by going over to wordpress.com and creating a free site. Just play around with it, you won’t break anything (TWSS).
If you like the way it drives as much as we do, pick a great theme and start blogging!
Feb
27
WordPress Business Theme Wish List
For our second commercial WordPress theme we are putting together a specialised small business theme. Its early days but we already have a good idea of the general structure of the theme. However, it is crucial that it has the all the features in there that YOU want to see in a theme of this type!
The target audience for this theme is going to be the small/medium business market who are looking for a CMS type site. If you have an interest in this type of theme then please leave a comment, we would love to hear your thoughts.
Have you previously searched for a small business theme but didn’t really find any with a suitable feature set, or had other aspect(s) that were missing/lacking? If so, then here is your chance to let us know!
Any ideas and suggestions we receive will be carefully considered, and added to the list of theme features as appropriate. If a particular idea is quite involved, or complex then we still may be interested in it but it may be held off until a later release. This is so that we can get the theme shipped to an initial user base in order for the theme to be put through its paces as soon as possible.
Scott, our lead designer, is currently busy testing different designs for the new business theme, but the current front runner is based on the screen shots shown below. These are home page mock-ups only, so let us know what other page layouts/templates you would love to see for a small business theme.
To give you an idea of Scott’s design talents take a look at his bespoke design portfolio, where you can see some great examples of his previous work.
The current initial list of features is specified below. This will undoubtedly grow as people give their feedback. Why not leave a comment now and tell us what feature(s) you would most find attractive in a small business theme? 
Current Feature List
- Plenty of color schemes (around 12 unique schemes)
- 1, 2, or 3 column layouts per post/page
- Up to 100 custom widget areas can be switched on in theme options (name of each one can be edited, to be more meaningful if you wish)
- The sidebar(s) on each post/page can have any number of widget areas added (including custom ones). These widget areas on the post/page editor screen can be dynamically dragged/dropped to easily change widget area display order
- Full width, Blog, Contact form, and Sitemap page templates included
- Custom logo upload functionality, and hide/display site description
- Built-in SEO settings configurable for each post/page
- Choose fluid or fixed site-wide layout
- 100% widgetized home page (rather than ship multiple ‘fixed’ homepage templates)