In the interest of not repeating a lot of information, see a quick comparison here, and check out a tabbed walk-through of the Platinum control panel.

We are also offering the Platinum theme with WordPress installation and support, and much more, in "The Works" package. It’s the perfect option if you are a new blogger, or just new to WordPress. Check out the pricing page for more information.

We’ll be adding Platinum blogs to the Showcase soon, so feel free to nominate your own blog (or your favorites) in the comments.

As you may know, WP 2.8 introduced many cool features, especially for themes and widgets. Unfortunately this caused a few problems with – you guessed it – our theme, and our widgets. Namely, the PhotoPressPro Control Panel and the custom “multi” widgets. So, the Control Panel has been completely redesigned and made even easier to use, and new widgets were added just for WP 2.8 users.

Check out the new Control Panel below. The menu is all Ajax-ified, so you can move freely about the pages and click the big “Save Changes” button only once.

There are some new features too, of course.

• New Widgets for WordPress 2.8.WordPress 2.8, recently released, introduced a killer new Widget API (application programming interface) that makes writing Widgets easier than ever. However, it broke some PPP widgets, namely PPP Search for Menu Bar, PPP Link, and PPP Multi-Pages. For WordPress 2.8, the PPP Search for Menu Bar has been reborn as "PPP Simple Search", and the PPP Link widget is now "PPP Simple Link". Fortunately, the new built-in WordPress "Pages" widget does almost the same thing as PPP Multi-Pages widget, so I didn’t bother rewriting it yet. All the above widgets now support unlimited copies, each with its own settings.
• Footer background color. In the "Colors" section, you now have the option to set your Footer background color.
• Content heading and text alignment. In the "Text and Fonts" section, you can now choose to left-justify, center, or for whatever reason, right-justify your content headings and text.
• Right-click warning box options. In the “Other Options” section, you can customize the text in the box that pops up when someone tries to right-click on your page. Or, you can leave it blank, and no box will pop up at all.
• New "Default" Snapshot and header image.
• Improved styling of Widgets for the menu bar. WordPress default widgets now look right, and this should allow the menu to support any Widget.

Pretty exciting stuff! Let us know your woes or wows about WordPress 2.8 or PhotoPressPro 1.3 in the comments.

Fortunately, Justin Tadlock wrote this fantastic post for just this occasion. After in about an hour of furious screenshotting and link-adding, our blogroll was totally updated, and the page looks great.

I’d like to thank all of these wonderful photographers for gracefully allowing us to feature their blogs. We’re proud to be a small part of their online world.

Ok, not really. I just wanted a nice logo. The logo is what it’s all about.

Actually, it’s just the first in the coming cascade of updates. We have a ton of exciting news to announce, as well as training videos, tutorials, free stuff, add-on plugins, and much more. Make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed or email list to get every update. It’s really very important.

On a happier note, this update also adds support for the new Snapshot Chooser widget plugin, which allows you to offer several different Snapshots for your users to choose from.

If you previously purchased PhotoPressPro, you should have received an email with a link to download the updated theme. Check the Update page or the README.html file in the downloaded theme for instructions and details about the update.

PhotoPressPro is a payment single-column 1024px-wide WordPress thought with inner features matured especially for professed photographers.

Hmm… hey, you got a couple of words wrong there, buddy.

Features PhotoPressPro is crowded with unequalled features created especially for professed photographers.

Um ok, that’s a little better. Got the point across, I guess.

Single-column, 1024px-wide info allows for Brobdingnagian images up to 10″ x 13″, or 936 pixels wide!

Brobdingnagian? Brobdingnagian? Ok, up to this point I was thinking this was one of those re-translation things that happens when you translate English text to Russian or something, and then translate back to English, with results that make you lol. But what the hell country uses “Brobdingnagian” as the national word for “large”? I really hope there is an answer to this question.

4 bespoken widgets are included

I wish I knew what “bespoken” meant.

A bespoken journal fashioned around your playing sort could be yours within minutes!

Man, I really wish I knew what “bespoken” meant.

Use PhotoPressPro’s inner “Snapshots” feature to spend mountain of bespoken designs for re-use later. Create a newborn thought for every season!

Ok, I’m past bespoken. More like bewildered and befuddled.

Use the Flashfader plugin to create a bonny 984px-wide slideshow headmast, or opt to ingest your possess noise brick image.

I can add nothing to that amazing sentence.

If you’re not completely satisfied, only telecommunicate us for a flooded refund.

Oh I get it now, this guy is telecommunicating. No wonder my boss won’t let me do that.

Note: There is a judgement embedded within this post, gratify meet this place to evaluate it.

No thanks, I never gratify someone I just met.

If you know what I’m saying.

Simple Slideshow Header

Since PhotoPressPro launched, we’ve used the Flashfader plugin to create the header slideshow. It’s a great plugin, but as any Flashfader user probably knows, it comes with quirks; some of which can be particularly bothersome to photographers.

We’ve added a new section to the Control Panel to easily create a header slideshow, eliminating the need for a separate plugin. (Flashfader is still supported, of course.)

As the name suggests, configuration is very simple. You can configure the height of your slideshow, the number of seconds to show each image, the number of seconds to fade between each image, and an option to randomize the images. You can upload as many 984-pixel wide images as you wish, and you can change the sequence of the images.

Why do I need this?

Good question! Honestly, the main idea was to reduce the amount of support issues I’ve received with Flashfader, but there are several side benefits.

The Simple Slideshow is written in Javascript and HTML, and does not use Flash. This is nice for a few reasons.

• The entire header slideshow becomes a link to the home page, making it optional to add an additional link to the header menu.
• Millions of people enjoy using the web on devices that don’t support Flash, but do support Javascript.
• The Simple Slideshow also degrades nicely; if a visitor’s browser does not support Javascript, the first image in the list is displayed.

And keeping to the “Simple” moniker, the images you upload are never resized, cropped, or re-sampled in any way; so photographers, be assured that your image fidelity will remain fully intact.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Stats

This update adds a new Control Panel section for SEO keywords and description, and a place to enter code provided by your web stats service; allowing you to take even better control of your blog.

“Meta” keywords and description tags are important elements used by search engines to index your blog. Using unique and specific keywords will increase your chances of being found by someone searching for your exact services.

Web stats services such as Google Analytics require some JavaScript code to be added to your site. You can paste the code in the Control Panel, and it will be inserted in the footer, just above the </body> tag.

Bugs Killed

No one likes to admit it, but bugs happen. This update fixes more than a few flubs.

• If using Flashfader, the ability to change the banner height has been restored.
• Added code to remove the WordPress-generated hardcoded CSS for image galleries. Now styled like post images.
• Fixed image uploading problems on some servers, mostly Windows web hosts.
• Fixed problems with some PPP Multi-page Widget options not being recognized.
• Major and minor CSS fixes, mostly for non-post images (galleries, comments, etc), the navigation menu, and the footer. You may find the footer text slightly larger than before; this was actually a bug, so you may need to reduce the size of the footer text in your Control Panel to restore the smaller text.
• Improved styling with Internet Explorer versions 7 and up.
• Added the missing Search button back to the Search widget.

This was the biggest update yet, and I hope it’s the last for a while, aside from the always possible bug patch. I’m working on a new venture that will eventually envelop, and greatly enhance, PhotoPressPro. I shouldn’t say much now; in fact, forget I said anything. Just enter your email and we’ll remind you when the time comes.

Secondly, coupons! I’m sure many of you know several photo bloggers – or photographers that need blogs – that would appreciate your recommendation of an easy-to-use, infinitely customizable blog theme like PhotoPressPro. Why not help them save a little money too? It could only help your chances of something really nice this holiday.

Tell your friends to enter the code “Thanks” at http://photopresspro.com/buy and they’ll get 50% off their order. That’s almost $50 savings for 1 license and $125 for unlimited licenses! Offer is good until I get done shopping on Black Friday.

One last thing, don’t forget about our affiliate program (with generous 50% commission) if you want to get a little cash back for your recommendation. It’s all explained on our blog here.

So there’s the news, the promised coupons, and a bonus plug for the affiliate program. Until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, full of food, family, friends, and hopefully not too many more f-words.

PhotoPressPro’s launch was a resounding success, thanks to a small group of photographers who jumped on the launch special on the very last day. Congratulations everyone! A special thanks goes to Ginny at PB&J Photography who found PhotoPressPro through a desperate Google search for Flashfader problems, and decided to share the deal with her friends. She was also the first to install and use the theme, and did a great job communicating issues which resulted in several bug fixes and new features. Check out her blog and the great custom design.

Now, what’s this about money?

Surely I didn’t mention money. As in… cash money? In this economy? YES! I’m talking, of course, about our affiliate program. If you recommend PhotoPressPro through a special link on your blog, website, or an email, you’ll receive a huge 50% commission! This offer is only good until the end of the year, but we’ll still give a generous 25% after that. If you’re already using PhotoPressPro, your blog is already a great advertisement for us. All you need to do is sign up and get your special link, replace your blog’s footer link to PhotoPressPro with your affiliate link, and you’ll make a decent bit of cash if someone clicks through and purchases a license.

Of course, you can choose to advertise in other ways, as long as they are legal, moral, and otherwise tasteful. Oh, and feel free to tell all of your blogger friends. Maybe you can negotiate some sort of kickback. Or you could slip them your own affiliate link and sit back and giggle while the cash rolls in. I’ll stay out of that.

The Beginning

My wife is a truly amazing photographer and graphic artist. I, however, am a design-blind, excessively ambitious web developer. So when the inevitable happened, and I was asked to create for my wife a WordPress theme that she could design completely herself with absolutely no help or creative input from me, at all, thanks-but-no-thanks – I was ecstatic. I loved the idea of developing a great-looking theme that leaves all of the design details to the actual blogger. A few brainstorming sessions and 3 stomped toes later (women’s Skechers are HEAVY), we felt we had worked out the perfect combination of features for a high-end, totally customizable photo blog. So I grabbed an ice pack and got to work.

The Now

Our little PhotoPressPro was born July 2, 2008. I’ll be honest, she was a little ugly at first, but she grew out of it. Her first release was September 7, 2008; only 2 months old. ..sniff.. I’m sorry, we’re just so proud. She’s all grown up now… and with all those great features, I can’t imagine it will be too long before someone’s bought her and got her all customized. Hey… let’s detour out of Creepyville, shall we?

The theme is as complete as I want it, for now. Check out the home page or FAQ for more info. Of course, purchasers of any version of PhotoPressPro get free upgrades for life, so new features will just be gravy on that biscuit.

The Future

PhotoPressPro is, for now, just a theme. A nice theme, sure, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be enhanced with exclusive plugins, page templates to integrate other plugins, or other cool features to add to the experience. In fact, I plan to use this blog to keep an open line of communication with clients and readers, and suggestions are greatly encouraged to improve either the theme or this site. We won’t log your IP or track you down or anything, even if your comment says something about my hair.

PhotoPressPro is available for purchase now, and for a limited time, we are offering an affiliate program with a huge 50% share (25% after December 31). So, buy something! Or sell something! We both win!