Wow, it's hard to believe but it's been 4 months since the last store update! We've been hard at work bringing you the latest and greatest, especially with PageLines Framework 2.3 which dropped last week. At the same time, the store developers have been hard at work creating some rather exceptional themes and extensions to enhance your site with. Check out what's new below!

Beautiful Themes

PageLines child themes serve as wonderful starting points for a website. Whether your a developer looking to satisfy an eager deadline, or a business owner looking to get a professional site, the PageLines Store has just what you're looking for.

Simplicitate is the first theme from store developer Enrique Chavez, and so far it's proven to be quite popular.

• 

  $49.99 on the PageLines Store.

• 

  $49.99 on the PageLines Store.

• 

  $49.99 on the PageLines Store.

If that's no so much your style, then check out Modern, the newest theme from Adam Munns. Lastly, if you're looking for something a little more out-of-this-world, then check out Spitzer, the newest theme from Nick Haskins.

Amazing Sections

Image is everything, and these hot new sections can enhance your site even further. Want a traditional style image gallery, then try out Response Gallery (Free with Plus).

• 

  $14.99 on the PageLines Store.

• 

  $14.99 on the PageLines Store.

• 

  $14.99 on the PageLines Store.

Maybe you've got something to show to get a little more attention? Try out FlipSlide, a 3D slider section. Lastly, ever wish the default Boxes section could do more? Then check out Anything Boxes, the boxes that do, well, almost anything.

Handy Plugins

PageLines plugins can enhance and extend basically any part of your site, including what's behind closed doors. That's the case with Page{LESS}, the first plugin from Evan Mattson. Easily apply any custom LESS to any page with style!

• 

  $14.99 on the PageLines Store.

Share your thoughts: Which PageLines Store products have you used and what were your impressions? Don’t forget to show the store developers some love and give them a positive review on their products. :)

The post PageLines Store Update – 9/26/2012 appeared first on PageLines.

• New Code Editors and Syntax Highlighting
• New Icon Font
• Forms and Inputs Library
• Image Uploader: “Select from Media Library”
• Other new stuff: 3rd-tier drop-downs, progress bars, pagination/pagers
• Enhancements: All CSS moved to 100% {LESS} which increases performance, various bug-fixes and improvements to sections.

2.3 Video Overview

New Code Editors and Syntax Highlighting

Version 2.3 introduces new custom code editors inside of the WordPress/PageLines admin. These new editors make it fun and easy to add custom CSS to the framework. They ‘colorize’ syntax for LESS and HTMl; and work amazingly well.

PageLines Syntax Highlighting & Editors

PageLines Icon Font Based on FontAwesome

2.3 Rocks! 2.3 Rocks! 2.3 Rocks! 2.3 Rocks! (BTW You’ll 2.3)

Another radical new feature is a special Icon Font built right into core. Icon fonts are the latest thing in responsive/retina web design and they are super fun to use.

Why are icon fonts cool? Well, they are icons that work just like text! That means you can give them drop shadows, scale them, change their color all with CSS and without degradation.

The icon font is based on FontAwesome and we think you’ll love it..

New Forms & Inputs With Gravity Forms support

Consistency in forms has always been a small problem across frameworks. Every plugin has their own approach. Well in this release we’ve added a standard presentation for forms that can be customized by themers and should be universal across plugins.

Here is a live example of the new forms…

Image Uploader: “Select Media from Library”

New Media Selector

The ability to select from your media library has another advantage in that you can now upload both a @2x and regular image; and support retina displays (with the help of a plugin).

Other Rad Stuff

Finally, we’ve added a lot of tweaks in the framework. For example, we’ve optimized the framework to 100% LESS, meaning there the graphical CSS is faster and more concise than ever.

We’ve also added a bunch of new interaction elements.. Here are a couple notable ones..

We’ve added progress bars

Better Pagination

Third Tier Dropdowns

The post The Radical New PageLines v2.3 appeared first on PageLines.

Attending WordCamps is probably the most rewarding part of my job because I get to put a face with a name and speak with clients on a much more personal level. I get to see your accomplishments, sighs of relief when I do something right (haha!), and wish lists for new PageLines products and changes firsthand. Normally we’re communicating on a forum, a chat session, or even on a Skype video call, and sometimes those things can get lost in translation.

Here’s to more events where we can connect with you in the future!

You can find Henry next in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 8 for WordCamp Baltimore.

The post PageLines at WordCamp Chicago appeared first on PageLines.

As you can see below, #WCSF was a huge success! I think the most interesting part about the “State of the Word” is the term “App Engine” that Matt used during his presentation. The way WordPress has evolved from a blog, to a CMS, and now into the future as a platform for developing almost anything is exciting!!\

The post WordCamp San Francisco appeared first on PageLines.

Without further ado, welcome to the tenth edition of the world-famous PageLines Showcase Battleground! We’re doing things a bit differently this week since you’re selecting the 10th and final Battleground winner and PageLines Awards competitor. And since the new competition is close to its inception date, let’s see what all the buzz and excitement are about…

PageLines Awards

We’ve been dropping hints about the new PageLines Awards for quite a while now, and the time has finally come for us to unveil the latest competition for the PageLines Community.

The awards will be fought between previous Battleground winners, with the top 3 websites winning prizes so delicious you won’t believe it! You can consider the PageLines Awards the crème de la crème of WordPress contests!

As opposed to the Battlegrounds, the PageLines Awards will be decided by a panel of PageLines Experts, but will also take into consideration popular vote. After a round of popular voting that goes on for one week, the experts will gather and each will create a personal top (places 1, 2 and 3). A number of points will be assigned to each Expert’s vote and for each popular vote.

The winners will then be announced personally and publicly and will be featured in a PageLines Blog post in addition to receiving a home-baked unicorn meat pie by none other than our own Bearded Avenger! Now back to the PageLines Battleground X…

PageLines Battleground

It’s been a long time since the last edition of the PageLines Battleground and we missed all of you! We’ve literally had a ton of submissions and some of the feedback we’ve received is amazing. On the behalf of the whole PageLines Team (unicorns, kittens, kids, bowties, vampires and ponies included) we THANK YOU!

Your submissions are getting even better with every edition that passes by and we’re just amazed over here at the quality of the websites. This, coupled with the fact that we haven’t had a Battleground for a long time now, influenced our decision to have 20 contestants this time. A big change, but we just couldn’t cut it to 10 websites. Too many great designs! A big shout out goes to everyone who submitted their website! We consider all of them to be winners. Our last edition’s winner, since they didn’t get the credit deserved yet…

Last Battleground Winner

PageLines Battleground IX Winner – 17 Sirens - http://eventsbyfortune.com/

“PageLines really helped me to achieve the look that I wanted for my blog. It made designing my website a breeze and allowed me to take it to a new direction.”

This is how the winner of last week’s PageLines Showcase Battleground described the process of creating the winning website with PageLines! Congratulations once again for the dedication and talent put in building the awesome fortune EVENTS website!

Battleground X Contestants

We know today is Friday the 13th, so in order to appease you superstitious voters out there, the voting goes on for four days which means the battle will take place over the weekend as well! We already have vampires around our ranks as well so be extra careful today ;)

Hopefully the contestants have the supplies needed for a long fight because they are going to need them! The voting period ends on the 16 of July and the lucky winner will be announced next Tuesday.

I am proud to present to you the competitors for the tenth PageLines Battleground edition:

About the PageLines Battleground

As most of you already know, every week we are showing off 10 sites from the PageLines Community and let you vote on the best site to include in the PageLines Showcase.

Weekly winners will be entered in the PageLines Awards and go on to achieve great fame, publicity and fortune when their website is showcased to thousands of community users and the general public!

This post covered unicorns, kittens, vampires, a great community and awesome websites. I think the Internet would be proud! Now let the voting commence!

Keep posted on Twitter and Facebook for showcase submission calls if you want to participate! ;) (edit)

Stefan loves social media, extreme sports, engaging audiences and being the hero Gotham deserves. He also battles vampires from his home in Transylvania. And all of it is true… Engage with him on Twitter or Facebook!

The post PageLines Battleground X and Awards Announcement appeared first on PageLines.

We want you guys to create stellar themes (and more) with PageLines, so it's only natural that we make it easy for you right? Well, after brainstorming methods to get you guys going the quickest, we decided to build the PageLines Theming Center (cue the harmonious music!).

With the recent launch of PageLines 2.2, we've become bff's with LESS and Bootstrap. There's lots of good information out there about these libraries, but we integrate them in rather unique ways. The Theming Center documents in detail, how to develop child themes using these libraries, with full examples including source code.

Cheat Sheets, available at the Theming Center.

The Theming Center also documents how to use actions and hooks, and give you insights in how to save time using Version Control methods. We've also documented all variables, mixins, and more in an easy to reference (and constantly growing) Cheat Sheet.

But wait, there's more! Even with all the sample bits of code, it can still be troublesome for a few users to understand how it all works. So, we've created a full custom child theme called MUD. Free, just for you.

It's built with LESS, and is dynamically linked to the color settings with the PageLines Color Control panel. This means with LESS and PageLines most items are set dynamically, making theming fast and fun.

MUD Theme - Minimum Usable Design

So what do you guys think of this? We're betting that it's going to help fill up the 'Themes' category of the PageLines Store pretty quickly. The time is ripe, and people are hungry, so let's make some magic happen! Download the PageLines Theming Kit found at the Theming Center, join the developers group, and be on your way to millions!

The post PageLines Theming Center appeared first on PageLines.

…Which is why this year, we’ve been sponsoring and attending most of the WordCamps in the United States. You may have seen our little Leaf in Milwaukee, New York City and Reno so far. Henry has been flying all over to spread the Unicorn dust (and free t shirts!) to all that attend the ‘Camps.

Wait, what’s a WordCamp?

WordCamps are where WordPress bloggers can come together and share their experiences with the software. At WordCamps, you’ll find experts on WordPress SEO, marketing, development, design, content and so much more. You can also find a lot of people that are just beginning too. There’s a lot of opportunity to teach people what you know, and learn from others.

So where is PageLines going next?

PageLines will be in Boston on July 14 & 15, so come out and support the team! Henry has been talking up a storm about how great the PageLines community is, so come prove it! :)

We’ve also got three extra tickets to giveaway! Be watching us on Twitter & Facebook to get your hands on one of these bad boys if you’re in the area.

We will also be taking these events by storm at:

• San Francisco (August 4th)
• Portland (August 18th)
• Chicago (August 24 & 25)!

The post PageLines at WordCamp appeared first on PageLines.

Raising the bar was not easy, but through your support, the beer in Ireland, the caffeine in Texas, and the magical power of Unicorns, that bar has been raised a little higher.Framework 2.2 features the same Drag & Drop interface you know and love, but with some notable improvements.

Video Overview

Bootstrap & LESS

Content is king, and with Bootstrap and PageLines you can concentrate on what matters most; having the flexibility to do what you want to do, and how you want to do it.

“Bootstrap is designed to help people of all skill levels—designer or developer, huge nerd or early beginner. Use it as a complete kit or use to start something more complex.”Mark Otto, creator of Bootstrap

Together with PageLines 2.2, and the entire Bootstrap Library, you can build anything you can dream of. Whether it be the next greatest food blog, the next Onion, or that site for your Uncle you said you would build 7 years ago, PageLines 2.2 brings new tools for success.

Framework 2.2 also brings another new friend; Live CSS processing via LESS. – LESS extends CSS with things like variables, mixins, operations and functions. It’s like CSS on crack, and PageLines is the first WordPress Framework that processes and caches for peak performance.

Shortcodes & New Sections

With Framework 2.2, we’ve also introduced an entire Shortcode library just waiting to get abused. We have shortcodes for most of the components in Bootstrap, along with shortcodes for buttons and blockquotes, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn – All there with a few meager clicks. See them all in action on our Demo Site.

We’ve also made several new sections or “inspirations in a box” (a drag & droppable one), and they’re waiting for your creativity. Steer your visitors in the right direction with the new Masthead Section, and keep them there longer with Scroll Spy.  Less drop off, more connection and greater response.  See the new sections in action on our Demo Site.

PageLines Plus

With the release of Framework 2.2, we are also introducing PageLines Plus Membership, which offers an extra layer of support, including priority live chat within your WordPress administration panel.  It also offers access to all the plugins, sections and themes (and their updates) developed exclusively by PageLines.  For Plus subscribers, these extensions are available for free.

Best of all?  This PageLines Framework 2.2 upgrade is FREE for current Framework License holders. So where can you obtain said update? It’s already waiting for you in your Launchpad.

PageLines Plus subscribers will also enjoy the benefits of having no upgrade fee should a new version of Framework be released.

Note: We’ve made sure to take into account the wide variety of clients that use PageLines Framework, and that means that all existing PageLines Store plugins, sections and themes are 100% compatible with the new release. Also, no Unicorns were harmed in the making of this version.

The post PageLines 2.2! Bootstrap, LESS, Shortcodes & More… appeared first on PageLines.

Considering the awesome response we got from you guys regarding the Store, we decided to create a series of interviews… centered around the wonderful PageLines Developers and their experience creating applications for the PageLines Community.

The spotlights are aimed at making you familiar with the people who design the sections that make up your website, as well as acknowledging the developer’s work and dedication to the PageLines Community. You will also get an insight into some of PageLines’ inner workings.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Enrique Chavez!

Stefan: Hey Enrique, welcome to the first PageLines Developer Spotlight! As the first guest to honor our new series, please tell us a bit about yourself and the products you develop.

Enrique Chavez: Hi Stefan, it’s all my pleasure, and honor to be the first developer interviewed in the series.

I started work as a developer about 10 years ago with ActionScript applications (better known as RIAs) but when the Flash/Flex market collapsed, I migrated to web development.

I currently work for a development agency in Mexico called Uakami Studio and even though I also spend some time on freelance development projects, developing products exclusively for PageLines Store occupies most of my time now.

I’ve published five sections and one plugin up until now which enjoyed fine sales. I must say they’ve overcome all my expectations. :-)

With these products I try to satisfy common customer needs on an efficient, simple and innovative way.

Also, working as a freelancer gave me the opportunity to get away from the the big cities and settle down in a small and picturesque town called Valle de Bravo. I’ve been here for a couple years now.

Products from Enrique

S: What is the main reason you chose PageLines as a developing platform and how do you feel the PageLines Store is helping you achieve success?

E.C.: First at all, I love code and programming. I always try to make new, innovative things, and when I do a new section for the store, I really do what I want to do. Let’s just say that this is my playground, and in the process I create useful and cool sections for the store clients and of course make some extra money. :)

The main reason I chose PageLines is the easy way in which it can help me launch a full web site within hours, offering my customers an easy-to-use front-end. As a web developer, the assorted PageLines APIs allow you to create an endless number of add-ons and extensions.

This is where the PageLines Store makes total sense to me. Using the Store, you can instantly add great value to your site; dozens of resources built by PageLines community developers: sliders, menus, portfolios, testimonials and so on – are only a few clicks away!

S: What has been the most positive experience regarding your PageLines development?

E.C.: I’m a seasoned WordPress developer and building back-end interfaces was always a huge problem for me. This is what PageLines solved in a smart and elegant way. Now I don’t have to waste my time building administrative interfaces and I can focus on what really matters – functionality and product quality.

PageLines offers great support to create, store and manage all kinds of information. The learning curve is very short, and once you understand the basic concepts you can develop a theme, section or plugin much, much faster. It only gets easier. Today, I can create a complete section in a couple of hours, so in that way, I’m getting more funds from the store with less work.

Another thing I like is the PageLines DRY principles: you develop a new product once and then you can use it later again. So you gather your own “PageLines SDK” made from plugins and utilities – this way you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.

S: How about the most negative one?

E.C.: First of all, I must say you’re doing great with this platform, but from the perspective of a community developer, I think we will appreciate a little more documentation and manuals. The videos about sections are great, but I’d like to see a little more about templates and themes – the more advanced topics. So far, I’ve been able to sort out many troubles digging into source code, but more help about the framework will be a time saver for me.

S: What are your feelings about the PageLines Developer community and about the way PageLines helped you in the beginning?

E.C.: So far so good, it’s been a nice trip. You can always go and ask questions and most of the time you will get an immediate response, not only from the PageLines core group but from the entire community. There’s no doubt that the community has been a huge source of help for all of us.

And of course we have the PageLines Team: I’ve got nothing but help from you all.

S: Do you have some tips or bits of advice you would like to offer to new developers interested in the program?

E.C.: I can only say that if you’re interested in using a WordPress development platform, you are going to be very surprised once you learn how easy and fast it is to develop on PageLines. This is without mentioning that PageLines already has a large client base looking to purchase new sections, themes and plugins.

S.: Thank you very much Enrique! We really appreciate you taking the time to provide these answers and we wish you all the best with your development!

Demo Enrique’s Products

PageLines Store

Developer Application

The post Developer Spotlight: Enrique Chavez appeared first on PageLines.

However, a few elements of your website matter more than you may think. A recent study conducted by the Missouri University of Science reported that a website has a mere 2.6 seconds to make an impact. Your website should act as a funnel during these initial 2.6 seconds and should guide your visitors to the most captivating point on the page. We’ve put together three elements of web design to help your website make a difference:

1. Your Logo

Researchers have discovered that people spend the most time looking at the logo. Naturally, if your logo makes a good impression, visitors will be more likely to check out the rest of your content. The logo is an integral part of your company’s branding efforts and should emphasize the values you are trying to transmit. In addition, the entire website design should go hand-in-hand with the design of your logo. When Europeans go out, they choose the shoes first, and the outfit is regarded as an accessory to the image that the shoes transmit. That’s what your logo should be as well — a central piece that the website is built around.

To improve your logo and company image, check out these logo design tips by Smashing Magazine.

2. White Space

White space is one of the fundamental aspects a designer is taught. A good designer knows the importance of white space and how to use it effectively, while an inexperienced designer will assume it’s just ‘empty space’ that should be used to better promote the company’s products and content. By white space, we usually mean ‘negative space’, because it’s not necessarily white — it can be black, gray, purple or cyan — but it serves one purpose: separating screen elements.

The Apple homepage implements white space successfully.

We’re not going to get into highly technical stuff here, but white space matters because it increases legibility, awareness, attention, and can even set the right tone for your website. We mentioned it in last week’s article as well and cannot stress enough how important it is. Let your content breathe, don’t cram it, and don’t suffocate your visitors.

3. A Starting Point

Web designers and developers usually underestimate the importance of a landing page on a website. Visitors need to have their attention turned to the most important ideas you’re trying to convey. A huge, cluttered homepage full of information won’t do. Nor will your most recent blog post, which might be slightly off-topic and lead readers in the wrong direction.

PageLines Landing Page

Images and focus points play a big role in guiding your visitors. Make sure your landing page has focus points that people will be drawn to and follow. Depending on your website genre, you can create a squeeze page (like PageLines’ own LaunchPage plug-in) that includes all the important details about your site. Another idea would be to create carefully-placed ‘call to action’ images or text embedded in focus points. Make it easy!

Stefan loves social media, extreme sports, engaging audiences and being the hero Gotham deserves. He also battles vampires from his home in Transylvania. And all of it is true… Engage with him on Twitter or Facebook!

The post 3 Elements of Your Website that Matter More than You Think appeared first on PageLines.