hey all,

this is actually Rachel's husband, Jared.

So here's my story:

About six months ago, I was getting frustrated with the limitations of blogger for my wife's blog--the small picture size, lack of features, etc. Even with considerable hacking of the CSS, I couldn't get it to do what I wanted.

The main thing I was after was the ability to display huge images, my goal was to have them be as wide as would fit on a 1024pixel width screen (the smallest standard resolution these days). I also wanted to be able to have a really prominent 'bio' area--more than I could get with blogger.

I also was frustrated that all the traffic and links her blog was generating wasn't benefiting her own domain in the eyes of search engines.

Anyway, I decided to try a WordPress blog and a wordpress theme. I dug and dug and dug through free and premium themes, but couldn't find anything close to what I had in my mind.

So, after giving up for a few months, I bit the bullet and built my own WordPress theme from scratch. It took me a while (I'm kind of a perfectionist), but I'm pretty pleased with the results. her new blog is here:

http://blog.rachelhendersonphotography.com

Anyway, I thought about it a while, and thought there might be some interest in making this theme publicly available. So I spent a bunch more time and got it ready for public release.

I've put up a site where I'm selling the Theme, and thought I'd give all you OSPers first crack at checking it out. I programmed in a discount code for you guys if you want to buy it: "OSPFRIENDS" will get you $10 off.

The website is: http://www.professionalphotographertheme.com

I'd love to know what you think! I know that if this theme was around six months ago, I would have definitely been glad to buy it.

You do have to have a WordPress blog on your domain for this to work. If you don't have a wordpress blog, you can download wordpress for free and install it with a little bit of effort. I put some installation instructions on my site and a bunch of links to tutorials.

Thats all!

I feel your pain but I do not have your patience!! hahaha! SO glad you are doing this Jared.

Thanks!!

Looks swweeeeeet you have a sale

Hmmm I may be interested in this... I am about to switch to Wordpress and am looking for something just like this. I have a question. Are spaces down the sides customizable? (The gray/beige with turquoise swirlies in your samples here) I am really looking for a way to make these customizable. How about the fonts?

I wish I would have seen this a few weeks ago! I have been working on changing my theme ever since I got Word Press 2 months ago. What I ended up doing was outsourcing the work to change my theme but it seems that all anyone did was just change the header picture and a little on the stylesheet. They only updated the default theme and didn't create a new theme for me.

I really like the Blog that you made, it is very nice to see BIG Pictures and I like your theme that you have for sale. I will consider changing the theme again and making a purchase from you. Thank you for the post!

Damon

Thanks for the encouraging words everyone!


Jacob: you're my first sale. thanks so much! if you have any trouble, let me know. i spent a lot of time working on the installation and customization instructions, but i'm sure as people use it, i'll find parts i need to make more clear. you can email me at: jared at netrivet dot com

Katie: everything is customizable. i give specific instructions on the website and in a video i made on how to change the grey strips on the side, and stuff like the font. check out the installation instructions or download the video and watch it if you want to find out more.

-jared

Looks good, but the"links" & "categories" links bug me. All they do is wisk you down to the bottom of the blog where the categories & links are listed. I'm gonna be blunt & tell you that's pretty lame. A pull-down menu listing the categories & links right there (no jumping around) would be much better, and would make the $89 much more worth the money. I know it can be done in WP (Shawn Reeder did his own WP theme & has something like that).


Good for you for taking the initiative & doing this!

~Carey

thanks for the input.

my thought in coding it that way was just to help people find the bottom of the page, since most people are used to having a true sidebar.

but...that would be an even cooler feature, i agree. I've already got it in my head to try to pull that off at some point. It will take a decent bit of work, but it's very likely that in future upgrades, that will be possible.

all future upgrades are free forever, so when i do it, everyone who has purchased it will be able to upgrade at no cost.

-jared

$89?

No offense but I don't see where this theme beats the free templates available on the WP Codex or around the web.

What about the holy grail in Wordpress themes: The inline comment box underneath each post on the front page. That's a feature people would pay for.

well, if you feel like $89 ($79 for OSPers) is too much, that's cool.

i've searched the free WP themes hard, and never found anything that like this. i know i would have gladly paid twice that to buy this theme.

its not for everyone.

cheers!

Hey there Jared I'm trying to shirk the topnav font size... drop me an email contact [@] kampphotography.com


edit - never mind i found it

My thoughts on this - it's not for me to pay $89 when my free theme works great for us ( http://chat.pictureinfinity.com )

BUT

People should get paid for their work if there are people who want to buy that work. I don't think it's unreasonable to put it up for sale. He put a LOT of work into a theme that he wants to sell - if nobody buys it, the market says "don't create more" but it's always been possible to get "free website templates" but I'm guessing you don't use one of those either? For some people, it's just "better" or "worth it."

(My template was free, I didn't even consider paying for one. That's my disclaimer)

matt:

i agree, your template is cool, and so is Damon's.

i was particularly going after a single-column, 1024px width optimized theme that would let me post REALLY big pictures. if people are interested in that, i think' they'll find what they're looking for in my theme.


thanks for the input!

Congrats, Jared! You did a great job. I was searching for the same type of theme, but I was disappointed that I couldn't find a good single-column template to work with, so I would up customizing one, too. I still have several tweaks to work out, but here's what I came up with:

http://www.loriandersonphoto.com/blog

I would love to figure out how to add an inline comment box. If anyone has suggestions or knows how to add one, I'd love to hear it.

Wow Jared!! I love it. I was getting ready to invest in a custom blog but, now I think I'd like this better!Do you have tutorials on how to get word press on my own domain? I have word press but, I'm confused about having it on my domain.CandyNever mind, I went back and found the tutorial!!

I didn't say it was unreasonable. And I'm not trying to blow up anyone's spot here but I just thought $89/79 was not really commensurate with this particular theme's features. It's pretty bare bones.

At the end of his post Jared Henderson did ask what we thought about it and I responded with an honest opinion. I'm not saying he should give up theme development.

The inline comment box thing has kept me up nights though. I'm close to defeating it but would gladly pay a few bucks to give up that battle.

I wanted in-page comments (no going to a different URL... I think we're talking about the same thing) and pretty header pull-down menus and a pretty popup box, branded w/the blog, AND I didn't want to spend any more time wrestling with css/php WP code. So, I paid Ross & Flosite, and I love my new blog.
My blog does all that stuff that WP can't do. And I can have big pictures in a single-column, and I didn't have to code it! YAY!

Just like pro athletes and collectables, this is no different: people are worth earning whatever others are willing to pay them.
Jared: I would consider offering install services as part of your fee. The WP install is what scares a lot of people, even though it really isn't all that hard, people just don't want to do it themselves for a variety of reasons.

http://kampblog.com/ Using Jared's awesome template, this is what I have created, including inline comments let me know what you think!

hey all...

thanks for all the input.

inline comments are doable, as you can see from Jacob's blog. he bought the theme earlier today and already produced this: (disclosure: he clearly has better than average web skills and went beyond simple edits)

http://kampblog.com

I also took just a few minutes and fiddled with configuring them in a scrolling area. [this is really rough, i only had a couple minutes to work on the code]:

http://www.professionalphotographertheme.com/demo2 (shows inline commenting - the holy grail!!!!!)

Since demand is so high, I will probably pre-configure the plug-in so that its very easy to set up for the 1.1 version of my Theme.

i realize that people can do this themselves for no cost, but how much is your time worth to you? how long will it take you to brush up on PHP, CSS, and HTML and figure out how to build a theme? probably long enough to make $89 seem pretty fair.

i will think very seriously about handling the wordpress install for people as well... i'll get back to you all on that. i am also going to produce a screencast of how to do it as well. web hosts are making it easier and easier these days to pull it off...

this has been very helpful!

Done!

Your blog looks WONDERFUL, Rachel!

jared - is it possible to have the blog not have the bio at the top of the page show up every time? i am sure there is probably a way to do this that is simple, but not having the complete wp knowlege your insight or anyone elses would be grand. if it is possible, chalk up another sale.

also, does the new inline text option you just added come with the current purchase? thanks! and it looks stellar.

It wouldn't take that much work. It's quite simple. Just put the line "<?php wp_list_categories('orderby=name'); ?>" in the header and then do some CSS magic to the resulting unordered list. You can find some more ways to customize the template tag here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_categories

By the way, really cool blog you built there!

Aperature - i'm not sure what you mean. if you click around on my test blog: http://www.professionalphotographertheme.com/demo or on my wife's blog: http://blog.rachelhendersonphotography.com , you'll see that the bio only appears on the main front page. Any category pages, archive pages, search results, single-post pages, etc. all do NOT show the bio.

if you want it only to show on the front page once EVER--that's doable i think, but probably not a feature that most people want.

please clarify...


i'm also thinking about adding a feature to the theme that would give you a email contact form, like this one:
http://blog.rachelhendersonphotography.com...on-photography/

is that appealing at all?


oh, and for anyone that would like me to handle the wordpress installation on their site--i'm very open to this. email me: jared at netrivet dot com.

So if I understand correctly, the "holy grail" is now included as a feature?!

katie -

not yet. its not in the current package. but it's very likely that i'll include support for this and preconfiguration in the next update, probably in 1-2 months.

anyone who buys the theme will get free upgrades forever, and i have a lot of things in my head that i'm going to do to keep making it better and better.

hi jared -

i just want you to know that your template is absolutely amazing. i am thrilled that you took the time to create this. i had been searching for quite some time for a blog theme/template that had the option to post LARGE photos and that also was very very user friendly. your creation addressed these interests perfectly.

i had been a very significant fan of the infinetdesign.com blogs that they created. a day before you posted this topic in the forum, i had taken it upon myself to email infinet to find out how much a custom blog design would cost if they created a template/theme specifically for me. i had particularly asked how much it would cost to have a duplicate of a blog they had created that is in their portfolio. they emailed back a day later and said it would cost over $2700.00 for them to create this for me. i was blown away to say the least.

i just so happened to be searching the osp forum the day i got this email from infinet. knowing i wouldnt pay $2700+ for a blog template i did a search on osp for "wordpress" and up came this topic. i dropped in to find out what was going on and to catch myself up with the posts and took a look at your theme. it was well designed, the tutorials and videos were an added bonus and the overall feel was exactly what i was hoping to find. i then did a quick comparison between the blog i had emailed infinet about and the blog you created and other than a few minor differences (drop down menus, inline text comments) i found yours to be an amazing value and an incredible asset. not only that, but your craftsmanship saved me $2750.00 and i feel i get the same customer service, attention to detail and free updates for life! you are very talented and i would highly recommend you to my friends and family should they ever need any work done. i also encourage people on here who may be on the fence to pay the $79, save yourself the hassle and time and start rocking it! this theme is ahead of the curve i think with so many bloggers switching to the larger photo blog themes. i consider myself a graphic design junky with a very critical eye and this has definitely surpassed my standards.

i can't imagine how much that one chick had to pay for her flosite design, if it was anywhere near what infinet was looking to charge, i'd say she got straight ripped off. (personal opinion) but i still think for what she wanted in a blog and what she probably paid, she probably had to shoot a few more barefeet to cover the costs.

thanks again and i am looking forward to your updates in the future.

I love the design. Nice work.

I purchased the template from Jared and I love it! It's almost exactly what I was looking for. All I would like to see, are the two things already mentioned...inline comments and drop down tabs. Thanks Jared!

Check out my first blog!

Jared released version 1.1 of his ProPhoto theme. There are now drop down tabs and inline comments...YAY! It took me all of ten minutes to update to 1.1 from 1.0. I'm lovin' it...

I'm not seeing the 1.1 version on the site. How do I get it?
Candy

Okay, I guess I need to actually open my e-mail!
I got it.
Candy

I purchased this template and love it. I was also a fan of infinet designs but was no way going to pay that much for a blog. I was prevoiusly using blogger. I found a girl that installed wordpress and the template for me on my Blu Domain server for $50..I know it is an easy thing to do yourself but my time is limited and I had never done it before. Any way. Thank you Jared. I was more than happy to pay for a great template that had just about everything I was looking for!

It is still very simple..customization is not all done but have a look: www.aiharavisuals.com/blog

hurray...no more blogger!!!

Dustin, very nice! Just so you know, the "portfolio" link on your blog is linking to Rachael's site...you might want to change that in the code...

Yeah, I know. That's the one thing I forgot to redo when I did the uprade...ooops! I'll do it when I get home...thanks!

I purchased the template from Jared a few days ago, and I've already received the new upgrade with the drop downs. It was extremely simple to update and I can't wait to start working on it. Thanks again Jared. Great Job!!

Hi Dustin

Wow. That looks really really great. I am impressed!

I have an experty friend who was about to customize a wordpress theme for me, but looking at this I'm feeling like I might 'let him off the hook' and buy this theme instead.

Jared...

Do you want to let us know about some of the other ideas you had for future releases. It's really great as it is, but I can't help being a little curious.

Jared, that scrolling image bar at the top on Rachel's is pretty sweet...is that something that it easily tweaked in the code?

i'm glad everybody seems to like the theme, and the new 1.1 version. thanks for all the encouraging comments!

i do have a few more ideas for 1.2, (one example: some people have requested a contact form like on my wife's blog) but i'm probably going to wait a little while--i have a lot of other web projects starting to pile up and i'm fairly happy with the current release of ProPhoto for now.

thanks everybody for helping me figure out what features people want! keep your input coming.

-jared

(maybe i should get my own OSP account instead of impersonating my wife... oh well...)

I'm grateful!!

You can Digg this Theme here: http://digg.com/software/Interesting_new_Wordpress_Theme

(there are other Digger's here, right? If you're on Digg I'm Zoic there, too. I'd love it if you added me.)

Before I totally derail this topic... I've posted a Social Network round up here.
If you like Twitter, FB, Flickr, Digg, etc and would like to add OSPers as friends let's see if we can corral that discussion to one place.

You guys are awesome! I LOVE creative people doin their thing. keep it up!

When I get my "Jared blog" up and running I'll show it off for the world to see. ;-)

For now, I'm back to processing photos, which is why I don't have time to make my own cool blog. So yea for people like you!

I just finished setting up my sparkly new blog using this template and I LOVE it! Check it out... the NEW BLOG

Thanks Jared!

Jared thank you so much!! My blog is up and running and you have been a tremendous help! This is actually much easier to use and navigate then I thought it would be so thank you for that!

www.araxiphotoblog.com

Mine is up as well! I LOVE this template! So easy to customize and Jared is awesome! So excited!

Is there still a discount for OSP?

Ok I'm digging this theme, now the questions to everyone that has it. Does this theme support friendly URL's?

Your blog looks great, but just a heads up, when I loaded it in firefox, it loaded without the scrollbar on the right side of the page (meaning I couldn't scroll down to see your posts). Might want to take a look at that!

I have finally started working on the new blog, and this template design is awesome. I do have a question and wondering if anyone could help. I need to add another photo in the bio area for myself and business partner(which I have already done) but I would like to have the 2 photos either centered above the text or above one another on the right hand side with the text on the left. I can get both photos above one another but the text falls below that.

Thanks Steve

Your blog looks great, but just a heads up, when I loaded it in firefox, it loaded without the scrollbar on the right side of the page (meaning I couldn't scroll down to see your posts). Might want to take a look at that!

I just noticed that last night! Thanks!

Very interested in this!!

Is the OSP discount still available? Also, is it possible to post ShowIt shows with a customized template or is it still blocked through Wordpress?

Thanks!!!!!