Arras Theme 1.4 – Upcoming Changes
Here are some of the key changes for Arras Theme 1.4, where the first beta will be available sometime this week.
New Features
- Full support for WordPress 2.9 post thumbnail system
(timThumb system will still be available for backward compatibility) - Thumbnail sizes for featured posts and news posts can now be adjusted in theme options.
- Date and comment count on post thumbnails can now be turned off in theme options.
- Sidebar widgets code have been rewritten using WordPress 2.8’s widgets API, allowing you to use the widgets more than once.
- Multi-tabbed sidebar has been redesigned.
- Multi-tabbed sidebar can now be shown on home page only, as an option.
- Latest previews and reviews widget has been replaced by a new widget called ‘Featured Stories’.
- Featured stories can be shown on posts only, as an option.
- Widgets will display post thumbnails on respective links (WordPress 2.9 only).
- A link to your site’s Twitter feed can be displayed beside the link to your RSS feed in your navigation bar. (Username can be adjusted in theme options).
- One column layout is now available in the theme options.
- Various visual tweaks have been made to the default style.
- Template for Yet Another Related Posts Plugin available by default.
- Built-in support for Cufón, along with a default font BPreplay
Other Changes
- Certain options in Navigation tab in the theme options will not display if Multi-Level Navigation Plugin is installed.
- Removed image background options (a new system will be developed in the future).
- Removed post links in single post template in favour of numerous plugins.
- Removed compatibility functions for WordPress 2.7 and below. The theme now requires WordPress 2.8 and above to run.
- Removed support for phpThumb in favour of the new WordPress 2.9 post thumbnail system.
- Most of the options in Categories tab in theme options have been moved to the Layout tab.
- Usage page has been removed in favour of WordPress 2.9 post thumbnail system.
Just a Quick Update
I do apologise for my ‘disappearance’ for the past few months, as I do not have the time to even read and answer my emails (tons of it).
I have been only able to check out the internet during the weekends for the past few months or so due to my commitments. For now, I am working irregular hours and am still getting used to my job and working schedules.
Hopefully I will have the time to take a look at my projects (especially Arras Theme) and update them.
Arras Theme 1.3.4 Now Available
Another update for Arras Theme is now available in the WordPress themes directory.
New Features
- Added WP-Email support into post bar and improved its appearance in the default style
- Added description on where to place custom background images
- Added options to display specific items in single post template (categories, tags, published date, postbar)
- Added thumbnail width and height options in functions.php of the theme
- Added support for Multi-Level Navigation Plugin. If you wish to have more control with your top navigation it is highly recommended you use this plugin.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed DIV IDs in featured posts that could cause XHTML validation errors
- Name and email required fields are now based on WordPress settings
- Fixed search template not displaying nicely as it should
- Fixed sub-menus not styled if top navigation option is set to pages
- Fixed Edit Post link not working in post bar
- Fixed qTranslate plugin translating the theme options fields
- Fixed most Lightbox plugins not working with the theme
Arras Theme 1.3.3 Now Available
A bugfix release for Arras Theme is now available in the WordPress themes directory.
Features include:
- Fixed shortcodes being exposed in the featured slideshow
- Fixed custom background color not working
- Fixed qTranslate not working with the theme
- Removed post content preview option (excerpts limited to 20 words is the only option now)
- Added functions to check whether the cache directory is writable and GD library is installed
- Fixed default background color displaying the wrong color
- Fixed widgets not working well in WordPress 2.8 Beta
- Added a quick guide on how to post thumbnails and other tips
- Top-level navigation for theme options and quick guide
- Fixed main navigation not displaying properly in Internet Explorer 6 & 7
- Upgraded thumbnail generator script
- Added new filter hooks for plugin/theme hackers
- Added a new option to display categories, pages or from a link category in the main navigation
Arras Theme to the WordPress Themes Directory: Interesting Facts
When I submitted Arras Theme to the WordPress themes directory for approval, the reviewer sent me a reply requesting that some of the changes need to be made before it can be approved. Here are some of the interesting points they requested for me to fix:
Using an image as the blog title / logo
The blog title and the blog description taken from the blog settings has to be shown in the header, which means you have to dynamically generate the title and the slogan. Using static images as a logo is not allowed. One possible solution is to use sIFR or Cufon, but it may not be a good idea because of the licensing issues with fonts.
All categories must be shown in the single post template
Displaying only one category (probably like the one in Gizmodo) in the single post template is not allowed. You will need to display all categories that belong to the post.
the word ‘premium’ is not allowed
This is quite an interesting one. I had initially placed the word premium in the description and the default text widget, but was requested to remove both of it. Maybe he just doesn’t like the word premium, or my theme wasn’t premium enough 
.
Anyway, I’m really thankful for the reviewer for taking his time to review my theme (he found some bugs too, it’s quite embarrassing). I had a feeling he checked it really thoroughly, kudos to him!