Fresh News is the all time most popular theme here at WooThemes, so we thought it should deserve to be one of the first themes to receive the new Woo Framework update treatment (see video of new framework). What this basically means is that the theme is now easier to setup and use because of the improved functions in the framework (options panel, new widgets, easier image upload, easier to update in future etc.).
We also reworked some of the coding on the front page of the theme, so it now acts more like Busy Bee in functionality. To be more specific:
- You now don’t have to setup a « featured » category and add posts to it for them to look like featured posts. Simply set X number of posts that you want to look like a featured post (basically just a bigger image). If you want them to stay featured, just use the sticky post function in WP.
- The front page now uses the standard navigation (prev/next) instead of a link to the archives, and if you install WP-PageNavi plugin, then it will also work like in our demo.
- You also have the option of showing the normal posts in 2-column default fasion, or showing them as 1-column posts, so it looks more like a blog.
- You can specify if you want the featured/normal posts to show the full content or only the excerpt of the post (default).
The next big improvement is that the sidebar is now widgetized except for the sidebar tabs. This makes it way more flexible than the older theme, and you have 4 widgetzed areas (Sidebar Top, Sidebar, Sidebar 2-col left, Sidebar 2-col right).
The video player widget is also a lot easier to use, since all you need to do is drop the embed code for your video into the posts « Custom Settings » field under « Embed », and the widget will resize the video to fit in your sidebar and also resize it to show in your archive/single post. Check demo for examples.
See our documentation for instructions on the new features and also the changelog for current users who wish to upgrade their theme (also found in the theme zip file). There are a lot of changed/new files so if you haven’t done any major modifications to your theme, we suggest thatyou simply install a fresh copy instead of trying to upgrade.
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great theme!
OK – used to use Fresh News all the time, but like the features in newer themes, so hadn’t used in a bit. Back to Fresh News!!
Good job!
Looking for more updated themes 🙂
More are on their way… Magnus will hopefully wrap up the upgrade of Busy Bee (to 2.0) as well early next week, before he goes on a bit of a holiday.
My heart is jumping of joy.
Will it be difficult to update to 2.0?
Unfortunately it’s not the most straight-forward thing to do, if you have made a lot of modifications to your existing template files. I’d however suggest you take a look at the changelog to get an idea of which files have been changed.
Looks like a great theme. It seems really easy to use and the video embed feature is sweet.
Good work!
It’s a good news for who bought this theme before!
Indeed. We’re definitely trying to add as much value as possible for existing theme users / WooThemes customers. It’s not all about pushing out amazing new designs, but we think there’s a balance. So upgrading older (popular) themes with new functionality is part of that focus.
really beautiful theme and I am delighted to hear you’re continuing to keep up with new technologies and possibilities.
This is awesome!
Hope to see a « Fresh Gazette » soon as well! 🙂
Cheers
Jay
Fresh news is probably my favourite theme for any CMS/blog out there.
Well done!
really cool so far :)i have only two small things to say , that should get fixed or added , 1) please add the « Featured » tab back ito woo tabs on the sidebar , and 2) add some css code to the small 125×125 ads , right now they are not aligned in any way , just scatered in there ( for example add some space between them 10 px between the ads ) that would make it really nice 🙂
We’ll look into that; thanks!
Are you also planning to update the Flash News theme with the new Woo Framework?
Yes, Flash News is one of our All-time best-selling themes, so it will definitely be updated to the Framework.
Any way to embed video on front page feature article without reader having to click through to article? here is my site where I post a lot of community videos. I have nor problem posting them in text widgets in sidebar. Would be totally cool if I could post as feature article on front page.
http://monroescoop.com
Not without tweaking the code no. Post your question in the support forum and we may be able to help out.
Hi,
Great theme! I have one question. I can’t see the sticky post option. Do I have to install a plugin for that?
You need WP 2.7 and it is built in
Hi,
Thanks for your quick response. I have the latest version of wordpress but I forgot to mention that I’m using WordPress MU.
We are currently working on creating a lot of blogs and that is why we decided on using WPMU.
Are this themes compatible with it?
Thanks in advance,
Marisol
Yep it’s compatible, but if you don’t have the sticky function then you might have to live without it 🙂 The featured post will just be your latest post.
There might be a plugin to emulate the sticky post function too.
Thanks again! I fixed the « Sticky » issue! ^_^
Now I can’t get images to show up on the home page posts. Is there a custom field I need to create?
Post your problem in the forum please.