Behind the scenes at WooHQ there is lot’s of activity across many exciting projects that we’re dying to share with you. Unfortunately, we can’t share all of them at once… what would you have to look forward to then!?
We will give you a glimpse of two of the feature-rich new themes we are working on though. Both designed in-house by Cobus Bester and Jay Koster.
Merchant is a responsive gem with portfolio, mini-features, JS Masonry, sliders and blog modules. I like it so much I might be using it for my personal site re-design.
Expect them both within the next month.
SMPL will be a WooCommerce theme WITH all the features of our business themes. Making it a truly flexible theme!
About
Mark Forrester
I'm a proud co-founder of WooThemes, based at our headquarters in beautiful Cape Town. I'm also a keen photographer, goofy dad and avid sports fan.
merchant sounds interesting. I am not really interested to see again a WooCommerce theme as they all look the same – more or less.
I guess at Woo you did see from the last comments of Drawar, that your clients are hardly waiting for a real flexible theme – not a blog.
If you include JS Mansory this could be really exiting. Please do not wait to start with this one. The earlier the better.
thanks
pedro67
mars 26, 2012
Hi Pedro, I understand your frustrations, but hopefully you understand our customers are a diverse bunch and sometimes sales stats differ to community feedback. It’s a fine balance of these two factors when it comes to our theme development decisions.
I’m sure you’ll love both the upcoming themes though.
Making each theme as flexible as possible. Meaning it can be a store, a business site, blog, etc… The use is up to the user. 🙂
Ryan Ray
mars 26, 2012
I’m very excited to use Merchant also for my personal site. Nice to see the Masonry on a non WC site.
I have a polite request/suggestion … would it be possible to have some mode where all css and background images were disabled?
If I was to use this as a starting point for my portfolio, then I would want to change everything!
Looking good, great work guys!
Deep Titanic
mars 26, 2012
Very simple to remove the reference to the stylesheet in the template files if you wish to style it completely from scratch yourself. It is quite an uncommon request to disable all css and background images though, so we’ll have to assess how many people would want this feature.
Mark Forrester
mars 26, 2012
Or even better to create a child theme and override the default styles with your own. 😉
Ryan Ray
mars 26, 2012
Yeah your probably right … It sounds stupid now that I read it again :-p
Still looking forward to merchant though!
Deep Titanic
mars 27, 2012
I just seem to spend a lot time on some child themes overriding the existing css.
Especially if I’m after a flat/geometric look.
That’s why I love canvas :^)
anyway not complaining … I’ll put it in user voice as an idea.
Cheers!
Deep Titanic
mars 27, 2012
I hear ya. 😉
Appreciate the input on WooIdeas!
Ryan Ray
mars 27, 2012
The new sites look interesting – with perhaps a little more ‘design’ in them.
I agree with Pedro on yet another WooCommerce theme, it doesn’t seem necessary to have some many!
We have 70+ « other » themes so WooCommerce integration has a lot of catching up to do in our new themes.
Ryan Ray
mars 26, 2012
Look good, I assume we will see one of them by the end of this month as there has only been one theme so far this month?
darren
mars 26, 2012
That’s a pretty safe assumption 😉
Mark Forrester
mars 26, 2012
Merchant looks really promising, can’t wait to see it in action.
Miks
mars 26, 2012
Look great. Cant wait…
YenNhi
mars 26, 2012
It looks nice as always, but yet another WooCommerce theme?
What I realy miss, is a responsive version of Canvas …
Bjørn-Tore
mars 26, 2012
WooCommerce support and styling in themes will become more and more common in most our upcoming releases. That said it won’t be the main feature and they will function completely without it as a business/magazine/etc layout. Meaning more powerful and flexible bases for client sites and personal projects!
Mark Forrester
mars 26, 2012
Responsive Canvas is coming, it’ll be here as soon as we can make it!
Ryan Ray
mars 26, 2012
I do not now, yet another business / Woocommerce theme. I’m really disappointed of you
Ronny
mars 26, 2012
What’s disappointing in these upcoming releases, or should I also ask what’s your ideal theme? 😛
Ryan Ray
mars 26, 2012
Click on my name then you know what I’m looking for I seek. Your magazine themes appear among you to not enjoy much attention, not for nothing that they do not look professional.
Over a Tumblog theme I would be happy for once, but the themes you would probably not bring in enough money, so a Bussines / Woocmmerce after the next published.
You should try to keep Ballacne. When I look at the number of business themes in recent Monten watch you, probably in the next six months are no other customers sometimes to the other to operate.
Ronny
mars 26, 2012
These new themes look great. I look forward to using them on some of my projects.
Josse Ford
mars 26, 2012
Thanks Josse, which one are you after first? 🙂
Ryan Ray
mars 27, 2012
Keep up the great work everything looks awesome! I have one question about extensions. One of my sites will need an affiliate system should I go with a third party plugin or wait a couple of weeks and see what you come up with.
Thanks Mr.Forrester! I will check with one of them but before I do are there any Wooteam members that might be interested in some freelance work?
Daniel
mars 27, 2012
Any ETA on the update that makes Canvas responsive?
Alan
mars 26, 2012
I’ll thumbs up this comment.
Steve
mars 26, 2012
Soon! 😉
Ryan Ray
mars 27, 2012
Just a reminder to keep the comments on-topic, folks.
Una Patmore
mars 26, 2012
What’s your favourite colour? Discuss.
Deep Titanic
mars 27, 2012
Hah.
Ryan Ray
mars 27, 2012
I remember seeing something about a WooCommerce theme in development specifically geared towards digital products. Is that still in the works?
Nathan Tyler
mars 26, 2012
Certainly is. We’re working on some complimentary extensions to go with it too.
James Koster
mars 27, 2012
Any *rough* dates? Weeks or Months away – Wanting to open a digital store before the summer. Thanks
Chris
mars 27, 2012
I disagree with some of the comments about releasing more Woocommerce themes – i personally think all releases should be woocommerce themes (provided they also function well for people who don’t need the ecommerce functionality) – it makes perfect sense to have that option.
What i would like to see is « events » functionality in more themes, or as a stand-alone plugin maybe…there are many websites which could benefit from this (sports blogs, concert blogs etc)
..and how about a Church theme (with events function for service times etc)
John
mars 27, 2012
a church theme??? You can put any content in any theme but we don´t need a design for the holy page… comon.
And no… we also do not need a « cute cats » theme. Even if there are hundred of millions views on Youtube.
We need themes for our clients.
pedro67
mars 27, 2012
Please don’t be so dismissive of other users suggestions. They’re just as valid as yours.
James Koster
mars 27, 2012
I know any content can go on any theme – i’ve personally made huge changes to themes i’ve built for clients.
Websites for Churches is quite a big niche – which is why i mentioned it.
Cheers man just tried it … It kicks the crap out of all of the other events plug-ins out there!
Deep Titanic
avril 1, 2012
We definitely like the idea to make each upcoming theme as flexible as possible, thus trying to please everyone.
This is why I think « Business » themes do so well, they include most features that any site could use. Especially with a little imagination and some WordPress knowledge a very flexible theme can go far, AKA Canvas.
Custom Post Types, Meta Boxes, and Page Templates are a very powerful set of tools when used with some creativity. 😉
Ryan Ray
mars 27, 2012
Ryan
Imagination is fine, but sometimes you just want to knock out some sites with very simple config options.
Canvas is just like the dreaded Thesis, but with less options.
The whole point of a company like Woo is that I rely on YOU to DESIGN and leave the content to me.
J Wilson
mars 28, 2012
We’re trying to do both and please both crowds here. A very flexible theme with a great and customizable design.
I think that lends them to not be over designed in ways, as it needs to be kept simple. But as you say not too simple, you want a design still.
As you can imagine it’s a hard balance to find. Our theme leaderboard helps show us what works though honestly. Whitelight has been a hit for us in this area it seems. 🙂
Ryan Ray
mars 28, 2012
I have to say that so far, Whitelight is my favourite. It has all the options i need for most website builds, and changing the look entirely is a breeze – so thumbs up for Whitelight!
John
mars 29, 2012
Hey guys. Months ago you mentioned a single page theme heading our way. Any word on it’s arrival date?
Chipp Walters
mars 27, 2012
Just checked out both themes and I must say they are really good! My favourite is SMPL – Going to be very versatile theme! (The regulars should know how to access a preview 😉 )
Chris
mars 28, 2012
Hey now, keep that secret a secret!
Ryan Ray
mars 28, 2012
😀 sorry – was just planning for a project needed to get hands on quick quick
Chris
mars 29, 2012
Doh, I’m a newb and don’t know the secret but I am anxious to see these come out. Is there any chance there will be a new deal on either of these themes/WC plugins?
I didn’t realize when the 100K deal will expire and missed it. I wasn’t 100% on using WC because I require a certain payment gateway (Clover, done now and submitted).
What exactly is a « business theme » too? I was looking at one of the responsive themes sold elsewhere in part because they claim it is buddypress/bbpress compatible, but maybe that isn’t too hard.
I’m thinking there might be an advantage to use a theme with masonry.js too. I’ve always thought that isotope.js (uses masonry) was really neat and might work well on my shop for sorting/filtering, but it is kind of intimidating to set up.
Ethan
mars 29, 2012
Love the new themes although you’ve got to get rid of the Quicksand font on Merchant – it’s unreadable! Also is the portfolio designed to work that way, or is it just while you’re developing?
The only gripe i would have with Merchant is the apparent lack of bringing-in some content from another page. I know i could add it into the code, it’s really nice to have it as an option.
John
avril 1, 2012
Can’t wait for Merchant; after all this time, I still get excited to see each new Woo theme and put it through it’s paces.
River Girl
avril 9, 2012
merchant – when? tomorrow? Thuesday? I really would need fresh wind for a page. thanks
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merchant sounds interesting. I am not really interested to see again a WooCommerce theme as they all look the same – more or less.
I guess at Woo you did see from the last comments of Drawar, that your clients are hardly waiting for a real flexible theme – not a blog.
If you include JS Mansory this could be really exiting. Please do not wait to start with this one. The earlier the better.
thanks
Hi Pedro, I understand your frustrations, but hopefully you understand our customers are a diverse bunch and sometimes sales stats differ to community feedback. It’s a fine balance of these two factors when it comes to our theme development decisions.
I’m sure you’ll love both the upcoming themes though.
thanks Mark. Merchant next week possible?
This comment highlights our approach to most our newer themes. – http://woocommerce.com/2012/03/teaser-alert/#comment-126186
Making each theme as flexible as possible. Meaning it can be a store, a business site, blog, etc… The use is up to the user. 🙂
I’m very excited to use Merchant also for my personal site. Nice to see the Masonry on a non WC site.
I have a polite request/suggestion … would it be possible to have some mode where all css and background images were disabled?
If I was to use this as a starting point for my portfolio, then I would want to change everything!
Looking good, great work guys!
Very simple to remove the reference to the stylesheet in the template files if you wish to style it completely from scratch yourself. It is quite an uncommon request to disable all css and background images though, so we’ll have to assess how many people would want this feature.
Or even better to create a child theme and override the default styles with your own. 😉
Yeah your probably right … It sounds stupid now that I read it again :-p
Still looking forward to merchant though!
I just seem to spend a lot time on some child themes overriding the existing css.
Especially if I’m after a flat/geometric look.
That’s why I love canvas :^)
anyway not complaining … I’ll put it in user voice as an idea.
Cheers!
I hear ya. 😉
Appreciate the input on WooIdeas!
The new sites look interesting – with perhaps a little more ‘design’ in them.
I agree with Pedro on yet another WooCommerce theme, it doesn’t seem necessary to have some many!
It’s being touted as a WooCommerce theme mainly, but packs much more then simply integrating WooCommerce. See the comment here. – http://woocommerce.com/2012/03/teaser-alert/#comment-126186
We have 70+ « other » themes so WooCommerce integration has a lot of catching up to do in our new themes.
Look good, I assume we will see one of them by the end of this month as there has only been one theme so far this month?
That’s a pretty safe assumption 😉
Merchant looks really promising, can’t wait to see it in action.
Look great. Cant wait…
It looks nice as always, but yet another WooCommerce theme?
What I realy miss, is a responsive version of Canvas …
WooCommerce support and styling in themes will become more and more common in most our upcoming releases. That said it won’t be the main feature and they will function completely without it as a business/magazine/etc layout. Meaning more powerful and flexible bases for client sites and personal projects!
Responsive Canvas is coming, it’ll be here as soon as we can make it!
I do not now, yet another business / Woocommerce theme. I’m really disappointed of you
What’s disappointing in these upcoming releases, or should I also ask what’s your ideal theme? 😛
Click on my name then you know what I’m looking for I seek. Your magazine themes appear among you to not enjoy much attention, not for nothing that they do not look professional.
Over a Tumblog theme I would be happy for once, but the themes you would probably not bring in enough money, so a Bussines / Woocmmerce after the next published.
You should try to keep Ballacne. When I look at the number of business themes in recent Monten watch you, probably in the next six months are no other customers sometimes to the other to operate.
These new themes look great. I look forward to using them on some of my projects.
Thanks Josse, which one are you after first? 🙂
Keep up the great work everything looks awesome! I have one question about extensions. One of my sites will need an affiliate system should I go with a third party plugin or wait a couple of weeks and see what you come up with.
As far as I can see, there isn’t another affiliate extension in the work, just this existing one. – http://www.itthinx.com/shop/affiliates-pro-for-woocommerce/?affiliates=22
Thanks!
Also, I might need some custom work is Mr. Forrester still a freelancer?
Unfortunately not Daniel! Try our affiliated woo workers – http://woocommerce.com/affiliated-woo-workers/
Thanks Mr.Forrester! I will check with one of them but before I do are there any Wooteam members that might be interested in some freelance work?
Any ETA on the update that makes Canvas responsive?
I’ll thumbs up this comment.
Soon! 😉
Just a reminder to keep the comments on-topic, folks.
What’s your favourite colour? Discuss.
Hah.
I remember seeing something about a WooCommerce theme in development specifically geared towards digital products. Is that still in the works?
Certainly is. We’re working on some complimentary extensions to go with it too.
Any *rough* dates? Weeks or Months away – Wanting to open a digital store before the summer. Thanks
I disagree with some of the comments about releasing more Woocommerce themes – i personally think all releases should be woocommerce themes (provided they also function well for people who don’t need the ecommerce functionality) – it makes perfect sense to have that option.
What i would like to see is « events » functionality in more themes, or as a stand-alone plugin maybe…there are many websites which could benefit from this (sports blogs, concert blogs etc)
..and how about a Church theme (with events function for service times etc)
a church theme??? You can put any content in any theme but we don´t need a design for the holy page… comon.
And no… we also do not need a « cute cats » theme. Even if there are hundred of millions views on Youtube.
We need themes for our clients.
Please don’t be so dismissive of other users suggestions. They’re just as valid as yours.
I know any content can go on any theme – i’ve personally made huge changes to themes i’ve built for clients.
Websites for Churches is quite a big niche – which is why i mentioned it.
@John take a look at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/event-organiser/
Thanks for the link Chris.
Cheers man just tried it … It kicks the crap out of all of the other events plug-ins out there!
We definitely like the idea to make each upcoming theme as flexible as possible, thus trying to please everyone.
This is why I think « Business » themes do so well, they include most features that any site could use. Especially with a little imagination and some WordPress knowledge a very flexible theme can go far, AKA Canvas.
Custom Post Types, Meta Boxes, and Page Templates are a very powerful set of tools when used with some creativity. 😉
Ryan
Imagination is fine, but sometimes you just want to knock out some sites with very simple config options.
Canvas is just like the dreaded Thesis, but with less options.
The whole point of a company like Woo is that I rely on YOU to DESIGN and leave the content to me.
We’re trying to do both and please both crowds here. A very flexible theme with a great and customizable design.
I think that lends them to not be over designed in ways, as it needs to be kept simple. But as you say not too simple, you want a design still.
As you can imagine it’s a hard balance to find. Our theme leaderboard helps show us what works though honestly. Whitelight has been a hit for us in this area it seems. 🙂
I have to say that so far, Whitelight is my favourite. It has all the options i need for most website builds, and changing the look entirely is a breeze – so thumbs up for Whitelight!
Hey guys. Months ago you mentioned a single page theme heading our way. Any word on it’s arrival date?
Just checked out both themes and I must say they are really good! My favourite is SMPL – Going to be very versatile theme! (The regulars should know how to access a preview 😉 )
Hey now, keep that secret a secret!
😀 sorry – was just planning for a project needed to get hands on quick quick
Doh, I’m a newb and don’t know the secret but I am anxious to see these come out. Is there any chance there will be a new deal on either of these themes/WC plugins?
I didn’t realize when the 100K deal will expire and missed it. I wasn’t 100% on using WC because I require a certain payment gateway (Clover, done now and submitted).
What exactly is a « business theme » too? I was looking at one of the responsive themes sold elsewhere in part because they claim it is buddypress/bbpress compatible, but maybe that isn’t too hard.
I’m thinking there might be an advantage to use a theme with masonry.js too. I’ve always thought that isotope.js (uses masonry) was really neat and might work well on my shop for sorting/filtering, but it is kind of intimidating to set up.
Love the new themes although you’ve got to get rid of the Quicksand font on Merchant – it’s unreadable! Also is the portfolio designed to work that way, or is it just while you’re developing?
The only gripe i would have with Merchant is the apparent lack of bringing-in some content from another page. I know i could add it into the code, it’s really nice to have it as an option.
Can’t wait for Merchant; after all this time, I still get excited to see each new Woo theme and put it through it’s paces.
merchant – when? tomorrow? Thuesday? I really would need fresh wind for a page. thanks
Merchant will be here tomorrow!