by on January 30, 2009

Crazy Days Are Here Again

It’s been quite a crazy time lately, between a new year of work goals, our young marrieds small group disbanding, and a new season of American Idol. Since Jan. 1, I’ve created 2 personal sites and handled several clients, though a couple of them are dragging on due to my crazy schedule. I’ll post some screenshots when they are done.

It’s kind of sad that we’ve been to busy/tired/sick (take your pick for any given weekend) to socialize. I think it’s been weeks since we’ve been over to K’s parents’ house, but I’m sure we’ll make it back over again sometime soon.

My headache is still pounding, so I’m going to keep this one short and sweet, but here is an example of how busy I’ve been at work – just with the forum stuff, not including e-mail and product deployment, etc.

Notice that second wave of forum activity? That's my alone time after K goes to bed.

Notice that second wave of forum activity? That's my alone time after K goes to bed.

Filed Under: Personal
by on January 21, 2009

My Three Favorite iThemes Themes

I’m quickly approaching my one year anniversary of working with Cory Miller on iThemes jobs, and I’ve been reflecting on what themes I keep recommending most often. Since the question comes so often, I’m putting this together as a sort of guide, complete with screenshots, descriptions, links to the demos, and links to your shopping cart.

#1 FlexxTheme – 15 Versions to choose from, or get all 15 for $199.95

FlexxThemeThis is far and away the most versatile theme for a beginner or someone who wants to put together a site without digging into the code to change the sidebar layout. I used to spend most of my time looking for free themes that had the sidebars and content areas “just so.” If Flexx had been around back then, I’d have saved several full days looking at theme repositories and just paid the $80 for one theme that I can change or $200 for 15 themes that I could use for my freelancing. Well, it’s here now, and it’s my top pick due to its 1,056 possible site layouts, 10 widgetized areas, and the powerful header and background manipulators in the dashboard.

#2 Essence – 6 colors to choose from, or get all 6 for $199.95

EssenceThis was the theme that attracted me to iThemes in the first place. It was actually their only theme at the time, but I absolutely HAD to have that shadow effect on the home page. I was totally enthralled with the presentation it created, and I’d never seen so many page templates before. Essence was my first introduction into the world of premium themes, and I’ve never looked back, as far as business sites go. I always tell people looking for a premium CMS theme, “You can’t go wrong with Essence.”

#3 Architect – Make this the cornerstone of your business or use it for development for $149.95

ArchitectAs our first theme release of 2009, I’m surprised at myself how quickly I took to liking Architect so close on the heels of our smash hit and our legacy bread and butter themes above. I suppose the reason I’m so surprised is how simple it is, yet how powerful its dashboard features are because it benefits from a lot of the technology we put into FlexxTheme. With a bit of know-how with images and CSS, you can modify the widget areas on the home page in some incredibly eye-catching ways and draw attention wherever you want on the page.

Of course, the best deals are the Combo Packs, which end up being under $30.00 per theme for the Multi-use versions that run $149.95-$199.95 per theme. There is the Website Combo #1 – 11 themes, including Essence for $299.95, the Flexx Combo #1 – 15 versions of FlexxTheme for $199.95, and the Media Site Combo #1 – 8 social media and photo themes for $299.95. The grand-daddy of them all is the Mega Combo of all 3 Combo Packs for $499.95 – over 30 themes with multi-use licenses.

That is how we split up last year’s 2008 Theme Club purchase, so this year’s 2009 Club is under way, which includes all themes we will produce this calendar year, pre-paid, with access to the 2009 Club site to download your themes at your leisure. At only $399.95, it is bound to be a better deal than waiting until 2010 to get the themes after they have been out and run around the block, as you can see by the Mega Combo price.

Filed Under: Blogging, iThemes Life
by on January 20, 2009

How Do I… Where Do I… Here Is a Site With the Top Free Windows Utilities

As the support forum administrator and Customer Support Manager for iThemes.com, I am quite often telling people that they need to do various tasks to get their problem or project completed. After over 2000 forum posts and well over 1000 e-mail questions, I’ve begun to form a pattern of users:

  • Mac users with issues are usually just new to WordPress and are unfamiliar with getting things to work.
  • Windows users with issues are usually totally inexperienced when it comes to getting anything cool done on the Internet.

I know that’s a broad generalization, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a Mac user on our forum who was using crappy FTP software, let alone people who were relying on their host’s file manager to upload entire folders. There are exceptions to both camps, of course, but in this market it also seems like there is a good portion of Mac users who have PCs as well and are either using both for web work or have advanced themselves to the superiorly stable platform and program market. Macs just have cool stuff, virus-free!

So, in an effort to aid the Windows users out there, here is a site I ran across that lists a ton of the best free Windows software that have been tried and tested to be what you need to use if you’re on a PC. I direct you to:

http://www.opensourcewindows.org/

(I would be remiss to not point out that there is a missing category: Anti-virus, which I suggest AVG Free Personal)

Not to neglect my fellow Mac addicts now, there is also http://www.opensourcemac.org/ just in case you want all of your favorite sites listed in one place (since you’re already using these programs).

Filed Under: iThemes Life, Mac Tagged With: , , , ,
by on January 18, 2009

When Life Gives You Lemons…

Why not let go of your problems?

Why not let go of your problems?

We’ve all heard the saying, so why do so many of us fall prey to the effects of the stresses of life when those curve balls come? The answer is simpler than you might think: human nature.

You see, we like to worry. It feels good, at least for a while, because when you are worrying, you are at least in control of that emotion. “I want to get out of this situation, therefore I will fret over it, and while fretting, nothing can dissuade me from fretting.” Life is good that way, isn’t it?

No! It sucks! I’ve been there. I’ve done that. Thousands and thousands of times. I may only be 30, but the things I’ve been through physically, mentally, and spiritually are certainly on par with everyone else, with a dash more on the physical plate.

Here is what you need to do:

  1. Set multiple-level goals: short-term, medium-term, and long-term. You need to know where you’re going, even if some things take a while.
  2. Do what you can, leave the rest alone. If you have 5 kids and they are taking all of your money, there’s not much you can do about that at this point.
  3. Seek out advice from professionals or friends who have been there before. A pastor or social worker may be able to get you in contact with someone who has been exactly where you are.
  4. Especially in the areas of finances, track everything! Learn all you can about your subject! If you need to get a second job, you may need to do that for a season of your life. You can do anything for a season.

I’ve been unemployed, sick to the point of being on I.V.s, no money to buy groceries or gas, and without health insurance – all at the same time… there is an end to every challenge.

Filed Under: Back to the Basics
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