This update has been a very long time coming, and I promise it’s worth it. While this new featureset looks small, it packs quite a punch and makes way for some really exciting new features. But, don’t take my word for it. Read on and see for yourself!
Custom Sidebars
- Easily add/remove support for custom sidebars (on by default)
- Replace any default sidebar, select which post types and taxonomies should display this sidebar
- Insert sidebars virtually anywhere via shortcode
- New SB_Sidebars class to allow for easy override of default sidebars and HTML markup
Custom Layouts
- Easily add/remove support for content layouts (define your own layouts!)
- Set layout on a per-post type and per-taxonomy basis
- Consolidated Layout Stylesheets into a single stylesheet, layouts.css
Really Cool Feature: With these additions, you can now select your layout and sidebars both globally and independently for each taxonomy and post type. This means that every post, page, category, tag, etc could display a different (or similar) layout and sidebar!
Page Template Deprecation: It’s also worth noting that the new layout and sidebar settings make both the Full-Width and Tertiary Sidebar page templates obsolete. You can continue to use them if you like, but they will be removed in StartBox 2.6
Better control over Post Thumbnails
- Enable/Disable Thumbnails site-wide
- Enable/Disable Thumbnails in RSS feed
- Show/Hide Thumbnail if no preview available
- Select whether or not to fallback on any attached image if no feature image specified
- Upload new default thumbnail
- Set thumbnail height & width
- Select thumbnail crop location
- (Note, all of this was already possible via filters, but now there are theme options too)
Improved sanitization for theme options
- Text areas now allow basic HTML by default, stripping out all disallowed tags and protocols.
- This can be customized when adding text-based inputs to your theme options.
404, Sitemap, SB Featured Content Widget, and “Display a Category” page template
- Can now include custom post types for output
Coming Soon…
- Additional Layouts
- Style Options
- New Widgets
- Import/Export
- Developer Tools
- More Child Themes
- Built-in Support and Styles for Post Formats
So, there you have it. What do you think of the new features?
10:45 am
the day before this released I was thinking about doing some different things with thumbnails, and this update just made that a ton easier! very timely. very awesome.
i’m quite pleased.
9:48 pm
I’m glad I could accomodate!
1:06 pm
This looks a nice theme framework and I’m seriously considering purchasing it.
Any idea when some of the “Coming Soon” items wilol be released ? In particular the Additional Layouts, Style Options and Developer Tools.
Thanks, and keep up the great work.
3:43 pm
Hey Jackie! All of those features are planned for 2.6, but that is taking a back seat this month for some new themes and a lot of other cool things coming down pipe.