So you would’ve noticed that we seem to be slightly more visible and maybe a little quieter since the beginning of the month (considering it’s middle of the month and we’ve only released one theme thus far). It would thus be fair to ask us what we’re doing at WooThemes HQ and when we are planning on releasing all of those amazing theme concepts we’ve previewed?
Only problem, is that we’re gonna tell you that we simply don’t know… 
BUT – that doesn’t mean we’re not working extremely hard to improve things around here. So either way we hope you’ll be happy and impressed with us! Here’s what we’re doing…
The Website
It’s funny looking at our current website, whilst trying to think back to last year April / May that Magnus, Mark & I designed the website. It’s even funnier to think that the current website is wholly built on top of our VibrantCMS theme.
So we’re in the process of completely redesigning our website and we’ve tried to focus on best practice during the design process. On the redesign, you’ll (eventually) note that we’re trying to simplify the “sales” / purchase process, whilst giving WooThemes a certain polished, professional look that we believe befits the value of our products and quality of our support / customer service.
Here’s a little teaser of where we’re going with this…
The New WooThemes Homepage
The Backend
In this redesign process, we’re not leaving one stone unturned and our user backend is due for an upgrade as well. I won’t reveal too much in this regard, but we’re adding some very specific functionality to allow WooThemes to further grow its business model. So what will seem like a superficial upgrade of how the backend looks to most, will instead be a major step forward for us as a company… You’ll however need to wait for the launch of the redesign to see all of the goodies we got planned. Here’s a teaser so long though…
The New Backend (This is the affiliates page btw)
The Themes
And yes, we are working on some new themes in between all of this… We promise… Even though we’ve adopted a “when it’s done, we’ll release it” approach for future theme releases, I can say that you can expect a new theme next week.
On the themes front though, we too have some exciting new stuff coming up… Firstly we’ve been busy completely reworking our development framework, which means that all of our themes will be even more standardized in future and we’ll be able to easily duplicate features / functions between our themes. So whilst this won’t be a complete “theme framework” that is 100% the same across every theme, it will share the bulk of its core code.
Secondly, we’re also working on getting some themes out on other platforms. We’ve mentioned Magento, Drupal & ExpressionEngine before; so this ain’t new to most of you… You will however see that our redesign already caters for themes on these platforms and this is something that we’ll release during the second half of 2009.
You excited?
So what do you think then? As always, you’ll be hard pushed to find 5 guys that get quite so excited about new stuff as we do… And we absolutely rush off of your positive feedback and involvement in all of these processes, because without all of you, things would be kinda boring. Have your say then… Liking this new direction?
Yes… We borrowed the post’s title from a song title of the same name by a band called Emery. And our image previewing techniques was inspired completely by the wefunction guys. That’s a disclaimer for you…
56 Responses to “Don’t bore us, skip to the chorus”
Looking good guys!
Gavin
Love it, a lot better spaced out that before.
Looks really nice, very clean, very smart, looking forward to seeing it.
Oooohhh, looking very slick guys. Well done
Adii, looks like you guys have also taken some inspiration from a number of your existing themes eg. Productum, Over Easy, Cushy to bring a fresh feel to the customer experience and making it easier for newcomers to find what they are looking for.
Looking good guys. Looks smart and professional. Can’t wait to see it.
Honestly came as a bit of a surprise, not the fact it looks so good, just the fact it’s come so soon. But I’m sure it will have a positive impact, looks a lot more open and refined. Looking forward to seeing it live. Nice work guys.
Thanks for the kind comments guys!
We’re truly amped about the next chapter of WooThemes! 
@Rowan – Yes, the current design is definitely a fruit of our labour and is influenced by all of our design styles. It was really a process to get all 5 of us involved in the redesign, as we’ve got a variety of influences and opinions. I do however think we managed to pull this one off. End-result will determine whether that opinion is true though.
@liam – As mentioned, there are some big changes upcoming that will affect WooThemes to a very large extent. These are business-related changes that are a result of being wiser about our business than we were when WooThemes was first launched. So whilst we’re not changing who we or WooThemes are, there changes coming up and our website needed to reflect that.
Redesigning the website is thus the first step on the second part of our journey!
Are you planning to start offering Drupal themes?
Wow that looks truly impressive.
I can’t wait to see the new backend features. 
this looks very neat and complex. cant wait to see all updates and the new theme next week, good job as always
LOVE the look of this so far! I do have one request though, please, please, please, don’t use the word “solutions” on the home page!!
The most exciting part is the extending the platforms to Magento, Drupal and ExpressionEngine. I think, i can sniff a new “themes design” contest for this platforms. Me personaly very much enjoyed the woothemes contest last year and very excited about when the next one will be announced
@Nico – Yup… Our first two Drupal themes are already coded. We’re obviously only porting our existing themes over, but the first two are done!
@JohnONolan – Why not solutions?
@wpmad – Good idea!
We may just have to launch a massive WooContest in the 2nd part of 2009. Only thing is though, that we’re hoping to be able to release one theme across multiple platforms. So you’d be able to get our popular themes like Fresh News, Busy Bee, VibrantCMS etc on WordPress, EE & Drupal for example…
This is looking great guys! You have always done high quality work and I can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeve for the new site and new dashboard for members! Great work and looking forward to the release of the new site!
thats cool Adii, i would love to rock some Magento and EE stuff
Looking forward to new site and new themes. Like some of the goodies I see on back end. The “big changes” does cause some concern. Hope it doesn’t change the user experience in a negative way.
More themes please!
New design looks awesome guys! A lot cleaner and very pro.
We can’t wait to see it working! =D
You’re Great!
I’m waiting for the Store WooTheme.
I sure hope that the theme released next week will be the Aperture theme. Great themes!
Awesome, I cannot wait for the site refresh and the new themes. WooThemes rocks!… Quality over Quantity is always a better philosophy anyway.
This is really great! I’ve seen a lot of themes and your themes are the most elegant and polished ones out there.
Curious to know how you are changing your business model, based on what you know now and what you knew when you first started.
Hmmm…guess we’ll find out when all is revealed in the near future.
Rahim Snow
I’d love to see a way, using the affiliate program, to be able to simply link to a specific theme as an affiliate.
looks great. Is this the new version of basecamphq.com + highrisehq.com + campfirenow.com ??
The new design looks great! Very clean and professional. I am also excited to hear that a new theme is coming soon. I hope it is the Aperture theme!
@Sneh – Sure. 37Signals are online leaders and we love their work. So their way of thinking has definitely influenced us in this design.
@David – That is one of the things that we’re addressing in the backend revamp!
@J.Crow – Yup, Aperture is actually up for release next.
Woothemes build the best wordpress themes of the world !And the new design looks like awesome !
Quite sharp Adii. And btw, have you checked email from me?
Slight changes, much better. And women say the size counts, pffff…
@Fink About It,
…i LOLed
Looking good. Very “Campaign Monitor” style by the looks of things.
Looks like it’s gonna very nicely spaced and highly usable, just a little bit safe on the design side though, but I suppose you’re leaving all the highly creative stuff for the themes.
Could do with some thing a little more exciting though.
Apropos, Magnus said a while ago that u´d look into incorporating bb-press at some point? i think it was freshnews we was talking about…
@Adii: Glad to hear that Aperture is next. I want to be the first to purchase it! It looks like it is going to be the best theme of its type ever released.
@j.crow Gonna fight you for that!
A lot cleaner and very pro.
@River Girl You better get your boxing gloves ready!
The fact that you will develop Drupal and Magento themes makes me so excited!
Really, I almost wanted to ask you guys why you you didn’t step into the Drupal theming since this really is a hole in the market, which counts even more for magento.
I can’t wait to see your drupal and magento themes.
I wish you all a lot of success with this.
@JohnONolan haha, totally true. I absolutely hate the word ‘solutions’, it’s a meaningless word which is sooo overused on corporate websites and doesn’t even say what it is what they offer. It’s my unspoken rule to exist a website instantly when I see the word ‘solutions’ on it hahaha
(same thing about the word ‘superior’ but in woothemes case it’s true, so I forgive them this time 
Layout is clean and professional. Just what we expected. Excited for Magento themes!
I’d like to know what you use for memebership management? I’ve been searching for an out-of-the-box solutions for some time…but havent’ really found anything to our liking. WP just doesn’t offer enough in the way of membership, download managment, etc. Are you using a custom system? It looks slick. Thanks.
@Glade – We use a combination of aMember, WordPress & bbPress, along with a little bit of custom development goodness.
I am also excited to hear that a new theme is coming soon. I hope it is the Aperture theme! Thanks for sharing………..
I for one cannot wait for the improved backend features for affiliates that have been posted, great work guys
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Cool and Clean.. Can’t wait to see.
I think this is fully inspired with http://www.campaignmonitor.com
You can see placements, colors, buttons and content blocks.
This looks fantastic! I bought my first WooTheme about a year ago and am totally dazzled by the transformation of WooThemes since then. You guys are building a company that rocks and provides a great service.
Congrats!
Where is Aperture? Is it coming tomorrow?
Will the new backend available for your old themes, too?
@Florian – Yes, the backend will be available for our older themes as well. We’re testing it with some new themes now to iron out some bugs and will thereafter start porting it over to our old themes.
Looking good. Very “Campaign Monitor” style by the looks of things
I’m super excited, especially since the new backend will be available for your older themes. You guys rock!
@Marcio – For sure. We’ve drawn inspiration from a variety of top-notch sites (i.e. 37Signals, Campaign Monitor, GoodBarry etc.) in order to make sure that we “adhere” to best practices in terms of selling ourselves to users.
@Sandra – Absolutely; as soon as the new framework is stable and fixed of all bugs, we’ll integrate all of that woo-awesomeness to our older themes!
Looks great!
I like the new admin panel looks smooth and simple!
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