All the latest news and announcements, straight from the WooThemes HQ!
WOO2: What’s new?
17. Jun, 2009 by Adii Rockstar in WooThemes News
So after a few months of hard work, we’re finally ready to roll out the new WooThemes, which we’ve quite successfully dubbed as WOO2 over the last couple of weeks. We’ve tried to create a lot of hype surrounding WOO2 and we hope that everyone is just as excited as us to read the rest of this post…
(BTW… If you’re reading this in a RSS reader, get yourself over to the site, because everything is new & shiny!)
We won’t want to keep you too long (because you should explore the website yourself and discover all of the awesomeness that way), but we figured it’s a good idea to give you a bit of a summary of the new things that WOO2 brings. Here we go…
WOO2 Feature List
The Facelift
This one you would’ve already noticed; without a doubt… WOO2 includes a brand-new and polished identity for us. We’ve tried to create something that is absolutely stunning to look at and even better to use. This new polished version of WooThemes is a perfect starting point for what we have planned for you in the next couple of months…
A new user dashboard
Even before we decided to launch a new design on WooThemes, we realized that our user dashboard (backend) needed a facelift as well, because it just wasn’t as great as the rest of our website & our themes (or that’s how we felt). So we’ve tried to re-code the whole dashboard to give existing users a much better experience all around our website.
Watch this video for a more in-depth look at the new dashboard:
Sneak Peek: New User Dashboard in WOO2 from WooThemes on Vimeo.
The new subscriptions
One of the biggest criticisms we’ve received since launching WooThemes last year, was the fact that there wasn’t much incentive for existing club subscribers to renew their subscriptions after the initial 3 / 6 months. So we’ve changed things around completely and you can now stay connected at only $15 or $20 per month. View the details here.
We hope that this will persuade more of you to get in on some WooThemes action soon! 
Existing subscribers need to read this page to understand how this affects their subscriptions.
Revised theme packages
Along with the tweaks to the subscriptions, we’ve also renamed our theme packages to Standard & Developer packages (instead of Single & Developer before). Beyond the difference in the naming, there’s only two changes to the packages i.e. both Standard & Developer packages can be used on unlimited domains and the Standard package comes with one bonus theme (2-for-1) and the Developer with two bonus themes (3-for-1). View the details here.
Focusing on improved support
A big part of this redesign has been geared towards improving everything for existing WooThemes users. So you’ll see that the forum sports not only sports a new look, but also a new structure, which we hope will improve your experience in-and-around the forum.
We’ve also given the theme documentation a much needed upgrade and we believe that it’s now more easy to use than ever. We’re also in the process of improving the content in the documentation and it will soon include new screenshots and video screencasts.
Optimized Support Policy
We have also tweaked our support policy slightly, to optimize the time of our forum ninja’s. The tweaked policy allows us to focus more on fixing bugs and helping users with technical problems, whilst customisations will be more regulated going forward. Read the full new support policy here.
Our design, development & better blogging outlet
Our design, development & better blogging outlet
More Content
The WooThemes blog has been completely repositioned and restructured; so from now on it will be used exclusively to publish WooThemes-related news. So you may ask where our other content is going if the blog on here is only gonna focus on WooThemes-stuff!?
We’ve created a brand-new blog in WooCamp, which we’ve dubbed as our official design, development and better blogging outlet. Whilst the blog is still young, it’ll soon become a very valuable, complimentary resource for WooThemes users (and non-users). We plan to also feature CMS-specific news & tutorials, along with a few tips & tricks in running your own startup. Definitely check out WooCamp…
What happened to the new themes on new platforms?
Unfortunately nothing in life really happens to way you plan and this kinda caught up with us during the development of WOO2. You can find more information & status updates here.
So what happens now?
Well, the only thing left for you to do is explore around. We’re not saying WOO2 is perfect and if you stumble on some bugs, then that’s due to us pulling a few long days of work to get this out there. Please don’t comment on any bugs on this post; instead please e-mail it through to us so that we can fix those up ASAP.
And then last thing… We’d love to hear what you think of the new WooThemes. As we’ve mentioned million times before: we’re really, REALLY proud of what we’ve done here and really hope that you are just as impressed with our work. So do tell us what you think of all this hype.
17 June 2009 at 8:24 am #
Wow! Looking great guys! Congratulations!
17 June 2009 at 8:30 am #
You’ve done a fantastic job, it’s looking superb, the wait has been worth it! – Amazing what a new design can do to a site, not to mention all the extra that’s been added too!
17 June 2009 at 8:47 am #
Thanks!
We’ve tried to find a balance between adding new stuff and improving older stuff. And I think that’s contributed to the lengthy process that was WOO2. But hopefully everyone will echo your opinion and enjoy WooThemes more than ever before.
17 June 2009 at 8:30 am #
Pretty exciting with the new dashboard
17 June 2009 at 9:01 am #
Congrats on the redesign. I think your new pricing model is fair and makes more sense from a customer standpoint.
I look forward to signing up again.
Keep up the great work.
Jeff Klein
17 June 2009 at 9:07 am #
Thanks Jeff! And that’s exactly what we want to hear! Not the signing up again bit, but the fact that the new subscription model makes more sense!
17 June 2009 at 9:04 am #
You guys did a great job, everything looks really good and works nicely! Congrats!
17 June 2009 at 9:07 am #
Cheers! And we look forward to adding your design to our collection in the next couple of months. Oops, did I just share that secret (post with teasers coming soon)…
17 June 2009 at 9:19 am #
Congratulations!
17 June 2009 at 9:42 am #
Fantastic work guys, glad to see you growing and progressing at such a great looking pace
17 June 2009 at 9:44 am #
Thanks for changing the subscription package model.
Now I have a hard time deciding whether to join the membership or buy single.
Can’t wait for the details on Drupal and ExpressionEngine themes. Any timeframe launch? How about pricing info?
17 June 2009 at 9:51 am #
The only details we have on the other platforms are here: http://www.woothemes.com/woothemes-available-on-these-platforms/
And with the new subscription pricing, you should really consider getting one, especially since it means you’ll get such a vast variety of themes!
17 June 2009 at 9:55 am #
Drupal looks to be first one out, as we already have some theme developed. But probably a few weeks still until we get everything sorted. Pricing should be similar to WP, but not determined yet…
17 June 2009 at 10:01 am #
Thumbs up, guys.
Now I just want the list of WooThemes approved developers that can help me tweak the themes just the way I want them.
17 June 2009 at 2:08 pm #
Here you go: http://www.woothemes.com/affiliated-woo-workers/
You need to be logged in to see that page.
17 June 2009 at 4:39 pm #
How on earth have I missed that? Cheers!
17 June 2009 at 11:21 am #
Congratz guys! A huge success for you all. Wish I could contribute more with Woothemes in the future.
17 June 2009 at 11:25 am #
Thanks! And we may just knock on your door again in the coming months; our users have been really happy with The Journal, so you’ll need to design a follow-up theme!
17 June 2009 at 11:37 am #
Congrats on the Woo2 launch guys, the site looks really polished!
Any ETA on the Store theme?
17 June 2009 at 11:53 am #
No ETA…
And we’re trying to completely avoid making release promises for specific themes. So I guess it’ll be released when it’s ready…
17 June 2009 at 11:42 am #
WOW! I’m so impressed guys. It’s like you guys just never cease to amaze us! Haha.
The new pricing models are awesome and I think make more sense. I hope that increases sales for you guys. I know you guys put a lot of work into your themes and I appreciate it.
Keep up the awesome work!
17 June 2009 at 11:54 am #
We wouldn’t mind it increasing sales either!
17 June 2009 at 11:44 am #
I love the new documentation section … so much easier to use and such when setting up a new theme!
17 June 2009 at 11:53 am #
Awesome stuff; glad you like the theme docs, as it’s just one of the smaller things that we’ve tried to improve for existing users. And it’s only gonna get better, when we start upgrading them with more screencasts as soon as they get the new themes framework integrated.
17 June 2009 at 12:07 pm #
I have been looking around but have not found this answer … will you be sending out some sort of email to explain to current subscribers how they will be affected by new pricing models?
I also seem to be having some issues with your login system … like, it keeps logging me out. Probably something you are working on, but just thought I should mention.
17 June 2009 at 12:08 pm #
We will still be sending out a mail yes. But does this not answer your question? http://www.woothemes.com/subscriptions-the-old-the-new/
And we’ll look into the login system ASAP; the logging out bit is probably just cookie-related.
17 June 2009 at 12:14 pm #
Where was that linked from? I swear just looked around the new site for a while and never saw it … although I did land on the site from the busybee documentation (how I figured out you had relaunched) and not the front page.
17 June 2009 at 12:33 pm #
Haha nevermind … ON THIS PAGE.
(Nikole needs more sleep.)
17 June 2009 at 12:22 pm #
OK maybe I am a bit tired but …
- I think your #2 and #3 at the bottom of that page are switched.
- It doesn’t tell you who to contact.
and
- If you are refunding me, then do I have to go pay for the whole thing again (the one-time plus 1st month)? Or do I just start paying the one month from this point on? So if someone had been paying the 3-month developer for a while and just renewed, and then you refunded part/all of the last charge, would they then start at the new model (one-time plus monthly) or just start paying monthly on the new model?
17 June 2009 at 12:45 pm #
#2 & #3 were switched, but is correct now.
And an existing subscriber will still need to pay the signup fee for new subscriptions. Mail us at info[at]woothemes.com if you have any more questions.
18 June 2009 at 4:55 pm #
Beautiful! I’ve always been a big fan of this type of design (i.e. the light and airy approach), and the new look is a huge improvement over the former IMO. It’s professional yet whimsical. Nice work guys!
19 June 2009 at 12:52 am #
Hehe yeah, I think this was the first time I’ve been involved with a project (personal or client) that the light+airy approach was actually applicable!
20 June 2009 at 2:49 pm #
Absolutely sexy – if wordpress themes were pornstars, you guys would be the top talent agency in hollywood.
23 June 2009 at 2:36 pm #
Really really nice! Only the dropdown list on the ‘our themes’ page has a little bug, you can’t navigate to Magazine/themes from the parent page
24 June 2009 at 1:21 am #
Thanks for reporting that; we’ll look into it ASAP!