Suffusion Version 3.0.0

I am happy to announce that I submitted version 3.0.0 of Suffusion last night. This version took a lot of time thanks to the amount of testing that I had to do on it. The following are the main features here:

  1. Magazine Layout
    This is the biggest feature I have added in this release. Combined with the other big features that I recently added I decided that now was the time to brand this as version 3.x.
    You will be able to select a template called “Magazine” to make a page have this layout. The Magazine template lets you have:
    1. A “Featured Content” section
      This lets you use the “Featured Content” that you have set up for your blog and plugs it in directly into the top of the page.
    2. A “Headlines” section
      You can also define certain posts and categories as “headlines”. As a concept this is the same as “Featured Content”, but the presentation is different. In “Featured Content” your posts automatically slide through, but in the “headlines” you actually have to hover / click on them to see the content.
    3. An “Excerpts” section
      You can show certain items as “Excerpts”. Think of this feature as an “Other Main Stories” feature in a news portal.
    4. A “Categories” section
      If you are running a multi-focus blog you might have things like Recipes, Restaurant Reviews etc. You can show each of these categories on the magazine layout. Each category will show up with the latest few posts (you can control how many you want to show).
  2. Controls for featured post image size
    This was based on a request in a prior version. It essentially lets you set a custom size for the featured image that doesn’t inherit the dimensions of an excerpt thumbnail.
  3. An Arabic Translation
    Thanks to r-sn, we have our first RTL translation. The Arabic language files have been incorporated into the theme.
  4. Ability to turn off default widgets in first sidebar
    This is actually a pretty small thing, but useful. The first sidebar in the theme had a bunch of default widgets that you could override using the dynamic widgets capability of the theme. However, with the introduction of the tabbed sidebar you could have situations where you want to only display a tabbed sidebar and not the regular sidebars. This wasn’t possible without this feature.

Now for the upcoming changes:

  1. RTL fixes
    Some issues were pointed out by r-sn regarding the RTL layout. I will fix those.
  2. Extended magazine layout support
    Obviously when you have a layout, you need other pages to match the layout. Subsequent releases will have magazine layout options for different templates – default, archives, categories, authors, search results etc.
    Also, I am not very happy with the colors and look-and-feel of the magazine layout. I am open to hearing from you regarding how to improve on it.
  3. More consistent look and feel for IE6
    It is very depressing to learn that IE6 still has around 20% of the market share, depending on whose view you subscribe to. My take is that a very small percentage of people who are on IE6 would actually surf to your sites, but in any case, it is an audience that you have to cater to. So far I have managed to stay ahead of IE6 by ensuring that the layout doesn’t go haywire on it. However I intend to go a step further and ensure that you will get the same look across all browsers (minus the CSS 3 features that some browsers don’t support).
  4. Extension of Tabbed Sidebar features
    The tabbed sidebar is good, but it can become really good. I intend to have options to do a ton of customization on it.
  5. Docking boxes
    One of my most common laments on WordPress has been the lack of a “before_content” and “after_content” tag for widgets. It simply destroys the layout if some widgets are ill-constructed. Call it serendipity, but I managed to find a way to fix it. The fix involves JQuery and is hence not my favourite because I dislike having to add a 56KB file to a page to fix a bug. However, this is better than not having a fix at all.
  6. More navigation menus
    Having gotten past the barrier of real estate in the navigation bar, I intend to have support for other types of elements in the dropdown, like links, archives etc.

That’s about it. Once version 3.0.0 is out do let me know what improvements you would like in the look-and-feel of the magazine layout. I will try to accommodate those.

17 Responses to “Suffusion Version 3.0.0”

  1. Version wonderful ..
    thank you

  2. I regularly keep checking the progress of this theme.
    Brilliant work.

  3. Hi
    I cant seem to find how to install this new version. The WP theme only shows the current 2.6.6 version?

  4. Forgot to say
    I recall I may have seen an update automatically button, so It may have updated automatically but not changed the version reference. But if this is the case then I cannot find the new feature – ie the magazine layout?
    Mark

    • WP has been sitting on the new version without approving for quite a while. Today is the seventh day that it has not been approved. Wait for the Thanksgiving hangover to go, then you will probably have it by tomorrow.

  5. Hi, I have installed the latest version via wordpress i.e. v3.0.0. but for some reason I cannot “activate” the magazine layout template under the themes option. I have enabled all options but for some reason the layout looks the same as before when i refresh my web page. Keen to see the look and feel of this magazine template.

  6. Excellent theme, thank you.

    One question: What is the difference between having the featured posts slider on the main page in contrast to having the magazine template plus featured posts? I had the former, but now with Version 3 I added the magazine template to see how it changes things. I can’t see a difference. Am I doing something wrong?

    Thanks for the good work!

  7. I can’t seem to get the magazine template to work. I have it enabled but nothing is showing up on the site. it is http://roberthclarkphotographyblog.com
    Do I have to have my sidebars left and right to make it work? Thanks for help
    Bob

  8. First off Sayontan, your theme is just fantastic! This magazine layout is awesome! The only thing that I wish for the magazine template is for an option that would allow you to “pull” from pages instead of posts. Maybe next update?

  9. Thanks Sayontan for this theme. It restored my interest in WordPress.

    I love the Magazine layout and how I can control its appearance. Is it possible to make it such that I can maintain more than one magazine layout?

    Also, can you point me to any good book or article that can teach me how to do magic similar to what you are doing? That is WordPress specific, not PHP or mySql.

    Thanks in advance

  10. Hi Mr. Sayontan,

    Ty for your template, i feel great for your fabulous work!

    One question, the magazine template does not layout in the order I wish. Please advise.

    Jack

  11. My Girlfriend tells me that the reason The Daily Mail online is the easiest to read and navigate and best Newspaper online from the UK is because of the Navigational element down the right hand side of The Daily Mail Online Newspaper site.

    Might be worth a look to see if the same can be replicated into the Magazine theme as this in effect make s what is an online Newspaper into more of a Magazine and more appealing to female readers.
    My partners father she tells me says the same about The Daily mail or The Mail Online and it is the element down the right hand side and the general layout etc that makes it the easiest Magazine/Newspaper site online with 41% or more UK readership.