If you are new on Dev4Press, Core theme is basically a child theme. Parent or main theme is called xScape Core. We are currently converting all our themes to new Core/Child theme versions. lightScape is next on the list, and is now available in this format. Old, standard theme version is no longer updated. Here is the info about Core conversion: http://www.dev4press.com/2011/tutorials/xscape-framework/xscape-core-themes/. It can happen that after update, some theme template layouts can’t be edited. In that case, you need to reset the layouts for the theme. This is very, very rare and I only have seen it once during tests, and it might not happen at all. If you notice any problems with templates for the theme, or bugs in display, please leave the comment here or in the forums.

xScape Theme Framework 1.8 will be released on Monday bringing massive optimization for the framework loading and few other changes. There will be no new features, just a cleanup and optimization to start with further development in 2012.

Module: Side Scroller

xScape 1.7 will have two new modules. One, is already mentioned bbPress plugin support (that one is currently in beta) and the second one is called Side Scroller. This module adds a floating box outside of the content area, that will move along with the page scrolling, and will always remain on top of the visible part of the screen. It can contain different things, it can have 3 different widths and will be styled by the theme. Share This module is changed to support this new module (as on the image), but also, xScape theme settings will allow adding major share buttons to this area and freeing some space in the content for the post.

Beside two modules, new framework will feature many minor changes and improvements, more fonts will be added to Google Web Fonts module, Clicky tracking code is updated… Also, few more changes are expected for the interface to complete the cycle of changes in the past couple of versions.

This framework version will also mark end of (development) life for three themes: baseScape, airScape and photoScape. Next week they will get full support for all new xScape features including bbPress and Side Scroller modules. They will still work with new versions of the framework, but if some framework features come along that require changes to the theme files, they will not support these themes.

But, as previously announced, new photo/media theme is in development, and it will be called Liquid. It’s expected some time in June. Also, another theme is in planning stages, it will be blog oriented with interesting layout.

airScape Login Styling

Both these themes have new xScape Theme Framework 1.5.5, and the rest of the themes can safely be updated with framework only by using updater or download it from your account panel on Dev4Press. New xScape updates many aspects of jQuery and jQueryUI use, and it will work fine with the new version of WP 3.1 that will have jQuery 1.4.4 that caused so many problems to xScape already. more info on that will follow tonight, as well as the release of framework for update for other themes (testing some things with other themes, just to be safe).

With these updates, all themes now support all xScape features added over the past months.

To see the theme and framework in action, visit the WordPress MultiSite powered demo website and get your own blog to see who the framework back-end works:

Demo Site:
http://xscape.info/

Themes are updated, and reached new major numbers: baseScape 1.4, photoScape 1.3, eScape 1.1 and airScape 1.1. And for the most part, these themes are not going to change anymore. They will be updated with new frameworks from time to time, fixed if needed, but nothing new will be added to them. To avoid releasing new versions each time xScape is updated, xScape will be download-able separately, so you can only get the framework and upgrade the theme with it. I will also try to build that into Dev4Press Updater.

lightScape is now 2 sidebars theme. Also, it features many updates and fixes to styling, blueprint grid model, updated POT translation file. Next lightScape update will be to improve the slider and few other things. There is no ETA on the next version right now. For users that got developer license for this theme, I must apologize about being late with releasing the PSD sources for this theme. It will be released on Tuesday.

What’s next? Well, new module called Translate This is in works. Also, I am working on several new tutorials. First new tutorial is released yesterday: Adding custom page Templates. Work has resumed on newsScape theme and I hope that it will completed soon, but I can’t give any more info right now. And with new plugin to be released soon (GD Amazon Fusion), framework will have full support for it to display data for Amazon products.

Test all themes,and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end before deciding what is right for you:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

Whether you use Facebook or not, you must admit it’s impact to the Internet and it’s almost 500 million users. So far xScape had only Like button integration. But, this version moves that into a separate module. I plan to add few more Facebook features to the framework (leave a suggestion what would you like to see next), and it’s better to keep all that in the same place. For now, Like integration is moved to module and expanded with more options including support for custom post types. BTW, baseScape theme got another style called Facebook.

IMPORTANT: Recheck all the settings after you update. If you used FaceBook Like go to Extend page and enable it from there.

Breadcrumbs are improved and few issues fixed, and also I have added setting from the title of the Home element (per suggestion). Taxonomy problem with breadcrumbs was also seen in the archive heading, and is also fixed. Problem with WordPress features like post thumbnail not being initialized is fixed.

Even more JavaScript is minimized and compacted into a single file for even more speed in website loading. xScape needs up to 4 times less external files than any other premium theme (we need 2 CSS and 1 JS files with 1 CSS for ShareThis module), some premium themes load 10 or more files. Also, some JS is compressed using new Google Closure Compiler.

I hope that I didn’t leave any bugs this time around, or at least no serious bugs,  so please report any problems. xScape 1.3.8 with new theme will be released by the end of next week. Theme will be called airScape. Soon after another theme called newsScape will follow.

Test all themes and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

baseScape and photoScape now both support resizing of the sidebar. This is limited by the themes design, and is done in the increments of the columns used in Blueprint CSS framework. But, it gives great flexibility. Resizing the sidebar will automatically change other elements, so you need to check the thumbnail sizes for content and things like that to avoid having too much empty space or other layout related problems.

And both those themes now support new footer layout that allows adding of sitemap or links based on standard menus or custom built using menu designer. Tutorial coming soon.

baseScape has new color style called Blood Red on Light.

New Buttons

Social buttons for Digg, Facebook and  Tweetmeme are improved and support different locations around the post content. Some combinations don’t look so good due to different sizes of these buttons and styling issues, but try and see what’s best. Also, photoScape allows you to put these buttons in the meta block on the left of the post. Also, per request, I ave added FaceBook Like button that allow some settings changes. On the image on the right you have all these on the same side.

Framework now allows creating templates for custom post types (WP 3.0 only), and also has several bugs fixed. All themes also support improved Google Rich Snippets from GD Star Rating plugin, that will be available when 1.9 version of the plugin is released tomorrow. More info to follow.

Test all themes and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

BaseScape had few bugs that are now fixed. Exclusion of posts from featured and category latest areas was not working and limit of featured posts was also broken. Both themes have now proper H1/H2 heading assignment, and for single posts pages, H1 is used for post title, on all other pages is used for blog title in header. PhotoScape now also has excluding options for posts in the featured area.

eScape theme is a bit late, and the demo for it will be up tomorrow, with theme released on Monday.

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

Edit: Another update is released due to several bugs that I missed this morning.

Right now, many things are fixed with saving some of the settings (footer) and some other things. But most important is improved footer that can have different layouts and can contain logo. Global settings can be overridden by each layout. Also, framework is tracking installation and initialization of theme, and uses centralized errors tracking to display all found errors on top of each page.

Over the weekend I will post first preview images of the new theme, and that theme will be released by the end of next week.

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

We plan to add more tracking websites, so if you use some other service, leave a post in the forum, and it will be added with next version. As for the footer modifications, if you have idea what else can be added, also leave post in the forum or on the suggestion box page.

Also, some changes were made in core class that is used to create folders, and in next version this will be improved to display installation messages and errors.

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

photoScape had some broken elements in IE6, and all that is now fixed. Same problem was with Networks widget and missing icons in IE6, and that is also fixed.

Demo website xScape.info is updated with loader page with drop downs to select theme and style to preview it. And don’t forget to sign up for free blog and try all the features first hand with no limitations.

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

gMap This

First major new feature is new module called gMap This. This module adds easy implementation of Google Maps into posts allowing you to set a map with marker and note for the marker. On the image right you see the map editor in the post edit. Once you set the map for the post, map will be displayed at the bottom of the post. gMap This module is implemented in baseScape and also upcoming photoScape theme. Later tonight I will post the video of gMap module in action.

A great many things are improved within the framework, more places for expanding added, code improved and sped up and few bugs fixed. baseScape now also implements gMap module, includes number of fixes and improved styling for some elements.

Stay tuned for more news today and in the coming days for new theme and more video tutorials.

Demo Site: http://xscape.info/
baseScape: http://xscape.info/basescape/

Layout manager now supports changing menues for each template. Thumbnail can be created from the first image found in the post. Contactable module has another new element for website of the user sending the message. Also, few things are fixed: updating the layout settings, invalid markup for some menu items, some invalid meta keywords and few other things.

Demo Site: http://xscape.info/
baseScape: http://xscape.info/basescape/

photoScape, Home Page work in progress

Theme will have 6 color schemes built in, but will also offer full control and allow you to upload own background image and set all the colors and create own unique look. It will have several layouts for home, archive, single post and several elements like categories slider, featured posts and things like that. This theme will be premium only. Demo website for this theme should be up by the end of this week.

Until then, new xScape 1.0.3  framework and new version of baseScape will be released tomorrow with number of bug fixes and some new features. By the end of this week lite edition of baseScape will be released.

Info Panel

Dev4Press Updater supports xScape themes and can be used to update them automatically. xScape now has a info about updater added on the More Themes panel along with themes and plugins.

Some of the modules settings were not saving properly, and that is fixed, theme URL was partially hardcoded, also fixed now. Share This module is expanded with few more settings. Also, several things are visually improved and changed for consistency.

GD Star Rating integration is improved also with additional option to insert rating into the post for comment integration.

PhotoScape theme is coming next week. Preview will be published over the weekend.

Demo Site: http://xscape.info/
baseScape: http://xscape.info/basescape/

I had problems testing navigation menus under WP 3.0, so the xScape support for them was not in yesterday release. But, today, latest WP 3.0 code from repository was finally working for me, and xScape supports new menus. I will monitor WP 3.0 development  for other potential incompatibilities and problems.

Also, I want to confirm that Dev4Press Updater plugin will also support Premium xScape themes for auto update. Plugin is still in development, and you can test it with Dev4Press Premium plugins for now.

To see the theme and framework in action, visit the WordPressMU powered demo website and get your own blog to see who the framework back-end works:

Demo Site: http://xscape.info/
baseScape: http://xscape.info/basescape/

Contact Form

Over then next 2-3 days information about features, documentations for the baseScape will be updated, tutorials recorded and published. If you notice that something is missing, please leave a comment. This is only the first theme and it will take some time to put all things in right place, so be patient.

To see the theme and framework in action, visit the WordPressMU powered demo website and get your own blog to see who the framework back-end works:

Demo Site: http://xscape.info/
baseScape: http://xscape.info/basescape/

Theme is available with both standard and developer licenses. Developer license include email support tickets, and also the PSD sources for the theme, and in the case of this theme, source are really several small images used in the theme, theme as a whole has no image based design, everything is done using CSS and HTML.

To purchase this theme, go through both single theme and club memberships and decide what’s best for you. If you decide to get single theme license, after you make a purchase, license will be added to your account. You can assign baseScape to that license through your user account.

Follow us on twitter @milangd, tomorrow we will release some discount codes.

Demo website is on this URL:

http://xscape.info/

From front page you can sign up for new user account and blog. Once you get your blog, you can change the theme and select baseScape. New menu item will appear with all xScape panels. And you can try whatever you want to see how it works. If you notice any bugs or problems, please leave a comment or send a message.

Direct URL to baseScape demo:

http://xscape.info/basescape/

baseScape will be available on Dev4Press in next 24 hours. Free edition will be on the website on Wednesday or Thursday.

On Monday demo website powered by WPMU will be available, and anyone can register and get demo blog to test first (and later any other) theme. You can see how the admin panels work and try any of the settings. Demo website will feature preset demo website for every theme.

Over the next week at least 10 video tutorials will be released to cover major framework usage, and even more tutorials will follow after that. By the end of this month at least 20 tutorials will be online.

baseScape will be available also as a free theme, but with many features stripped from framework. Next theme called photoScape will not be available for free. PhotoScape will be released in next two weeks. For April we plan two more new themes. Also, framework will be updated regularly, and we already have a list of new features that will be worked on in the next two months.

So, the wait is almost over, xScape will be available in less than 72 hours.

Until today, GD Star Rating website run on eNews theme (ElegantThemes). And I have measured the impact of this theme and new baseScape. With same plugins active before and after baseScape is installed and same version of WordPress (2.9.2), website uses 2MB less memory: win for baseScape. To generate the page eNews theme needed 51 SQL query and 0.2 seconds to execute them. baseScape needs only 24 SQL queries and 0.07 seconds to execute them. This measurement is actually very acurate since the content on the front page is exactly the same for both themes (these numbers don’t include plugins and their queries). Another win for baseScape. And finally, all this caused that page generation time drops from 1.2 seconds with eNews to 0.7 seconds for baseScape. Another point for baseScape. I have also tested with Pingdom, and determined that large amount of time eNews was spending on generating thumbnail images with awful TimThumb where each image requires separate PHP thread, where baseScape uses much better thumbnail method and all is done in a single, main thread. baseScape: 4, eNews: 0.

So, check out the GD Star Rating website and see how the theme looks like and how does it feel using it. Check out the comments form with validation, contact form on every page, hidden on the left side of the screen, front page slider, social icons links with each post (built in the theme and highly customizable), main menu mixing categories and pages, jQuery powered breadcrumbs navigation and much more, all built in into the xScape framework.

GD Star Rating website will help test theme and the framework further, and more improvements will follow before xScape is released. If you notice any bugs, or have any suggestion, please leave a comment.

GD Star Rating: http://www.gdstarrating.com/

First theme that will use xScape framework is almost completed, and is called baseScape.  This theme is now used to develop framework, and is very, very simple. Templates are all without single image, they will load very fast. Most important thing for this theme is clean design, typography and use of BluePrint CSS framework. But we will try to incorporate as many xScape features possible so that you can see what you can expect from the future themes. Anyway, here is what will be part of the xScape framework core:

• Ajax powered theme settings control panel
• Export and import settings
• Centralized upload of images
• Module for SEO optimization
• Controls for the header content
• Integration support for GD Star Rating
• Integration support for GD Affiliate Tools
• Additional Widgets (Twitter, Flickr, Ads and few more)
• Banner ads controls
• Support for multiple color styles
• Superfish based menus
• JavaScript powered menu builder
• Post editor integration widget
• Load control to minimize theme memory footprint
• Localization support
• Different additional page templates
• Auto-sizing images to thumbnails
• Cross browser compatible
• W3C Compliant XHTML & CSS
• Multiple sidebar control and management

I am sure that I have forgot some things in this list, and that it will be expanded over time based on our ideas and your needs to make customization as simple as possible. And if you have any suggestions right now, please leave a comment. By the end of the week I will post first screenshots from the Control Panel, and maybe some examples from the theme frontend.

As for the plans, right now there are several themes in the planning and design stages:

• baseScape
• StarScape II
• photoScape

So stay tuned for more.