[wp-hackers] AutoTheme for WordPress Introduction

[Shawn McKenzie]

Hi Jefte,

Actually, I resell some of a designer's themes on my site (the 495 is 
just one designer), but the thousands of themes are on many other sites, 
sites of the theme designers.  Any AutoTheme runs on any AutoTheme 
supported platform, even if a theme designer markets it for a specific 
platform.  There are many designers in the PHP-Nuke, PostNuke and 
several shopping cart system  communities that create great free and 
commercial themes for AutoTheme.  Sorry to shake your confidence, but I 
am no merchant, the only ware that I peddle is AutoTheme, and at present 
I don't have a commercial offering for WordPress, it's all free and GPL.

Hi Phu,

I agree that WP has a capable theme system, but AutoTheme is infinitely 
more capable and I didn't develop it for WP.  I had already developed it 
and have had tons of requests to port it to WP.  It started out many 
years ago for PostNuke and PHP-Nuke and has grown as demand has 
dictated.  So now you have something for nothing.  As for the 
significant advantages, you would either need to read about it and use 
it, or I can briefly outline maybe 5% of the advantages:

1.  You can easily theme any page on your WP site with no PHP, just thru 
a WYSIWYG editor.
- users don't have to worry about PHP or even the guts/functions of WP, 
just HTML and add some comments that act as AutoTheme tags
2. Extensive Admin interface to configure and control all aspects of 
every theme (block placement, what templates are used for what and when, 
etc.)
3. Instead of a side bar with multiple pieces (links, pages, categories) 
they are individual blocks that can be controlled via a GUI admin and 
placed anywhere.
4. Many Extras (plugins that do a variety of things), i.e.:
- Ability to create and use a "printer friendly" theme for every page in 
your site and add a link to it on pages.
- program a certain theme to be shown during certain periods of the day 
(6pm - 6am)  another (6am - 6pm) etc
- program certain themes for certain dates or date ranges (a summer 
theme during the summer or a Christmas theme on Christas, show a random 
theme, etc.)
- Custom site entry pages
- Transition or ad pages that can be programed to be shown on load of 
certain WP pages every X number of times, etc.

It's a choice.  It doesn't replace the current PHP themes.  You can use 
one or the other or both.

If anyone is interested, I can assist with testing or explanations.  
Have an open mind and try something that you may end up liking.

Thanks!
-Shawn





Jefte Puente wrote:

>I visited the site hoping to see "thousands" of themes, thinking it would be
>nice to see an injection of designs. Seems to be ~495 themes, ported to
>various webapps. Upon review, I can with confidence say this is a merchant
>peddling his wares. Caveat emptor.
>
>Jefte
>
>On 3/15/06, Phu <wordswithstyle at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>I don't mean to be harsh but I really don't understand the need of such a
>>system when WP has a fairly capable theme system. It doesn't appear to
>>offer
>>any significant advantages beyond what's already provided by the core
>>theme
>>engine.
>>
>>On 3/15/06, Shawn McKenzie <nospam at mckenzies.net> wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Hi All,
>>>
>>>Just to introduce myself, I am Shawn McKenzie, the author of the
>>>      
>>>
>>AutoTheme
>>    
>>
>>>HTML
>>>Theme System for PHP-Nuke, MDPro, PostNuke, osCommerce and CRE Loaded.
>>>
>>>It was fairly easy, so at the request of many users, I adapted AutoTheme
>>>to be
>>>used with WordPress.  This opens the door to thousands of great themes
>>>      
>>>
>>for
>>    
>>
>>>WordPress users.
>>>
>>>AutoTheme allows users to theme any page on their site easily using just
>>>an HTML
>>>editor.  AutoTheme also brings the concept of blocks to WordPress,
>>>replacing the
>>>side bar with individual blocks that can be placed anywhere on the site.
>>>
>>>You can Download a copy and learn all about AutoTheme at
>>>http://www.spidean.com/
>>>
>>>I look forward to working with all of you, helping as needed, and  I
>>>appreciate
>>>any feedback.
>>>
>>>Thanks!
>>>-Shawn
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>wp-hackers mailing list
>>wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
>>http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
>>
>>    
>>
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