I’ve done a lot of talking about this mysterious project for quite some time. I know a few of you are ready to hear what it’s all about.
In a very small nutshell — it’s a WordPress theme club.
But it’s so much more than that. For one thing, you don’t have to pay any money to be a part of this club. It’s free to join. There’s no fee to download themes.
This post will be a bit of a long read, so I tried to adorn it with some large headers and a few basic PhotoShop images to keep your attention.
The basic idea
I’ve given this project several months’ thought and have finally decided on what this club should be about — freedom.
I have two reasons for starting up a new project. The first is that I think my personal blog’s WordPress sections have started to outgrow what my blog is supposed to be about. Some days, I feel like I might just want to write about cats or general happenings in my life but decide against it because it’s become such a WordPress-centered blog. I need to find a nice balance. Plus there are some things that I want to implement that just won’t work with a personal blog.
The second reason for this project — the reason I suspect you’re more interested in — is that I want to provide an alternative to the premium theme market I mentioned in the last post with quality themes and support.
The main goal will be to create a community centered on my themes and plugins with helpful tutorials on other things dealing with using WordPress.
I want this to be community run, as much as one can have a community-ran site based on one person’s themes. I’ll go over some of this later in this post.
I’ll also be asking for ideas and input in the coming weeks from you all.
History of Project M
The very first idea I had for this project was back in December, after the release of the Structure theme. I had quite a bit of support and a few people wanted me to put a donation link up for the theme. The first idea was to sell “premium” themes. Yes, I had thought about going that route at one point. The name Project M was originally Project Marketplace.
Soon after, I decided that I didn’t quite like the direction of that. Plus, there were already people starting to take advantage of that corner of the market. I changed the name of Project M to Project March as that was my original release date.
Ealier this year, quite a few people told me to open a themes club, much like what Small Potato done on WP Designer. I thought this might be a good route. I even opened a thread discussing the theme club on my forums, which was just recently dug back up after a couple of months by one of the forum members.
The idea of a themes club appealed to me. After listening to Small Potato on Episode #11 of WordPress Weekly, I wanted to go this route even more. However, I felt there was something still missing. I felt like it was still too much of what we’ve come to know as “premium” themes. But, I did like the idea of a community-driven club.
Since then, I’ve been working out the best way to serve the community with the free themes and downloads that they’re used to getting while offering a place that they could share creative ideas and get the help they needed. Plus, I wanted to add some form of monetization to this idea, which I’ll discuss later.
Now, Project M should stand for Project May as this is the month that I’m announcing this thing.
I’ve also been secretly sticking in a possible new tagline around this blog for months.
![Project M Logo: Creating a better [world through] WordPress](http://justintadlock.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/project-m-logo.gif "Project M Logo: Creating a better [world through] WordPress"){kind=logo}
I’ve also mentioned the idea in December, January, earlier this month, and in my last post.
Support Forum
The support forum will be much like my forums here on my site. I’ll obviously be the key administrator, helping you as much as I can, but I’ll also be looking for help from the members.
The support forum will be the backbone of this project. As I continue to release plugins and themes, the more time I have to devote to support, which in turn, creates less time for making new themes and plugins. I’m a big advocate of supporting themes if you release them, but a community can sustain and support itself if the members are willing to share and help each other out.
I’ll probably be on the lookout for users that wouldn’t mind being moderators once the project is up and running, especially foreign language moderators because I’d like to set up support forums specifically for non-native English speakers.
Ideas Forum
One of the things I’ve always wanted to set up on my personal blog was an ideas forum for users to give me ideas about new themes, plugins, and widgets. However, the implementation of this exceeds what my personal blog is about.
The ideas forum would be much like what you see at the WordPress ideas forum. The only difference here would be that you’d be adding and rating ideas for me to implement into themes and such.
I like this because it would be a way for users to share their ideas, which would give me more insight into what users actually want out of their themes.
Download Center
The download center will be where the real fun is at. I’ve basically broken it down into some distinct areas that I’d like to see: WordPress themes, bbPress themes, plugins, add-ons, and language packs.
The main goal here will be to show a variety of downloads and allow users to quickly find what they’re looking for.
WordPress themes
Of course, this is what most people will come to download, so the main focus will be allowing you to easily find the theme that best fits you with links to demo sites to show what the theme looks like. I’ve been working on quite a few new themes and hope to have them all available when this site launches.
More importantly, the way I’ve redeveloped the Structure and Options themes recently will allow for easier theme upgrades and a solid foundation to carry from one theme to the next from both a user and developer standpoint. I’ll have to go into more detail on this in a later post.
Many of the new themes will be geared toward specific niches or will be themes with specific types of functionality.
bbPress themes
Yes, I’m in the process of developing bbPress themes to go along with my WordPress themes. I’m far less advanced with bbPress than I am with WordPress, but I’d like to start promoting this great forum software too. Plus, it would give users that need forums an extra option without having to hack some forum software to play nicely with their WordPress theme.
Options and Structure theme users: look out for these when Project M launches.
Add-ons
Some of the themes will be extensible through widgets and extra add-on options. The Options theme was basically built on this idea. Just download the new add-on and place the files in your theme folder. And done! You’ll have a new option or widget available.
Or, download a new user-created stylesheet or one from me and drop it into your theme folder.
Of course, not all themes will come with the add-on capability. Most new widgets I create will be usable in any theme though. I’ve got a few ideas in the works for new widgets too.
Language packs
Luckily for me, I met Yoichi, a Japanese blogger, online a few months ago when I created my Structure theme. He really introduced me to the concept of localization.
With his help, the bugs reported in the translation thread for my themes, and a great article about localization from Weblog Tools Collection, I’ve managed to start understanding this idea. I’m now striving to make all my themes and plugins ready for translation.
This section will offer downloads for user-created .mo and .po files that you just drop into your theme folder. I’ll also try to provide links to documentation, tutorials, and tools to set translators on the right path.
Documentation
Documenting how to use themes can sometimes take as much time and work as putting the theme together. A few of you, and I’m still interested in your help, have offered to make videos and tutorials for beginners.
While I’ll probably do most of the documentation myself, I’ll try to open this up as much as possible to community input. You all would better understand how the average user uses themes than I would. Something that seems easy to me might not be so easy to everyone else.
I’m also thinking of some interesting video tutorials I could offer too, especially getting some of the basics down with the more complex themes.
Mostly, I’d like to give quick and easy-to-find access to tutorials on how to do specific things with the themes.
Monetization
I know some of you are still waiting to hear how I’ll monetize this thing since so much of it will be free. Well, there’ll be several ways. I’ll break this down into a few different groups with brief explanations. I’ll go into more detail about how monetization will work in a future post because these ideas aren’t set in stone at the moment.
Support and tutorials will cost a yearly fee (approximately $10 – $20 USD). This might turn a few of you away since you’re used to having me help you for free. I feel like this is the most important aspect of my work, and it uses up most of my time. So, that’s the real catch.
Get the themes for free. Pay a minimal fee for quality support.
Donations will definitely help keep the project going. I’ve found that offering things for free and having an optional donation link helps tremendously.
Custom services will be a part of the project. If a member or outside client needed a theme to have added functionality or a custom stylesheet, I’ll have affordable service packages set up for them to take advantage of.
Advertising might be another source of income. I’m not a big fan of using ads because they use up valuable real estate on a site, but depending on how money is coming in through other methods, I may use this.
As I’ve said, everything with monetization isn’t definite yet. I’d love to hear your ideas about this, so long as they allow for free themes.
I’m also not looking at making a living off of this project because, quite honestly, I love the dayjob I have now. So, monetization will not be the focus of this project.
I need a name for this project
I’m a bit tired of calling this thing Project M. I’ve been using this name for about six months now and haven’t come up with something I like.
This will be a separate website from JustinTadlock.com, so I’ll be needing a new domain name.
If you feel like you have a good name and don’t want to share it with the world, feel free to use the contact form to submit it to me. I’m open to any ideas at this point.
I want to hear your thoughts
As I’ve mentioned, this will be largely community driven, so how things are implemented will be based off user feedback.
The projected launch date is July.
Of course, there’s a lot more to this project than I could cover in one post, so I’ll try to keep everyone updated throughout the month on the progress. I hope to write some posts that give more details about individual parts of the site and how each will function. I’ll be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have.
i barely understand ur post, but i can tell is a great idea, hope u get enought buzz for this and u go big whit this, if u happen to need spanish language testers or someting i will glady help
Hefebreo
I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have about anything. And yes, I’ll be needing help with the Spanish areas of the site. I hope I can offer as much back to non-native English speakers as I do native speakers.
Hi Justin,
Basically you’re taking over where wpdesigner left off, and you’re already surpassing it. This is gonna be big – for both you and the world of WordPress. So much so that I can see certain developers noses being put out of place… great! Your ethics are good and your work speaks volumes. Kudos!
I’m only the tinyest bit jelous of what you’re building up to, but maybe in a few months I’ll be able to make contributions to the community like yourself.. for now though i’m remaining anonymous (well, link-free anyway…)!
Steve
Thanks. SP was a really big inspiration for this project. So, I am trying to take over where he left off, especially with the way his themes club members have been left without anything they signed up for (even if it was only $5).
Don’t be too hard on yourself either. Keep working at things and contributing to the community as much as you can. I’d love to see anything you’re working on.
I think this is a marvellous idea (another meaning for the M in project M maybe? lol) and I can’t wait to see it come to fruition. I also can’t wait to start finding ways to contribute. You’re doing some really great work here and just speaking for myself, it’s greatly appreciated. ^_^
Sounds like an awesome idea Justin. It’s really sad to see what happened to Tung, so I’m glad you stepped in and took the initiative.
Oh and as for advertising, why not just banner ads on your site like you had before? 4-6 rotating banners on the sidebar would be ideal. You said ads “use up valuable real estate on a site”, but they wouldn’t in your sidebar, seeing as your main content is always a lot longer than your sidebar.
Anyways, good luck bro
This is a fantastic idea. A community such as this will be an asset not only to the Wordpress community but to design and development in general.
And with all you given us with your work and your time, if there is anything I can do to help please let me know. I’m not in a position to give much financially but I can give my time.
Hi Justin, good idea with Project M.
My first hope was that it was a designer meets coder concept. I design but I don’t code.
I’d love to contribute sweet designs for the WP community. So in that respect I’m hoping for a section the community can vote up great PSD designs to convert to Wordpress.
Knowing which designs rule before they’ve been coded could be an advantage for everyone. Let’s give the designers the space to do what they do best and the coders the glory of bringing to life popular designs.
Just a thought anyway.
Once again, thank you for all your WP service.
I’m a lurker. I admit it. But this post prompted me to drop my lurker status and comment.
This project sound phenomenal, and I’m looking forward to being an active member of the community.
Do you foresee any type of “Community Themes” section on the site, i.e. themes submitted by community members? Just a thought. I’m gearing up to release my first public theme (hopefully one of many), and a community section of Project M would be a great addition to what you’re describing.
Recommencing Lurking…
TheWeeJenny
That’s it; the name is now officially Project Marvellous, at least until we can find something else.
Michael
Last I heard from Tung is that he was heading back to the states for some downtime. I was really interested in where his themes club was going too.
I’ll be designing the new site with ads in mind because this is a possible route for monetization. As for my personal site, the decision to remove ads was more because I didn’t feel like they fit with it being a personal site.
Raimy
I’m glad to see that you’re on board. Just continue giving good feedback, and your time will definitely help.
Jimmy
You have a great idea there. I’m sure we could work something into site where designers can put up designs to be coded.
Currently, we do stylesheet sharing for the Options theme. It hasn’t taken off quite as well as I’d hoped, but we do have quite a few good designs posted in the forums.
honest ape
I also look forward to you being a part of the community. A community theme section might be possible. I’m not throwing out any ideas at the moment.
A marvelous project Justin. I really like what you have in mind. I love Jimmy’s idea too. I think his idea combined with your coding / theming has success written all over it.
Also, I would love to contribute on the localization part for Dutch. I am working on translating your themes right now..
Awesome initiative. Yes it is indeed a marvelous project! Go for it!
Hi Justin. With you 100%. Check your email when you get a chance.
I want in! Wait, I think I might already be in.
Let’s show those ‘premium’ people what makes real premium WordPress themes
Hi again,
I’m really into Jimmys suggestion of voting up PSD Designs. It could also be a lab/in development section, whereby designers like myself who struggle with extending the options of a theme – purely down to a lack of knowledge in php or the WordPress loop for example, can design a ****hot theme and write the stylesheet, making it look pretty and then offer it up to a coder to really get those functions going.
The level of development before a theme is offered up is of course entirely down to the individual designer. If it were me offering my design, I’d probably build 80-90% before letting go of it, but I should probably stop after the design and css is done! – it’s just so easy working between Xampp and photoshop it’s hard not to stop….
This could help build new and wonderful relationships all over – Personally I’d love to find a coding partner, who just loves the backend stuff, and the new site could encourage this.
Me, I favour the idea of a community projects. WordPress has also a big community around, helping to improve and collect ideas.
In case of Project M,I like the concept of providing a download center, which is not only focused on mere WordPress themes, and a support form is an important factor in the theme world. Many people need help in using and customizing themes, at least this is what I think. Following the comment of honest ape, I think a community theme section would be very interesting. Of course, there would have to be some quality control.
If you need some foreign language support for German or Spanish, feel free to contact me
Justin
You’re not throwing any ideas out? Then how about a section of photos devoted to Monkey-related sports? That’s what I’d like to see. I’d also be interested in themes that incorporate images of Justin Timberlake and / or Hannah Montana.
Justin, you’ve more sweet ideas for Project M, I was known that it’s some helpful phenomenon when you mentioned several times on your previous posts.
I got excited with the community driven aspect, I’m huge fan of your Options theme, and I can create new stylesheets and PSD files for WP themes, as I can write how-to-hack WordPress tips, though my English is bit strange (lollz, I’m self thought).
For the name of the project, I’d suggest the name of the project to be the same name of the new website (domain name).
Remkus
Looks like Jimmy’s definitely got what might be a popular idea. I’m already trying to think of ways to incorporate this.
Also, thanks for working on the translations. I’ve really gotten into localizing themes lately. It’s opened up my themes to many new users
Ely
Thank you. I’m glad to have your support.
seamus
Thanks for the email; you have some good ideas. I’ll definitely email you back at some point soon after my vacation.
BoltClock
Well, if you’re not in, then I’m recruiting you into the community. I always value your support.
Steve
Good ideas. Maybe a system where we vote on design mockups would work well. Either another developer or I could put it to use from a coding standpoint.
We might have a I [heart] Jimmy fanclub starting up before long.
Daniela
Thanks for the input. It seems like community themes and community design mockups are getting pretty popular here in the comments.
I’ll definitely mark your email down for help with German and Spanish. These are actually my second and third languages (elementary level though).
honest ape
Monkey-related sports? Done!
J Mehmett
Cool. I always love what you’re doing with design. I’ll definitely be interested in having you on board offering new stylesheets and designs for users.
As far as the name of the project goes, it’ll definitely have the same name as the domain. I’ve already gotten quite a few emails with good suggestions.
I believe most things have been pointed out. I shall be happy to contribute and give a hand should you need it.
It’s a great idea with a lot of potential. I have additional ideas and thoughts which I’m happy to throw in in due course.
Drop my a mail and let me know if and when work needs to be done.
M as in Mpire?
Hey Justin, I would be willing to help out with graphics and such if needed. Let me know where to sign up for the club and I’m there.
The-Elder
I’d be willing to share any stylesheets you wanted to throw out there. I’m continuously impressed with what you can do with CSS.
I’ll, of course, be looking for all the help I can get building this community once I get things set up.
Chris
I’ll definitely let you know when things are ready. Happy to have you on board.
Great Idea.. all the best…
What do you mean if I’m not in? I wonder what being in this project actually means
Hi Justin,
Since I’ve been a fan of your site, always coming to your site and look for new things and I’ve learned a lot from your site. Big thanks to you. The Project M sounds great and the way you describe it makes me to leave a comment and wishes here in your site.
How amazing that your description about the projects! The post has everything itself. I’ve more enchanted by the description you’ve stated under the “Documentation” title. It’s true. It has the value.
Since, am a fanatic of WordPress and using WP in both English and Tamil languages, I hope to give my support in making Localization a success. Its a great idea and you rock all the way. You and WP designer are some of my favourite geeks in terms of WP. Better luck with your phenomenal upcoming project.
Creating a better world through WordPress – This going to be happen one, that’s for sure.
Best smile,
Tharique
dinu
Thanks. I’m glad to have your support.
BoltClock
I’m beginning to wonder what being in this project means too. Mostly, I’d just like to open things up and see where it goes. I think it’ll be fun.
Thariquee
Thanks for the support. Documentation will be key, especially with some of the complexities of a theme such as Options. The way I’ve developed Structure and Options will be carried over from theme to theme, so the documentation for each theme will be easier to put together. I’ll talk about this in a later post in more detail.
I’d love to have you on board with translations into Tamil. I could use all the help I can get here as I only know English (of course), elementary Spanish and German, and bits and pieces of Korean.
The Elder
I am on vacation. You don’t use all of your precious vacation hours on the Internet? I honestly thought that was what vacations were for.
Really though, my sister is asleep, so I’m stopping in and answering a few comments.
Cool and many thanks Justin. I can’t wait… and by the way, aren’t you on vaction – don’t answer that – over and out.
[...] probably be a lot fresher afterward and be ready to start setting things in motion with Project M. And please, keep the ideas coming about this project. I’m open to pretty much any [...]
Hi Justin,
I am sure to give my support to in Localization and other areas that I can help with. Waiting for the release of Project M.
Keep growing and have nice wonderful vacation.
Best smile,
Tharique
Justin,
I only have one question, where do I sign up for this at? As far as advertising you can advertise on my new site, free of course!
I plan on opening the new site (dealing with The Indie Music Industry)within the month & am going to use the Options(dark) theme. I’m still a newbie with the word press stuff but I can hold my own pretty well.
Enjoy your vaction.
Regards,
Ryan
Opening things up sounds great and provides even more opportunities. Have fun on your vacation!
I will keep all my eyes and ears open for the Project M.
How about not just a Wordpress site! I for one would like to some Moveable Type themes/styles. I love wordpress just as much as the next guy but for certain applications MT does a much better job. A theme is a theme and in my opinion should be “cross platform”. This is what has made web 2.0 so great, people developing on a medium that works for all computers and operating systems.
“Project M” with M standing for Marvellous is a very cool name. I’d go with it – especially since you’ve been building up the name already by teasing us with it!
I’ll certainly be thrilled to share my style sheets. I’ll be posting my liquid layout Options theme as soon as it’s actually finished, anyway
.
I noticed several people offering to localise things which is very very cool. I don’t know enough of any non-English language to do that but I’d be happy to help people who are ESL speakers to polish up anything they want to write in English. I noticed there’s a bunch of non-native English speakers on the forums and I think it’s totally cool! But it’s still true that if you’re releasing anything and want to write documentation or a README file or press release, that it works best if any English is a pretty high quality. I’m very much NOT meaning to denegrate anybody whose English language skills are imperfect – for a start any non-native English speaker is doing 100% better than I am with any other languages! I would just like to help facilitate the participation of people who’s English isn’t 100%.
Now I’m wondering about *my* English skills. I hope that mess made some sense
Ohh, I can advise about accessibility too.
Ricky
Tharique
Cool. I look forward to working together on localization.
Ryan
I’m in the process of putting it all together, trying to balance the design and functionality of the new site with upcoming themes too.
I might have to take you up on that advertising offer.
BoltClock
Already having fun on the vacation. Figured I’d stop by and reply to a few comments.
Peedy
I do think it’d be a great idea to be able to move designs from one platform to another. I just think there would be mass confusion with this project if we were to incorporate MT or other platform.
It’s something I’d consider down the road as a side project though.
Ricky
Thanks for the support here. I’d really love to play around with that liquid layout once you get finished — it’s one of the areas I need to focus on more with CSS.
[...] Justin Tadlock and Project M [...]
Hi Justin,
I will definitely love to join the club. I am now learning and picking up knowledge about your options theme and I am looking forward to contribute to others too.
Project M is a member help member club to me.
Well Justin, I think you have become the next Small Potato
In all the good ways that is. Looks like an interesting project and you have quite a few good ideas so far. I hope you can take what Small Potato was doing, to the next level and please don’t sell off the site and turn it into another 65 thousand dollar graveyard lol.
You are to be commended dude. I really hope this goes well for you; you deserve it.
Invest Money
You could definitely say Project M is a help or support club. It’s really all about extending WordPress and making our blogs/sites function like we want them to. I look forward to having you join.
Jeffro
I might not be the designer SP is, but it’s nice to be following in his footsteps. I don’t foresee this becoming a $65,000-graveyard though. I want to start this thing off as a community site and keep it that way. So, in the unfortunate event that I ever sell or turn the site over to anyone else, they’ll have to keep it community oriented.
Armen
Thanks. I hope it goes well too.
[...] Project M Finally Announced – Justin Tadlock finally announced the details of his Project M. It appears it is a theme club of sorts, but with a twist. Click over to get the details. [...]
Watching and waiting Justin…
You’ve got some neat ideas and based on what I’ve seen of your work to date, this will be a booming success.
All the best with the project.
Tadlock Themes dot com ?
Richard
Hey, you stole my domain name!
I had wanted to pick wpproject.com up some time ago but ended up finding your site instead.
I’m not going with Tadlock Themes though. I want something that’s not directly associated with my name, at least not in the URL. I want to separate my WP work and my personal blog a bit.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by. Now, I’m off to work on the new site design a little more…
[...] about six complete redesigns, I’m somewhat happy with the look I’ve come up with for Project M’s new [...]
[...] Project M By Justin Tadlock As I’ve mentioned, this will be largely community driven, so how things are implemented will be based off user feedback. The projected launch date is July. Of course, there’sa lot more to this project than I could cover in one post, … Justin Tadlock – http://justintadlock.com [...]
Oh, Project M, you will rocks man!!!
Potential names:
Thematics (as in schematics)
or
Themattics (in the spirit of ‘automattic’)
or
Tad Unlocked
The M could stand for Medium potato (just joking). I think this is a great idea. I love the idea of community based theme design.
My Ideas: (wordpress itunes theme store)
I would like to get an account were every time I download a theme it cost me $1.00. This account could or would max out at $10.00 a month. For $10.00 I could download as many themes as I want. I don’t know how many times your themes are downloaded but this could add up fast and it would still be cheap for individual users. I know paypal cost a lot per transaction, so this could be setup to only put the transaction through when my account reaches #10.00. Think of it like the itunes store for wordpress themes
Love your work best wishes with project M
I love the pay as you go idea mike is talking about. I do this anyway—ask a support question in the forums, PayPal Justin a few bucks. I’ll never be able to afford to be a big donor, but a dollar or two each time I download a stylesheet or update—hey, I can do that!
It’s the power of one—all those one dollar donations add up.
Hi Justin, just recovering from a big hard drive crash – lost 3 out of 4 drives so I’ve been quiet a while. Even with very good back-ups that takes a while to recover from..
Just a short note to assert my my continued support and I look forward to hearing what is coming next.
gofree
Thanks!
I’m looking forward to having you around when it launches.
James Spratt
As soon as I saw your comment, I was about to take on Thematics. Unfortunately, that domain is already taken.
Mike
The downloads for the Structure theme is pushing 30,000, Options recently surpassed 20,000, and Visionary is almost at 20,000.
That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $70,000. I might just have to take your advice.
Honestly though, I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve about monetization that I hope will work out. If nothing else, I might implement something like that in the future while keeping most downloads free. I’ll just have to see where everything goes.
seriouscrafter
I agree. A dollar here and there can add up quickly.
I’m not ruling out any ideas right now. Project M, at launch, will basically be just my current WordPress projects moved to a new site, but, of course, with a lot of extra stuff and a few twists.
seamus
I was wondering where you’ve been.
It always sucks when technology doesn’t do what we want it to do. I hope everything works out.
Hi Justin, great idea and I also like Jimmy’s suggestion too. As Thematics is already taken you might consider Themeatrics or some kind of compounding of the word theme – always seems kinda nice when you come up with a new word for a name!
Happy to offer support and assistance!