Predicting the future is always an exciting thing to do. Throw in a few WordPress theme developers and you get some interesting ideas about not only where themes are going but WordPress use in general.
Ian Stewart posted his article, The Future of WordPress Themes 2009. He asked 15 “designers, developers, and WordPress enthusiasts” to answer the question of where WordPress themes are headed into the future.
It’s a great read. Of course, I had a few things to say (be glad that Ian held us to 500 words or less). You’ll have to scroll down a bit in the article to read my response.
A few things to note about the article
Several people mentioned theme frameworks, a subject I’m always happy to discuss. Surprisingly, both Jeff Chandler of WP Tavern and I both used the phrase The Year of the Theme Framework. I’m just happy to see folks starting to see the benefits of having a solid base theme.
My Hybrid theme was mentioned several times.
Another thing that I didn’t get to touch on but several others did is BuddyPress. I have some things I’d like to do in that area, but I’m keeping quiet for now.
Go see what the future holds for WordPress themes
I don’t want to go on too long here. You should definitely read The Future of WordPress Themes 2009 and leave your thoughts.
Also, I just wanted to thank Ian for putting all of this together. I know it had to be tough to gathering all of our responses.
And, for those of you that missed it, you can see how right/wrong many of us were in last year’s Future of WordPress Themes post.
I liked your comment about widgets leaving the bounds of the ’sidebar’. That’s why I suggested that you look into creating a “widgitized Tabs” plugin. Basically take what your Hybrid Tabs plugin does now, and make each tab a Widget area. Seems feasible to me, and it would be a hugely popular plugin, IMO.
[...] bin ich auf einen Artikelvon Justin Tadlock gestoßen (das ist der Mensch, der die Hybird-Theme für Wordpress, vorher Options-Theme, [...]
If you do have plans for BuddyPress, now, with the 1.0 release due this month and a version for regular (non-MU) WordPress possibly following in April, would be the time to get working on those plans.
I suspect that BuddyPress is going have a big impact but it’s major weakness is that all the BP-based sites that pop up over the coming months will look pretty much the same. Nothing will do more to persuade or dissuade users to join a community, giving it precious momentum, than the initial impression it makes when they first lay eyes upon it.
I don’t like using widgets in the sidebar, I prefer manually putting stuff in the sidebar myself.
Carl Nelson — I believe there’s already a widgetized tabs plugin floating around the WordPress-o-Sphere somewhere. I personally hate tabs altogether and think they serve no real purpose.
I can definitely see widgets being used in more unconventional areas in themes in the next year though.
Donnacha — I definitely need to start creating those BuddyPress themes. For me, I just want to work with something a little different from a typical WP theme for a while.
I didn’t realize there might be a non-MU version coming out. That would be interesting.
Dean Saliba — I used to be the same way. Widgets were not nearly flexible enough for me. So, I created the Widgets Reloaded plugin to handle all the things I would normally need.
“I didn’t realize there might be a non-MU version coming out. That would be interesting.”
Yeah, it’s pretty big news. Andy hinted at the possibility just before Christmas when he appeared on Jeffro’s WordPress Weekly podcast but the official word didn’t come until yesterday. Quite a few of the WP-focused blogs covered it but here’s a link to the actual BuddyPress forum thread in which Andy announced it:
http://buddypress.org/forums/topic.php?id=1473
Removing the barrier of having to install MU will, I suspect, be the tipping point that puts a rocket under BuddyPress adoption.
Donnacha — Awesome. That is huge news. Not having to use MU will definitely get more people using it. Even I, someone that knows a thing or two about setting up WordPress, had a rough time when setting up my first MU install (it was actually conflicting with my normal WP install on a Windows machine, which caused me to waste many hours).
BuddyPress for plain ol’ WP will be great. It even gives me a few ideas about things I had wanted to do with ThemeHybrid.
What is the Future of WordPress themes?…
Last month, Ian sent me simple question: What is the Future of WordPress themes? I wanted to reply but my answer ended up being too long (500 word limit).
Instead, I’ll answer his question here: What is the Future of WordPress themes?
First off, …
thanks for the sharing bro…
Great…!
BuddyPress Lead Andy Peating has just release a “Skeleton Member Theme” for theme developers that you might find useful.
“Just as there is a skeleton component for plugin developers, there is now a skeleton member theme for theme developers.
The skeleton theme includes all the template files you need, along with some CSS outline documents that you can use to begin your styling.
I’ve tried to make all the template files as clean and spaced out as possible, so they are easy to follow. I’ve also included most of the generic style declarations you need to hit the ground running.
I hope it helps people work out how theming BuddyPress works. Good luck!”
Donnacha — Thanks. I’ve tinkered around with it a bit. It’s definitely helpful.
[...] Justin Tadlock – What’s in store for WordPress Themes in 2009? [...]
[...] Justin Tadlock – What’s in store for WordPress Themes in 2009? [...]
[...] What’s in store for WordPress themes in 2009? [...]
[...] Justin Tadlock – What’s in store for WordPress Themes in 2009? [...]
[...] What’s in store for WordPress themes in 2009? [...]
@wordskill: How good (or bad) is Buddypress?
Cheers!
Alex Kei.