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YOOtheme News Feed

• New Warp 5.5 framework
  

  Over the last couple of months we developed the new Warp 5.5 theme framework which is the new foundation of all our YOOtheme templates. In this time we have rewritten the complete Warp theme framework to make it more modular, flexible and also extendible. Currently all Warp 5 templates are updated and six more will follow in the next days so all our templates since 2009 run on the new framework. This means 20 templates will use Warp 5.5! In this article we want to highlight some of the key features of our new Warp 5.5 theme framework. Enjoy!

  Framework Core

  Basically Warp 5.5 provides a rich toolset for crafting a modern template. We designed the new framework in a way that every tool or helper as we call them in Warp, is a modular component doing a single task. Like the good' old unix philosophy: "Write programs that do one thing and do it well." So we created a bunch of helpers to do just a single task for example like rendering layouts, minification, caching or XML parsing. This makes the framework really flexible as we can use only the helpers we need when creating a template, the framework also ensures that only helpers are loaded which are currently used. Since every helper has a modular design its makes it easy to add new helpers anytime to extend the frameworks functionality. Also we extracted the framework from the template, so now the new Warp framework is placed in a separate directory called "warp" in the templates directory. Applying updates or patches to the framework is easily done now, because all the generic framework source code can be updated independently from the individual template code.

  CSS/JS/Image Compression

  With Warp 5.0 we introduced a really great feature to automatically combine, cache and compress stylesheets and javascripts of a template. You can find more information about it in the "Faster loading with Warp5" article. As a result a template will speed up its overall loading time in the browser, because it needs less HTTP requests and also all resources are compressed on-the-fly using the GZIP data stream compression. Warp 5.5 takes this concept even further and now minifies stylesheets and javascripts. This means all unnecessary characters are removed from the stylesheets and javascripts sources. These unnecessary characters usually include white space characters, new line characters and comments which are used to add readability to the code during the development, but are not required for it to execute. The minification is now a part of the caching process and its enabled by default so you don't need to worry about it. Finally the minified stylesheets and javascripts will save some more KB's of bandwidth to improve the templates loading times.

  But that's not all! We like to introduce a brand new compression feature: Data URIs! Since Warp5 we already minimize the image requests by merging image slices into so-called CSS sprites. This means that we put as many image slices as possible into a single image file which significantly reduces the loading time of your website. But of course there are still some neccesary image request left. With Warp 5.5 we use Data URIs to get rid of them. Data URIs allow to include images and other files in-line in HTML and CSS as if they were external resources. This means that all template images which are smaller than 30KB are now embedded into the templates CSS and there no extra HTTP request required to load the images. In most cases only 2 HTTP file requests (CSS + JS) are necessary to load a template. That's it! Isn't this awesome? This feature is only available for modern browsers (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, IE8). But you don't have to worry about older browsers like IE7. They are still loading the images the normal way.

  Mootools 1.2 ready

  The recently released Joomla version 1.5.20 adds support for using Mootools 1.2 as your primary Javascript library. Therefor Joomla now includes a new plugin called "mtupgrade" which will include Mootools version 1.2.4 instead of the old Mootools version 1.1.2. With the new Warp framework 5.5 we included native Mootools 1.2 implementations of all the template Javascripts! Further the framework auto-detects if your are using the Mootools upgrade plugin or not and will include the compatible scripts to match your Mootools version.

  Presets

  We introduce a new preset parameter in the template configuration. With presets you can define and load a specific configuration of the template parameters. Currently the presets only change the "Template Color" parameter but future templates we will use more options than just the "Template Color". Further you can "Allow dynamic presets", which means a preset configuration can be loaded adding a HTTP get parameter to your website link like: &preset=blue. And last but not least you can disable dynamic presets so it is not possible to change the preset by adding the &preset parameter to a link. This means it is no longer possible change the color variation of your template if you don't want to allow it.

  New Versioning

  When updating all our templates we also changed the template versioning. The first two numbers are now referring to the Warp framework version and not the Joomla version which the template is created for. So you can immediately check which framework version the template is using. We did this to avoid confusion in the future because the new Warp 5.5 theme framework not depends on the current Joomla version.

  Future

  Currently we are very focused on our Warp framework and a lot of development is going on. With Warp 5.5 we updated the whole php code base. Now Warp is a platform independent CMS theme framework. This improvements on the framework level were very important to add more features in the future. This means you can expect more Warp updates soon... :-)

  We hope you like the new Warp theme framework as much as we do! Enjoy!

  
  
  
• Boxes Icon Set
  

  Today we are very happy to present you the next icon set release for our icon club. The Boxes Icon Set! We put a lot of effort in this release and we are proud that it is the biggest club icon set in our portfolio now! It contains 34 high quality icons in 32-bit transparency PNG file format and in 8 different standard sizes, ranging from 16x16 to 512x512 pixels. This makes 272 extremely detailed icons which are handmade and optimized for each specific size. Of course vector PDF files are available so you can change the colors and customize the icons!

  

  Here is an example of the different sizes for the cardboard box icon.

  

  The boxes icon set contains all kind of boxes: cardboard boxes, wooden boxes, metal boxes, shoe boxes for the ladies and more. Each has different colors and variations like closed, opened or filled with paper. The different colors makes them perfect for organizing different categories, for example your product-bundles. We also included a nice paper bag in the set. Don't worry, it's 100% recyclable! Take a look at all the different boxes:

  

  Spice up your websites, catalogs or shops with our new boxes icon set. Our Premium members will also get all the vector PDF files for easy customization and resizing. Have a look at this set and join our icon club today!

  We would be very happy to get some feedback. Please post a comment with your thoughts about this set and your wishes for future releases.

  
  
  
• ZOO 2.1 Frontend Submission
  
  

  Today we are really exited to announce the BETA release of ZOO 2.1! The release comes with the most anticipated feature for ZOO: Frontend Submission! But it is not just another frontend submission. We really tried to raise the bar and take frontend submission to the next level in design, usability, simplicity and flexibility.

  In this blog we put together a comprehensive walkthrough of all the new features. This helps you to explore all the new things we implemented in ZOO 2.1. Take some time, get yourself a coffee and enjoy reading :-) Here we go:

  

  Frontend Submission

  Your brand new frontend submission for ZOO allows you to create submissions for any content type of your ZOO apps. For example authors can submit articles or the latest movie reviews. It can also be used as a form builder for any kind of form, e.g. an application or contact form. Create multiple submission forms for your content types with different fields and layouts for your user groups. Not only submissions by registered users even public submissions are possible. Everything can easily be managed from the submission manager of the ZOO administration.
  

  Submission Interface

  We've put a lot of effort into the design of the submission interface to create a great user experience. The forms are well-designed, clearly arranged and simplified for all the different elements of ZOO. For example link, email and video elements now use simple input fields. Fields that currently have the focus are nicely highlighted. Required fields are marked with an asterisk. And help messages appear whenever the submission fails due to requirements not met. Of course users don't have to enter data twice if a submission fails. They'll only have to fill out the missing fields that are nicely emphasized.
  

  Field Labels

  We provide an elegant solution for labels in elements with more than one field. The label appears in a light gray inside the field even if the field has focus. It doesn't disappear until the user actually enters the first letter. These small things help the user to follow through the submission and give an overall better user experience.
  

  More Options

  Some elements like link, email, image and others can have some extra options. If you enable these options a little Show Options button appears in the submission interface. For example the extra options for a link element are a custom text, title, rel tag and whether the link should open in a new window.
  

  Upload fields

  One of our little highlights is the upload field of the image and download elements. The file upload field is by far the worst field to style and it is difficult to get the same look in all browser. So we are proud to present a well-designed upload field which works in every browser. As icing on the cake it only displays the selected file name without the whole path which is normally really annoying.
  

  Tooltips

  You may remember that you can add a description for each element in ZOO when creating a new content type. These descriptions show up as tooltips for each element in the ZOO administration. They can also be enabled for the frontend submission form to give users some help to fill out the form.
  

  Form Builder

  Of course we introduce a new submission layout where you can arrange your content elements via drag 'n drop from the administration backend. This makes creating your submission form a breeze! Just drag 'n drop the elements of the submittable type to the layout positions. This key feature makes ZOO very versatile and easy to use. For example you can build an application or contact form with just a few clicks! The layout parameters allow you to define what elements are required when filling out the submission fields.
  

  My Submissions

  Ok, submitting content is the first part but what if you want to review or edit your submitted items in the frontend? Well, here we go :-) We implemented a "My Submission" Page that lists all items of an author. It has all the basic features like pagination, filtering items by type, editing and creating new items. You can also preview an item before editing without loading any new page. The preview looks exactly the same as the item view. Awesome!

  Frontend Editing

  You may ask how ZOO manages the different requirements of a frontend submission. Some people need submissions for registered users, some need public submissions like a simple contact form and others need frontend editing with administration permissions. With ZOO you can do it all! ZOO allows you to create all kinds of submissions for different content types and user groups (public, registered and special) with different template layouts and fields. But a new key feature we like to introduce is the Trusted Mode which you can enable and disable for different submissions. Here is a short overview of the differences if the trusted mode is enabled or not:

  	Trusted Mode Off	Trusted Mode On
  Textarea	No editor, just a plain textarea HTML is stripped Word-wraps, links, emails still work	WYSIWYG editor from Joomla loaded HTML allowed Lightbox available for adding images
  My Submissions Page	Not allowed to delete items	Allowed to delete items
  Link Element E-Mail Element Video Element Download Element	No extra options available	All extra options available
  Image Element Download Element	Only upload valid types of files	Upload valid types of files + Additional select box to use existing files
  Related Items Element Related Categories Element Social Bookmarks Element Disqus Element Intense Debate Element Add This Element Element	Disabled (Will not show up)	Enabled (Forms will show up)
  Administration Area	Not available	All options available Published, Searchable, Comments, Frontpage, Categories, Tags

  Security

  To make public submissions possible we had to provide some good security settings for the frontend submission. If the Trusted Mode is disabled no HTML editor is available and HTML is stripped from all fields. It is not possible to see any paths for example to the image and file folders. The image selection through the lightbox is disabled as well. Of course the Trusted Mode is always disabled for public submissions.
  

  Upload Size

  For each image and download element you can define a maximum upload size. If the file size is too big the user gets a help message.
  

  Restricted File Types

  Again for each image and download element you can define the valid file types that are allowed to upload.
  

  Backend revamped

  While designing and developing a beautiful frontend submission we came up with the idea to revamp the form fields in the ZOO administration as well. For example the item creation form looked a little messy in ZOO 2.0. So why not kill two birds with one stone? ZOO 2.1 now has the same polished form fields the new frontend submission has. All forms are now clearly arranged and the user interface is simplified! You will feel much more comfortable while working in the backend. Isn't this awesome?

  Submission templates for all apps

  Last but not least we created new submission layouts for all types of each app. For example the Movie Database app has a nice submission layout as do all the other apps. Each layout fits the design of the specific app. You don't have to do any extra work to create new layouts... You can start right away!

  What's next?

  The ZOO 2.1 BETA is exclusively available for members only who purchased the ZOO app bundle. As soon as ZOO 2.1 goes STABLE it will be released for the public. Members can go straight to the download section in the member area and take ZOO 2.1 BETA for a test drive! Be aware that it is a BETA version. It is not intended to be used on a production web site just yet.

  
  
  
• Neo template
  

  Enjoy Neo, the latest YOOtheme template. Neo comes with three basic themes, each of them has different color variations to choose from. They contain a plain variation, a gradient variation and a retro variation. This makes it suitable for all kinds of websites, from stylish individual blogs or portfolio websites to impressive business sites.

  Again we implemented some new features in this template. We put in a broad range of module variation, for example the brand new transparent glass style, an additional list-style called "hoverbox" and our "retro" and "gradient" variations make use of the Google webfonts API, which can easily be switched off in the template settings, if needed. We also use the new ZOO template for the blog app!

  Feature list

  • A variety of template color variations
  • Built with the Warp5 template framework
  • Multi-column dropdown menu
  • Lots of modules with color variations, endless combinations with icons and badges possible
  • 2-1-3 column ordering for search engine friendliness
  • Compact size, using gzip and image sprites
  • Works with all YOOtools
  
  
  
• New ZOO template released
  

  Today we released a new minor ZOO version 2.0.3. In addition to the bugfixes we updated our blog app and added an additional template called "Sans". The new template is based on the default blog template and besides some small improvements it uses a sans-serif typeface for the headlines. We created this template to make our blog app fit a wider range of websites that use a sans-serif typeface. So with this new template you can easily change the style of your blog, without changing any of the css styles. Read more about the other improvements and update ZOO today.

  Further Updates and Changes

  With the new release, we also got rid of a few bugs and introduced some changes. Here is a not complete list of bugfixes and changes to the ZOO 2.0.3

  • + added new sans template to blog app
  • + added "above title" media alignment option to the default template of the blog app
  • + added k2 version 2.3 import support
  • + added requirements check button to administration
  • ^ general performance upgrade
  • # all template positions are now being saved on type slug rename and copy
  • # fixed bug where an items tag would show, even though the publishing date was in the future
  • # fixed bug where .flv movies would only play if set to autoplay
  • # fixed some HTML markup validation errors
  • # replaced deprecated ereg function from googlemaps helper
  • # fixed bug with tags view and pagination
  • # fixed bug where Joomlas email cloaking plugin would introduce a leading space to the email address
  • # fixed bug with chinese characters in slug
  • # removed unused helpers/menu.php file (caused problems with Advanced Module Manager)
  • ^ changed "READ MORE" to "READ_MORE" in all language files
  • - removed needless $params in teaser layout (only documentation app)
  • ^ changed how layouts are called in the item template
  • ^ removed article separator if article is last in all templates of the blog app (CSS)
  • ^ changed padding for last elements in text areas (CSS)
  • ^ moved comment rendering from layouts to item view (all apps)
  Download ZOO and the new template today.
  
  
• Free Social Icons Set
  

  First of all thanks for the great feedback we received for our new icons stuff! We are very happy that you folks like our new icon club we launched last week - And today we want to bring you the complete social bookmarks icon set as freebie, including all sizes and even the vector source files. Using social bookmarks icons on your website has never been prettier. Easily share and bookmark content and spread it all over the world! We provide our social bookmarks icons with a high brand recognition, looking straight-lined and equally fresh styled. Of course they are designed to match with all our club icon sets.

  This freebie features most popular web and social media icons, such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google and many others. For each of them we created different color and shape variations to give you a wider selection of matching icons for your website. The whole set contains 47 high quality icons in 32-bit transparency PNG file format and in 8 different standard sizes, ranging from 16x16 to 512x512 pixels. This makes 376 extremely detailed icons which are handmade and optimized for each specific size. The set also includes vector PDF files of all icons that are compatible with Adobe Illustrator and can be rescaled to any size without a single loss to the details.

  So download, enjoy and and please feel free to Twitter, Digg or recommend them. Are you missing your favorite social media icon? - Tell us and we'll see what we can do about it!
  
  
  
• Royal Plaza template
  

  Its July and YOOtheme delivers its brand new template "Royal Plaza". It comes with 3 main color variations to give your site a new and individual look. They differ completely in module styles, typography and the whole look of the site. Its like three different templates combined in one! We have a modern and neutral business look, a vintage style with some more retro elements and finally a shiny premium look. These different styles make the template really versatile to fit all kinds of websites. Additionally you can set your template to a plain style of each variation, to turn off the wrapper edges of the site.

  We built in a second menu position "menuright". Now you are free to place the menu at the left side, the right side or even menus at both sides of the menubar. These positions give you the freedom to publish the logo anywhere in the header, even in the middle between both menus. Further we put a second row of bottom modules into the footer of the site.

  Feature list

  • A variety of template color variations
  • Built with the Warp5 template framework
  • Multi-column dropdown menu
  • Lots of modules with color variations, endless combinations with icons and badges possible
  • 2-1-3 column ordering for search engine friendliness
  • Compact size, using gzip and image sprites
  • Works with all YOOtools
  
  
  
• YOOicons launched
  

  At the end of our "YOOtheme templates - An inside look!" presentation, we did at JandBeyond, we showed the audience a little teaser of our secret project we were working on the last 9 months: Our new YOOicons! And today we are very proud to open the gates to the new website presenting our icons.

  You may already use one of our templates to build good looking websites. But what about your content? Wouldn't it be great to have some real eye-catching icons to beautify the content of your website? Icons are an essential content element for web design. Today almost every major website uses icons to highlight important parts in their content. This is why we came up with the idea of creating handcrafted icon sets for web and print projects. Today we are proud to open our brand new YOOtheme icon club! With the icon club we will offer commercial icon sets. But we will also have some freebie icon sets in the future.

  The Commercial Icon Sets

  We start with 5 commercial icons sets: Symbols, Actions, Community, Contact and Homepage. They include useful icons for your company website, client projects and many standard icons you need for web applications. Altogether there are currently 125 high quality icons available. All icon sets are available in the PNG file format and in 8 different standard sizes, ranging from 16x16 to 512x512 pixels. Each icon is handcrafted and optimized for each specific size. The premium membership also includes vector PDF files of all icons that are compatible with Adobe Illustrator and can be rescaled to any size without a single loss to the details.

  The Design Process

  Let's take an inside look into the process of designing of the Basic Package.

  

  We started off with a blank sheet of paper and produced our first ideas from scratch. While we used our imagination to come up with new and inspired designs, we went along the line of trial and error, to find out what would work and what didn't. In doing this, we got a better understanding of how our icons should look and feel: crispy, clear, lively and fitting a wide variety of needs.

  

  Now for the second step. We began to translate the selected scribbles into vectors. Lovingly taking care of every detail, we began with the largest size of 512 x 512 pixels. To keep a consistent look, we arranged a vivid and harmonic color palette and we where enthusiastic to see our icons taking form.

  

  Next we prepared the smaller sizes, taking perfectly care of a beautiful result. Most important in this step was designing with the pixel grid. We needed a good feeling for which detail to highlight or ditch in every step of downsizing. Of course there were many modifications and sometimes it was a hard fight until we were truly satisfied.

  

  With the slices we'd already build in Adobe Illustrator it was easy to export the icons as PNG. To play safe we singly checked each one of them in Adobe Photoshop and cleaned up scruffy edges if necessary. The final step was to export the source file as vector PDF - Et Voilà, here they are!

  Visit our icons website and enjoy browsing through all icons!

  Note: We updated this blog post to fit our a new icon club model.

  
  
  
• I♥YOO Winners
  

  You did it again! We received so many exciting pictures from all over the world... Thank you! It was really hard for us to pick the 10 winners. Thus we chose our 20 favorites and randomly picked the 10 lucky winners. We will notify them today by email that they have won a 6 month membership with the app bundle and all the new tools for ZOO 2.0. Congratulations!

  We want to thank all of you guys again for participating in our I♥YOO competition. It was really fun! Enjoy the winning pictures.

  This year we want to highlight some guys from raramuridesign, South Africa: Matthew, Dwight and Marcos. They did really funny pictures with alien masks through their travel from Cape Town to Amsterdam, Brussels and JandBeyond! Awesome, guys! We did a little Photoshop collage but also check out their travel log "Out of this World" with a lot of more pictures.

  
  
  
• Live presentations online!
  

  First of all we want to thank the organizers of the JandBeyond conference for this great event and the whole on-site organization. Robert, Alex and the whole team did a great job! We had the chance to present two sessions about our templates and the new ZOO 2.0. For those of you who did not have the chance to see the presentations live, we recorded both of them on video and are proud to show you the result in this blog post. So lean back and enjoy the show!

  YOOtheme templates - An inside look!

  In our first presentation, Sven one of our lead designers took a closer look at the design process and the magic behind YOOtheme templates. He gave an insight of what makes a template a good tempate and what we do to achieve this. He also explained how easy it is to customize images of the templates using Fireworks. Watch the presentation:

  

  ZOO 2.0 in Action!

  The second presentation by ZOO developer Jan and support team member Malte showed the ZOO 2.0 in action, and described what benefits you'll gain by using it. The visitors got an insight look of content building and templating and followed a live demonstration of building a blog with the ZOO in five minutes. Watch the presentation: