Mimbo Pro Undergoes Major Overhaul

Here’s a summary of the new features.

1. Thumbnail automation. In the past, Mimbo Pro required the use of custom fields to insert thumbnails on the homepage, search, and category pages. Mimbo Pro 2.0 includes a script that pulls images automatically from the post body then resizes them. If no such image exists, the script switches to the old method and checks the database for a custom field called “Image”.
2. GPL Licensing. Mimbo Pro 2.0 is released under the GPL license. We feel this is the best thing for both ourselves, and for WordPress. We support WordPress wholeheartedly and think that honouring it’s license is the best way for everyone to get along.
3. Support for WordPress 2.7 features. This includes code for comment pagination, threaded comments, wp_logout_url, and the rest of the latest features.
4. Cleaner, more powerful templates. We have heavily edited the templates so that PHP functions are organized, moved into functions.php or otherwise improved upon. This should result in more coherent code and logical organization.
5. Easier customization and child theming. Because of how we’ve re-worked the code in the item above, Mimbo Pro can now function as a powerful framework, which can be modified smartly with child themes (see the FAQ) so that users don’t need to touch any core code or worry about future upgrades disturbing their modifications. The 2 previously-included color schemes (green and red) which were edited via the control panel have been re-written as child themes instead and included in the package. We also include 1 more child theme called “Basic Starter” which is a minimalist black-and white design, perfect for developers who use Mimbo Pro to build client websites and want to design the colors/typography from the ground up. Basic Starter comes with a heavily-commented stylesheet which explains in detail which styles correspond with which elements, making modification a snap even for beginners.
6. No homepage post duplication. The “Recent Stories” box, lead story, carousel and featured categories on the homepage no longer display redundant post information.
7. Wider layout. The overall width is now 960px, allowing for larger sidebars and easier ad integration.
8. Fixed category feeds. Using date-based permalinks is no longer required to make category feeds work, in favor of the get_category_feed_link function.
9. 125×125 Ad Support. The old ad system has been scrapped in favor of supporting 125×125 ads and the excellent WP125 plugin which Mimbo Pro comes preconfigured/pre-styled for.
10. Better body id/classes. As I’ve written about, this can make your theme tremendously flexible. Each page on Mimbo Pro now inserts multiple dynamic classes on the tag, allowing for more creative styling.
11. Localization. The templates have been marked up for easy translation using the gettext method and we are currently soliciting translation help in exchange for a single-license theme. The first language offered is German.
12. Attachment.php. This template has been added for users wanting to display larger versions of images
13. Animated multi-level dropdown menus. The new elegant new menus (SuperFish) fulfill the wishes of our forum users.
14. Better Custom Archives. Because Mimbo Pro is a magazine-style theme, users occasionally feel they aren’t getting an idea of chronology. The newest version includes a custom template (archives.php) that displays all posts organized by month, plus pagination so users can use it more like a traditional blog.
15. Pagination on category/archives pages. This benefits users with older blogs which feature lengthy archives.
16. Better use of gravatars. The author archive page now use a gravatar icon rather than requiring a custom image.
17. Gallery, Inline Image & Caption Styling. There are now styles for all the various ways you’d insert an image in a post which became possible with version 2.5.
18. More Widget Freedom. In past versions, we used custom code in the sidebars and footer, but have decided to widgetize those regions for easier modification.
19. Improved carousel. The carousel can now be set to auto-scroll and other variable speed settings.
20. CAPTCHA support. To protect against spam, a CAPTCHA field has been added to the custom contact form
21. Support for special characters in the contact form. This had previously caused problems for languages such as French and Turkish
22. Fixed theme “Preview” display. Previously, the carousel caused WordPress’s theme preview window to melt down. This has been patched.
23. Layered PSD Pack. The developer’s version now includes a more comprehensive selection of psd files for individual elements (icons, backgrounds, etc).
24. Dropdown/Carousel conflict. Dropdowns should now float over carousels without an overlap issue.
25. Potential jQuery carousel/plugin conflicts. Additional tweaks have been made to prevent these instances.
26. “More from this Category” duplication. This feature on single-post pages should no longer include the title of the current post
27. Font sizing. The general font-size for paragraphs and other elements has been bumped up a size.

Just to make things even better… they lowered the price!
Check out the new Mimbo Pro 2 now!