[New post] New Theme: Mystique

New Theme: Mystique Lance Willett | April 21, 2011 at 3:26 pm | Categories: Themes | URL: http://wp.me/pf2B5-1Mv

Example of Mystique's single page view.

I think you'll agree this theme has a certain mystique to it. This fun, colorful theme is flexible enough to fit any type of site — it's simply loaded with options. A long-time favorite for self-hosted sites designed by digitalnature, Mystique is now available in your WordPress.com dashboard.

What doesn't this theme do? It offers layout choices of one, two, or three columns, six color schemes, four footer widget areas, and support for four post formats. Not to mention built-in links to your favorite social networks in the header, a unique custom widget with quick-switching tabs, and special treatment for a "featured" post at the top of the site.

Read all about Mystique on the Theme Showcase — I think you're going to really love this one.

Add a comment to this post

WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Express yourself. Start a blog.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

[New post] New Theme: Tapestry

New Theme: Tapestry Ian Stewart | April 14, 2011 at 3:20 pm | Categories: Themes | URL: http://wp.me/pf2B5-1L8

We love blogging, and we know you do too, but we also have a special interest in making blogging lovely for your readers as well. It's for that reason that we've taken a shine to Post Formats and themes that make good use of them. Themes like today's new premium theme, Tapestry, available for a one time price of $75.

The Tapestry Theme

The Tapestry theme accounts for all 10 Post Formats available. How? Tapestry designers, StudioPress describe it this way: "You take pictures, you write stories and opinions, you make videos, you link to cool stuff all the time. Tapestry takes everything you make online, and makes perfect, beautiful sense of it." With 10 unique icons and a compact layout Tapestry lets you blog your heart out while keeping everything neatly organized.

But that's not all. Tapestry has options for selecting your layout, custom Widgets, a Custom Header, and a Custom Background. You can even control what content is shown in your blog archive pages. Interested? You can find more information on the Tapestry theme in our Theme Showcase or preview it live on your site from Appearance → Themes under the Premium tab.

Add a comment to this post

WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Reach out to your own subscribers with WordPress.com.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

[New post] Security Incident

Security Incident Matt | April 13, 2011 at 4:46 pm | Tags: security | URL: http://wp.me/pf2B5-1LC

Tough note to communicate today: Automattic had a low-level (root) break-in to several of our servers, and potentially anything on those servers could have been revealed.

We have been diligently reviewing logs and records about the break-in to determine the extent of the information exposed, and re-securing avenues used to gain access. We presume our source code was exposed and copied. While much of our code is Open Source, there are sensitive bits of our and our partners' code. Beyond that, however, it appears information disclosed was limited.

Based on what we've found, we don't have any specific suggestions for our users beyond reiterating these security fundamentals:

• Use a strong password, meaning something random with numbers and punctuation.
• Use different passwords for different sites.
• If you have used the same password on different sites, switch it to something more secure.

(Tools like 1Password, LastPass, and KeePass make it easy to keep track of different unique logins.)

Our investigation into this matter is ongoing and will take time to complete. As I said above, we've taken comprehensive steps to prevent an incident like this from occurring again. If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a comment below or contact our support.

Add a comment to this post

WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post by Email feature.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

[New post] New Theme: The Morning After

New Theme: The Morning After Lance Willett | April 8, 2011 at 8:40 pm | Categories: Themes | URL: http://wp.me/pf2B5-1L5

Say hello to The Morning After, a classic and popular magazine-style theme that has withstood the test of time. Based on its great success for self-hosted sites we're excited to bring it to you for the first time on WordPress.com.

Example of The Morning After's front page.

Introduced in 2007 by Arun Kale, The Morning After was a game-changer as the first magazine style theme for WordPress; it is still considered by many to be the top of its class. In June 2010 WooThemes announced it was taking over the theme:

Considering the significance of this theme, we jumped at the opportunity. We felt that [The Morning After] started so many things in the WordPress community... and we wanted to put our weight behind one of the "pillars" of that community.

The Morning After sports a special home page template with featured posts, three available widget areas, and special styles for posts in the "Aside" format. Also included is an optional full-width page template that removes the sidebar and full support for a custom menu, header and background. A robust theme options menu allows for further customization: header links, page headings, full or partial content an archive pages, and more.

Read more about The Morning After on the Theme Showcase.

The Morning After is now available in your WordPress.com dashboard and, for self-hosted sites as a download from WooThemes.

Add a comment to this post

WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Reach out to your own subscribers with WordPress.com.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

[New post] Twitter Blackbird Pie Just Got Even Sweeter

Twitter Blackbird Pie Just Got Even Sweeter Justin Shreve | March 30, 2011 at 9:11 pm | Categories: New Features, Social | URL: http://wp.me/pf2B5-1JQ

Last November we launched Twitter Blackbird Pie, a quick and easy way to reproduce beautiful,  full-fledged tweets — not just static screenshots of tweets — in your posts, pages, and even comments.

Today we are happy to announce that we've made it even easier for you to interact with tweets on WordPress.com.  Thanks to the new set of tools that Twitter just announced, you can now reply to, retweet, or favorite content without ever leaving the page you're on.

Try it out on the tweet below!

@wordpressdotcom
WordPress.com

Twitter Blackbird Pie Just Got Even Sweeter http://wp.me/pf2B5-1JQ

March 30, 2011 9:12 pm via WordPress.comReplyRetweetFavorite

This improvement takes effect immediately for all tweets on WordPress.com, so there's no action necessary on your part. Enjoy!

Bonus Tip: Drive Traffic to Your Twitter Account

To gain additional exposure on Twitter, add your account as a verified external service in your public profile under Users -> My Profile in your dashboard. Anytime someone replies to, retweets, or favorites one of your tweets on WordPress.com, they'll be prompted to follow you on Twitter.

Additional Ways to Integrate Twitter with WordPress.com

• Display your latest tweets in your blog's sidebar using the Twitter Widget
• Add a Twitter sharing button to the bottom of your posts or pages with the Sharing feature
• Tweet new blog posts automatically to your Twitter account with Publicize

Add a comment to this post

WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Express yourself. Start a blog.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com