Hello Swiftler’s,

I need your help. I made some major changes to the back-end of the theme. Earlier each option of the SWIFT was stored in a separate variable, that’s 200+ records related to the swift in the options table. Though mysql database can handle such number of records easily, it’s not a good practice. So I moved all the options related to SWIFT to two arrays namely swift_opt and swift_design_opt.

This move to using arrays for storing options required changes to all the template files, there might be some bugs which crept in the process. Please test the theme on your local server and report if there are any bugs.

This new version of SWIFT imports the options from the earlier version into the array, please check if it’s doing it correctly.

Download SWIFT-v5.20 beta

Integrating vBulletin with WordPress

As your blog grows, you might want to build a community around it. If vBulletin is your choice, this guide is for you.

Importing WordPress users to vBulletin 4.0 forum

If there are lot of users already registered on your blog, It’s a good idea to start the forum with those users already registered on the forum. Unfortunately there are no scripts to import WordPress users to vBulletin.

Luckily for us, impex has scripts to import bbPress and the user table structure for WordPress and bbPress are same. So you can import WordPress telling impex that it is bbPress. It will show you a warning that some tables are not found, you can safely ignore them and continue with the import. All the imported users will be placed under a new group named Active Imported Users. Move them to registered users, else they may have problem logging in and posting.

goto admincp-> usergroups-> usergroup manager and drop the newly created group and they will automatically moved to registered users group.

Preparing WordPress for import in disguise.

You can ignore the warnings in red and continue with the import.

Bridging wordpress and vBulletin

There is a mod to bridge wordpress and vBulletin, you can download it here. It has clear documentation on how to use the plugin, read the instructions carefully before you do anything.

If you need help integrating vBulletin with your wordpress installation or convert your bbPress forum to vBulletin you can hire me

I fixed all the HTML validation errors, SWIFT is now a 100% XHTML valid theme. Wondering why valid code is important?
Here are few reasons

• Validation is a sign of professionalism.
• Many engines cannot properly catalog or index a site that has serious HTML errors. This can greatly reduce the amount of traffic your web site receives from search engines. With SWIFT you don’t have that problem.
• Properly written HTML will render better, render on more browsers, and render faster than HTML with errors. It’s also more easily adapted to print and alternative browsing devices like mobile phones and handheld computers.
• Properly written HTML is more likely to be “future-proof” (backward compatible with future standards and future web browsers).
• Problems such as “ugly” pages caused by poor HTML constantly drive visitors away from web sites.
• Error-free HTML is the best way to help make sure that pages render optimally in as many browsers as possible. This includes older browsers and browsers that are yet to be developed.

SWIFT is XHTML valid

Changes to the Support Forum

Earlier Swift support forum was powered by BBPress. Though it is simple and light weight it lacked many important functions and wasn’t very user friendly.

SWIFT support forum from today will be powered by vBulletin4.0. I included some new boards on the forum so that you can collaborate with like-minded Swiftler’s. Hope you all like the new forum.

If you want me to include any new sections on the forum or have any suggestions for the forum, please post them in comments.

PS: If you face problems logging into the forum, reset your password.

Some times as a theme developers we may have to display only specific number of categories a post is filed in as a large number of categories may break the layout in some cases and sometimes we may have to display only one category.

For example in SWIFT magazine layout, I display one category overlayed on the thumbnail.

Unfortunately WordPress functions get_the_category(), the_category() do not take any arguments and display all the categories the post is filed in. I wrote this small function during the development of swift to echo a specific number of categories a post is filed in. I hope this will help the fellow theme developers

/*
A custom function to echo specified number of categories a
post is filed in.
(Takes number of categories to be displayed as argument)
Written by Satish Gandham
Author URL: http://swiftthemes.com
Contact: http://swiftthemes.com/contact-me/
*/
function swift_list_cats($num){
	$temp=get_the_category();
	$count=count($temp);// Getting the total number of categories the post is filed in.
	for($i=0;$i<$num&&$i<$count;$i++){
		//Formatting our output.
		$cat_string.='<a href="'.get_category_link( $temp[$i]->cat_ID  ).'">'.$temp[$i]->cat_name.'</a>';
		if($i!=$num-1&&$i+1<$count)
		//Adding a ',' if it's not the last category.
		//You can add your own separator here.
		$cat_string.=', ';
	}
	echo $cat_string;
}

Usage is similar to the_category() function, except we take arguments here.

Filed under <?php swift_list_cats(3); ?>

If you have any questions feel free to drop them in comments

I hope you all are enjoying the v5.0 of SWIFT, I would like to make it translation ready by 15th March.

I need your help before I start working on it. SWIFT has lot of options and it might be difficult for a newbie to figure what a particular option does. Even though I have described each option, they might not be clear enough as I lost the perspective of a regular blogger after working on it for 6 months.

Please report if

• You have problem figuring out what a particular option does.
• If it is not obvious.
• If it is grouped with wrong options.
• If you can think of a better name or description for the option.

If you have any requests or suggestions for new features feel free to post them here, don’t settle for what you have because it’s a free theme.

If you liked the new version of SWIFT, please post a review on your blog and help it reach more people and compete with the over hyped pricey premium themes.

Usually updating a software means replacing the old files with the new ones, but there is a better way to do it when it comes to WordPress themes.

WordPress treats two version of the same theme as different themes. That is, if you have SWIFT v5.1 and v5.1.1 in your wp-content/themes folder they are treated as two different themes independent of each other.

That means you can have multiple version of the same theme installed on your blog. So whenever there is a new version of your theme available, instead of replacing or deleting the files of the older version follow this procedure.

1. Download the new version of the theme onto your computer.
2. If the folder name of the new version clashes with the old version, rename the folder of new version.
3. Upload the new version to your wp-content/themes folder via FTP or through the interface provided by your web host or by using the upload feature in WordPress.
4. Activate the new version from your dashboard.

The main advantage of following the above procedure is you can quickly switch back to the old version of the theme if you find any problems with the new version or if it clashes with any plugins you are using.

If you check the support forum and the comments on this blog, One question that’s asked again and again, One thing that most of the Swiftler’s have trouble with is thumbnails, which in turn is due to file permissions.

version5.1.0 solves the above problem by moving the cache folder and the custom-style.css to uploads/swift_custom folder with appropriate permissions. From now there are no post installation steps, just upload the theme activate.

Other new additions and changes to SWIFT are

• Added an option to add your own search code in the navigation menu.
• Reduced the font size of blockquote and post title.

According to reviewer at theme directory on WordPress, themes are not allowed to modify core tables. They don’t have any proper reason for such a restriction, I can’t understand why a theme shouldn’t alter wp tables when a plugin can do so. They wont accept SWIFT until I remove those two features,I’m forced to remove them .

I integrated My Page Order and My Category Order into the theme. If any of the two plugins are installed pages /categories in navigation menu will be ordered accordingly.

The following bugs are fixed in v5.01

• Blank screen after posting a comment. { Found  by Alexander Gieg }
• Footer scripts bug.
• Custom color of block quote.
• Page menu sub-pages showing underneath the categories navigation menu.

Navigation bar bug which is fixed in v5.01

If you have any suggestions for new features or want to request a new feature feel free to post them here.

Hello Swiftler’s,

SWIFT version 5.0 is out after a long wait.Lot of care was taken in designing and implementing every feature in the theme. I can proudly say that SWIFT is the best WordPress theme available.

Thank you all for your continuous support, v5.0 wouldn’t have been possible without your support.

Special thanks to

• Dawn of http://huffmasterfamily.com/ for answering the queries on forum while I was busy developing v5.0.
• Amandeep Singh of http://www.equitipz.com/ Saurabh of vlovers.Com for their feedback and suggestion.
• Karthikeyan of blogrPro for his help in coding.
• Dustin Dempsey for finding bugs in the theme.

Here are some of the best features of SWIFT, that make it a better choice than the premium themes.

1. Search Engine Optimization

SWIFT is highly optimized for search engines.For example

• It uses H1 tags for post title instead of blog name.
• Right Sidebar or Left Sidebar, your HTML always remains same and the post content comes first in the document flow. That means a better rankings for the keywords in the post.

2. Loads VERY FAST

SWIFT is highly optimized to reduce the loading time of your site. With Google announcing speed of the site as one of the criteria for search rankings, SWIFT gives you an extra edge over other blogs in your niche.

3. Easily Customizable

You can customize every element of the site from the options page to give your site a personalized look. Here are some of the customization options in SWIFT

• You can customize colors of almost any element of the theme.
• You can choose font face and size.
• Layout.

There are lot of other options, checkout the options page demo link for more detail.(Scroll down for the link and password)

4. Vertical Rhythm

Space in typography is like time in music. Just as regular use of time provides rhythm in music, so regular use of space provides rhythm in typography, and without rhythm the listener, or the reader, becomes disoriented and lost.

How is this vertical rhythm going to help you?

With vertical rhythm, it will be easy for your readers to read the posts. When the content is easily available for the readers they are going to stay on the site for a longer time and thus increasing your chance to convert them into a regular reader or customer of you are selling products on your blog.

BETA release of v5.0 was installed on GeniusHackers.Com on 2nd JAN, you can see the increase in number of page views after installing SWIFT.

GeniusHackers.Com traffic stats.

5. Banner AD’s and Adsense Integration

SWIFT has Adsense ad’s integrated into 4 killer positions

1. In Header.
2. Below The main navigation.
3. Below post title on single post page.
4. After post content on single post page.

In v5.0 banner ads are widgetised, that means you can place them in any location of the sidebar or footer.

Banner ADS widget in SWIFT

6. Three built-in Widgets

In v5.o RSS subscription box and the tab’s  are widgetised so that you can place them in any location of your choice. Apart form these 2 widgets we have the poplar posts widget and the banner ads widget.

Widgets Backend

Widgets in action

7. Social Bookmarks integration

Using a lot of plugins slows down the site considerably, so I integrated the social bookmarking feature into the theme so that you wont need a another plugin for the same. You can disable the feature if you don’t want to use it.

Social Bookmarks and author info

8. Author Templates and Author info

SWIFT has a specially designed authors template, showing authors info and the authors posts and author info as added at the end of post on single post template. Ideal for multi author blogs.

Author Template

9. Sexy Dropdown Navigation

SWIFT has a clean and elegant drop down navigation, this sleek navigation will help you in reducing the bounce rate.

Sleek and sexy dropdown navigation.

10. Automatic thumbnail generation and resizing of images

Built in image re-sizer script automatically scales your post images for pixel perfect display. Well, this is an option in most of the premium themes, the best thing about SWIFT is it supports images from other hosts which isn’t a feature available in premium themes.

SWIFT automatically re-sizes images that overflow from the content area. This comes in very handy if you are moving to SWIFT from theme which has wider content area.

11. Cross Browser Compatible

SWIFT is compatible with all the popular browser and the not so popular IE 6.

12. Custom Page Templates

Page Templates

SWIFT has three custom page templates apart from the default template, they are

1. Full Width template
2. Wide Content area with left sidebar and
3. Wide content area with right sidebar

13. jQuery Tool Tip integration

I have integrated a lite weight tooltip plugin into the theme so that your readers will can easily figure out whats in a link, without actually visiting it. Your readers will definitely love it.

Displaying post excerpts on mouse hover.

Other minor additions to SWIFT v5.0

Apart from the awesome features listed above here are some more

• Integration of  My Page Order and My Category Order plugins. Thanks to  Andrew Charlton for allowing us to use code from his plugins in SWIFT.
• Background images for header and page can now be added from the options page.
• Option to show full length posts along with excerpts on home page.
• Option to order and disable navigation menu.
• Option to append link to navigation menu.
• Option to disable RSS links and search box in navigation menu.
• Font face and size selection.

Please post a review of SWIFT on your blog if you like it, if you any suggestions feel free to post them in comments.

Demo: This blog uses v5.0

If you want to checkout the options page without installing, visit

http://swiftthemes.com/swiftTest/wp-admin/admin.php?page=swift-options

http://swiftthemes.com/swiftTest/wp-admin/admin.php?page=swift-color-cptions

UserName and password for the above options page.

Note: Color option don’t work in WordPress versions before 2.9

PS: I’m going to my home town tomorrow (Haven’t started packing yet ) and I wont be having internet for the next 2 days. I will post the installation and upgrade instructions on 13th.

SWIFT colour options page (Some options are cropped from the screenshot)

 <a href="http://www.geekyweekly.com/mypageorder" target="_blank">My Page Order</a> and <a href="http://geekyweekly.com/mycategoryorder" target="_blank">My Category Order</a> plugins by  <a href="http://www.geekyweekly.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Charlton</a>.

Hello Swiftlers,

Belated wishes for the new year.

Most of the work of version 5.0 is done except for

• Banner ad integration.
• Page templates.
• RSS links and search box in navigation area.
• Subscribe widget.

This version is called beta only because the above mentioned features are yet to be added.  Core of the theme is very stable, you can safely use this on your blog.

Installation instructions:

Just like any other wordpress theme.

Post installation steps:

Change the permissions of swift/cache folder to 777 (755 in case of some hosts) and custom-styles.css to 666.

Here is a tutorial on how to change file permissions in case if you need it.

http://buddingbloggers.com/2009/04/changing-file-permissions-via-filezilla/

Demo: This blog uses v5.0

If you want to checkout the options page without installing, visit

http://swiftthemes.com/swiftTest/wp-admin/admin.php?page=swift-options

http://swiftthemes.com/swiftTest/wp-admin/admin.php?page=swift-color-cptions

UserName and password for the above options page.

If you find any bugs, typos (there going to be many of them) or if you feel the description or name of the option is not clear enough please post theme here.

Lets together build a USER INTERFACE which does not require a user guide.