This article is deprecated! Any technical information refers to software versions that are now obsolete. Please visit the DIYthemes Blog for current updates, or check out the old Thesis Blog for a treasure trove of website marketing insights.
Remember when we released Thesis 1.8.3 and made your site even faster? That was fun.
In that same version, we also introduced official WP Network/Multisite compatibility to the cheers and adoration of millions. That was fun, too, but there were still a few wrinkles with Multisite that we had to iron out.
Today, I’m delighted to bring you Thesis 1.8.4, which contains the best WordPress Multisite support in the business coupled with other tweaks that will make your Thesis site smarter and more flexible than ever before.
Oh, and for all you designers and developers out there, our resident all-star, Matt Gross, has thrown together a killer starter template that you can use as the basis for your next great Thesis skin or child theme.
But before we get to that goodness, let’s take a look at what’s new in Thesis 1.8.4:
The Thesis Master Control and Enhanced Multisite Support
When you’re running a Multisite environment, it’s really nice to be able to modify the designs of all the sites on your network from a single location.
Let’s say, for instance, that you’d like to modify the footer attribution on every site in your network. Sounds like it should be simple, right?
With traditional WordPress themes—and especially ones that rely solely on child themes (instead of custom folders, the way Thesis does)—this is not only annoyingly difficult, but it is literally impossible to accomplish by only editing a single file.
With the new Thesis Master Control, edits like the one above are simple and can be accomplished from a single custom_functions.php file that governs all the sites on your Thesis-enhanced WordPress Network.
This gives you unlimited power over your entire Multisite environment. It’s why we call it the Thesis Master Control, and I dunno how the heck you can run a Multisite without it.
(In fact, I use a very similar master control to run this site, diythemes.com. I run everything—even my store—off this thing.)
Also, Thesis is now completely backwards-compatible with Multisite, so even if you haven’t upgraded your WordPress in eons, you can still rock the Thesis Master Control.
Smarter Custom File Editor and Other Bug Fixes
Thanks to a complete rewrite, the Thesis custom file editor now offers better performance. In addition, it now has complete awareness of the Multisite environment, and users can only edit the custom.css files that are relevant to them.
Finally, we made quite a few other minor adjustments and bug fixes. Thanks to your feedback, this is probably the most thorough round of bug-squashing we’ve ever enjoyed. (Well, Matt enjoyed it. He’s something of a masochist.)
Thesis Skin and Child Theme Starter Templates
There’s no denying it—I’m an organizational freak. Whenever I write code, I’m on a mission to make it as clear and easy to maintain as possible.
And sometimes, on big sites, my custom_functions.php can get a bit out of control. If you’re a developer, you’ve probably run into this situation, too.
Surely there’s a better way to organize this code.
Naturally, there is! Matt has cooked up a couple of starter templates that will help you organize your code better than ever before.
If you’re going to build a custom Thesis site for a client, a killer new skin, or a Thesis child theme, then you need these new starter templates. Check ’em out:
Special Thanks to the DIYthemes Crew
We all owe a very special thanks to the DIYthemes expert support staff and Matt Gross, because they are the reason version 1.8.4 rocks as hard as it does.
They squashed all the bugs and made all the improvements based on feedback from you guys and gals, our awesome users!
Thanks to them, I’ve been able to focus on Thesis 2.0 and the very exciting road ahead.
