Catalyst Theme Is Coming Soon…Very Soon!
We are in the final stages of development & testing of the Catalyst WordPress Theme. Everything is coming together and our projected launch date is no more than a couple weeks away. So we wanted to take this as an opportunity to reveal some of the awesome new features that Catalyst will bring to the WordPress marketplace. Read more »
Help Rename Frugal: And The Winner Is…
First, You Guys Are Awesome!
First and foremost we just wanted to say thanks for all your support. Without this awesome community we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and that means so much to us.
The amount of emails, comments, votes and amazing name ideas was mind blowing and we truly believe that the future of our flagship WordPress product will benefit as a result. We not only came up with a new name, but were reminded that a theme is only as strong as the people that use and promote it. Read more »
Help Rename Frugal: Let The Voting Begin!
The Winner Has Been Chosen. Click Here To See The Results!
Wow! That’s all we can really say after seeing such an amazing turn out of the Frugal Community for this historic contest. Both Seth and I were blown away when we broke 100 comments in only a few hours, but then to see it surpass the 300 mark and have thousands of awesome WordPress Theme name possibilities almost made our heads explode! Thank you all for sharing your great ideas, and for helping us take the Frugal Theme to the next level.
Before we get to the voting, I’d like to make a point that is more evident to me right now than ever before. A WordPress Theme is only as strong as the community that supports it. From getting the word out, to being active in the forum, to sharing the amazing sites you create. We need you as the Frugal Community to make your voices heard and take part in pushing Frugal past the tipping point in this competitive market. We’ll do our part by continuing to develop the best WordPress Theme around, and it is our hope that you will continue to be the best WordPress Theme Community around! Read more »
Help Rename The Frugal WordPress Theme, Make History & Win Big!
Voting has begun! Click Here to let your voice be heard!
Why Frugal’s History Matters To You
Frugal was a game changer.
Before The Frugal Theme, I was running a WordPress web design business called Frugal Site Design. I wasn’t trying to move mountains or anything, just trying to build quality WordPress powered websites for my happy clients.
Frugal Site Design was doing well, but I wanted a better theme than what was available. Everything was either too basic, or complicated enough to leave my clients confused every time they needed to make basic changes.
I needed a simple, squeaky clean & super flexible WordPress theme that I could use for all of my site designs.
The Frugal Theme was born.
I picked the name Frugal because of Frugal Site Design, but also because it perfectly matched the feel and function of this fresh new theme. At the time there could be no better word to stamp on it.
Times have changed and “Frugal” as a name now seems a few cents short of a dollar. Read more »
Frugal 3.6 is Here – Goodbye Snapshots, Hello Future!
The release of Frugal 3.6 is a bittersweet milestone for us at Frugal HQ. Not only is it the first time we haven’t added any features or options in a new version, but we also went so far as to completely remove the Snapshots feature we introduced in Frugal 3.3.
For most of you, Frugal has been installing and performing without any difficulty every time. Unfortunately, it’s become apparent that the Snapshots feature in Frugal was asking more of some Web Servers than they were willing to do. Those of you who had trouble in the past with permissions issues or other server-related environmental conflicts know that the benefits of the Snapshots feature were outweighed by the hassle of getting your servers to play nice with Frugal.
At the time we created it, Snapshots felt like such a great addition to the Frugal feature set that we worked it into almost all corners of Frugal, from every click of the “Save” button to our installation process to our import/export features. What we’ve learned in the few months since Frugal 3.3 is that, between the Snapshots trouble and some other rare issues, things were adding up. Lots of tiny leaks can sink a ship, and so it was that we decided to pour our efforts for Frugal 3.6 into patching all the little annoyances we could find.
The bright side of all of this is that it marks the first step towards amazing things in store for the future of Frugal! Our goal for Frugal 3.6 was to make Frugal as easy to install and operate as possible, regardless of what Web Hosting Company you choose to host your sites on. In the days and weeks following this release, we will be watching closely for any other details to fine-tune before we move on to the fun stuff.
Here’s a glimpse of what’s ahead for Frugal:
In Frugal version 3.7, we plan to round out Frugal’s feature set and options panels with some great additions. We’ll be taking some of the functionality we’ve built for our other projects and folding it into Frugal’s core. We’ll be completely re-vamping the way Custom Functions, Custom Widgets and Custom CSS are handled, opening the door for greater flexibility for Frugal Developers. Along the same vein, we will also be making adjustments to Frugal’s code to make it much more of a “Pure Framework.” We aim to keep Frugal as user-friendly as ever for newcomers, while making Frugal even more extensible for the hard-core developers out there.
Once we’re confident that Frugal’s raw power & elegant flexibility have matured & stabalized with version 3.7, the biggest project since the dawn of Frugal itself will begin – a jump directly to Frugal 4.0.
In Frugal 4.0, the number one focus will be a complete reconstruction of Frugal’s User Interface. We know that Frugal’s complexity has grown in proportion to its power, and the top piece of feedback we’ve received from the Frugal Community is that User Interface has become downright overwhelming. We hear you! Even as the creators of Frugal, we sometimes find ourselves asking if the option we’re looking for is in Content Design or Feature Design…or was it in Header Design?
The first step will be to wipe clean Frugal’s current interface. We will be starting from scratch with a blank canvas. We will spend as long as it takes, locked in the back room of our Mad Scientists’ Laboratory, deconstructing Frugal’s 600+ Features & Options and reorganizing them in the most intuitive and effective way possible.
Once the new interface is in place, we will answer the second-biggest request from the Frugal Community – Documentation.
Frugal 4.0 will have comprehensive documentation built right into the User Interface. We’re planning Tooltips-Gone-Wild. Imagine rolling your mouse over part of an option or panel and having the relevant documentation pop up in front of you, including instructions, links and images.
New Interface + Integrated Documentation = Amazing Things for Frugal 4.0!
We’d like to take this opportunity to give a heartfelt “Thank You!” to the Frugal Community. It’s your participation and feedback that steer Frugal towards the horizon and beyond.
We welcome any ideas you may have on how to make Frugal the end-all-be-all absolute best Premium WordPress Theme around.
Here’s to Frugal – Past, Present & Future! 
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