Graphene 1.8.1 and Graphene Mobile 1.2

I’m glad to announce that Graphene 1.8.1 is now available from the WordPress.org themes repository. You can update your version of Graphene using WordPress built-in theme update feature.

Graphene 1.8 brings an expanded colour options, including the much-anticipated options to customise the menu. We’ve also incorporated some performance improvements by reducing the number of database queries per page load by up to half the previous number. Then there’s the UX improvement in the theme’s options page including AJAX saving to speed up the process of setting up the theme or trying out the different options.

There are also a few design updates, particularly with regard to the  widget header fonts and the slider navigation circles. These design updates were made to serve two purposes: apart from refreshing the design to make the theme look more modern, they also make the theme’s elements play better with any colour customisation you may implement.

Graphene 1.8.1 fixes quite a few issues with Graphene 1.8 that slipped past the beta testing period. Thanks to all the theme users who have reported the issues at the Support Forum and helped us to identify and fix the bugs.

You can see the full list of changes in the theme’s changelog.

Graphene Mobile 1.2

Following the release of Graphene 1.8.1 is an update to Graphene Mobile, which has been in the works for quite some time now. This update includes adding the popular Action Hooks Widget Areas feature to Graphene Mobile. Following the update in Graphene 1.8, the Graphene Mobile options in the options page are also now saved via AJAX for speedy interaction.

Another issue with mobile sites is the limitation on the number of menu items you can use before the menu starts taking up too much precious mobile real estate. Graphene Mobile have addressed this partially in the past by adding Custom Menu locations that are separate from the desktop theme, so that you can use a different set of menu for mobile devices. But if you absolutely need to have a lot of menu items to be displayed even on mobile devices, Graphene Mobile 1.2 now has a feature where you can use the HTML <select> element to display the menu. This effectively eliminates the limit on the number of menu items that can be used without crowding the layout.

Here’s the full list of changes for Graphene Mobile 1.2:

  • Added [ mobile-only ] and [ mobile-exclude ] shortcodes
  • Added Action Hook Widget Areas option
  • Added custom <head> tags option
  • Added option to use the <select> element for menus, effectively eliminating the limit on the number of menu items that can be used without crowding the layout
  • Allow users with edit_theme_options capability to modify and save theme options
  • Moved colour options into a separate options tab
  • Theme options are now saved via AJAX, with fallback to non-AJAX alternative

Graphene Mobile 1.2 is available immediately for automatic update. Make sure you enter your Graphene Mobile API key in the Graphene Mobile options page for the automatic update to work.

Oh, and in case you don’t know yet, you can give both the Graphene theme and Graphene Mobile theme a testdrive before you install them yourself.

Enjoy 🙂