Theme Hybird Theme Club
On August 5th, Justin Tadlock began allowing public access to his newest creation – the Theme Hybrid Theme Club. You can read about it in the release post that was published on his blog for more details.
Theme Hybrid Main Page
A lot of work was put into the launch of this club, but you can expect a lot from it. This will likely be the fifth or so WordPress-dedicated themes clubs, with some of them being free, while others are paid/premium-only. There are different motivations of this theme club than others – to help build a community for theme support and provide both free and premium themes. Members have the choice of signing up as a free member, unlike the other theme clubs currently available.
Most of the themes will be released as child themes – add-ons to themes that add to their functionality or change their layout/design, largely promoted by Ian Stewart.
Excerpts from the site:
Theme Hybrid is all about giving quality themes back to the WordPress community in a way that doesn’t break the bank.
You shouldn’t have to pay to join a theme club on a three-month or six-month basis, only to find out that you’ll lose the help and support team behind the themes if you don’t renew your subscription.
Theme Hybrid is a community of bloggers that share ideas.
The theme is designed to counter the prices that Adii and the WooThemes team have set for their themes club – “It costs a bit less than $150..” and “you shouldn’t have to pay to join a theme club on a three-month or six-month basis.”
Prices are as follow – Free for a lifetime, limited membership and $25.00 for a 1 year, exclusive membership. Members who pay for the club will receive two child themes each month.
Contributions - donations, translations, articles, thoughts/ideas, and stylesheets/child themes are greatly appreciated, as donations have helped create the site and power the free themes/tutorials.
Another unique feature that comes with the release of each theme is the support that you receive, available as community and designer support in the forums.
Membership Prices
Click for larger image.
With the release of the new club, a new theme, the Aura Theme has been made available, only to exclusive members of the theme club or purchased as an individual theme. It is a child theme of the Structure Theme, meaning that it features all the functionality but adds a different style and layout to the parent theme.
Aura Theme – The Fist “Premium” Theme
Features *from site:
- Ability to upload a header image from your WordPress dashboard.
- Change the site’s title color from your dashboard.
- Beautiful typography, designed to let your content stand out.
- Exclusive stylesheet.
I hope that a lot of people take the opportunity to check out this new themes club. Child themes are extremely powerful additions to parent themes, adding a ton of functionality without needing to recode an entire theme to suit your needs. There is no obligation to join the paid club, as new, free themes will still be released. However, if you want to access the exclusive child themes, you will need to purchase the exclusive $25/year license.
Quick links to details pages:
Thanks for the post about the new site. I’m very excited about what we’re doing there. I’m hoping to bring a lot of new, innovative ideas to the WordPress table in the next few months and beyond with the theme club.
Nice read indeed. Justin Tadlock is really the next WP man. I like his ideas and his works.
@Justin – Good luck on the themes club. I am looking forward to your future offerings.
@J Mehmett – Yes, his work and mindset help inspire other people to produce and increase higher quality work when it comes to theme design.