Online CSS Web2.0 Template Generator

Lots of time, money and work has been put into the development of iStylr even prior to the launch of the public beta in April of 2008. Development really started in 2005 already. Many obstacles have been overcome and technical hurdles were taken since. Anybody who used iStylr more than once knows how much has changed during the past year and before. And they know how fast suggestions were implemented in order to make iStylr better and better.

This was the past however and change is on the horizon again.

In short we will be releasing the first official version of iStylr. Yes, everything you currently see is ‘just’ beta

So let me tell you the most important changes of the upcoming launch.

New Features:

• Completely rewritten publishing feature
• New sharing feature for collaboration with friends and/or colleagues
• The all new template marketplace – Yes, you will be able to publish and even sell your designs
• 2 great APIs – one for the template marketplace and one for the LIVE Designer
• A completely new licensing system based on creative commons with an optional addition for commercial templates and designs
• Optimization of the general work flow
• New template preview in the LIVE Designer
• And many small improvements you will notice

Additionally we will introduce a new premium account that will enable all features and disable any limits. (Don’t worry though, basic usage will stay free)

I don’t want to shout out a date for the launch today because some things still need to be worked on.  All I can say now is that it will not take long.

So stay tuned and wait for an announcement either here in this blog or in your mailbox.

Excitet as allways.

Cheers,
Stephan

I just finished updating iStylr again. This time a feature was added that iStylr heavy users will love. It is an extention of the template export.

Now you can choose between two modes when you export your design. You can still download your design as zip but additionally you can now export your design directly via ftp.

This will save you tons of time as you don’t have to download -> unzip -> upload your template anymore but you can update your design with one single click.

Have a look at the following screenshots that explain a little more:

Some of you might have noticed this already. Since yesterday iStylr.com supports the OpenID single login authentication. OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience. This means for you, in case you already own an openID (and chances are high), that you can log in to iStylr with one single ID and you don’t have to remember your username password combination anymore.

If you want to learn more about openID just click here. If you don’t know if you already own an openID you can check this list of openID providers.

In case you already registered with iStylr you can attach your openID to your iStylr-username via this link. Please note, that this settings page is currently available in German language only. On the bottom of that page you’ll find a form called ‘Neue OpenID Verknüpfung erstellen:’. Paste your openID into that form and click on attach. I’ll be releasing an English version of that page in short.

It’s already been a couple of days ago that I released the new and improved background image and gradient creators. I haven’t found the time to get you updated on these, though. Untill now

I’d like to start with a couple of images for you to see these great changes:

The new Page Background Creator:

The page background creator can be used to generate header, center and footer images as background-slices for different parts of your website template. You can use a border and/or shadow to add a nice glow or shadow around the contents of your style. Additionally you can set an image of your choice as inner image. This selected image will be fit into the slice you want to create. Alternatively you can fill the inner part of your background slice with a web 2.0 gradient or with just a solid color.

Instead of header, center or footer slices you can also choose to generate a complete rectangle with the same features and options as the single slices.

The new Web 2.0 Gradient Creator:

The web 2.0 background creator allows you to easily generate modern gradients in the current web 2.0 style. You can set 6 different gradient shapes: Curve, Bar, Up-Bar, Down-Bar, Up-Down-Bar and Down-Up-Bar. Additionally you can set the color and width/height of the gradient.

The new Background Gradient Creator:

The gradient creator allows you to generate 2 color gradients with the click of a mouse. This creator’s features many different gradient modes/directions such as linear, diagonal, rectangle, diamond, circle and elipse. Again you can set the width/height of the gradient as well as the start color and the final color.

Just finished updating WordPress to version 2.5.1. This post is to let you know that iStylr WordPress exports still work and multicolumn layouts (multiple sidebars) are supported.

On the WordPress Developement Blog you can read about the improvements and bug fixes.

Thanks to an idea of our most active member, ahlfy, I implemented another cool new feature: Syntax-Highlighting for both the CSS Editor and the HTML Editor.

Have a look at the screenshots:

CSS Editor

These new editors allow you to search for code and perform search/replace tasks comfortly from the iStylr GUI as well.

I have added a new help-system to the iStylr GUI. You can open the new help-area by clicking the help-button( ? ) in the iStylr top menu. As it is based on a phpBB forum you will need to login again for posting questions/answers. Your username is automaticly created. So no need to register twice.

In this screencast I show you how to select a certain element and how to open the CSS Wizard from the element menu and from the sidebar. (No sound)

Another new screencast about the iStylr. This time you can learn how to use the css background gradient creator to ramp up your design. (No Sound)