Today marks the first day of my employment as a Theme Wrangler with Automattic and it feels great. I’m more than excited to finally let you know what I’ve been up to for the last little bit.
What can I say besides awesome, awesome, awesome? The enormous opportunity for learning and improvement; all the super-talented, friendly people; the chance to work on so many really, really cool projects—it’s almost unbelievable. This is a dream job for me.
So, yes, really excited. To say the least. And I don’t want to say too much right now so I’m going to keep this short. Though I imagine you have one very big question you’d like me to get to.
What’s Going To Happen To ThemeShaper?
Only exciting stuff.
First of all, I’m excited to officially announce that all the commercial Thematic Child Themes I’ve created are now free to download without charge.
Go download them, have fun with them, and make something really cool.
Now, this’ll be a big change for ThemeShaper but here’s an even bigger one: ThemeShaper isn’t just my blog anymore.
This is going to be awesome.
ThemeShaper will become a public-facing blog for the Theme Team now assembling at Automattic. A place where we can help provide the best possible experience for everyone involved in WordPress theming; from the noobiest of beginners to the most powerful of WordPress wizards.
Or like I said above, this is going to be awesome.
Stay tuned to the ThemeShaper blog for more updates. And if you’ve got some ideas for what you’d like to see here I’d love to hear them. Let me know what you think in the comments.
106 Comments
I was like 99% sure you were joining Automattic with all your hints, but the change for the Theme Shaper site was definitely unexpected.
Congratulations on the new job. I’m excited to see what you’ll be doing around here too.
First of all congratulations for getting an awesome job.:). Lets see which theme you are going to give us in wordpress 3.0.:)
Congratulations on your new job Ian – what a fabulous opportunity!
Glad to hear that ThemeShaper isn’t going away. Sounds like there are some really awesome things planned for the site.
Congratulations Ian,
This is great news for the community. Took me by surprise, but it just makes perfect sense. Looking forward to some more details on some of the targets in your sights – I’m sure exciting times are ahead!
Congratulations! That certainly is a dream job, for us WordPress obsessed folk at least.
Congratulations on the new job Ian. How exciting indeed this must be for you. Very curious to see what’s going to happen to Themeshaper.
Ever since I saw the “Theme Czar” job description on the Automattic Jobs page, I always thought you’d be the perfect fit for it. I guess I was (partially) right.
Really excited about the changes to the blog too. These are definitely exciting times for WordPress theming.
Hi Ian, that’s awesome news. Judging by the responsible way you’ve promoted your products in the past, this move will mean some really spectacular things for the community as a whole.
Best of luck.
Congratulations Ian. Have always been impressed by your theme coding skills and now we are only going to expect best thinking you are in the theme team.
Can’t wait to see the new stuff on themeshaper.
Ian,
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
Congratulations on the new job!
A Fabulous opportunity join. many many many congrats and keep up the good work.
Please don’t forget this workplace and keep updating Themeshaper with exciting stuff !
Congratulations! I really debated which blog/CMS I wanted to invest my time and energy into learning. When I discovered the Thematic theme I was swayed to WP…This news confirms that I made the right choice!
Congrats Ian, hope to see more focus on the child theme presentation at WordPress.org in the future then.
Fantastic; you fit the part perfectly. Congratulations.
Gratz
I can suggest to add updated wp3.0 custom post type full guide for beginners. This is really a big issue, there is no official info about this
Congratulations Ian, so happy for you and lookin forward to find what Themeshaper will bring in the years to come to us WpAddicts.
I suspected they were going to snap you up.
Good move all around.
Congrats Ian! I think that’s great news for you, but also for all WP users. Bravo!
Awesome man, just awesome. Like Justin, I was already fairly certain you had signed up with Automattic. I can’t wait to see what’s coming down the pipe!
Simply fantastic news. I have to ‘digest’ the notice because is a very big one. I have greatly shocked
Congratulations!
Congratulations!!! Well deserved. I never would have guessed
I look forward to seeing some awesome wrangling in the future!!
What’s happening with thematic? Does this mean that thematic will be a core theme in the future?
Congratulations on your new job! We’re excited, keep up the good community work!
Wow! I’m very excited for you Ian, and of course for the WP community! Congrats!
Congrats! Very Cool!
First, congratulations — what an opportunity to work with WP right from the core!
I too will be interested to hear what’s going to happen with Thematic – will that stay here or get spun off into its own site/project?
Awesome man, congrats! A great addition to the Automattic team. Anxious to see what things are in store from the Theme Team
I’m here to be amazed.
Congrats!
Congrat!, it ‘s become a dream to works at Automattic like you as I have apply there but there is no response. So let us know if there is any new jobs in there.
Congratulations!
Win for you, win for Automattic, but mostly a win for all us WP hackers that you help so much!
Congrats Ian.
I’d like to share with you a pearl of wisdom given to me by my uncle: “With great power comes great responsibility.” At least, I think my uncle said it. Maybe it was that rice guy. At any rate, it’s good food for thought.
I’m looking forward to seeing how you can shake things up.
Congratulations, Ian!Wow, what a ride – awesome indeed! And well deserved.
Totally excited with what you will come up next at Automattic.
Congrats again!
Looks like a win win win situation.
Well done and congratulations Ian! Now I am looking forward to WP3.0 more than ever…
Huge move and I am sure you will be a perfect fit
Congratulations! This is a testament to your hard work and determination on making themes and theme building accessible to all. The future of WordPress themes just got stronger.
Very cool news for us and awesomely awesome for you
I didn’t know you that well before I started working with Kirby, but your code made a good first impression.
I’m very excited to be working with you now full-time!
Congrats! I look forward to seeing what you’ll accomplish now that you’re apart of the core “team.”
Best wishes.
Congrats Ian. Kind of a bummer for those who paid for your pro-themes before. But this is great news. All the best.
As with everyone above, congrats! Great move by Automattic.
Wow Ian and congrats both to you and Automattic. You get your dream job and they get one of the best WP theme developers around. Can’t wait to see what happens next!!!
Congrats! can’t wait to see New ThemeShaper.
This is really, really cool!
I could not think of a better person to care for the development of themes, than you.
I hope you’re happy and do a great job there!
Greetings from Brazil
Hey now, congratulations! I can’t think of a better person to be in your job than you!
Congratulations Ian, sounds like a perfect match.
Congrats Ian! I am looking forward to what you create while at Automattic!
Awesome to have you as part of Automattic Ian!
Great news for all of us who care about WordPress. Congratulations to you, but also to Automattic for having the sense to put you on the payroll.
Congrats Ian. Really happy for you!
Congratulations to your continued success Ian!
Congratulations Ian! Well deserved.
Automattic wins big by adding your talents & credibility to their team and you win big by improving the state of WP themes – wins for the whole community!
Win. win. win! Definitely very awesome! I’m glad automattic added someone knowledgeable and influential like you to their team. Really exciting news! Can’t wait to see what you guys start pushing out. Wish you the best of luck!
Congrats, Ian! I’m so glad that I chose Thematic to build out all of my WordPress sites
Well deserved, Ian!
Thematic is essential… glad they realized this.
Ian! Congratulations! I’m really happy for you!!!
Welcome to the Automattic team, sir. A pleasure to have you aboard.
Congrats on the new epic job! Dont know of anyone more suited for it! Best of luck too
Really excited about whats in-store here
huge congrats!
Congratulations!
I’m only new to Themeshaper but going by my experience so far, WordPress Themes will be taken to a new level with this change!
Great news to WordPress world
All the best Ian
Congrats Ian. You’ve given so much to the community that this is very well deserved. I’m looking forward to the changes in ThemeShaper. All good news for you. Automatic, and the WordPress community.
Whoah! Thanks for all the congrats and well wishes, everybody!
Yet another very smart decision by Automattic!
This is so wicked. I’m not surprised. Congrats, Ian!
Congratulations Ian! Looking forward to the kinds of theme wrangling you’ll be involved in!
Welcome aboard !
Congrats Ian! I’m a huge fan and am very excited to see what comes from your new team!
Many congratulations Ian, this is tremendous news. Your hard-work and superior product has paid off. Needless to say I am really looking forward to the changes and enhancements that are sure to come.
Let me add my voice to the chorus, Ian. I’m rapt to hear that you’ve been offered a gig that you’re clearly very excited about.
And personally I’m happy to hear that the time I’ve invested in trying to learn WP ‘via’ Thematic is probably going to held me in good stead.
Congratulations.
Super cool. Congrats.
GREAT NEWS IAN! I’m super excited to see what happens next…
Congrats! Great catch — for Automattic.
Believe me when I say we count ourselves as the lucky ones. Welcome to the family, Automattician!
Congratulations, Ian. That’s good news. I’ve been an ExpressionEngine developer since early 2004, yet I love what WordPress has become in the past year or so, and have begun to develop WP sites.
My question is simple:
What happens to Thematic?
Is it over? Will development stop? Will it be folded into Automattic? Have we seen the last of Thematic updates? Or, will it become a de facto standard theme framework for WP 3.0 and beyond?
A note about Thematic.
Don’t worry. Thematic is an open source project. It couldn’t stop even if I wanted it to. And I don’t. And that’s awesome.
And another note about Thematic.
Currently I’m working on the code that creates the widget areas. Then I’ll add support for multiple blogs / sites to the theme options, then the support for
wp_nav_menu(), and so on.Thematic is a community project. If you would like to be part of this community, if you would like to contribute ideas, patches, php code, CSS code, knowledge, tutorials, translations, please contact me or/and Ian. Send us an email, tweet us, drop a note on the Thematic project page or on the ThemeShaper Forums.
A big congratulations Ian!
I’ve always been a huge admirer of your excellent work and I’m really looking forward to what you can cook up with the Automattic guys.
Best of luck!
And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke Ian.
Hope this means that WordPress might come with a new clean default theme that you add a child theme to.
Good Luck mate.
Hmmmmm.
WordPress 3.0 would be a good place to have Thematic 1.0 to become one of WP’s default themes.
It’s a bit late, but congrats Ian!
also i can’t say anything else but awesome men!
Congrats, well deserved!
Way to go Ian, can’t wait to see what comes out of this. Very exciting!
Congratulations on your new job!
being a Thematic user myself, I am excited about the future of Themeshaper
Ian, at last… Congratulations! Great news, I’m very excited for you.
Congratulations Ian!
Lots of new things happening in your space! Many good things to look forward to.
you are great, and the community is great. thanks for all the great stuff.
Congrats and good luck
Congrats Ian, really nice to see you there, Automattic did the right thing, great for the WP community and WP theming and of course you’re Canadian too
best,
-Sam from Montreal
Fabulous news for you, for Themeshaper, and especially for Automattic – Congratulations!
Wow… Congratulations Ian!!!
Great to see that your talent got recognized! Love your themes, keep em coming
Congratulations! Looks like our choice of thematic as a standard framework for all our sites turned out to be a good one after all
Ian, that is awesome. Congratulations!
I just recently found ThemeShaper and Themehybrid and am in awe over all the great stuff you and Justin create and share with us. I am really excited to see what will come out of this.
Now, if Automattic would also manage to get Justin Tadlock on board, competitors might as well bow down and join forces with you… Competing would be futile.
Congrats once again to both you and Automattic!
Hi Ian (and Chris) I’m new here and to WordPress but plan to create a Web2 site based on WordPress shortly. it will include user created blogs and blog posts so i was looking at WordPressmu with Buddypress and was looking for a suitable theme or framework and found your site.
I am wondering if i should now wait until WordPress 3.0 is available and if i should build on Thematic or start no with WordPressmu/Buddypress and a thematic child theme such as Buddymatic. Problem is there are so many choices out there i am now completely overwhelmed with information (theme) overload.
Any suggestions for a WordPress newbie like me? I’ve taken so long to find you that waiting a bit longer for the ultimate platform/framework won’t be an issue.
In the meantime, i’ll add my congratulations to your appointment at Automattic. Great!
Ian ~ bit late I know, but I just wanted to say… Automattic made a very wise choice, as I’ve never really enjoyed working with frameworks or other themes as much as yours. Congratulations.
Ian.
I missed the public announcement!!
So, my belated congrats, mate.
I’m sure you’re now well and truly leaving your mark at Automattic and I look forward to seeing more and more of the fruits of your labours.
The WordPress community is all the better for your appointment!
All the best.
-Alister
Congratulations! thnks for giving away the themes!!
Congratulations.
The wordpress community is thrilled to bits. People like you are needed to take the WordPress platform further.
Pali Madra
Congratulations! Looking forward to great things to come from this site. It has become such a great resource, and your thematic theme is the basis of all the WP sites I’m building now. You deserve all good things that come your way!
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