Upon that initial launch, DPP immediately struck a chord with users, as it has always been our goal to bridge the technical gap and make it easy for all users to customize their websites, regardless of coding knowledge. In the years since our first release, we saw many successes as we added new features and grew our user base. However, during this time, WordPress also saw rise to the block editor.

Originally referred to as Gutenberg, the block editor was launched and transformed the WordPress editor experience with their robust drag and drop interface, filled with settings waiting to be personalized.

With the success of the new block editor, it is now easier than ever to customize the appearance of your WordPress website. The ability to style your theme and favorite blog posts is now built into WordPress core and available to all users of any technical knowledge level. It is with this in mind that effective immediately we will no longer be selling Design Palette Pro.

Additionally, our support site will stop processing requests by December 22nd. For any users who have made a purchase within 30 days of this announcement and would like to request a refund, please reach out via the support widget within your DPP installation on your website.

We are eternally grateful for the achievements that we have had over the years, none of which would’ve been possible without you, our amazing customers. We have been overjoyed to have been a part of countless successful website launches, thrilled to help customers find that “a-ha!” moment when everything clicks, and humbled by your loyalty year after year.

As part of our sunsetting plans, we are planning one final release, which will be available in the coming weeks, and will include our last batch of bug fixes. DPP will not immediately stop working following its end date, however we will not be offering updates or support in the future, beyond our one final planned release.

For those looking for options moving forward on how to best customize your website, we would highly encourage using the WordPress block editor. If you are looking for additional style and function options for your themes, StudioPress has developed a fantastic extension in Genesis Blocks, which offers premium blocks, sections, & full-page layouts for the block editor, and is compatible with their entire line of Genesis child themes.

Again, we would like to thank all of you for your support over the years and for taking this journey with us as we strove to make the web a more stylish place. We wish all of you the very best with your websites and beyond.

The post An Update on Design Palette Pro appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

The Customizer is part of WordPress core and designed specifically for customizing themes – the same purpose and similar functionality as the design tab but built-in and maintained by WordPress.

All good things must end, and replaced with something better!

We’re proud of the Design Palette design tab. At one time, it was one of a kind. But as the WordPress Customizer matured and now offers more benefits, it came time to KonMari the plugin, so to speak. We decluttered, reorganized, and tidied the editor to create the space for Design Palette to integrate more closely with the built-in customization features.

The new Customizer interface will spark more joy customizing your site.

• More consistent user experience for customizing themes.
• Larger preview area.
• The ability to save changes as a draft lets you share previews for collaborative work without changing the production look of the site.
• Want to make changes now and make them live at a later date? Now you can schedule your design changes like a blog post.
• Responsive controls to customize styles at the desktop, tablet, and mobile breakpoints.

Responsive Controls is without a doubt, the most exciting enhancement.

Want to change the font size or button color for tablet or mobile only?

Now you can! At the bottom of the Customizer interface, there are 3 breakpoint icons – desktop, tablet, or mobile. Select a device icon and edit away!

Switching the controls to the Customizer is only a 1-2-3 click of the mouse.

The Enable Customizer checkbox is located in Design Palette Pro under Settings. Check the box (1), hit the save button (3), select the Design tab (3). Voila!

After you save the Enable Customizer checkbox, and before you hit the Design tab, you’ll want to read the handy notice at the top of the page:

“Thanks for trying the Customizer Beta. Since the beta feature was deactivated and reactivated your previous settings were not converted. The Customizer options are just like you left them. Click the “Design” tab to be taken directly to the new Design Palette Pro customizer panel. If you wish to upgrade your current settings to replace the customizer settings, please click this link.”

By selecting this link, all customizations from the classic editor will transfer to the Customizer. Technically this step makes it a 1-2-3-4 click. But maybe you don’t want to carry over the settings. Maybe you want a fresh start. Who are we to hold you back?

Carrying over the settings is optional and a choice we left up to you.

Help Us Make Design Palette Pro Better!

The Customizer interface is in beta, which means it’s ready to use but we’re still making improvements. We’d love to hear what you think and any suggestions you have while we complete this feature for the Design Palette 2.0 release.

Feedback can be sent via the help widget inside of Design Palette Pro, or reach out to our team via email at [email protected].

The post Why Design Palette Pro is moving to the WordPress Customizer appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

Once this plugin has been installed and activated, a selection of Google fonts will be added to any of your theme’s font family dropdown menus. These options may change depending on which Genesis child theme you have installed.

The hardest part is choosing which Design Palette Pro Google Webfonts to use!

If you’re having a hard time picking fonts out for your theme customization, check out Brian Gardner’s Five Favorite Google Font Combinations. One of his favorites might be just the combination you’re looking for. Or mix and match until you find your own favorite combination. Our font list is a balance of popular type styles that work well together. With over 60 fonts to choose from, there are a lot of options!

Serif Fonts: Abril Fatface, Arvo, Bitter, Bree Serif, Crimson Text, Enriqueta, Fenix, Josefin Slab, Lora, Merriweather, Neuton, Nixie One, Old Standard TT, Playfair Display, Podkova, PT Serif, Quattrocento, Rokkitt, Roboto Slab, Source Serif Pro and Vollkorn

Sans-Serif Fonts: Abel, Archivo Narrow, Cabin, Dosis, Inder, Josefin Sans, Lato, Montserrat, Open Sans, Open Sans Condensed, Orienta, Oswald, Oxygen, Pathway Gothic One, Quattrocento Sans, Quicksand, Raleway, Roboto, Roboto Condensed, Signika, Source Sans Pro and Syncopate

Cursive/Decorative Fonts: Arizonia, Bilbo Swash Caps, Cabin Sketch, Calligraffitti, Dancing Script, Fredericka the Great, Great Vibes, Handlee, Kaushan Script, Londrina Outline, Londrina Sketch, Meddon, Pacifico, Rock Salt, Sacramento and Sofia

The post Design Palette Pro Google Webfonts Plugin appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

We aren’t alone in that, considering this past weekend they raised almost 25 million dollars. But it’s going to be a long battle, so any amount helps. So if you’re on the fence about donating to the ACLU, we wanted to make it easier for you. Here’s all you have to do:

1. Make a donation to the ACLU of $30 or more.
2. Tweet a screenshot to @DesignPalette.
3. Provide your email address.

That’s it. We will send you a coupon code for a FREE Design Palette Pro Basic license. No strings.

If Design Palette isn’t something you need, or you don’t want publicity about it, you can always donate to the ACLU directly.

The post Free Basic license for donating to the ACLU appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

Just enter coupon code “DPPHOLIDAY” at checkout, and use your $10 savings to pick up a nice pumpkin pie. Trust us, you’ll be happy.

Sale ends 11:59pm EST on December 1, 2014.

The post Save $10 on your order – Limited time only! appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

You should no longer receive the following error message:

Activation server not available

As always, if you have any issues with Activation Server errors or need any Design Palette Pro help, please do reach out to us at [email protected].

The post Activation Server issue – Resolved appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

We’ve been experiencing some issues with our server the past few weeks. If you’ve received this error when trying to activate your Design Palette Pro license:

Activation server not available

Then 1.) we’re very sorry for the inconvenience 2.) please know that even unactivated, Design Palette Pro will still work without restriction. Unfortunately, your support widget and updates will remain unavailable, so if you have any issues, please do not hesitate to contact us via email at [email protected].

We’re in the process of a long-term solution. In the meantime, if you’ve experienced the activation server error message, please download, install, and activate the following hotfix plugin we’ve written. You will need this to receive both plugin updates and support via the support widget. 

This should fix the activation server issue. If in your case it does not, again, please do reach out to us at [email protected] so we can begin further debugging for you.

The post Activation Server issue appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

When we started building Design Palette Pro for the Genesis framework, it was with one primary focus: A better experience for the end user. Not everyone wants, knows how, or has time to code. Some people just don’t have the coin to drop for a major overhaul by a developer.

It was time for an intuitive plugin that simplified the job of making a site more attractive.

After Design Palette Pro is installed, you literally only have to push buttons and move sliders to significantly change the look of a Genesis-powered WordPress site. The feedback from the Genesis community so far has been exciting and gratifying.

WHY WE’RE STOKED

A lot of what we do as developers is a battle waged in solitude, hours spent with our faces embedded in screens and chasing down lines of code that skitter around nervously, not wanting to be nailed down. Coffee is our ammunition, shipping the product is our victory.

Every now and then, people who do what we do get to snatch some glory: It comes in the form of being approached by others we respect in the industry, asking to partner with us.

Genesis is, point-blank, the best damn framework in the game. That’s why we got big cartoon-heart eyes when StudioPress came knocking on our door, telling us that they’d like Design Palette Pro to be the first third-party plugin that they offer to the StudioPress community of users.

We made rude, excited gestures at one another and then we collected ourselves, answering StudioPress with a polite ‘yes.’ After all, it’s a huge privilege to work with a company so productive and stable that it’s created an entire economy for developers offering third-party products based on StudioPress products.

WHAT WE’RE GONNA DO

We’re excited for the chance to show even more Genesis users how Design Palette Pro makes it super-easy to make design changes on the fly and without needing to hire a developer to do so. To that end, Design Palette Pro is now available in the StudioPress marketplace.

StudioPress users will be able to choose from our Basic, Plus, and Deluxe packages. When logged into their MyStudioPress account, users will receive the additional perk of StudioPress’ 25% returning customer discount, for an even better value.

It’s immensely flattering that the makers of the Genesis framework recognize that Design Palette Pro is well-built enough to offer it in their marketplace. It feels warm and fuzzy to get that sort of affirmation from some of the most-respected and nimble minds in the WordPress community. We’re humbled by and grateful for this opportunity to offer more users the ability to change their site quickly and easily with Design Palette Pro.

StudioPress members can go here and purchase the plugin!

The post Design Palette Pro now available on StudioPress appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

We want Design Palette Pro to “just work” for you so we’ve simplified our pricing and package structure.

Starting June 4, child theme extensions will be fully integrated into the core plugin, at each license level.

If you buy Design Palette Pro Basic, you get access to all supported Genesis Pro* (this means, uses HTML5 markup) child themes.

If you buy Design Palette Pro Plus, you get access to all supported Genesis Pro child themes.

If you buy Design Palette Pro Deluxe, you get access to all supported Genesis Pro child themes… You get the idea. (Deluxe licenses also have some new benefits coming soon!)

Going forward, each time we add support for a new child theme, you’ll get access to it through an automatic update of the Design Palette Pro plugin, without having to buy anything new.

Child Theme Support Release Schedule

On Wednesday, June 4, we’ll release an update that has support for five of the most popular Genesis Pro child themes:

• Metro Pro
• Minimum Pro
• eleven40 Pro
• Beautiful Pro
• Executive Pro

By July 30, the remaining Genesis Pro child theme extensions will be released and already packaged into your plugin, without you having to do anything else:

• Parallax Pro
• Ambiance Pro
• News Pro
• Sixteen Nine Pro
• Centric Pro
• Agency Pro
• Lifestyle Pro
• Magazine Pro
• The 411 Pro
• Wintersong Pro
• Exposé Pro
• Modern Portfolio Pro
• Going Green Pro
• Streamline Pro
• Outreach Pro
• Focus Pro
• Enterprise Pro

There’s a lot of them for us to build—twenty-two total, to be exact—so thanks in advance for your patience while we develop the child theme extension you need. We’ll also be working directly with StudioPress to quickly release Design Palette Pro extensions for any future Pro child theme releases.

Why are we doing this?

• You shouldn’t have to decide which child themes you want to use when you buy Design Palette, you should get them all
• You can now easily switch between supported child themes without buying an extension
• Because we like you, a lot

Upcoming Price Increase

With this additional functionality, we are raising the prices on our current license offerings. Until our new release on June 4, you can still buy Design Palette Pro at the current package prices and your package will be upgraded automatically on June 4 to match our new offerings. After release, prices will change to:

• Design Palette Pro Basic: $49 (currently $39)
• Design Palette Pro Plus: $89 (currently $69)
• Design Palette Pro Deluxe: $199 (currently $149)

Buy Now
(Before prices increase!)

We can’t wait to see the designs you come up with! As always, we love to hear your feedback, send us a note if you have any questions.

*Does not include themes from third-party designers that are offered on StudioPress.

The post Ch-ch-changes (for the better) appeared first on Design Palette Pro.

But maybe you didn’t know that it is completely sold out. Or maybe you did know, and you’re super sad. Don’t be sad! The Design Palette Pro team has two extra weekend tickets, and we’d like to give them to two people who reeeeally want to go.

Two important criteria for this giveaway:

1.) Really actually plan on showing up. A lot of people still want to go this sold-out event, so don’t enter if you aren’t 99.9% sure you can go.

2.) You have to use the ticket yourself. No giveaway giveaways!

All you have to do is tell us, in the comments below, why you should get a ticket. On Thursday, April 17th Monday, April 21st, at 5pm EST, we will select two winners.

Update: we found out there was an issue with comments not coming through due to a problem with Jetpack, so if you already commented, please do so again because we never got it

*Giveaway does not include travel, lodging, or incidentals while getting to or at WordCamp Miami 2014. Ticket includes admission on Saturday, May 10th and Sunday, May 11th.

The post WordCamp Miami ticket giveaway appeared first on Design Palette Pro.