Its been a busy summer for BraveNewCode! Launching WPtouch Pro was an intense project, and we’ve been proud of the response so far. We keep improving WPtouch Pro, too, and have lots of great features, new themes and some surprises planned going forward.

Every once in awhile we like to share an overview of what’s been happening and what we’re up to— affectionately, our “state of the code” address of sorts.

WPtouch 1.9.19

While WPtouch Pro is our main focus, we still give love and attention to WPtouch 1.9, servicing it for bug fixes and feature additions to make it even better.

We just released version 1.9.19, and with it we’ve finally delivered true localization. We’ve included the .pot file in the new /lang folder, which can be used to create language .mo files to translate both the theme and the admin panel.

Submit your translation today to translation@wptouch.com, and we’ll review it for inclusion in a future release.

WPtouch Pro v2.0.9

We’ve been chipping away at point releases for WPtouch Pro, now reaching 2.0.9 and delivering with it fixes, enhancements, compatibility and stability improvements.

Notable new additions include better custom language translation handling, improvements in WordPress Multisite compatibility, and a new feature allowing WPtouch Pro to be disabled for selected URLs and pages.

We strongly recommend upgrading if you’re running any previous version of WPtouch Pro.
WPtouch Pro 2.0.9 will be available later today.

Upcoming: WPtouch Pro v2.1

We’ve begun work on the next major version of WPtouch Pro, which will deliver iPad support, child themes, and support for WordPress 3.0′s custom menus.

Many people have inquired as to what iPad support will be in 2.1, and we’d like to share a couple of thoughts about it.

First of all, iPad support will be opt-in. When you update to 2.1 you’ll be able to decide whether you want to enable iPad support or not. Some are happy with the way their sites look and work on iPad already, and for those people they won’t have to do anything.

For those who do want iPad support, they have a number of options related to what happens with iPad support, and we’ll undoubtedly add to those options over time.

There are already some solutions available for iPad theme stuff with WordPress. We could have shipped “support” for iPad very early on, by simply enabling the user agent and letting WPtouch be WPtouch on iPad. We didn’t for several reasons, but the most important is that we don’t think WPtouch as a theme concept is appropriate on a device like iPad.

Small, hand-held mobile devices are very different from tablet devices such as the iPad. And the iPad user interface, (while borrowing from the iPhone) has some dramatic differences, most notably the way in which vertical and horizontal views are handled in most apps.

So we’re hoping our solutions feel as natural, intuitive and enjoyable for users as possible. And because we don’t have to make the same kinds of compromises as we do with WPtouch (for device compatibility), we can do a few things that should enhance the web experience of a site using WPtouch Pro on iPad.

WPtouch Pro Affiliate Program

We recently launched a new Affiliate Program for customers of WPtouch Pro. Earn 20% on purchases of WPtouch Pro made through text or image advertisements on your website. Find out more ->

WordTwit

We’ve received lots of feedback over the past few months on our WordPress Twitter plugin, WordTwit. Ideas on how to make it better, and what people would like to see added to it have trickled in on our Forums, over Twitter, and here on the blog.

Though we haven’t said much publicly, we’ve been listening to everyone and have been working on adding several enhancements and new features to bring WordTwit up to version 3.0 with some powerful new additions. Stay tuned on the progress towards its 3.0 release, we’ll have new details available soon.

Site Revamp

We’re also chipping away at an overhaul of the entire BNC site, including the forums. We’re re-designing and tweaking the whole experience, focusing on account access and easier support assistance for our customers.

We hope everyone will enjoy the new site when we unveil the new digs. We’ll post some screenshots for feedback a little further down the road.

Thanks

We want to say thanks to all our WPtouch Pro customers, our users, friends, family and followers. It’s your support and interest in what we’re doing that keeps us motivated to do more.

Best,
The BraveNewCode Team

Duane and I work very hard, this much is uncontested. We both recognize that to grow our company and to do things they way they ought to be done in this business means a high level of dedication, will, determination and fortitude to ensure success. We’ve been working non-stop on a variety of client projects, like courtneysummers.ca, visioncritical.com, ticketfly.com, and Rogers’ urmusic.ca. We’ve also been working on our GPL projects like WordTwit, BuddyPress Geo, and of course WPtouch.

So, in short: We think we deserve a break.

Punta Cana

We’ve chosen a nice spot in the beautiful coastal area of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Duane and I will be there for two weeks and will be going over company year-end stuff, planning for the next phases, and re-positioning some of our ideas to grow as a company in 2010 in the directions we really want to see things move.

Business + Pleasure

Of course a place like this doesn’t often invite the idea of ‘business’, but that’s just how we operate- why not do some of the more onerous tasks in a place you’ll enjoy? Most people wouldn’t know it but we run this company, for the most part, virtually. Duane and I live on separate sides of this big country of Canada, and a getaway like this facilitates a number of personal and business needs for us both.

Unsupported

We’ve yanked the plug on our plugin Support Forums for the time being, mostly in an effort to stop the tides of on-going to-do lists so we can focus on the overhaul we think is sorely needed, and will bring more to the table for the user community of our plugins. We apologize if it leaves you high in dry in the mean time, but rest assured that we’re not walking away from our plugins or supporting them.

Surprises

Who knows, maybe we’ll push out some plugin updates while we’re down there, or a beta of one of our slow-cooking WP plugins like Transporter (backup/migration) or Integrity (security).

Itinerary

Duane’s already arrived, and I’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon. Weather’s looking hot and bright for the week ahead, so too for our plans : )

Most people probably don’t realize, but Dale and I live in completely different parts of Canada. I’m in a little town called Chilliwack, about an hour away from Vancouver, and Dale’s in Hamilton, a slightly larger town outside of Toronto. Given that we’re geographically separate, we try to get together at least a few times a year for a visit.

This week Dale’s making the trek out to my part of the world for the weekend, and hopefully the sun will stay out a while longer for us. Unfortunately due to the back-to-back trips, Dale was unable to attend WordCamp Portland, which was a really good time (lots of people loved our WPtouch plugin, and the video Stephen Fry did for us). But hopefully there will be a few beers flowing (some of which was donating via the WPtouch Beer Fund).