If you see in Catch Themes’ website, our themes are more personal blog and corporate oriented. Our themes are natively moldable. With little to no knowledge of coding, you can shape themes to fit your brand. But we were lacking a theme that was readily magazine-ready. So, developing my first WordPress magazine theme at the top of my to-do list.
In the quest to developing my first WordPress magazine theme, I sat in front of my computer to look for some inspiration. I had some ideas to how an online magazine should be like because I had always wanted one of my own (I have my own little magazine called NepalBuzz now). But when you want to get something done so bad, “some” ideas just don’t cut it. Google proved to be a treasure cove of ideas. An array of good designs and features that I could incorporate in my theme. The flow of information was even overwhelming at times and choosing what to include and what not to was definitely a head scratcher. After some more time of researching, I finally came up with the list of features that would fit my vision.
Then came the moment of truth – to begin coding. I believe in creating themes that are lightweight and niche-oriented as much as possible. I mean yes, heavily bloated themes do offer a lot more but they tend to discourage users, who have almost no knowledge of coding, from using such themes. Clean, crisp and secure was the direction I wanted to go. Days of coding and making alterations and corrections with my hardworking team at Catch Themes began. We used Catch Base as a foundation, used HTML5 and CSS3 codes and packed features that would create a website that was responsive and aesthetically enticing. And thus, Clean Magazine was born. The name ‘Clean Magazine’ seemed apt as it was made using clean codes and easy on the eye.
On May 10, 2016, Clean Magazine with a tagline, “A simple, reliable and responsive WordPress theme, designed primarily to meet your magazine and blog site needs” was released in Catch Themes. It was then sent to WordPress.org for reviewing. Every developer & designer understands the anxiety that comes with that process. “Will my themes will pass the review baseline? Will the review team find issues with it? What if my ticket is closed altogether?” The apprehension. With the revision on the review, the reviewing has gotten stricter. But luckily, for Clean Magazine, the review process went much smoother than I had anticipated. No major issues were found and Clean Magazine was approved and featured in the WordPress repository in June 23.
Seeing your months of hard work culminate into something that is appreciated is such an encouragement. Beyond mere words can explain. Many of our themes have been featured in WordPress. org but every single time that happens, the ecstasy is incomparable. Like it’s happening for the very first time. But this time it was slightly more special because Clean Magazine is the first magazine theme I’ve ever created.
Two versions of Clean Magazine are available: Free and Pro. Make sure you check out them both as they have the potential to be your all-round solution for magazine website needs. If you’re already using Clean Magazine, please share your experience below. And constructive feedbacks are always welcome as we learn and improve from your suggestions. Feeling so motivated for the future!