[Frank19Participant]

I would love to see an UberMenu integration so that we can take advantage of more menu features in the X theme.

[KoryKeymaster]

Hey everybody, keep the great feedback coming, we really appreciate everyone taking time to write in and let us know your thoughts! It’s very important to share your specific plugin integration or custom functionality (via our own plugins) examples here as that is what will help us most, so make sure to give us your top few ideas for either to give us as full a picture as possible. 🙂

[ehsdParticipant]

I’d like to see integration of a real Mega Menu system. Uber Menus or Mega Max Menus. Also deeper integration of WPML and at least a basic integration of Advanced Custom fields.

I’d like to see X move away from creating features that should be kept as plugins. For example Google analytics. Analytic data should be separate from any theme. In general site data should be housed in plugins and not held hostage in a theme.

As WordPress evolves into more of a web framework, themes should also be working towards stateless designs. I’d really like to see X embrace existing, established plugins instead of trying to bake it in. It only makes X performance slower and keeps our site data hostage inside the theme. I know thats kinda your tagline in all (last theme you need), but there really needs to be a separation of church and state with regards to themes and plugins. I know for first-time wordpress users having everything included in a theme may seem easier, but in the long run it makes site management much more difficult.

[KoryKeymaster]

Hi ehsd,

Just to clarify as I think there might be some confusion. We agree in the need for separation between the design portions of a theme and functionality in plugins which is why our Extensions are separate, unique plugins and not baked into the theme. We are not proposing a change of course in that regard. With regards to Google Analytics, we have a separate plugin with which to manage this but something like adding tracking data is also very easy to add in the theme’s custom code so it ultimately can be up to the user.

[shellyhopeParticipant]

Hi Guys
Great effort as always reaching out your your user base.
Id defiantly +1 the idea of working closer with the Yoast plugin and Duplicator (for backups)
Cheers

[ellapedyaParticipant]

Guys – love the X theme, support and community involvement with development priorities. Awesome!
Personally, I prefer deeper integrations and in particular, knowing that i don’t get stuck between 3rd party plugin supplier and Themeco when troubleshooting from a support perspective. I know that means less feature velocity but if thats the price I’ll pay it – like Themeco i want to be in the business of delighting my customers with the design & outcomes they want, not buried in troubleshooting and custom/technical development.

Lastly, would love to see a Scheduling/Booking plugin that is flexible but not complex (Acuity works OK, but has a monthly cost and I keep holding out for useful feature additions – despite lots of feedback and suggestions there is nothing but obscure changes that must be made for a handful of favourite customers)

Keep up the good work!

Steven

[eastmanerinParticipant]

I also would like to see an online booking/scheduling plugin.

[KyleKeymaster]

Hi Guys,

It’s interesting how the first question is sitting right at 50/50 currently for Themeco creating custom plugins vs. integrations with 3rd parties. If you are amongst the ones voting for us creating custom functionality/plugins be sure to list actual examples of what that would be (and conversely if you are voting for 3rd party plugin integrations, list the tool and how you’d like to see it integrated). While it doesn’t mean we will necessarily create everything suggested on the custom development side, it will help us to know where to allocate resources based on demand.

Thanks!

[ZankParticipant]

With regards to the first Poll question relating to custom plugins vs integration, I and probably others were torn in that decision. Many of the plugin developers have invested huge amounts of time and resources into their product, often offering a free version and a premium one also. At this point, their product has been well refined over a number of versions and would likely be superior to anything that ThemeCo would deliver initially until you invested an equivalent amount of R&D. The issue with this model is of course what you experienced with Visual Composer where you do not have control over the code, are frequently faced with challenges when this other company makes changes which force your team to react, and where the code or features move in another direction than what matches company goals and vison. In this case, VC was constraining and you delivered a custom product (Conerstone) which better fits the vision. Obvious challenges exist in that although Cornerstone has incredible potential, it needs time to grow.

I heavily rely on The Events Calendar by tri.be which has an incredible amount of detail and power. I need it to be visually cohesive and leverage the power of X. I also utilize Essential Grid to provide custom content layouts with more customization than the options in the single stack.

I would recommend that in some situations there might be a strong case for a custom plugin but in most cases if another developer has created a strong reliable product, integrate it until you can deliver something superior.

[WikidCoolParticipant]

Definitely Ninja Forms, as I use it all the time… also Campaign Monitor and additional WooCommerce features like subscriptions and a countdown timer.

[Christina rParticipant]

Hi

I have a big vote for integrating a membership plugin that is linked in with Buddypress. Also LearnDash would be a fantastic integration. I agree with Matt Frost on Gravity Form integration.

Many thanks,
Christina

[Christina rParticipant]

Hi,

I forgot one key feature that needs improving: the X Search functionality. It would be great to have an advanced Search Filter integrated.

Thanks
C

[felicitymartinParticipant]

Thanks for asking our opinions. I found it difficult to choose which way to vote; I know what features I want, but simply want them delivered in an easy to use framework that makes updating easy and not time consuming (hence I came down on the side of custom functionality).

I feel that X theme desperately needs to support the display of photographs better, with an integrated gallery and lightbox that is capable of displaying images properly on Retina screens. There should be styling options, including how to display captions etc. This lack has held back the development of my personal website. It was included in X when I bought it (but was tricky to understand/use) and has since been dropped with the introduction of Cornerstone.

Another need – this time probably best met by close integration with an external plugin – is an easy to use and reliable backup solution. I think this would be particularly be valued by ‘non developers’ like me.

[SergioParticipant]

Hi all,

if you decided to further develop the integration with WooCommerce, this would be great news. I’m sure the results would be spectacular and it would be a big business for everybody. I’m glad I’m not the first one to recommend WooCommerce as a priority and point out its potential.

Campaign Monitor has already become a reference on the market, I hope you’ll decide to go for it too.

Many thanks for giving the community the chance to express themselves.
See you very soon! #THEMECOSUMMIT

PS: Some of you have really great profile photos and I don’t have the rights to change mine. I’m so jealous 😉

[aloysiushouseParticipant]

I would probably suggest more integrations with WooCommerce’s plugins (e.g. Memberships) since in my opinion would create a bigger impact.

Also, please update the Under Maintenance plugin to be able to use Mailchimp’s form or other similar services. One of the considerations I purchased the theme is for the Maintenance Mode but am not being able to use it to opt in users via the page while being able to work at the backend.

[Author]

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