The Menu Builder brings a small bit of additional functionality to Chevez. As seen in the demo, the header features a “rotating panels” configuration driven off the post categories. A fully customizable menu changes the approach–as a result, Chevez can now populate these panels with category posts, tagged posts, or child pages. All driven off the choices made in the Menu Builder configuration screen.

Grab Chevez 1.06 directly from the theme page.

Still in the pipeline and coming soon: Chevez will get Menu Builder support, and both Arliss and Chevez will receive full Dynamic Theming. As always, updates are free.

Dynamic Theme Engine

This is a powerful new way to reshape a theme’s appearance. Custom colors can now be set for each and every piece of a theme’s design: images, text, backgrounds, etc. Specify a standard html hex color, and the engine goes to work — calculating shadows & highlights, and generating new versions of theme graphics. See it in action in the screencast below (no audio):

Menu Builder

Looking up Page IDs is officially obsolete. The Menu Builder let’s you add, rename, and reorder menu items through an easy-to-use, javascript-enabled interface. Child items can be added to create dropdown menus. Link to more than Pages — choose from Categories, Tags, or anything else you can think of. Watch the demonstration:

This functionality is available now with Melora, and coming soon to Arliss and Chevez. We’re very excited about it, and hope to set a new standard in what WordPress themes provide.

The ease-of-configuration continues with Melora’s built-in Menu Builder. Add pages, categories, and more. Drag and drop to reorder, or use one-click in-place editing to rename. Add child menu items to create dropdowns. Looking up Page IDs or modifying template files are things of the past; with Melora, you direct your visitors to where you need without the hassle.

Melora comes with our standard pledge of a bug-free experience, cross-browser support on all modern browsers, and continual free updates in the future. Still intrigued? Check out the full list of offered features below, or take the demo for a spin.

Note: the Dynamic Theme Engine requires GD 2.0 or higher, a common inclusion with PHP. Check with your hosting provider for availability.

Colors can be set manually, as an HTML hex code (e.g., #ffec37), or chosen from the pop-up color picker. In some cases, multiple colors combine to create unique effects.

Select image options are also available. Upload a custom logo, or specify a background image for the header, footer, and/or body — with control over image tiling.

Each column represents a “level” of menu items. Some menus, such as a list of links in a footer, have only one level. Each link directs to one page. Others, such as dropdown or accordian menus, have multiple levels. In this example, the first column is the “main” level, and the second is the “sub” level. Menu items on the sub level appear in a dropdown connected to the items in the main level.

To add a new item to the menu, first choose the type of item from the “Add New Menu Item” box. Select the appropriate item and click the “+ Add” button.

If desired, click the item label to rename it:

All changes are saved instantly. To create a dropdown for this item, simply select it and add items in the second column.

Items can be reordered by dragging, or deleted by clicking the “X” icon. Deleting a menu item also deletes any lower level items — but only those attached to the deleted item. In other words, deleting a main menu item that has a dropdown will delete all of its dropdown items as well.

You can refresh your site at any time to see your changes.

• Installation
• Configuration
• Customizing the appearance with the Dynamic Theme Engine
• Crafting dropdown menus with the Menu Builder