StudioPress recently released the Simple Social Icons WordPress plugin. Coded by Nathan Rice, this plugin/widget enables users to easily display social media/networking icons on any widget area of the blog and link it to different social profiles.

Like its name, the Simple Social Icons plugin is very simple and easy to use that it doesn’t even need a settings page. It is also very customizable – users can customize the color and size of the icons and choose to align the icons left or right.

Screenshot:
Widget Admin Screen

Installation:

1. Upload the entire simple-social-icons folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
3. In your Widgets menu, simply drag the widget labeled “Simple Social Icons” into a widgetized Area.
4. Configure the widget by choosing a title, icon size and color, and the URLs to your various social profiles.

Social icons included in the plugin:

• Dribbble
• Email
• Facebook
• Google +
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• RSS
• StumbleUpon
• Twitter

I think it would be great if more social icons could be added to it like Reddit, Flickr, YouTube, FriendFeed, Instagram, Path, etc. One more thing, at this time the plugin doesn’t allow users to re-order the icons so it would be nice to have the option/functionality in the next update. But other than those two things, there’s nothing really much to say or complain about this WordPress plugin because it is easy to use and does what its supposed to do.

Thanks to Nathan Rice and the good folks over at StudioPress for creating and releasing this cool and very useful plugin to the WordPress community.

NOTE: The Simple Social Icons plugin requires WordPress 3.3 or higher.

Download the Simple Social Icons plugin from the official WordPress plugin repository

How do you like the Simple Social Icons plugin/widget? Anyone tried or already use this plugin on their blog? Please share your thoughts.

WordPress.com announced the availability of premium themes for their users last month. The initial release only featured two premium themes – the Headlines theme by WooThemes and the Shelf theme from Theme Foundry. Last week, WordPress.com added more choices by adding three more premium themes – the Pretty Young Thing theme by StudioPress, Crisp theme by WooThemes and Traction theme by the Theme Foundry.

Pretty Young Thing Theme ($75)

A 2 or 3 column, widget-ready, youthful and delicate looking theme with a light, pastel color palette. It’s powered by the Genesis framework that allows you to easily configure/customize widgets, custom header, color scheme and custom background.

Features:

• One Column
• Two Columns
• Three Columns
• Left Sidebar
• Right Sidebar
• Fixed Width
• Custom Background
• Custom Header
• Custom Menu
• Featured Images
• Full Width Template
• Sticky Post
• Theme Options

Crisp Theme ($45)

The Crisp theme is for users who want to have tumblog (tumblr) functionality and be able to easily and quickly publish posts. Crisp features eight different Post Formats – Standard, Image, Link, Quote, Video, Audio, Aside, Gallery, and Status. To use the Audio Post Format, WP.com users will need the Space Upgrade to upload audio or music files.

Features:

• Two Columns
• Right Sidebar
• Fixed Width
• Custom Background
• Custom Colors
• Custom Menu
• Custom Header
• Featured Images
• Full Width Template
• Theme Options

Traction Theme ($68)

Traction is a super clean premium magazine theme featuring built in WordPress 3.0+ menu support, built-in post thumbnail support, an easy to use featured post slider, and a robust theme options menu. Other features include 2-column, dynamic header tags, widget-ready, gravatar support and threaded comments support.

Features:

• Fixed Width
• Two Columns
• Right Sidebar
• Threaded Comments
• Theme Options
• Custom Menu
• Featured Images
• Full Width Template
• Sticky Post

To WordPress.com users who would like to purchase any of these themes, all you need to do is login to your dashboard and click on Appearance > Themes. Once there, look for the “Premium” link which is next to “Recently Added“. Users who purchase these premium themes will receive direct custom support from the theme providers themselves.

Any WordPress.com user here who’ve purchased and are using premium themes on their blog? Any particular premium WordPress theme/s that you would like to see added to WordPress.com?

In this Where’s Wally? inspired version of WooVille, we thought a quirky, tongue-in-cheek representation of the WordPress theming community was in order. You’ll find all your favourite theme providers in the colorful WooVille eco-system, but your challenge is to find the WooNinja hiding somewhere…

WooVille#5 Where’s Woo?

[click here to view large version]

It took me about a few minutes before I saw the WooNinja hiding in the picture. Have you seen it yet? Anyways, I think there are more WordPress community members that could’ve been added to the picture like WP Tavern, Theme Lab, WP Recipes, etc. but maybe WooThemes didn’t have enough space for everybody. Maybe we’ll see a second version of this comic that features the other left out WordPress community members? Btw, the design on the DIYthemes building has gathered some mixed reactions. Some look at the building’s design as a cheapshot on DIYthemes, depicting a crumbling building while others see it as a building made up of puzzles or a building that’s under construction which is done in reference with their name DIY (Do-It-Yourself).

If you like this WooVille web comic and would want to buy it as a poster, head on here. WooThemes is planning on selling it in poster form (dimensions: 23.39 × 33.11 inches) for around $20-30 excluding shipping.

How do you like the Where’s Woo? WooVille web comic? Any other WordPress community member you think should be added to the picture? What do you think of the DIYthemes building design? Do you see it as a cheapshot on a competitor or a design that represents the Do-It-Yourself theme? Please share your thoughts.

**CONTEST OFFICIALLY CLOSED AS OF 12/30/10**

UPDATE: Added more cash prizes and a new sponsor.

Today is the first day of December and that “officially” marks the start of the Christmas season. Since Christmas is the season of giving and sharing, what could be a better way to thank my readers and share my blessings with others than to have another Christmas Giveaway, right?

I’ve had two previous big giveaways here on JaypeeOnline – the $1,000+ Christmas Giveaway in 2008 and the $1,500 Thanksgiving Giveaway last year. For this year’s Christmas Giveaway, I’ll be giving away $3,500+ worth of prizes – premium WordPress themes, premium WordPress plugin, web hosting, domains, cash and many more. Of course, all of this won’t be possible without the support and generosity of my sponsors.

PRIZES AT STAKE:
1st Prize
1-year Publisher Plan from Scribe SEO ($324)
1 Pro-Plus package from StudioPress ($249.95)
1 Developer Theme Package from WooThemes ($150)
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1-year Freedom-CDN Plan from WP Webhost ($120)
1-year Pro Account from Wibiya Web Toolbar ($118.80)
1-year Starter Plan from Reinvigorate ($100)
1-year subscription to Website Monitoring from website-monitoring.com ($59)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
1-year domain (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)
$20 cash via PayPal courtesy of DiTesco

2nd Prize
1-Year Publisher Plan from Scribe SEO ($324)
1 Genesis/Child theme package from StudioPress ($79.95)
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1 Club Membership from Elegant Themes ($39)
1-year Advanced Hosting Plan from Hostentic ($116)
1-year Pro Account from Wibiya Web Toolbar ($118.80)
1-year Starter Plan from Reinvigorate ($100)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
1-year domain (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)
$10 cash via PayPal courtesy of MukhangPera.com

3rd Prize
1-Year Publisher Plan from Scribe SEO ($324)
1 Genesis/Child theme package from StudioPress ($79.95)
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1 Annual Access Membership from Flexi Themes ($49.95)
1-year Freedom Plan from WP Webhost ($80)
1-year Pro Account from Wibiya Web Toolbar ($118.80)
1-year Starter Plan from Reinvigorate ($100)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
1-year domain (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)
$10 cash via PayPal courtesy of MukhangPera.com

4th Prize
1 Genesis/Child theme package from StudioPress ($79.95)
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1 Basic Theme Package from WP Now ($49)
1-year Freedom Plan from WP Webhost ($80)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
1-year domains (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)
$10 cash via PayPal courtesy of MukhangPera.com

Consolation Prizes
1 Premium Theme from WPZOOM ($69)
1-year subscription to Privacy Pro from Privacy Pro ($35.95)
6 – 1-year domains (.com/.net/.org/.info) courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente ($11.99)

I’m also giving away 5 Globe Tattoo USB dongles courtesy of Abe Olandres of YugaTech ($20/each) to all contestants from the Philippines.

As a BONUS, I’ll be giving away a 15% rebate for website-monitoring.com to all contestants and 2 Golden Tickets to VaultPress. Please let me know via the comment section if you’re interested.

CONTEST MECHANICS:
1. Subscribe to JaypeeOnline’s RSS feed via email. (required)

Don’t forget to validate your email subscription (After submitting your email address, FeedBurner will send you an email with a link on it to verify your subscription). If you’re already an email subscriber, please proceed to step #2.

2. Blog about this contest. (required)

Make a blog post about this contest in not less than 100 words. (Please don’t copy & paste this post). Don’t forget to include a link/trackback to this contest, prizes at stake and the list of sponsors (just the text links, no need to include the banners). If you want, you can use the Christmas Giveaway graphic in your blog post, do that by saving the image and uploading it to your own web server. (No hotlinking please)

3. Leave a comment. (required)

After you have subscribed to the RSS feed via email and published your blog post, please leave a comment on this post using the same email address you used to subscribe and include the URL to your blog post. In case you decide to avail of the bonus points, make sure to include your Twitter username and/or Facebook account name.

*I require this step so it would be easier for me to validate and keep track of each contestant’s entries.

Total = 7 pts

BONUS POINTS:
You can avail of these bonus points to get more chances of winning.

1. Follow me on Twitter and Retweet this post – 2 pts (If you’re already following me, all you need to do is retweet this post)
2. Share this post on Facebook – 1 pt
3. Join JaypeeOnline’s Facebook Fan Page – 1 pt
4. Follow JaypeeOnline on NetworkedBlogs (via Facebook) – 1 pt

Total = 5 pts

Total maximum entry points = 12 pts

CONTEST RULES:
1. Contestants are required to do all three steps under CONTEST MECHANICS.
2. No multiple entries. 1 person = 1 entry (1 person can get as much as 12 points)
3. Prizes not claimed within 30 days will be forfeited and be given to a new winner.
4. Prizes can not be converted to cash.

OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS:
Scribe SEO

StudioPress

WooThemes

WP Zoom

Elegant Themes

FlexiThemes

WP Now

WP WebHost

Hostentic Web Hosting

Wibiya Web Toolbar

Reinvigorate

Privacy Pro

Website Monitoring

Jehzeel Laurente

Abe Olandres

DiTesco

Mukhang Pera

VaultPress

Contest starts as soon as this post is published and ends on December 30, 2010. All entries should be in by midnight (US Eastern Time). Each point is equivalent to one entry that will be put into the list of entries (more points, more entries). Winners will be chosen using Random.org’s List Randomizer and will be announced the following day, December 31st.

Please make sure to check back on this post every now and then for any changes or updates.

What are you waiting for? Join now! You could be the winner of any one of these awesome prizes. Remember, the more points you have, the more your chances of winning! If you have any questions regarding the contest, feel free to contact me.

If you or your company would like to be sponsor and provide some prizes for this Christmas Giveaway, please send me a message via the Contact page.

Black Friday is just around the corner and I’m sure many of you have been looking forward to it to take advantage of the outrageous deals on electronics and gadgets. However, if you’re planning to redesign your blog or plan on starting one, then you might want to take advantage of this awesome deal from StudioPress, makers of the popular Genesis Framework and Genesis Framework Child Themes and other awesome premium WordPress Themes.

As part of their Black Friday sale, StudioPress is offering 25% OFF on all of their products starting today November 24th until Tuesday – November 30th. Just use the discount code “BLACK” to avail of this offer. This is a great opportunity to purchase the Genesis Framework and all Genesis Child Themes like the Prose Theme, Bee Crafty Theme, Family Tree Theme, Church Theme, Outreach Theme, Agency Theme, Serenity Theme, Lexicon Theme, Going Green Theme and many more.

Below are the two most recent themes released by StudioPress:

Manhattan Theme

Venture Theme

Don’t let this awesome deal getaway because as soon as this offer ends, StudioPress will no longer offer any discounts on their themes. This will be their last sale event.

StudioPress doesn’t only offer well designed and flexible premium WordPress themes but also provide very good customer support. If you’re still not convinced, you might like to know that StudioPress clients include big time bloggers like Chris Brogan and Mr. Problogger himself – Darren Rowse.

What are you waiting for? Grab a StudioPress theme now!

DISCLOSURE: JaypeeOnline is an affiliate of StudioPress.