Last year I did a review of Mimbo, a free magazine style theme for WordPress. Since then, Mimbo has become one of the most popular and most downloaded WordPress themes not only because of the popularity of magazine themes but also because it’s feature-rich, user-friendly and easy to customize. As proof, you can see customized versions of Mimbo used in many websites and blogs.
After the huge success of Mimbo, the author Darren Hoyt finally released his first and much anticipated premium theme, the Mimbo Pro Magazine Theme last week. For this project, he collaborated with Ben Gillbanks.
Here’s a short introduction from Darren himself:
Mimbo Pro is a powerful and feature-rich theme for WordPress, developed by Darren Hoyt and Ben Gillbanks and released through Ben’s Pro Theme Design marketplace.
Already familiar with the original Mimbo? Imagine no more manual template editing, no more Photoshop, no more image-cropping or FTP’ing… Enjoy using WordPress like a CMS, now more than ever.
Screenshot:
Mimbo Pro features:
- Control panel options for Google Analytics and Feedburner, logo and header image management, homepage categories, optional color schemes, and advertisement management
- Custom templates for categories, archives, authors, sitemap, search results
- Auto-resizing for images
- Built-in contact form
- HTML controls for comments (bold, italics, blockquote, link)
- Print-friendly options on single-post pages
- Two widgetized sidebars with optional advertising
- Tabbed and separated comments/trackbacks
- Built-in gravatars and author highlighting
- Cookie crumbs on single-post pages
- Print.css stylesheet
- Optional microformats in the footer
The Mimbo Pro Magazine theme is available in two packages, the Single Site license for $89.99 and Multi Site license at $199.99. The Multi Site license includes PSD files and lets you remove the footer link. If you decide to purchase this theme and want to learn more about how to use or customize it, you might want to check out the video tutorials that are provided for free.
My Take:
One of the unique features of the Mimbo Pro theme is the section located right below the featured post in the index page. In that section, you can browse through the recent posts or stories by clicking on the arrows on both sides. Mimbo Pro makes use of a thumbnail script (created by Darren) that automatically resizes images so resizing images becomes a non-issue. Aside from that, it includes some features that you can’t find in other WordPress premium themes like control panel options for Google Analytics and Feedburner.
I haven’t had the chance to test or try it out from within the admin panel so I can’t really rate the features of Mimbo Pro. IMHO the Mimbo Pro doesn’t really stand out design-wise unlike other premium themes we’ve seen recently. I guess the features make up for that. Anyways, I give the Mimbo Pro Magazine Theme a 4 out of 5 rating.
Btw, if you’re not interested in buying the theme you might be interested in making money thru Mimbo Pro’s affiliate program. For more information regarding the affiliate program, click here.
Preview or Purchase the Mimbo Pro Magazine Theme for WordPress
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February 14th, 2009 at 7:20 PM
@Baka – You’re welcome! Glad you liked it. :)
February 14th, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Great…beatiful theme
Thanks for this sharing Jaypee
Baka Kelanas last blog post..Love Letters Generating excite sex
March 26th, 2008 at 6:55 PM
@deuts – Haha it’s all good. Mimbo is a very nice theme and if you read what Darren said in his comment, he’ll be adding new features and design to it soon. :D
March 26th, 2008 at 6:53 PM
Jaypee, hmmmmm, let me think. I think I’ll be fine with the mimbo free version. :D
deuts’s last blog post..Bear Stearns at 2.4% of Book Value
March 26th, 2008 at 11:25 AM
@Darren – Thanks for clarifying about that thumbnail script. Glad to know that it will be open source, meaning more WordPress theme authors can use it on their themes, premium or not.
I always stay tuned to your blog coz I’m subscribed via email. ;)
March 26th, 2008 at 11:23 AM
he has bought a license from Darren to use the thumbnail script on his premium themes
Just to clarify – the thumbnail script is going to be an open-source project within a week or so, no purchase was necessary on Adii’s behalf. Stay tuned to the blog and I’ll release more info.
Darren Hoyt’s last blog post..I Love Newzald
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:30 AM
@PinayInTheUs – Really? So have you figured out what that “something” missing is? If you do figure out what it is, maybe we can tell Darren about it and he can do something about it.
You’re welcome! I see that you’ve fixed it already. Doesn’t it look much better now? ;)
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:25 AM
this was my most awaited theme. I held off buying premium bcoz of this. when it came out I was ecstatic but for some reason I feel like something’s missing. don’t get me wrong, I love the design and everything but it’s just a weird feeling I can’t pinpoint what’s missing.
oh and thanks for your suggestions re my layout. I was planning on fixing the bullets but I don’t have internet connection at home yet :/ so I’m limited to mobile access. soon I willfix it! :)
March 21st, 2008 at 1:40 PM
@Darren – You’re welcome! Was gonna post about this earlier but was too busy. Anyways, I appreciate you taking the time to come over and share some insight about Mimbo Pro.
Looking forward to the new design and features of the free version of Mimbo. Maybe you can let me know when you’re done so I can blog about it here?
Thanks again and have a nice day! :)
March 21st, 2008 at 1:39 PM
Thanks for the mention, John!
BTW, we’re gonna do extensive testing with WP 2.5 in the next couple weeks (assuming it’s released) to make sure everything works, as well as offering a handful of language translations. Sometime after that, I’ll also be adding features and a new design to the old free version of Mimbo.
Darren Hoyt’s last blog post..I Love Newzald
March 21st, 2008 at 6:20 AM
@deuts – There ya go, Darren himself answered your question. Btw, if it works on WP 2.5, are you gonna get it? :D
March 21st, 2008 at 6:18 AM
I wonder though, whether it supports the upcoming WordPress 2.5.
deuts’s last blog post..Bear Stearns at 2.4% of Book Value
March 21st, 2008 at 4:25 AM
@jhay – Yeah, you’re right. Some bloggers don’t have the luxury of time to crop/resize images. This feature is definitely a time saver.
From what I read on Adii’s blog, he has bought a license from Darren to use the thumbnail script on his premium themes.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:21 AM
Really nice upgrades. That auto-image resize function is really neat as it helps authors to just write instead of resizing or cropping images each time they post a story.
I wish more premium WP themes would have this function.
jhay’s last blog post..Jun Lozada – Krus ng Katotohanan
March 21st, 2008 at 2:20 AM
@joie – You’re welcome! So have you decided which premium theme you like? :D
March 21st, 2008 at 2:15 AM
Another beautiful theme. Thanks for posting. It’s very tempting to use hahayzz..
joie’s last blog post..Taishun: Home of Corridor-bridges