Never promise to deliver an unfinished piece of software within 2 weeks. If you do, you’ll surely be wrong. For example, here is something I said on November 30th with regards to Standard 3.
The beta will be available in the forums in ~2 weeks. So you will be able to start your dev efforts.
Alternatively, if you do decide to make such a direct and resolute promise, be sure to announce any deviations when it they become apparent and certain. Customers make plans based on information of this nature, and it’s common courtesy to keep them updated (thank you for reminding me of this, James).
The buzz that our community is generating around Standard 3 is growing and we hear you loud and clear. I promise we are working on Standard, and only Standard. We want it to be right! Michael and I are fielding requests every week for updates on progress. He in the support community, myself via our pre-sales inbox and Twitter.
Here is one example.
I have a new project starting up, should I use Standard 2.7 or should I wait for 3.0?
And here is another.
Any idea on timeframe for @standardtheme 3? Months? Weeks? Days??
The Short Answer
We won’t release until it is thoroughly complete. And I’m not talking about it being bug-free, I’m talking about it having an unparalleled blend of powerful features, robust code, and elegant design.
I can say do not expect a January release (obviously). It feels safe to say do not expect one for February, either. Beyond that, it’s not prudent to go on record at this time.
What Changed?
Going into December we completed several rounds of design and development followed by subsequent rounds of testing. By January 6th we completed what I believed would be the Standard 3 Preview for the forums. This was derived from our beta codebase and included the core theme features minus incomplete/unpolished plugins.
Before unleashing it on our Support License users we huddled up as a team, used it, abused it, talked about it, and collectively we came to the realization that it was better than we hoped and therefore not ready for release (yet). Let me explain. Once we saw it in action we realized just how much potential this has to be the de facto theme for a WordPress blog. The core code and the design are fantastic, but the feature set didn’t do them justice. Our goal is to create a theme that does an incredible amount of heavy lifting for you behind the scenes, while having a ridiculously small admin panel. The idea is that the theme should do its thing with as little manual intervention or configuration as possible. We knew we had delivered on parts of this, but not other parts. The admin panel was light, but so was the lifting.
By and large, our customers would never really know. But we would.
We then started plotting out a second round of refinement. We went back to the basics and performed a top-to-bottom SEO audit. We added laser-targeted features to bring this to the next level. Last week we scrutinized every pixel in an all-hands-on-deck design review. Again, a litany of new additions, adjustments, and tweaks were identified. Next up will be a detailed code review. From organization, to convention, to continuity, to library, we will improve parts of the theme that most customers will never lay eyes on to honor the ones who will.
What’s Next?
Once these 3 reviews are complete, and all code and design have been updated based on the results, we will consider planning a release of the Standard 3 Preview to the support community. Whether we release it soon after or not, we will begin to interrogate the plugins, widgets, and non-core admin options to perfect those as well.
So you see, we still have work to do. Larger theme shops, with hundreds of WordPress themes, would have shipped the version we have now. It looks great, it functions well, and it would boost sales. I speak on behalf of the team when I say this product is our passion. We delayed the release and we added heaps of work onto our never-ending to do lists, and in spite of that we are actually more energized than when we started.
With each and every day that passes it is becoming clearer that we have no interest in running the race of quantity. Today, we’re a startup and even when we grow out of this stage, we’ll never have 100 WordPress themes for sale. That’s not our thing.
Instead, we want unparalleled quality in the design, code, and feature set. We want perfection, as far as it is attainable. We want it for ourselves. We want it for you. And we’re feeling patient enough to achieve it.
In the meantime, I do need to better my role as Product Manager. I’m learning that parts of it are more art than science. Balancing the tension between our customer’s expectations and a shifting release date is about as scientifically black and white as it gets. If something changes with certainty, say so right away.
The artistry factors-in when it’s time to discern if an internal milestone should mature into an external promise. As a manager, and as a team, we’re still leveling up this skill.
I’m confident that it will be worth the wait. Thanks, guys, for the good work.
Thank you for the transparency Chris. Also thank you team for taking the time to make sure things are as awesome as possible and not just releasing something because of pressure from others. You know you guys will always have my full support.
Thanks for the update. I love Standard and look forward to 3.0.
Thanks so much for the update! I’m glad you took the time, and I will patiently await the release of the new version. Until then, I am loving having Standard 2.7.2 up and running.
Thanks for the update Chris. I appreciate 8BIT’s work ethic and OCDness with your products!
Definitely worth the wait! Peace.
Great update. Thanks man.
thanks for the update Chris…….its going to be well worth the wait……i can feel it in my trackpad!
Thanks for the update! This is a good post to direct my customers to who have been waiting for ST 3.0 to migrate over to self-hosted WP.
Thanks for the update. I know it will rock!
Thanks for the update. I guess my best bet is to go with a 2.7 support license, so I can enjoy Standard Theme now, and still upgrade when 3.0 is released.
Ack! You guys are so OCD… I love it! I’m so pumped about what you guys are doing, and I’m positive it’s going to be a game-changer.
Sooo looking forward to the StandardTheme 3 and it really seems to be worth of waiting more.
Be wise and press on the best.
Thanks.
Even Baby Noah can’t wait for the awesomeness that is Standard theme 3!
Thanks for all the great work you guys do, and thanks for this post. Hopefully your user base knows you guys well enough to know that if there is a delay, we can trust that it will be worth it.
Keep on rocking!
Please don’t make us wait forever!
It’s been hard to see some new theme come down the pike that visually and functionally I like (thinking of eleven40 by StudioPress for Genesis) all while being teased by ST3. Rather support and promote 8bit on my personal site, so trying to be patient!
Thanks for the update.
I temporarily using eleven40 myself and I like it but it’s not all I wanted it to be. I’m hoping for a Standard 3 release too.
Be careful! The longer you make us wait, the higher the expectations will be. It’s a never-ending battle between the two. And one that gets harder and harder to win.
good thoughts… but trust us. we know what we’re doing.
Frank and transparent … appreciate the update. You are doing the right thing!
That said, I’m am soooooo looking forward to seeing 3.0
You just sold a license with this post. Great transparency and communication, I can’t wait to show your work to our clients.
justin
Is it to early to name this release Chinese Democracy?
I’ve custom coded all my themes for a few years now and after seeing Standard 2 in action, I decided to purchase my very first theme. I think you guys did a fantastic job on the 2, and the S3 previews look amazing.
It’s a tough thing to balance innovation with shipping. My only word of advice would be not to get stuck in the “it has to be perfect” frame of mind. Get it to about 80% to 90% of perfect and you can release an update or two after. It’s an incredible burden to bear, especially when you’re your own critic (I go through this on a regular basis
.
Best of luck with the development – we’re all primed and excited for the release.
Great advice! Thanks Ernest!