Even More Updates

This has been a big couple of weeks for Psdtuts+, as I’ve pretty much only been working on this site the whole time, fixing things and adding new features. So if you’re interested in site news, then I have a few more to update you on today, so read on, readers!

Quarterly Subscriptions Added to Psdtuts+ Plus

I’m happy to report that subscriptions to Psdtuts+ Plus are going well, and it’s already really boosted the site’s income. In fact the day after we launched, I went and commissioned a special (read expensive) tutorial by a famous artist. That should be coming in a couple weeks.

Anyhow, on request, I’ve also added quarterly subscriptions where you save $5 off the regular price. You can get them at the usual Psdtuts+ Plus Signup.

User Link Feed — Fixed!

A few months back, we added the user-link feed that you see in the right-hand column. As most of you remember they are links submitted by anyone that appear on the site and through an RSS feed. This means anyone can get some exposure for their site/project. We vet the links to make sure they are interesting and worthwhile, and we’ve had a lot of cool stuff come through.

The only problem has been that the RSS feed was a bit demented (due to how I built it). But after a few hours of learning about WordPress’s RSS feeds, I finally managed to fix it all up, so links go straight out rather than back through the site. Yay! Now, hopefully, the already 200-odd people who have subscribed will be boosted up higher, and having your link in there will become even more of a good thing to do!

Proper Suggestion Area

We’ve always been open to suggestions, but lacked a proper place to put them. So I’ve created a special post called Tutorial Suggestions / Requests where you can comment in your requests. I can’t make any promises that we’ll manage to do them all, but I know I get tutorial writers always asking what they should write on, so you never know!

Updated Top Menu to Include Psdtuts+ Plus Login

Some of the first people to join Psdtuts+ Plus wrote to me and asked exactly how they were supposed to log in. It seems that somehow in my excitement to release, I forgot to add a login link to the site — D’oh! Anyhow, it’s now present in the top right. And for those observant among you, you’ll notice I’ve also fixed the menu so it has a down state when you click on other pages (the devil’s in the details!)

Expanded Resource Directory!!

As promised, I’ve upgraded the resource directory to include thumbnails, categorization, search, breadcrumb trail, and user submissions. It currently has about 50 links in it, and I’ll be adding a few more daily for the next few weeks. I’m trying to be quite elitist and only include really great sites, so if you submit, the rejection rate may be a little high. Nonetheless, if you know some great resources that you think other readers would benefit from, please do add your links.

If you’re a blogger yourself, the plugin I used is called WP-Directory and is pretty cool, though I had to spend about four hours customizing it to Psdtuts+ :-)

Coming Soon — Wiki!

Lately, I’ve been thinking about Psdtuts+ a lot — so much so, that on Monday I woke up in the middle of the night and the first thought in my head was “maybe i should add a wiki to Psdtuts+.” While this is a sad event (waking up in the night and thinking about work), it is good news in that it’s a good idea!

So I did a bit of research and apparently I can hook up WordPress so that every time you see a word (e.g. Clone Stamp Tool), it’ll automatically link up to the wiki’s definition. I think this will be a huge enhancement to the learning available from our tutorials, as beginners will be able to instantly get a definition on tools and Photoshop features they’ve never seen before.

So now I just need to install a wiki, write definitions, and install the linking plugin . . . hmmm, that may take a little while :-)